Tag: Trump magical thinking

The inside story of how Trump’s denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic’s dark winter

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As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors on President Trump’s task force decided to stage an intervention.

After their warnings had gone largely unheeded for months in the dormant West Wing, Deborah Birx, Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield together sounded new alarms, cautioning of a dark winter to come without dramatic action to slow community spread.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall, was taken aback, according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions. He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment. And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions. Continue reading.

Calling it a ‘peaceful protest,’ Trump flouts coronavirus guidelines with golf club gathering

Washington Post logoBEDMINSTER, N.J. — Just before 7 p.m. Friday evening, members of President Trump’s private golf club here began streaming into a gilded ballroom by the dozens. Some carried wineglasses — few wore masks.

The happy hour scene just steps from the golf course was orchestrated by Trump, who decided late Friday to hold an impromptu news conference and invite his club members to gather indoors in defiance of state restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

With coronavirus cases nearing 5 million in the United States and average daily deathstopping 1,000, Trump’s retreat to the confines of his private club offered him an opportunity to create a kind of alternate reality in which his presidency is not being beset by numerous crises. Continue reading.

One question still dogs Trump: Why not try harder to solve the coronavirus crisis?

Washington Post logoBoth President Trump’s advisers and operatives laboring to defeat him increasingly agree on one thing: The best way for him to regain his political footing is to wrest control of the coronavirus.

In the six months since the deadly contagion was first reported in the United States, Trump has demanded the economy reopen and children return to school, all while scrambling to salvage his reelection campaign.

But both allies and opponents agree he has failed at the one task that could help him achieve all of his goals — confronting the pandemic with a clear strategy and consistent leadership. Continue reading.

CDC feels pressure from Trump as rift grows over coronavirus response

Washington Post logoThe June 28 email to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ominous: A senior adviser to a top Health and Human Services Department official accused the CDC of “undermining the President” by putting out a report about the potential risks of the coronavirusto pregnant women.

The adviser, Paul Alexander, criticized the agency’s methods and said its warning to pregnant women “reads in a way to frighten women . . . as if the President and his administration can’t fix this and it is getting worse.”

As the country enters a frightening phase of the pandemic with new daily cases surpassing 57,000 on Thursday, the CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, is coming under intense pressure from President Trump and his allies, who are downplaying the dangers in a bid to revive the economy ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. In a White House guided by the president’s instincts, rather than by evidence-based policy, the CDC finds itself forced constantly to backtrack or sidelined from pivotal decisions. Continue reading.

Trump rejects Fauci’s warning about football’s return

The president’s rebuke came after Fauci threw cold water on football’s plans to spring back to action.

President Donald Trump on Friday rebuked his administration’s top infectious disease expert, rejecting Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could keep football from returning this fall.

“Tony Fauci has nothing to do with NFL Football,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They are planning a very safe and controlled opening.”

The president’s social media post put him at odds with the man who spent weeks as perhaps the most prominent face of the White House’s coronavirus response team. But Fauci’s role appears to have diminished in recent weeks as the Trump administration has shifted toward efforts aimed at reopening the country. Continue reading.

White House, CDC rift spills into the open

The Hill logoThe rift between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has spilled out into the open as one of the nation’s top public health agencies finds itself on the margins of the response to a once-in-a-generation pandemic.

In an administration often beset by infighting, the CDC has been a consistent target of criticism from White House officials privately frustrated by its initial handling of testing and its inability to provide granular, up-to-date data to guide the country’s response.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro took the fight public on Sunday, saying the CDC had “let the country down” with its early testing woes. The comments were the sharpest public criticism of the agency to date from a member of the administration. Continue reading.

As Trump talks rebound, Fed’s Powell warns economy’s pain will last

The Fed chief’s comments suggest the U.S. economy could face a rocky path for at least the next year as it attempts to rebuild.

President Donald Trump is hoping the economy will bounce back rapidly from the coronavirus shutdown, but Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that it will take time for the country’s wounds to heal even after businesses begin to reopen.

After the Fed pledged to keep interest rates near zero until the economy has weathered the pandemic, Powell underscored the bleak reality, saying next week’s monthly jobs report is expected to show an unemployment rate somewhere in the double digits.

“We’re going to see economic data for the second quarter that’s worse than any data we’ve seen for the economy,” he said during a news conference. Continue reading.