Tag: Trump ego

Rep. Phillips Responds to President Trump’s Rejection of Oversight Language in Stimulus

Phillips helped secure key legislation that mandates a Congressional Oversight Commission for a $500 billion fund

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just hours after signing a historic $2.2 trillion stimulus package, President Trump announced that he would attempt to reject certain elements the bill, including provisions introduced by Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) mandating oversight over the spending, including a five-person Congressional Oversight Commission for the $500 billion Treasury Department fund.

“This is the most significant distribution of taxpayer money in human history. Everybody in this country, Republicans, Democrats, and independents agree – we want to see our tax dollars used effectively, efficiently and with accountability and oversight,” Phillips said during an interview with Alex Witt on MSNBC.

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Click here to watch the full interview. Continue reading “Rep. Phillips Responds to President Trump’s Rejection of Oversight Language in Stimulus”

Trump allies fear a premature victory lap against coronavirus

A push by the president to unleash the economy is creating nightmares among some close supporters.

President Donald Trump wants to reopen parts of the U.S. economy hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Allies close to his 2020 campaign operation are raising red flags — warning it could be imprudent to inject more uncertainty into an already unpredictable crisis.

Those concerns intensified this week when Trump identified Easter Sunday as his target date for relaxing some of the social distancing guidelines his administration has put in place to slow the spread of the virus. The prospect of watching Americans shuffle into “packed churches” on April 12, an image Trump said he hopes to see, has alarmed some of his closest supporters who fear that rushing to end the economic clampdown — without full support from public health experts — could have catastrophic consequences on his bid for reelection.

“What worries me is if this goes south,” said former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “If he’s right and there are no new cases, and the business community starts to say how amazing that is, then he’s going to look like a hero.” Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump mulls the biggest gamble of his presidency

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s latest call to reopen the United States economy within weeks has put him on a collision course with public health officials.

If the president goes through with the idea of urging Americans back to work in less than a month, he would be rolling the dice in an extraordinary way amid the worst public health crisis in a century.

The potential downside is enormous. If Trump makes the move and the coronavirus surges anew, U.S. health systems could be overwhelmed and a huge number of people could die. The president would likely be held culpable in the minds of many for such a catastrophe. 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.

‘Going to get millions of people killed’: In all-caps tweet, Trump again undermines expert warnings on coronavirus

AlterNet logoJust 10 minutes before midnight on Sunday, President Donald Trump fired off a cryptic all-caps tweet that was interpreted as an alarming signal that—despite warnings from health experts—he could soon lift the federal social distancing guidelines issued by the White House last week to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” Trump tweeted, suggesting the economic impacts of preventative measures could be more harmful than the further spread of coronavirus. “AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

Trump proceeded to retweet a number of approving responses from his supporters, including one Twitter user who said the U.S. should “isolate the high risk groups and [let] the rest of us get back to work before it’s all over for everyone.” Continue reading.

‘Gee, that’s too bad’ is an encapsulation of Trump’s approach to the pandemic — and politics

Washington Post logoWe see again where Trump’s empathy comes up short

For a second, a brief second, it seemed as if maybe President Trump thought better of the line.

He was asked Sunday about the ability of Senate Republicans to win votes with so many members now in isolation to prevent spreading the novel coronavirus. After inquiring about the senators who were included in that group, Trump was told that one was Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the sole Republican to vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges last month.

The president has a history of continuing to bash those who take key votes against him — like former Arizona senator John McCain — but one would be forgiven for assuming that Romney’s decision to follow government recommendations to isolate to avoid spreading the dangerous virus would not be a jumping-off point for a presidential attack.Continue reading.

Trump: I haven’t consulted past presidents

“I don’t think I’m going to learn much,” he said.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that as he tackles the current national crisis, he doesn’t want to “bother” his predecessors and doesn’t think he’s “going to learn much” from them.

In response to a reporter’s question on whether he would reach out to any former presidents (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama or Jimmy Carter), Trump implied that wasn’t in the cards.

“I think we’re doing an incredible job. So I don’t want to disturb them, bother them,” he said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing. “I don’t think I’m going to learn much and, you know, I guess you could say that there’s probably a natural inclination not to call.” Continue reading.

The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings

Washington Post logoMore and more each day, President Trump is using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

These White House sessions — ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis — are in fact working against that end.

Rather, they have become a daily stage for Trump to play his greatest hits to captive audience members. They come in search of life-or-death information, but here’s what they get from him instead: Continue reading.

CNN’s John King drops a swear word on air after Trump’s galling ‘attack’ on a journalist

AlterNet logoAttacking members of the mainstream media is nothing new for President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly described journalists as “the enemy of the people” and providers of “fake news.” This week, one of Trump’s targets was NBC News’ Peter Alexander, who CNN’s John King is vigorously defending.

During a press conference on the coronavirus crisis, Alexander asked Trump, “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?” And Trump angrily responded, “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question. And I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers, and they’re looking for hope — and you’re doing sensationalism.”

In response, King gave Trump a vehement tongue-lashing on CNN, telling his colleague, Kaitlan Collins, that there was no justification whatsoever for the president’s “bullshit attack” on an NBC News reporter. Continue reading.

Trump’s eruption at an NBC reporter says it all about his alternate reality on coronavirus

Washington Post logoUpdate: Trump’s campaign issued a release Saturday attacking Alexander, even as Trump and the coronavirus task force began their briefing. The release accuses Alexander of arguing there is no “magic drug” for coronavirus, when in fact Alexander was quoting Dr. Fauci saying that.

President Trump on Friday excoriated an NBC reporter for pressing him on whether he was being overly optimistic about the government’s ability to deliver drugs to treat the coronavirus. But the exchange epitomized just how out of tune Trump is with actual developments and his top health officials.

At the daily news briefing, Trump played up the promise of a malaria drug to possibly treat the coronavirus. He was asked about its application to other similar diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome, for which he said he thought the drug had been “fairly effective.”

But then Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading immunologist, stepped in to qualify things. Continue reading.