Category: 2020 Election
Trump uses Republican convention to try to rewrite coronavirus history, casting himself as lifesaving hero
Faced with a pandemic that has killed more than 175,000 Americans, President Trump used glitzy video and misleading testimonials to spin a tale of heroism and resolve far removed from the grim reality of a country in the throes of an uncontrolled public health crisis.
At the Republican National Convention on Monday, Trump was hailed as a bold and lifesaving leader who “was right” on the novel coronavirus while Democrats, doctors and pundits were wrong from the beginning. One campaign-style video that aired during the convention hailed Trump as the “one leader” who stood up to the virus while quoting Democratic figures who played down the severity of the virus in its early stages.
It’s a revisionist version of recent history belied by hours of videotape in which the president minimized the threat of the virus for months, falsely predicted that it would “disappear” with warmer weather, promoted several unproven miracle cures, pushed states to reopen before meeting federal government benchmarks, equivocated on mask-wearing, defied social distancing guidelines and repeatedly told Americans that everything was under control. Continue reading.
More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers endorse Joe Biden on first day of GOP convention
WWASHINGTON — More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers announced Monday they are endorsing Joe Biden for president.
Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania are among those throwing their support behind the Democratic presidential nominee through “Republicans for Biden,” and the endorsements come on the morning of the first day of the Republican National Convention.
Biden has repeatedly emphasized Republican support as he looks to build a broad coalition in his campaign against President Donald Trump. Continue reading.
Scientists express doubts about coronavirus treatment touted as breakthrough by Trump
NOTE: This article is provided free of charge by The Washington Post.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to give emergency authorization for convalescent plasma as a treatment for novel coronavirus patients — touted as a historic breakthrough by President Trump on Sunday — is raising doubts among some experts who say certain claims of its effectiveness are dubious or wrong. View the post here.
Trump breaks with precedent on second night of convention
President Trump broke with precedent on the second night of the Republican National Convention, granting a pardon and participating in a naturalization ceremony at the White House in videos that aired Tuesday during the prime-time event.
Speeches from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and first lady Melania Trump also pushed the boundaries of rules surrounding the mix of politics and governance.
Several portions of the convention used the White House as a backdrop for Trump to put his presidential powers on full display in an election year that has him trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden as he fights for a second term. Continue reading.
RNC Speaker Cancelled After Boosting QAnon Conspiracy Theory About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World
Mary Ann Mendoza, an “angel mom,” was set to speak on Tuesday night. But then she took to Twitter to encourage followers to read a thread about the Rothschilds.
One of the speakers for the second night of the Republican National Convention was pulled from the program after The Daily Beast surfaced a tweet from her, earlier in the day, urging her followers to investigate a supposed Jewish plot to enslave the world.
“Do yourself a favor and read this thread,” Mary Ann Mendoza, who is a member of the Trump campaign’s advisory board, tweeted to her more than 40,000 followers Tuesday morning.
Mendoza, an “angel mom,” was scheduled to speak Tuesday about her son’s 2014 death at the hands of a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. But a Republican source familiar with the programming said the speech had been cancelled amid uproar over her tweet. Continue reading.
Trump turns up pressure on FDA
President Trump is ratcheting up pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus.
The agency on Sunday announced an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients, following extraordinary sustained attacks on the agency by Trump.
The president on Saturday accused the “deep state” at the FDA of slowing the development of treatments and vaccines before the November election. Continue reading.
#TrumpChaos: An Economy in Crisis
Trump just teed up an ‘October surprise’ that’s doomed to fail
On Sunday, Donald Trump held a press conference to announce a “therapeutic breakthrough” that was anything but. Trump said that his FDA had issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for antibody-rich plasma to treat Covid-19 patients, and claimed that he had overcome resistance from members of the “deep state” embedded at the agency to deliver it. Scientists were quick to point out that while plasma therapy has shown promise in some patients, its efficacy hasn’t been established in controlled trials and added that the authorization would have limited impact anyway given that tens of thousands of patients have already received the treatment.
On its face, this seemed like Trump trying to grab some overly credulous headlines heading into the GOP convention. Last week, it was reported that White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro “had aggressively confronted FDA officials” during a meeting to discuss Covid-19, saying, “You are all Deep State and you need to get on Trump Time.’” According to Axios, “Navarro has been venting at the FDA for weeks at what he perceives as its slowness to approve therapeutics” to combat the pandemic.
But Peter Hotez, a pediatrician and vaccine scientist at Baylor University, suggested that there might be more to it than that. “I think the reason why the White House got involved has less to do with an EUA for plasma therapy (although maybe it’s a way they can appear to be doing something substantive) and more to do with getting the public feeling comfortable with EUAs,” he wrote on Twitter. Hotez speculated that their “ulterior motive” was to “lower the bar for EUAs in general, in order to push what they really want – an EUA for a COVID19 vaccine.” Continue reading.
Pompeo draws criticism for convention speech from Jerusalem
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected speech on Tuesday to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem is drawing criticism for using official diplomatic travel to make a political statement in a presidential election year.
Critics say there’s little to no distinction between Pompeo delivering his remarks in a personal capacity, apart from his position as secretary, and that such an overtly political view abandons the tradition of keeping the State Department nonpartisan.
They further accuse the secretary of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal officials from taking part in political activity while on official duty and exploiting Jerusalem, a city sacred to three of the world’s monotheistic religions, for partisan political gain. Continue reading.