Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response

Anger grows at GOP over economic pain: ‘I blame Mitch McConnell the most’

AlterNet logo

With jobless Americans growing increasingly desperate and furious at congressional Republicans for skipping town for summer recess without approving Covid-19 relief, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday ripped the Trump White House for “abandoning” tens of millions of workers and children after her brief conversation with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows yielded zero progress.

“This conversation made clear that the White House continues to disregard the needs of the American people as the coronavirus crisis devastates lives and livelihoods,” the California Democrat said in a statement after speaking with Meadows, an ultra-conservative former congressman, by phone for less than half an hour Thursday afternoon.

The call represented the latest failed attempt to jumpstart relief negotiations that collapsed earlier this month after White House negotiators refused to budge from their trillion-dollar price ceiling and opposition to the $600-per-week federal unemployment supplement, which officially expired on July 31. Continue reading.

Anatomy of a man-made disaster: Here are 595 hard facts about Trump’s abysmal COVID-19 response

AlterNet logo

Crises have a way of sorting the good presidents from the bad.

Historians rank Abe Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt among the top three presidents for their handling of the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II.

By contrast, the string of catastrophes that trailed George W. Bush, from 9/11 to Iraq to Hurricane Katrina to his obliviousness to warning signs in the housing market before the 2008 crash guarantee that he will have a permanent place in the bottom tier of presidents.

Also certain to be at or near the bottom of that list is Donald Trump. Continue reading.

Inside Trump’s pressure campaign on federal scientists over a covid-19 treatment

Washington Post logo

President Trump’s accusatory tweet barreled in at 7:49 a.m. a week ago Saturday: The “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration was trying to sandbag his election prospects by slowing progress on coronavirus treatments and vaccines until after Nov. 3.

Shocked and upset, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who was tagged in the tweet, immediately began calling his contacts at the White House to find out why the president was angry. During his conversations, he mentioned the FDA was on the verge of granting emergency authorization to convalescent plasma as a treatment for covid-19. The agency planned to issue a news release.

The White House would upend those plans, turning a preliminary finding of modest efficacy into something much bigger — a presidential announcement of a “major therapeutic breakthrough on the China Virus,” as White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany previewed in a tweet late that Saturday night. Continue reading.

Secret Service copes with coronavirus cases in aftermath of Trump appearances

Washington Post logo

When President Trump gave a speech to a group of sheriffs in Tampa late last month, his decision to travel forced a large contingent of Secret Service agents to head to a state that was then battling one of the worst coronavirus surges in the nation.

Even before Air Force One touched down on July 31, the fallout was apparent: Five Secret Service agents already on the ground had to be replaced after one tested positive for the coronavirus and the others working in proximity were presumed to be infected, according to people familiar with the situation.

The previously unreported episode is one of a series of examples of how Trump’s insistence on traveling and holding campaign-style events amid the pandemic has heightened the risks for the people who safeguard his life, intensifying the strain on the Secret Service. Continue reading.

Trump Program to Cover Uninsured Covid-19 Patients Falls Short of Promise

New York Times logo

Some patients are still receiving staggering bills. Others don’t qualify because conditions other than Covid-19 were their primary diagnosis.

WASHINGTON — Marilyn Cortez, a retired cafeteria worker in Houston with no health insurance, spent much of July in the hospital with Covid-19. When she finally returned home, she received a $36,000 bill that compounded the stress of her illness.

Then someone from the hospital, Houston Methodist, called and told her not to worry — President Trump had paid it.

But then another bill arrived, for twice as much. Continue reading.

Two P.R. Experts at F.D.A. Have Been Ousted After Blood Plasma Fiasco

New York Times logo

The agency’s chief spokeswoman, Emily Miller, was removed from her position just 11 days into the job. And the contract was terminated of a consultant who had advised the F.D.A. chief to correct misleading claims about plasma’s benefits.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration ousted its top spokeswoman from her position on Friday in an urgent bid to restore the tarnished credibility of the agency after he made erroneous claims that overstated the benefits of plasma treatments for Covid-19 at a news conference with President Trump.

The decision came just a day after the F.D.A.’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, terminated the contract of a public relations consultant who had advised the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, to correct his misleading claims that 35 out of 100 Covid-19 patients “would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.”

The removals come at a moment when the agency, which will be making critical decisions about whether to approve coronavirus vaccines and treatments, is struggling to salvage its reputation as a neutral scientific arbiter. Continue reading.

Senior White House official gave a horrifying reply about the danger of COVID-19 spread

AlterNet logo

A White House official’s flippant response to concerns about the maskless crowds of attendees at the Republican National Convention—and the GOP’s ignoring of the coronavirus’s horrific toll—have sparked widespred outrage this week.

“Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually,” a senior White House official told CNN‘s Jim Acosta Thursday.

Reporting on the fourth night of the convention, Acosta said, “We not only heard a lot of gaslighting tonight, we possibly saw and witnessed some superspreading from this event.” Continue reading.

Health agencies’ credibility at risk after week of blunders

WASHINGTON — The credibility of two of the nation’s leading public health agencies was under fire this week after controversial decisions that outside experts said smacked of political pressure from President Donald Trump as he attempts to move past the devastating toll of the coronavirus ahead of the November election.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration grossly misstated, then corrected, claims about the lifesaving power of a plasma therapy for COVID-19 authorized by his agency. Then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its guidelines to suggest fewer Americans need to get tested for coronavirus, sparking outrage from scientists.

Trump’s own factual misstatements about COVID-19 are well documented, but the back-to-back messaging blunders by public health officials could create new damage, eroding public trust in front-line agencies. That’s already raising concerns about whether the administration will be forthcoming with critical details about upcoming vaccines needed to defeat the pandemic. Continue reading.

Joe Biden: Let’s Get Back in the Game

McConnell’s mask message doesn’t match White House scene

Senate majority leader wants social distancing until a vaccine arrives

If you looked at the South Lawn of the White House Thursday night, you might have thought that the coronavirus pandemic was over.

A crowd estimated at up to 1,500 gathered for President Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for another term — most without masks and with no social distancing.

There were a number of GOP House members and senators in attendance and some, like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were spotted wearing masks. Continue reading.