Tag: Trump denial

The inside story of how Trump’s denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic’s dark winter

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As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors on President Trump’s task force decided to stage an intervention.

After their warnings had gone largely unheeded for months in the dormant West Wing, Deborah Birx, Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield together sounded new alarms, cautioning of a dark winter to come without dramatic action to slow community spread.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall, was taken aback, according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions. He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment. And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions. Continue reading.

The Law Finally Got Ahead of Trump

Trump has used the legal system’s inherent slowness to his advantage for years. But in his election battle, it finally wasn’t an advantage.

Donald Trump has been in a footrace with the law for most of his adult life. And for the bulk of that time, he’s been able to outrun it. As James Zirin put it in Plaintiff in Chief, his book about Trump’s business dealings, one of many Trumpian legal tactics dating back to the Roy Cohn era was simply to wait out his legal troubles, either by heaving more money at lawyers, appeals, and more process, or by simply bankrupting or terrorizing his legal opponents. More often than not, time buffed the sharp edges off the legal system, and cushioned its consequences. Trump benefited from the same turtle pace of our legal system throughout his presidency. Whether it was slow-moving litigation over the fact that his close associates—like Don McGahn and, relatedly, John Bolton—ignored valid congressional subpoenas and requests, or the endless lawsuits over Trump’s financial documents that are still bogged down in the chutes and ladders of the federal court system, it’s been occasionally maddening to witness the contrast between the glacial pace of a justice system that demands slow and deliberative consideration of facts and the high-speed mayhem one person can wreak if he is inclined to ignore facts, invent new facts, and thus persistently remain 10 steps ahead of any accountability.

Continue reading “The Law Finally Got Ahead of Trump”

‘I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators’: Trump questions New York’s plea for critical equipment

Washington Post logoPresident Trump cast doubt Thursday on New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s assertion that his state, which has become the epicenter for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, will need 30,000 ventilators to properly care for the influx of patients anticipated to flood hospitals in coming weeks.

“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a phone interview. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’

The president’s comments came shortly after the New York Times reported that the White House had abruptly called off a plan to announce this week that General Motors and Ventec Life Systemswould be partnering to produce as many as 80,000 ventilators, citing concerns with the deal’s $1 billion price tag. Continue reading. Free article.