evidence: For Trump, the coronavirus prompted a shake-up of his already-dysfunctional campaign, turned the contest into a referendum on his handling of the pandemic, and even sickened the president and his inner circle. [...] The group decided on a spot that used Trump’s own words against him — including his claim, "This is their new hoax" — contrasted against a chart showing the rising number of cases, which then stood at about 30,000 per day. [...] The Trump campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to television stations demanding that the ad come down because it used the "hoax" quote without the full context; Trump had been speaking of the Democratic response to the virus, not the virus itself.