Tag: Trump trying to hide his botched COVID-19 response to better his re-election chances

With 219,000 Dead, Trump Says Media Are ‘Dumb Bastards’ For Reporting On Covid-19

Donald Trump referred to journalists reporting on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as “dumb bastards” during a campaign rally in Arizona on Monday.

“They’re getting tired of the pandemic, aren’t they? Getting tired of the pandemic. You turn on CNN, that’s all they cover,” said Trump, pointing to the press at the back of the crowd. “You know why? They’re trying to talk everybody out of voting. People aren’t buying it, CNN, you dumb bastards. They’re not buying it.”

More than 219,770 Americans have died from the virus so far, and the death toll continues to rise by the hundreds every day. Continue reading.

What Fans of ‘Herd Immunity’ Don’t Tell You

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A proposal to let people with low risk of infection live without constraint could lead to a million or more preventable deaths.

No matter their politics, people nearly always listen to those who say what they want to hear.

Hence, it is no surprise that the White House and several governors are now paying close attention to the “Great Barrington Declaration,” a proposal written by a group of well-credentialed scientists who want to shift Covid-19 policy toward achieving herd immunity — the point at which enough people have become immune to the virus that its spread becomes unlikely.

They would do this by allowing “those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally.” This, they say, will allow people “to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.” Continue reading.

Trump attacks ‘Fauci and all these idiots,’ says public is tired of pandemic, public health restrictions as infection rates rise

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President Trump dismissed precautions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirusand attacked the nation’s top infectious-disease expert as a “disaster” Monday, arguing that people are getting tired of all the focus on a pandemic that has killed more than 219,000 Americans and continues to infect thousands of people in communities across the country.

The president claimed that voters do not want to hear more from the country’s scientific leaders about the pandemic, responding angrily to a critical interview Sunday night with CBS’s “60 Minutes” by Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” Trump said in a call with his campaign staff Monday that was intended to instill confidence in his reelection bid two weeks before Election Day. He baselessly suggested that Fauci’s advice on how best to respond to the outbreak was so bad it would have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands more people. Continue reading.