Tag: Trump mismanaged pandemic response

Coronavirus puts Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ under pressure

Washington Post logoThe White House is in a particularly intense form of crisis mode, reckoning with the coronavirus pandemic while also stoking the coals of President Trump’s reelection campaign. As scrutiny builds over the administration’s squandered opportunities to confront the outbreak early on, Trump is training his ire on China and the World Health Organization. At a Tuesday news conference, he even threatened to withhold funds from the U.N. body.

Washington’s foreign policy establishment, meanwhile, laments that, at a time of global crisis, Trump has seemingly left the field and abandoned the banner of global leadership. Its denizens issue a steady stream of commentary on what the world may look like when the pandemic passes, though no one knows when that may be. But it’s obvious that global concerns and priorities may change.

“The first months of this crisis suggest that the world order that emerges on the other end is likely to be permanently altered,” wrote Ben Rhodes, a former adviser to President Barack Obama. “America’s response to 9/11 committed the familiar mistake of hastening a superpower’s decline through overreach; the Trump presidency, and our failure to respond effectively to COVID-19, show us the dangers of a world in which America makes no effort at leadership at all.” Continue reading.

Trump confronts most difficult week yet in coronavirus battle

The Hill logoPresident Trump and his administration are confronting the most difficult week yet of the novel coronavirus outbreak as cases are expected to approach peak levels in some of the hardest-hit areas of the country.

The administration is facing growing pressure to get medical supplies to states where hospitals fear shortages, and critics say a leadership vacuum has hurt the disbursement of critical resources.

The week ahead also will tell the tale of whether the administration’s guidelines for social distancing are working to flatten the curve of infections. Continue reading.

Trump expertly fact-checked by CNN host for blame-shifting and lying about shortages of US pandemic supplies

AlterNet logoThe morning after Donald Trump held yet another coronavirus press conference where he said that the country is about to enter into a week with a sharp increase in COVID-19 deaths, CNN’s Victor Blackwell brutally dissected the president’s lies that the government is helpless because of a shortage of medical supplies because former President Barack Obama left the shelves bare.

Using clips of the president’s ever-evolving excuses and contradictions, the CNN host took apart Trump’s blame-spreading.

“This morning, a fact check,” the CNN host began. “Hospitals across the country are desperate to find the gowns and the gloves and the face shields. And some states have received millions of pieces of that personal protective equipment and the N95 masks from the federal government, but now President Trump says that the strategic national stockpile is nearly depleted of those supplies.” Continue reading.

Here are 8 coronavirus failures that prove Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States: Ralph Nader

AlterNet logoTrump ridiculed, then minimized, then delayed the federal government’s response to the coronavirus for weeks. Then finally he wrapped his boastful, confused ego around reality. But Trump is actively pushing programs that will endanger more Americans.

Here’s a brief look at Trump’s pro-contagion activities that leave Americans defenseless in the face of the virus, implemented by his crazed and cruel appointees.

  1. Trump is pushing hard to weaken safety regulations for nursing homes. Weakening these regulations leaves elderly residents vulnerable to infectious diseases, meaning more people will get sick and die. Continue reading.

Kushner Puts Himself in Middle of White House’s Chaotic Coronavirus Response

New York Times logoPresident Trump’s son-in-law has become a central player in the administration’s effort to curb the pandemic. But critics say he is part of the problem.

WASHINGTON — Peter T. Gaynor, the federal government’s top emergency manager, was about to go on television last week to announce that he would use wartime production powers to ensure the manufacture of about 60,000 desperately needed coronavirus test kits.

With minutes until the camera went live, though, he still had to let the White House know. The person he hurriedly called: Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who endorsed an announcement that surprised many officials. Among those unaware that Mr. Kushner had agreed to the use of the special powers? President Trump.

At one of the most perilous moments in modern American history, Mr. Kushner is trying in a disjointed White House to marshal the forces of government for the war his father-in-law says he is waging. A real estate developer with none of the medical expertise of a public health official nor the mobilization experience of a general, Mr. Kushner has nonetheless become a key player in the response to the pandemic. Continue reading.

Former Republican governor goes off on Trump for complaining about states asking for life-saving medical supplies

AlterNet logoSpeaking on CNN this Thursday, former Republican governor of Ohio, John Kasich, tore into President Trump over his response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying he’s furious about the difficult challenges facing medical professionals as the coronavirus continues to spread.

“We don’t have the testing, we don’t have the equipment that these people need,” Kasich said. “When they go into a hospital room, when they go in to perform their duties, they don’t know if they’re going to be properly equipped.”

Later in the segment, CNN host Jim Sciutto asked where the leadership is, mentioning that Trump is tweeting attacks at governors, accusing them of “asking for too much.” Continue reading.

Cuomo Rebuffs Trump’s Political Baiting As ‘Anti-American’

On Monday, Donald Trump was asked by the hosts of Fox & Friendsabout possibly running in the presidential election against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is not a candidate.

“I wouldn’t mind running against Andrew. I’ve known Andrew for a long time. I wouldn’t mind that, but I’ll be honest, I think he’d be a better candidate than sleepy Joe,” he told the network, using his frequent epithet for former Vice President Joe Biden.

In his daily briefing on the coronavirus, Cuomo pushed back against the notion that he is focused on politics in his current efforts in governing New York. Continue reading.

Trump Suggests Lack of Testing Is No Longer a Problem. Governors Disagree.

New York Times logoThe president said on a conference call that he had not “heard about testing in weeks.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump told governors on a conference call on Monday that he had not “heard about testing in weeks,” suggesting that a chronic lack of kits to screen people for the coronavirus was no longer a problem.

But governors painted a different picture on the ground.

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat, said that officials in his state were trying to do “contact tracing” — tracking down people who have come into contact with those who have tested positive — but that they were struggling because “we don’t have adequate tests,” according to an audio recording of the conversation obtained by The New York Times. Continue reading.

The Contrarian Coronavirus Theory That Informed the Trump Administration

President Trump, who at one point called the coronavirus pandemic an “invisible enemy” and said it made him a “wartime President,” has in recent days questioned its seriousness, tweeting, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” Trump said repeatedly that he wanted the country to reopen by Easter, April 12th, contradicting the advice of most health officials. (On Sunday, he backed down and extended federal social-distancing guidelines for at least another month.) According to the Washington Post, “Conservatives close to Trump and numerous administration officials have been circulating an article by Richard A. Epstein of the Hoover Institution, titled ‘Coronavirus Perspective,’ which plays down the extent of the spread and the threat.”

Epstein, a professor at New York University School of Law, published the article on the Web site of the Hoover Institution, on March 16th. In it, he questioned the World Health Organization’s decision to declare the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, said that “public officials have gone overboard,” and suggested that about five hundred people would die from covid-19 in the U.S. Epstein later updated his estimate to five thousand, saying that the previous number had been an error. So far, there have been more than two thousand coronavirus-related fatalities in America; epidemiologists’ projections of the total deaths range widely, depending on the success of social distancing and the availability of medical resources, but they tend to be much higher than Epstein’s. (On Sunday, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, estimatedthat there could be between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand deaths in the U.S.) In a follow-up article, published on March 23rd and titled “Coronavirus Overreaction,” Epstein wrote, “Progressives think they can run everyone’s lives through central planning, but the state of the economy suggests otherwise. Looking at the costs, the public commands have led to a crash in the stock market, and may only save a small fraction of the lives that are at risk.”

Epstein has long been one of the most cited legal scholars in the country, and is known for his libertarian-minded reading of the Constitution, which envisions a restrained federal government that respects private property. He has also been known to engage with controversial subjects; last fall, he published an article on the Hoover Institution Web site that argued, “The professional skeptics are right: there is today no compelling evidence of an impending climate emergency.” Last Wednesday, I spoke by phone with Epstein about his views of the coronavirus pandemic. He was initially wary of talking, and asked to record his own version of the call, which I agreed to. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, Epstein made a number of comments about viruses that have been strongly disputed by medical professionals. We have included factual corrections alongside those statements. Continue reading.

Trump’s Fox and Friends COVID-19 interview just devolved into a mad rant. Here are the 6 craziest moments

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump called into “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning to discuss his administration’s work on handling the coronavirus pandemic — but it quickly devolved into an angry rant in which he attacked his political foes.

During the lengthy hour-long interview, the president frequently drifted off topic to make outlandish statements about the media, the Democratic Party, and even the history of American foreign policy, among other topics.

Below are the wildest moments from Trump’s “Fox & Friends” COVID-19 interview.

1.) Trump calls House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “sick puppy.” Even though Pelosi was instrumental in getting the $2 trillion coronavirus economic relief bill passed quickly through the House of Representatives, the president spent a good chunk of his interview falsely accusing her of holding up its passage. Continue reading.