Tag: Trump mishandling pandemic crisis

“The Crisis is Worse Because of Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s Failed Leadership”

Minnesota Leaders Respond to Vice-President Pence’s Visit to Minnesota

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Ahead of Pence’s visit to the Mayo Clinic, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin joined Congressman Dean Phillips and State Representative Tina Liebling to highlight the Trump/Pence administration’s broken promises on coronavirus and contrasted the lack of a federal response with the leadership of Governor Walz to expanding testing.

Quote from DFL Chair Ken Martin: “Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership and his decision to force states to go it alone has ultimately made it more difficult for states like Minnesota to get the supplies they need. Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s message to states is clear: you’re on your own. America needs real leadership right now and it’s beyond clear that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not capable of delivering that and effectively guiding our nation through this crisis. Now unfortunately we’re seeing the consequences. The crisis was made worse because of Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s failed leadership.” Continue reading ““The Crisis is Worse Because of Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s Failed Leadership””

‘Like a junkie needs a fix’: Trump mocked after White House cancels coronavirus briefing then quickly adds it back

President Donald Trump hasn’t held a coronavirus task force briefing since Friday, when he abruptly ended it after 21 minutes and took no questions – clearly not wanting to have to answer for his dangerous disinfectant “injection” remarks.

The President’s daily schedule for Monday, released Sunday, included a coronavirus task force briefing which the White House subsequently canceled Monday morning.

It’s back on. Continue reading.

This is what happens when the president acts like an angry 5-year-old

AlterNet logoWhen Trump suggested that the medical community should look into injecting ultraviolet rays and disinfectant into the body in order to combat COVID-19 at his Thursday press briefing, it frankly didn’t surprise me. After all, this is the same guy who thinks exercise kills you, windmills cause cancer, and that we should try dropping a nuclear bomb into hurricanes. In other words, he is an idiot and has been for a long time. What makes his latest nonsense so dangerous is that he is the President of the United States and some people still take him seriously.

So what does the guy who refers to himself as a “stable genius” do when he makes a laughing stock of himself for all the world to see? First of all, he claims that he was asking reporters a sarcastic question, while lying about what he actually said.

Then, when the media zeroed in on the reaction from Dr. Deborah Birx to Trump’s outlandish suggestions, he claims that he was addressing his comments (not sarcastically) to HHS official Bill Bryan. Continue reading.

Trump rips media after taking criticism over coronavirus briefings

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday ripped the media’s coverage of his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, returning to a familiar theme as the White House canceled its coronavirus briefing — another signal is it changing its strategy on messaging.

“There has never been, in the history of our Country, a more vicious or hostile Lamestream Media than there is right now, even in the midst of a National Emergency, the Invisible Enemy!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Trump’s attacks on the media are old news at this point, but the new tweet came amid changing circumstances at the White House. Continue reading.

Failure to count COVID-19 nursing home deaths could dramatically skew US numbers

In New York state, 19 nursing homes have each reported 20 or more deaths from COVID-19. A nursing home in New Jersey reported 70 deaths out of its 500 residents. In the words of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, these homes have become a “feeding frenzy” for the virus and “the single biggest fear.”

With the clustering of people who are frail and have multiple other illnesses like heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease and diabetes, the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 is much higher in nursing homes.

Yet, the United States does not know how many people are dying from COVID-19 in part because the government is only just now requiring nursing homes to start reporting numbers of presumed and confirmed cases and deaths to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Continue reading.

CNN host cuts off GOP lawmaker with brutal fact check after he claims no one took Trump’s Lysol claim seriously

AlterNet logoCNN’s John King was forced to cut off and fact-check a Republican Senator on Sunday morning who tried to dismiss Donald Trump’s comments about using common household disinfectants as a means to cure coronavirus patients.

Speaking with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who was a gastroenterologist before entering the Senate, host King asked about Trump’s startling comments that the president later claimed were “sarcastic.”

“You’re a senator, but you’re also Dr. Cassidy,” King began. “I’m interested in your perspective. If you look at Google searches this past week, after the doctor talked about sunlight and using disinfectants, you see a spike for searches for inject yourself with disinfectant. We’re in the position this past week where the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Surgeon General had to put out public statements saying, and this is my translation, don’t listen to the president, be careful here.” Continue reading.

As Trump Sinks, Times Narrative Is Still ‘Dems In Disarray’

The staggering weight of America’s pandemic continues to come into view with each passing day, as the death toll and the number of lost jobs catapult to new heights. Politically, the carnage represents the worst possible news for the incumbent president, who now has to run for re-election against the grim backdrop of 50,000 deaths and 26 million unemployed, as consumer confidence collapses in record time.

Yet incredibly, the political press remains committed to its longtime ‘Dems In Disarray‘ narrative, deriding Democrats as being forever confused and outsmarted. (They’re not.) Specifically, the campaign coverage for November seems oddly focused on the supposed woes hounding Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Left out or glossed over as the ‘Dems in Disarray’ drums bang loudly? In the last 42 polls regarding the Biden vs. Trump match-up, Biden leads in 39. And two of the other three are ties. How does the press look at that data and conclude that Biden’s the one facing steep hurdles? It’s Both Sides journalism on steroids. It’s a stalwart commitment to pretend the two candidates are facing equal challenges this campaign. (Did I mention the apocalyptic job losses under Trump?) Continue reading.

Home Alone at the White House: A Sour President, With TV His Constant Companion

New York Times logoAs his administration grapples with reopening the economy and responding to the coronavirus crisis, President Trump worries about his re-election and how the news media is portraying him.

WASHINGTON — President Trump arrives in the Oval Office these days as late as noon, when he is usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of television.

He has been up in the White House master bedroom as early as 5 a.m. watching Fox News, then CNN, with a dollop of MSNBC thrown in for rage viewing. He makes calls with the TV on in the background, his routine since he first arrived at the White House.

But now there are differences. Continue reading.

Trump says remarks about heat, light, disinfectant were sarcastic

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday said he was being sarcastic when he suggested multiple times a day earlier that scientists should consider exposing the body to light, heat and disinfectants as a potential treatment for the coronavirus.

“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office bill signing.

“I was asking a sarcastic — and a very sarcastic question — to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” the president continued. “But it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters.” Continue reading.

Trump says he will block coronavirus aid for U.S. Postal Service if it doesn’t hike prices immediately

Washington Post logoThe president said the postal agency should quadruple its package delivery prices and said he will stop congressionally approved funding

President Trump said Friday he would not approve an emergency loan for the U.S. Postal Service if it did not immediately raise its prices for package delivery.

“The Postal Service is a joke,” Trump told reporters responding to a Washington Post report on the Treasury Department’s plans to extract concessions from USPS in exchange for a line of credit Congress approved to aide the agency during the coronavirus pandemic. “The Post office should raise the price [of package delivery] four times.”

Trump recently signed a law that allowed the cash-strapped agency to borrow $10 billion from the Treasury Department. The Post has reported that the White House wants to force changes at the Postal Service as part of the terms of the loan. Continue reading.