Tag: Trump mishandling pandemic crisis

Chaotic search for coronavirus treatments undermines efforts, experts say

Washington Post logoFederal officials say they are devising plans for a wide-ranging partnership to organize research

In a desperate bid to find treatments for people sickened by the coronavirus, doctors and drug companies have launched more than 100 human experiments in the United States, investigating experimental drugs, a decades-old malaria medicine and cutting-edge therapies that have worked for other conditions such as HIV and rheumatoid arthritis.

Development of effective treatments for covid-19, the disease the virus causes, would be one of the most significant milestones in returning the United States to normalcy. But the massive effort is disorganized and scattershot, harming its prospects for success, according to multiple researchers and health experts. Researchers working around-the-clock describe a lack of a centralized national strategy, overlapping efforts, an array of small-scale trials that will not lead to definitive answers and no standards for how to prioritize efforts, what data to collect or how to share it to get to answers faster.

“It’s a cacophony — it’s not an orchestra. There’s no conductor,” said Derek Angus, chair of the department of critical care medicine at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who is leading a covid-19 trial that will test multiple therapies. “My heart aches over the complete chaos in the response.” Continue reading.

China hawks flex muscle amid coronavirus fallout

The Hill logoThe fallout from the coronavirus is shaking up the U.S.-China relationship on Capitol Hill, as a group of hawkish lawmakers fiercely criticize Beijing’s response to the disease.

Republicans are pushing for their colleagues and the Trump administration to take a more aggressive stance toward Beijing, which they say downplayed the virus’s danger.

China’s government has become a target for criticism for Republicans, along with the World Health Organization (WHO). President Trump on Tuesday said he would halt funding to that organization. Continue reading.

GOP Politician: If We Don’t Blame China For Virus, Voters ‘Will Blame Trump’

Recent polling has shown that a majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. ABC News recently found that 55 percent disapprove of Trump’s response, an increase of 12 percentage points since the middle of March.

At the same time, Trump has blamed China for his administration’s slow response to the outbreak. He repeatedly referred to it as the “Chinese” virus and released a racist campaign ad with a similar message. He repeatedly refers to it incorrectly as the “Chinese virus” even as experts have warned against it. The World Health Organization says that naming viruses after a geographic location is wrong, as it causes unfair stigmatization of people who have nothing to do with the outbreak and its spread.

From the April 14 edition of Steve Bannon’s far-right podcast “War Room”: Continue reading.

Trump Attacks World Health Organization To Deflect From His Own Failures

President Donald Trump is now scapegoating the World Health Organization (WHO), claiming it must be held accountable for what he claims is their fault that the coronavirus spread into the United States. Trump took no responsibility for his actions allowing the coronavirus to spread throughout the U.S.

America is now the number one in the world for deaths and number of cases.

The WHO is Trump’s seventh target for blame to deflect from his horrific mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading.

Bill Gates, in rebuke of Trump, calls WHO funding cut during pandemic ‘as dangerous as it sounds’

Washington Post logoMicrosoft co-founder Bill Gates criticized President Trump’s decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization as “dangerous,” saying the payments should continue particularly during the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds,” Gates tweeted early Wednesday. “Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”

The United States, the organization’s largest donor, has committed to provide the WHO with $893 million during its current two-year funding period, a State Department spokesperson told The Washington Post. Continue reading.

Four Pinocchios for Trump’s claim that he has ‘total authority’ over the states

Washington Post logo“When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.” <

— President Trump, at a White House news briefing, April 13, 2020

Steve Holland, Reuters: “There’s a debate over what authority you have to order the country reopened. What authority do you have on this one?”

Trump: “Well, I have the ultimate authority.”

— Exchange at the briefing

At a coronavirus news briefing Monday, Trump said he could order hunkered-down states to reopen their economies. He claimed to have the “ultimate authority” on such decisions and that his authority was “total.”

This will be a short fact check, because the president of the United States is not a king.

The Facts

After declaring independence from Britain and shaking off the yoke of King George III, the Founders of the United States adopted a system of government in which power would be split between the states and a centralized federal government. Continue reading.

How Trump’s reopening plans could collide with reality

Consumer and business behavior are mostly out of the president’s ability to control.

President Donald Trump is squabbling with governors and calling on a new council of corporate executives as he tries to reopen the American economy as quickly as possible. But his powers are limited not just by the Constitution but by the fact that he has limited sway over the real economy.

Trump can fire off tweets, attempt to bully states into lifting social restrictions and otherwise declare America open for business. But he can’t force companies to reopen or ramp up production until owners and executives believe their workers are ready.

He also can’t make consumers flock back to malls, bars, restaurants, sports arenas or other public areas until they feel comfortable they‘ll be safe from the coronavirus. Continue reading.

HOUSE MEMBERS CHALLENGE GOP LAWMAKERS TO VOTE AGAINST RESOLUTION THAT AFFIRMS PRESIDENTS DON’T HAVE ‘TOTAL AUTHORITY’

Several lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced legislation Tuesday offering a direct rebuke of President Donald Trump’s claim his “authority is total” during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing hours earlier.

New Jersey congressman Tom Malinowski joined Minnesota Democrat Dean Phillips and Michigan Independent Justin Amash in filing the House Resolution that affirms the chamber’s members are in agreement “the president remains limited by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” The House resolution responds to Trump’s remarks Monday declaring he has “total” authority over state governors to reopen the economy when he decides to pull back on weeks of federal government social distancing guidelines. The president did not offer any details about how he plans to assert his power given the states’ rights restrictions present in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

And in a challenge to the president’s most ardent Republican Party supporters in Congress, the House members on Tuesday introduced a single-sentence resolution reaffirming that Trump, or any future U.S. president, does not have total authority over the states. Malinowski remarked in a tweet: “I’m curious if anyone will object” to a resolution which simply affirms what’s written in the Constitution. Continue reading.

On The Trail: Governors rebuke Trump for claiming ‘total’ authority

The Hill logoA looming showdown between President Trump’s eagerness to revive a cratering economy and governors facing a deadly pandemic is leading to what could become the most contentious standoff between state and federal governments since the civil rights era.

For almost 250 years, the competing interests of states and the U.S. government have undergirded the most divisive debates in American history.

Now, as governors and the Trump administration grapple with the combined threats of a fast-moving outbreak that has already claimed tens of thousands of American lives and an economic catastrophe that has cost tens of millions of jobs, state leaders are increasingly at odds with President Trump over how to move through a rapidly evolving crisis. Continue reading.

Trump to halt WHO funding amid review

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday said his administration will halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) pending a review of the global body for what he described as its mismanagement of the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump said at a White House briefing that the United States would suspend funding to the organization while officials conduct a review “to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

The president criticized the WHO for opposing large-scale travel restrictions and accused it of failing to quickly vet and share accurate information on COVID-19. Continue reading.