Tag: Trump pettiness

Trump administration orders halt to ‘first of its kind’ COVID-19 testing at home project backed by Bill Gates

AlterNet logoThe Trump administration has ordered an “innovative” and “first of its kind” at home coronavirus testing program that has the support of Bill Gates and other public health experts to cease, and it’s unclear why.

The program, as The New York Times and NPR affiliate KUOW report, is based in Seattle, Washington, and allowed residents to easily test for coronavirus. One of the program’s benefits is 43 percent of its more than 12,000 participants so far were asymptomatic. To date the program has identified dozens of previously-undetected COVID-19 cases.

The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN), operated by researchers from the Seattle Flu Study and Public Health – Seattle & King County, and had an “in-person technical adviser” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was authorized by the State of Washington. Continue reading.

Watchdog office says ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe ouster of vaccine official was retaliatory, his lawyers say

Washington Post logoThe Office of Special Counsel said it would recommend Rick Bright be reinstated during its investigation, according to his lawyers

The Office of Special Counsel has determined there are “reasonable grounds” to believe a former top vaccine official was removed from his post last month for retaliatory reasons and plans to recommend the Department of Health and Human Services reinstate him while it investigates, the official’s lawyers said Friday.

Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, was removed April 20 after having served as BARDA director for nearly four years. He was reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health that HHS touted as part of a “bold new plan” to improve testing to defeat covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Bright filed a whistleblower complaint this week that alleged he was reassigned because he resisted pressure from the department’s political leadership to make “potentially harmful drugs widely available,” including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. President Trump has repeatedly pushedboth as possible coronavirus cures. Continue reading.

Trump and the petty politics of revenge: ‘If the president doesn’t act, people will die’

AlterNet logoThere is no “presidential” pivot coming from Donald Trump. That was clear long before his surprise election victory in 2016, but has never been as painfully evident as it is in the middle of this global pandemic. Faced with a deadly pathogen he can’t simply mock into submission (although he’s trotted out the Twitter nickname shtick to distract from his failures), President Trump has returned to familiar territory: revenge politics.

From his signature corporate tax cuts, which eliminated deductions for state and local income taxes that disproportionately hit blue states, to his legal battles with attorneys general in coastal states like New York and California, President Trump has spent much of his first term sticking it to his political enemies. It’s as close to a consistent ideology as anything he’s ever displayed.

In Puerto Rico, where elected officials publicly criticized his handling of Hurricane Maria, Trump sought to stop federal aid to the recovering island. In Ukraine — a nation he was half-convinced had conspired against him — the president attempted to extract an investigation of Joe Biden in exchange for congressionally-mandated aid. In the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, he appears to prioritize petty fights with Democratic leaders of the blue states that have been hit hardest so far. Continue reading.

Trump lashes out at Democrats in cheering his acquittal as Pelosi declares him ‘impeached forever’ Add to list

Washington Post logoPresident Trump set off a new phase of political warfare Thursday, taking to the East Room of the White House to lambaste his opponents and praise his defenders during a bizarre and caustic performance celebrating his Senate acquittal that followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s declaration that he was “impeached forever.”

Veering between vitriolic and triumphant in a meandering speech that stretched past an hour, Trump sounded off against “vicious and mean” Democrats and “dirty cops” at the FBI, and he individually acknowledged Republican lawmakers he described as “great warriors” for his cause.

“This is a day of celebration because we went through hell,” Trump told the crowd of supporters, describing his impeachment as “all bullshit” and attacking several of his opponents in highly personal terms. He reminded Republicans that their fortunes were inextricably linked to his own — and to his personal views of them. Continue reading.

Trump lambastes his critics as he moves to target perceived enemies over impeachment

Washington Post logoPresident Trump is preparing to push out a national security official who testified against him during the impeachment inquiry after he expressed deep anger on Thursday over the attempt to remove him from office because of his actions toward Ukraine.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — a National Security Council aide who testified during House Democrats’ impeachment hearings — will be informed in the coming days, likely on Friday, by administration officials that he is being reassigned to a position at the Defense Department, taking a key figure from the investigation out of the White House, according to two people familiar with the move who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel decisions.

Vindman had already informed senior officials at the NSC that he intended to take an early exit from his assignment and leave his post by the end of the month, according to people familiar with his decision, but Trump is eager to make a symbol of the Army officer soon after the Senate acquitted him of the impeachment charges approved by House Democrats. Continue reading.

Trump adviser, Bezos escalate feud

The Hill logoPresident Trump‘s top trade adviser and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday escalated their feud over allegations that Bezos has declined to sit down with the White House to discuss the online retail giant’s struggles to combat online counterfeits.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro in an interview with The Hill on Thursday morning accused Bezos of pawning him off on “flacks and hacks” as he sought a personal meeting to talk about curbing the spread of counterfeits on e-commerce platforms like Amazon.

“Bezos is the one guy on high who can quickly fix this problem at Amazon, the market leader,” Navarro said. “So this meeting between Bezos and the White House … it’s not trivial, it can be pivotal in the fight to protect American consumers and workers.”  Continue reading.

DHS Bans New Yorkers From Global Entry Applications, Punishing State For Sanctuary Laws

The move came after President Trump railed against so-called “sanctuary cities” during his State of the Union address.

The Department of Homeland Security banned New Yorkers from taking part in trusted traveler programs, including the popular Global Entry, on Wednesday, a retaliatory move the agency’s chief said came after state lawmakers enacted protections for undocumented immigrants.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said Wednesday on Fox News that, effective immediately, all New Yorkers would be barred from enrolling or re-enrolling in the programs, which are meant to expedite entry into the United States for low-risk travelers. The programs, including Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST, have millions of members nationwide and are often touted at airports as a means to bypass long customs and border protection lines.

Wolf sent a letter to state officials explaining that the agency had taken the step after New York passed its so-called Green Light Law, which allows undocumented residents to obtain a driver’s license. The measure also prohibits personal information held by the Department of Motor Vehicles to be used by DHS or its agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Trump takes victory lap with USMCA signing

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, celebrating a signature legislative accomplishment on trade.

“Today, we are finally ending the NAFTA nightmare and signing into law the brand new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Trump said in remarks Wednesday morning.

“The USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved. There’s never been anything like it.” Continue reading.

Trump Attaches Severe Restrictions to Puerto Rico’s Long-Delayed Disaster Aid

New York Times logoDays after the island was hit by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, the White House released billions in aid but placed limits on how it can be spent.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration imposed severe restrictions on Wednesday on billions of dollars in emergency relief to Puerto Rico, including blocking spending on the island’s electrical grid and suspending its $15-an-hour minimum wage for federally funded relief work.

The nearly $16 billion in funding, released while Puerto Ricans still sleep on the streets for fear of aftershocks from last week’s earthquake, is part of $20 billion that Congress allocated for disaster recovery and preparation more than a year ago, in response to the commonwealth being hit by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development had released only $1.5 billion of the congressional relief, citing concerns about political corruption. Of that, only $5 million has been spent. Continue reading.

Trump is already back to attacking his political opponents over the recent mass shootings

Trump’s plea for bipartisanship following mass shootings didn’t even last two days.

President Donald Trump said in formal remarks Monday that, in the wake of this weekend’s deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, “now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside.”

That window of bipartisanship lasted less than two days. By Wednesday morning, the president had begun lashing out at his Democratic opponents, including trying to blame them for some of the recent tragedies.

Trump tweeted a quote early on Wednesday from conservative news site One America News suggesting that the Dayton, Ohio, shooter was motivated by his support for liberal candidates and causes, including Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

>View the complete August 7 article by Zack Ford on the ThinkProgress website here.