Tag: Trump actions killing Americans

Trump Administration Paid Millions To Sketchy Supplier For Useless Test Tubes

Since May, the Trump administration has paid a fledgling Texas company $7.3 million for test tubes needed in tracking the spread of the coronavirus nationwide. But, instead of the standard vials, Fillakit LLC has supplied plastic tubes made for bottling soda, which state health officials say are unusable.

The state officials say that these “preforms,” which are designed to be expanded with heat and pressure into 2-liter soda bottles, don’t fit the racks used in laboratory analysis of test samples. Even if the bottles were the right size, experts say, the company’s process likely contaminated the tubes and could yield false test results. Fillakit employees, some not wearing masks, gathered the miniature soda bottles with snow shovels and dumped them into plastic bins before squirting saline into them, all in the open air, according to former employees and ProPublica‘s observation of the company’s operations.

“It wasn’t even clean, let alone sterile,” said Teresa Green, a retired science teacher who worked at Fillakit’s makeshift warehouse outside of Houston for two weeks before leaving out of frustration. Continue reading.

Conservative group linked to DeVos family organizes protest of coronavirus restrictions in Michigan

AlterNet logoProtesters rallied around the country this week against stay-at-home orders forcing nonessential businesses to shut down, but Michigan’s governor warned that they may have backfired by creating “a need to lengthen” the lockdowns.

Protesters in at least six states planned to protest restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the new coronavirus this week. In Michigan, a conservative group linked to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ family organized “Operation Gridlock” to protest restrictions on nonessential businesses and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent order barring travel between homes. The state is among the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, reporting more than 27,000 confirmed cases and 1,909 deaths.

Some protesters, several of whom wore pro-Trump gear, gathered on the capitol steps as many remained in their cars. Demonstrators chanted “recall Whitmer” and “lock her up,” a chant normally usually used by Trump supporters in reference to his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Continue reading.

Trump Turns Daily Coronavirus Briefing Into a Defense of His Record

New York Times logoAlso at the briefing on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said a comment he made that was seen as critical of the president was taken out of context, and Mr. Trump said he did not intend to fire him.

WASHINGTON — President Trump turned Monday’s daily coronavirus task force briefing into an aggressive defense of his own halting response to the pandemic and used a campaign-style video to denounce criticism that he moved too slowly to limit the deadly spread of the virus.

For nearly an hour, Mr. Trump vented his frustration after weekend news reports that his own public health officials were prepared by late February to recommend aggressive social distancing measures, but that the president did not announce them until several weeks later — a crucial delay that allowed the virus to spread.

Mr. Trump broadly mischaracterized an article on his response to the coronavirus, published over the weekend in The New York Times, repeatedly insisting that the United States had very few cases of the virus in early January — six weeks earlier — and angrily mocking a suggestion that was never made: that he should have ordered all schools and businesses shut that month. Continue reading.

Trump removed the head of the coronavirus bailout oversight board. Its members could be next

AlterNet logoIn the wake of President Trump’s move to push aside the official who was supposed to lead the coronavirus bailout watchdog group, four other members are just as vulnerable.

Trump was able to remove the panel’s chosen head, Glenn Fine, by naming a new Defense Department inspector general and bumping Fine to the No. 2 job at the Pentagon watchdog office. No longer an acting inspector general, Fine was disqualified from serving on the panel he was supposed to lead.

Fine’s removal sounded an alarm among Democrats in Congress, who had demanded that spending safeguards be built into the $2 trillion recovery package. House Democrats rushed out a proposed tweak that would stop further removals like Fine’s by opening up eligibility to senior officials in IG offices, not just IGs themselves. Continue reading.

Roosevelt sailor with coronavirus dies

The Hill logoA sailor from the U.S. aircraft carrier stricken with the novel coronavirus has died from complications related to COVID-19, the Navy said Monday.

The sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt was declared dead Monday after being taken to an intensive care unit last week, the Navy said in a statement.

The sailor’s identification is being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin is notified. Continue reading.

‘It is just criminal’: Michigan ER doctor slams Trump and GOP leaders for failing to lead as group plans mass march against COVID-19 quarantine

AlterNet logoAppearing on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” an emergency room doctor hammered Donald Trump for undercutting health officials who have been stating the country has a long way to go before coming out of quarantine and said the president’s actions are “criminal” and will get people killed.

Speaking remotely, Dr. Robert Davidson expressed dismay at the president’s claim that testing will not be necessary for everyone in the country and that the quarantine should end as soon as possible.

The ER doc from hard-hit Michigan explained that fans of the president will suffer if they listen to him and not health officials.
“He said we don’t need a nationwide testing system. It would be nice, but we don’t need it,” said host Reid quoting the president. Continue reading.

The Memo: Political tide on crisis threatens to turn against Trump

The Hill logoThe political tide in the coronavirus crisis is threatening to turn against President Trump, who faces what he himself has called the biggest decision of his presidency on how swiftly to recommend a reopening of a nation buckling under the pandemic’s economic strain. 

Recent polls have shown public approval of his handling of the crisis ticking downward. His overall approval ratings have followed a similar trajectory, reversing the gains he made at the beginning of the crisis.

Trump could also be hurt as the true magnitude of the economic crisis begins to bite. Continue reading.