Tag: Trump putting economy over American lives

Trump, officials describe ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ as cases mount

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Sunday struck a more optimistic tone about the country’s progress in its effort to combat the coronavirus even as some of his top health officials predicted the coming week would be akin to Pearl Harbor or the 9/11 attacks in terms of its impact.

“We see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are happening,” Trump said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing. “We’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. And hopefully in the not too distant future we’ll be very proud of the job we all did. You can never be happy when so many people are dying, but we’re going to be very proud of the job we did to keep the death down to an absolute minimum.”

The president and other members of the task force sought to assure the public that the country may be close to getting through the worst of the pandemic. While Trump spoke of a “light at the end of the tunnel,” Vice President Pence identified “glimmers of hope,” and coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx said data from Italy was giving the U.S. “hope for what our future could be.” Continue reading.

Trump’s Baseless Claim That a Recession Would Be Deadlier Than the Coronavirus

New York Times logoThe opposite is more likely to be true, according to research and experts.

President Trump, in saying that he wanted to reopen the economy by Easter, has argued that an economic downturn would be more deadly than the coronavirus.

WHAT WAS SAID

“You have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death. Probably — and I mean definitely — would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about with regard to the virus.”
— at a news conference on Monday

“You’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression.”
— during a virtual town hall on Fox News on Tuesday

This lacks evidence. Though the question of the overall impact of recessions on mortality remains unsettled, experts disputed Mr. Trump’s claim that an economic downturn would be more deadly than a pandemic. (The White House did not respond when asked for the source of the president’s conjecture.) Continue reading.

States reject Trump calls to reopen economy by Easter

The Hill logoDemocratic and Republican governors, as well as local officials, are pushing back against President Trump‘s signals that he wants to restart the economy by Easter, warning that ending strict social distancing practices could put millions of lives at risk.

Governors have ordered residents to practice those distancing procedures, to varying degrees. Many have ordered residents to stay at home, ordered nonessential businesses closed and banned gatherings of all but a few people.

And several say they will keep those orders in place even if Trump rolls back the few national restrictions he has put in place. Continue reading.