Tag: Trump putting American lives at risk

Bolton says he hopes Trump is 1-term president, warns country imperiled by his reelectionBolton says he hopes Trump is 1-term president, warns country imperiled by his reelection

Here are the many headlines from ABC’s interview with Trump’s former top aide.

President Donald Trump‘s longest-serving national security adviser John Bolton condemned his presidency as dangerously damaging to the United States and argued the 2020 election is the last “guardrail” to protect the country from him.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Bolton offered a brutal indictment of his former boss, saying, “I hope (history) will remember him as a one-term president who didn’t plunge the country irretrievably into a downward spiral we can’t recall from. We can get over one term — I have absolute confidence, even if it’s not the miracle of a conservative Republican being elected in November. Two terms, I’m more troubled about.”

In the interview with ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz and in his new book, “The Room Where It Happened,” Bolton paints Trump as “stunningly uninformed,” making “erratic” and “irrational” decisions, unable to separate his personal and political interests from the country’s, and marked and manipulated by foreign adversaries. Continue reading.

The Daily 202: Ousted vaccine expert, alleging retaliation, is not the first scientist sidelined in Trump era

Washington Post logoPresident Trump said three times Wednesday that he had “never heard of” Rick Bright, the scientist who alleges he was removed as the leader of the federal agency working on a coronavirus vaccine because he resisted efforts to “provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public.”

“The guy says he was pushed out of a job. Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t,” the president said during his evening news conference at the White House. “I’d have to hear the other side. I don’t know who he is.”

Trump’s professed unfamiliarity with a top official tasked with developing a cure for a contagion that has killed at least 46,782 and infected 842,000 Americans is in and of itself remarkable. But it captures in miniature Trump’s strained relationship with scientific experts, who polls show voters rely on most for accurate information about the coronavirus. Continue reading.

Trump Uttered 59 Lies About The Pandemic In One Month

Since March 14, Donald Trump has been holding daily press briefings, ostensibly about the COVID-19 pandemic and what his administration is doing to combat it.

In the process, he’s told numerous lies on everything from the severity of the virus to his administration’s response.

Over the past month, the American Independent has been tracking Trump’s lies and distortions.

The list is by no means exhaustive. He has also repeated many of these lies on multiple occasions. However, here are 59 of the worst lies he told in the course of a month, in chronological order:  Continue reading.

Surgeon General: Most of US won’t be ready to open by May 1

The Hill logoU.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Friday that most places in the United States would not be able to open up by May 1 amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Asked whether May 1 is a realistic timetable for reopening on Fox News, Adams said that “some places,” where there is strong surveillance in place, would be able to consider reopening at the beginning of May but acknowledged that most of the country would not be in that category.

“There are places around the country that have seen consistently low levels and as we ramp up testing and can feel more confident that these places actually can do surveillance and can do public health follow-up, some places will be able to think about opening on May 1,” Adams said. Continue reading.

He Went to Jared

New York Times logoHeaven help us, we’re at the mercy of the Slim Suit crowd.

A few years ago, when some photos by Times photographers adorning our office walls were swapped out for others, I found one headed for the dumpster.

It captured the scene when Andy Card came over to whisper to George W. Bush, as he read “The Pet Goat” to schoolchildren in Sarasota, that a second plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

It was such a pivotal moment in this country’s history, it seemed too important to toss. So I hung it in my office. 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.

Trump team fiercely debates how long coronavirus restrictions should stay in place

The Hill logoA high-stakes debate is playing out among key figures in President Trump’s orbit over how quickly to loosen restrictions meant to combat the coronavirus.

A number of people around Trump have pushed for prioritizing the economy and sending people back to work as quickly as possible, particularly in less afflicted areas.

But Trump’s own public health officials and some of his allies on Capitol Hill have warned against risking higher infection rates and deaths for the sake of boosting the economy in the short term. Continue reading.

Sec. Mnuchin battles Fox News’ John Roberts on administration’s virus failures: ‘Nobody expected this to take off at the rate it did’

AlterNet logoTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted on Sunday that “nobody” predicted that the new coronavirus pandemic would quickly spread to the United States even though intelligence officials reportedly tried to get the Trump administration to pay attention to the crisis.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, guest host John Roberts questioned Mnuchin about a recent Washington Post investigation which found that the administration ignored the intelligence officials on the spread of COVID-19.

“The intelligence community was giving the White House warnings back in January that the situation coming out of China was very, very serious and would likely end up in a pandemic,” Roberts explained. “Were you ever warned that something like this was coming down pipe because the initial White House reaction appeared to be, ‘Oh, don’t worry. It’s over there in China.’ I was told, why do we need to respond robustly because there’s only 16 cases here.” Continue reading.

CNN’s John King drops a swear word on air after Trump’s galling ‘attack’ on a journalist

AlterNet logoAttacking members of the mainstream media is nothing new for President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly described journalists as “the enemy of the people” and providers of “fake news.” This week, one of Trump’s targets was NBC News’ Peter Alexander, who CNN’s John King is vigorously defending.

During a press conference on the coronavirus crisis, Alexander asked Trump, “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?” And Trump angrily responded, “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question. And I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers, and they’re looking for hope — and you’re doing sensationalism.”

In response, King gave Trump a vehement tongue-lashing on CNN, telling his colleague, Kaitlan Collins, that there was no justification whatsoever for the president’s “bullshit attack” on an NBC News reporter. Continue reading.