The Art of Mismanagement
The following is a factual timeline of President Trump’s response to COVID-19.
Pre-Pandemic Planning & Response
The Obama Administration’s Ebola coordinator, Ron Klain, began formulating a document in late 2015 titled “Playbook for the Early Response to High Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents”, a 69-page National Security Council guidebook. The Trump administration transition team was fully briefed on this guidebook immediately following the election. Trump and his team put the document on a shelf and ignored it.
In 2018, Trump instructed John Bolton, Former National Security Advisor, to shut down the Pandemic Preparedness Office, along with budget cuts to HHS and the CDC. Two days later, Trump denied having anything to do with the closure.
December 31, 2019
January 6, 2020
The CDC issues a “Level 1” travel advisory for Wuhan, China.
January 11, 2020
China releases the Genetic Sequence of the Coronavirus, enabling scientists worldwide to begin developing testing for the virus.
Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC said,
January 15, 2020
The National Security Council received Intel reports predicting the worldwide spread of the virus and strongly advised keeping Americans home and potentially shutting down cities with large populations like Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit. Trump ignored the briefing and did not take any action until March.
January 18, 2020
HHS Secretary Azar spoke to Trump to emphasize the threat of the virus as the U.S. began evacuating diplomats from Wuhan. The WHO declared a Global Emergency. Trump did nothing.
Coronavirus Comes Ashore
January 21, 2020 1 U.S. case 0 deaths
The first known case of the virus in the United States is reported near Seattle, WA, a man who returned from visiting family in Wuhan, China
On the same day, we get the first comments from Trump concerning the virus in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos
He failed, although advised to do so by HHS, to ramp up production of test kits to begin isolating the virus.
January 24, 2020 2 U.S. cases 0 deaths
President Trump tweeted,
Coronavirus Task Force Announced
January 29, 2020 5 U.S. cases 0 deaths
The White House announces the formation of a coronavirus task force to be led by HHS secretary Alex Azar. It includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and Dr Robert Redfield Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Memo by Trade Advisor Peter Navarro laid out potential risks of the virus with as many as half a million deaths and trillions of dollars in Economic losses. Trump later claims he never read the memo. Told the press “Peter writes a lot of memos”.
January 30, 2020 5 U.S. cases 0 deaths
HHS Secretary Azar directly warned Trump of the possibility of a Pandemic, his second warning in two weeks. Trump calls Azar “an alarmist.”
January 31, 2020 7 U.S. cases 0 deaths
HHS Secretary Azar declares the coronavirus a Public Health Emergency
February 2, 2020 8 U.S. cases 0 deaths
When asked in an interview with Sean Hannity about how concerned he was about the virus , Trump stated once again that “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
Within the next few days, the U.S. had 14 confirmed cases, but the CDC test kits had proved faulty. Their tests were poorly designed and there weren’t enough of them and they were restricted to only people who were showing symptoms. Trump’s pandemic response was in its first stages of failure.
February 10, 2020 11 U.S. cases 0 deaths
Trump begins one of his many attempts to downplay the pandemic, baselessly predicting it would disappear when the weather got warmer.
HHS Azar announces that the government was establishing a “Surveillance Team” in five American cities to monitor the virus and project the next “hot spots.” Trump ignored the project and delayed the project by several weeks.
February 12, 2020 12 U.S. cases 0 deaths
CDC’s Messonnier acknowledges that there are problems with the test kits. The lack of functional test kits at State labs means that all samples had to be sent back to the CDC, and additional limits were placed on who could be tested. At this time, Trump begins to blame the states for their lack of preparedness. The degree of risk has the potential to change very quickly.
Healthcare Official Warnings Go Unheeded
February 24, 2020 51 U.S. cases 0 deaths
Nations top Health officials try to convince Trump, once again, to warn the nation of inherent risks and urging Social Distancing and staying at home. Instead, Trump tweeted
As for warning the country, Trump, fearing the effect on the Market and the Economy, waited until mid-March to recommend Social Distancing to the country. No coordination with other countries was ever seen.
February 25, 2020 55 Cases 0 deaths
CDC officials sounded the alarm that daily life could be severely disrupted. The window for containing the virus by testing and containment was rapidly closing. Trump threatened to fire Dr. Messonnier, one of the country’s top scientists and health specialist on the same level as Dr. Fauci, after saying a pandemic in the U.S. was inevitable.
February 26, 2020 60 cases 0 deaths
The fallout from Dr. Messonnier’s comments continued. Trump replaced HHS Secretary Azar, as the head of the task force with VP Pence.
Trump tweets
February 27, 2020 64 cases 0 deaths
At a press conference, when asked if U.S. schools should be preparing for a spreading of the virus, Trump said,
That same day, at a White House meeting with African-American leaders
“It’s going to disappear. One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.”
February 28, 2020 64 cases 0 deaths
Then-White House chief of Staff Nick Mulvaney,
At a political rally in South Carolina Trump said,
“Now the Democrats are trying to politicize the coronavirus………One of my people came up to me the other day and said, “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia.” Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax, based on a perfect conversation. They tried everything, over and over. And this is their new hoax!”
At the same time, he compared the coronavirus to the flu.
First U.S. Death
February 29, 2020 68 cases 1 death
As states begin to complain about the lack of Personal Protection Equipment and testing supplies, HHS Secretary Azar confirmed, the Trump administration was weighing using special executive authority to spur the production of gear like protective masks that could be used to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
To try to boost testing capacity, the FDA allows university and state public health laboratories to develop and perform their own tests.
It was at about this time, at the beginning of March, that Trump made the decision to lie to the American public about his handling of the virus and instead begin to brag about what a great job “he” had done.
Testing for “Everyone”
March 3, 2020 118 cases 7 deaths
VP Pence announces that the CDC will issue new guidance saying that anyone can be tested for the coronavirus, subject to a doctor’s order. But major problems with testing, including the lack of testing equipment and no plan as to where tests will take place, negate most of this announcement.
March 4, 2020 181 cases 8 deaths
Trump in an interview on Fox when told that the percentage of diagnosed coronavirus deaths worldwide had hit 3.4%
March 5, 2020 217 cases 12 deaths
President Trump Tweets,
March 6, 2020 262 U.S. cases 17 deaths
Trump, while visiting CDC Headquarters, with his MAGA cap on
“Anybody who wants a test can get a test. That’s the bottom line.”
This was blatantly false, as testing capacity at that time was approximately 75,000 tests nationally, according to the CDC. In a press briefing, Trump says
Later that day, Trump signs an $8.3 billion Emergency Funding Bill. The following day, Infections almost double in the US, without any legitimate testing being done.
March 7, 2020 548 U.S. cases 22 deaths
When asked if he was concerned about the growing threat of the virus in the Washington DC area., Trump says,
“No, I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.”
March 9, 2020 769 cases 26 deaths
Trump tweets,
March 10, 2020 959 cases 28 deaths
Trump explained to reporters at the Whitehouse,
WHO Announces Global Pandemic
U.S. passes 1,000 cases in 12 days
March 11, 2020 1,281 cases 36 deaths
As the number of infections crosses 1,000 for the first time, Trump, in an oval office address
“The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low.”
Dr, Anthony Fauci, in a House Oversight meeting
The WHO declares the Coronavirus a Global Pandemic.
March 12, 2020 1,663 cases 41 deaths
The FDA authorizes the first privately developed test for the virus, They are touted as the key to expanding testing, but the ramp-up remains painfully slow.
March 13, 2020 2,179 cases 47 deaths
As the numbers begin to grow, Trump is asked at a White House Rose Garden press briefing whether he takes any responsibility for the mishandling of the pandemic,
“No, I don’t take any responsibility. No responsibility at all.”
Trump calls on states to request a “major disaster” designation. It takes Trump over a month to approve the designation in all 50 states, again losing precious time in fighting the spread of the virus.
At this time it became painfully obvious that the White House and Trump have no overall long-term plan going forward in mitigating this crisis, and even short-term planning is mired in confusion.
Over the next few weeks, as the virus began to spread, and the number of infections grew by over 1,000 per day, with state governors shutting down schools and workplaces and stopping the American economy in its tracks, Trump passed on every opportunity to get ahead of the crisis.
It became painfully obvious that Trump’s priority was never going to be about the public health. It was all about making the virus seem like nothing but a nuisance so that “the numbers” would “look great” for his re-election.
March 15, 2020 3,499 cases 63 deaths
Admiral Brett Giroir, the “testing czar” of HHS
“We will have 1.9 million of these high-throughput test available this week.”
This number of test results, in actuality, were not completed until April 6th, beginning an Administration trend of misleading the public about the progress of the fight against the virus.
Keep Your Distance
March 16, 2020 4,632 cases 85 deaths
President Trump announces Social Distancing Guidelines
March 17, 2020 6,421 cases 108 deaths
As the number of deaths passes 100 for the first time, in a Task Force briefing Trump states,
Again, there is no mention of any cohesive plan, and no mention of medical updates by his ever-changing task force, except what he wants them to say.
March 18, 2020 7,783 cases 118 deaths
Trump announces he’ll be invoking the Defense Production Act “just on case we need it.” He would later say he only did it for “leverage.” His failure to not use it cost the U.S. valuable time in the fight against the virus. As Governors in all 50 states began to complain that they could not get essential PPE, Ventilators, Masks etc. and told Trump they were in a “bidding war” even if they could find the equipment, Trump told them in no uncertain terms that they were “on their own” and that the White House was not a purchasing agent for the States. He made it known that he was more than willingly to take credit for anything positive but was going to wash his hands of anything negative.
March 19, 2020 13,474 cases 200 deaths
California Gov. Gavin Newsome issues a “shelter in place” order.
March 22, 2020 33,276 cases 417 deaths
After hearing a phrase used by a Fox host earlier, Trump tweets
Again, it became evident that Trump had no plan on how to fix the virus problem. And he wasted another two weeks.
States Order Shutdowns
March 23, 2020 43,843 cases 557 deaths
Ohio Gov Mike DeWine issues stay-at-home order except for essential functions. Over the course of the following week, other state governors will do the same thing.
Trump says at the task force briefing later that same day,
Trump will use this phrase multiple times over the next several weeks. When asked by a reporter during the Q&A session what that really means, Trump said it was self-explanatory.
March 24, 2020 53,736 cases 706 deaths
Trump begins his push for opening the country by Easter.
“ Easter is a very special day for me. And I see it sort of in that timeline that I’m thinking about. And I say, wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches packed on Easter Sunday?”
March 25, 2020 65,778 cases 942 deaths
Asked at a press briefing Trump laments that no one saw this pandemic coming.
This comment is directly at odds with his earlier statement at the beginning of March in which he declared that
When asked about the claim by states that they didn’t have enough Ventilators. Trump lashed out
Over 1500 Deaths in Under 30 Days
March 27, 2020 101,657 cases 1,581 deaths
As the number of infections rises and the death rate passes 1,500, Dr Anthony Fauci, in an interview on NPR said,
Trump uses the Defense Production Act as a threat to order General Motors and a health care vendor to begin producing Ventilators, as well as to speed the production of N95 masks. In a tweet later that day,
General Motors had sold the Lordstown plant a year earlier.
In a separate tweet, Trump appeared to confirm that the White House (Jared Kushner) and GM had negotiated a deal that would have produced up to 80,000 Ventilators, but it fell through because Trump felt the $1Billion price tag was too high. Once again, the great negotiating skills of Trump were on display.
He could not resist blaming Mary Barra, the CEO of GM. He had criticized CEO Barra since 2019 when she announced the closing of five GM plants in North America, after he had bragged about the growth of American Manufacturing to his base.
March 29, 2020 140,909 cases 2,467 deaths
In his Coronavirus Task Force press briefing President Trump urged citizens to continue social distancing guideline
After pressure continues to build, Trump grudgingly announces during his briefing (again) that the “15 days to slow the spread” guidelines will continue through the end of April, after health advisors Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx show him modeling that shows the potential for hundreds of thousands of deaths without strong social distancing measures.
March 31, 2020 188,172 cases 3,874 deaths
Dr. Fauci, in the daily task force briefing, after saying that modeling indicated at least 100,000 Americans could die from the virus in a very short period of time. The model proved to be right. U.S. Deaths surpassed 100,000 on May 27th.
“No one is denying the fact that we are going through a very, very difficult time.”
At this time, rumors began about Trump wanting to fire Dr. Fauci.
Krafting a PPE Plan
April 2, 2020 243,622 cases 5,929 deaths
Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, getting more frustrated and angry by the total failure of the Trump administration to act, sends his Team plane to………….China……to get needed PPE supplies for Massachusetts, New York and other states in the Tri-State region. Kraft paid close to $2 million for 1.2 million N95 masks and other needed supplies to the region. This is similar to what Larry Hogan, the Republican Governor of Maryland, will later do, exploiting his wife’s South Korean heritage, much to Trump’s consternation.
Rearranging the Deck Chairs
As the number of deaths rises to close to 6,000, Trump begins to shift the players on the podium around for his daily press briefing. He brings in Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, known for his failure to secure a Middle East peace plan or to end the opioid epidemic in this country, the two major responsibilities he has had since joining the White House staff. He also parades Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in front of the cameras at the briefing, where Pompeo urges everyone to begin calling the COVID-19 the ”Wuhan Virus” and the “Chinese Virus” as the effort to place total blame on China for the virus ramps up. It also becomes very apparent that Dr. Fauci is not attending as many briefings as he previously was. This leaves the majority of “health facts” to Trump, as he ramps up his efforts to control the narrative.
At the task force briefing that day Trump states,
At the Q&A session at the end of the briefing, Trump’s nastiness toward reporters increases tremendously. It becomes obvious that he cannot answer many of the questions they ask him, so he resorts to insulting them and dismissing them.
April 3, 2020 275,367 cases 7,090 deaths
Leading scientists as well as the CDC recommend that Americans wear simple cloth masks when going out in public and emphasizes the need to do it in areas with extensive community transmission of the virus. Yet President Trump, opines about masks,
“So with the masks, it’s going to be, really, a voluntary thing. You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it, and that’s okay. It may be good. Probably will. They’re making a recommendation. It’s only a recommendation. It’s voluntary.”
Trump’s disdain for Science sets up an argument that will continue through today, purposely setting those who believe in the Science of the prevention of the virus spread against those who believe in the Trump theory that this will “all disappear like a miracle one day.”
It’s All About the Economy
April 4, 2020 308,650 cases 8,408 deaths
At this point, Trump’s rhetoric ceased to even hint that he cared about the lives lost. Instead, he turned to the economy. And he would stay on that track throughout April and May and into June. His rallying cry was “open the country.”
At his afternoon press briefing that, with the lack of scientists, had become nothing more than a campaign rally Trump states,
His decision, of course, was to try to convince the American people that those who perished from the virus were “Warriors” in the war to open the economy back up. The number of deaths meant nothing to him compared to the what the falling economy would do to his re-election campaign.
With no hope of re-opening the country by Easter, Trump now turned his focus on a “Miracle Cure”, Hydroxychloroquine, a drug used for decades as a drug to treat Malaria and Lupus that lacked any scientific evidence that it was effective in the treatment of Covid-19.
“Miracle Cure”
April 5, 2020 347,112 cases 10,012 deaths
In his Sunday press briefing, Trump says,
“We bought a tremendous amount of Hydroxychloroquine, which I think is, you know, a great Malaria drug. It’s worked unbelievably, it’s this very powerful drug on Malaria. And there are signs that it works on this, some very strong signs. And in the meantime, it’s been around a long time, and also works very powerfully on Lupus.”
But in a CBS Face the Nation Interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said
“In terms of science, I don’t think we can definitively say it works.” “The data are really just at best suggestive. There have been cases that show there may be an effect and there are others to show there’s no effect.”
Trump during the April 5th press briefing said,
“I’m not a doctor, but I have very good common sense. The FDA feels good about it. As you know, they’ve approved it, they gave it a very rapid approval, and the reason is it’s been out there a long time, and they know the side effects and they also know the potential.”
This is blatantly false, as the FDA has not, to this day, approved hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus.
Diverting Treatments for Arthritis and Lupus sufferers
Trump also said,
“My administration has purchased and stockpiled 29 million pills of hydroxychloroquine, 29 million. A lot of drugstores have them by prescription, and they’re not expensive. We’re sending them to various labs, our military, to hospitals. We’re sending them all over. A huge number of our first responders are taking the drug, and it’s keeping them healthy.”
Trump’s statements were a lie. His administration didn’t purchase any pills……they were donated by Sandoz, a generic subsidiary of drug manufacturer Novartis. And there was absolutely no proof that any of the first responders were taking the drug. Trump’s announcements about the drug caused a run on the drug nationwide preventing patients suffering from Arthritis and Lupus from refilling their much needed prescriptions.
The confusion between hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate, a drug marketed as an anti-parasitic used in fish tanks also mentioned in several of his briefings, caused several people to be hospitalized and resulted in multiple deaths.
Testing continues to Lag
The month of April continued to turn into more of a campaign effort, as the almost daily afternoon press briefings highlighted what a “really great” job Trump and his administration had been doing since the very beginning. Although progress on testing had been made in March, it appeared that Trump had lost interest in that subject as his focus on the economy grew. Experts were in agreement that the U.S. needed at a minimum 500,000 to 1,000,000 test a day to safely end social distancing measures. Some progress was made in March, as tests grew from a few dozen to almost 100,000 a day.
Trump bragged that we were testing “more than any other country.”, although that, too, was blatantly false. In the last week of April, testing had reached a high of 200,000 test per day, nowhere near the minimum of 500,000 experts wanted to see. And the country was now reporting a growth in coronavirus cases between 25,000 and 30,000 per day.
Trump’s Alternative Therapies
April 23, 2020 865,585 cases 48,816 deaths
As Trump became desperate for a “miracle” cure to end this crisis and allow him to get back to his rallies, at one of his last afternoon press briefings, Trump produced undoubtedly his greatest gaffe of the entire crisis. After a presentation where it was mentioned that disinfectants , such as bleach, could kill the coronavirus on surfaces and in the air. At that point, when he came back to the lectern, he said
“I see that the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that with an injection inside, like a cleaning? It could get to the lungs. Wiping out the virus. And what about strong light? Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And then, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way.”
Trump later turned to his medical experts, who were sitting in stunned silence, and said
“And I think you said you were going to test those things, right? Sounds interesting”
These comments set off a chain of warnings by the manufacturer of Lysol and a number of other bleach-related products.
Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and emergency room physician at University Hospitals in Cleveland had this to say
“We’ve heard this president trying to practice medicine without a license for several weeks now, but this is a new low that is outside the realm of common sense and plausibility.” Even today, months later, emergency rooms are reporting many instances of people gargling with Clorox and needing urgent medical attention.
Punking the Press
April 24, 2020 895,458 cases 50,439 deaths
As the number of cases nears the 1 million case mark, Trump walks back his remarks about bleach and ultra-violet light that he made the previous day, saying,
“I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen.”
With that, Trump abruptly leaves the briefing without attending the Q&A session. The briefings would soon cease completely.
Rudderless Response
As the month of May begins, the only constant seems to be inconsistency. At times he appears to be in sync with the experts attempting to advise him, but more often than not he has undercut and contradicted these same experts.
He has gone from downplaying the risk of the virus to overselling the availability of testing kits and contact tracing, to first encouraging social distancing to openly questioning whether those measures were causing too much economic pain to “his” economy. His early repeated assertions that the virus would have “minimal or no impact” later morphed into a new assertion that he knew this was a pandemic all along. He claimed “total authority” over all of the decisions being made but then insisted that it was really up to the states to manage the response to the crisis.
His comments turned increasingly to how well “he” was handling all of this. How his testing program was the greatest in the world. How the leaders of other countries have called him to ask how he has done so well in negating the virus, when, in actuality, he had ignored the rest of the developed world, refusing to participate in joint Coronavirus forums, and testing in the U.S. was ranked 25th in the world.
Traditional Global crisis leadership had disappeared and the U.S. became a Global pariah and a country that became pitied. He bragged to the American public that “he had been taking the hydroxychloroquine for two weeks, and he was “just fine”, although most of America, other than his base, did not believe this.
Lashing Out
Once again, other than opening the economy, there was absolutely no plan for stopping the virus by Trump. His full attention was turned to some very familiar themes: Finding someone to blame for the virus, from China to Obama to the WHO and the CDC. To that end, he cut off U.S. funding to the WHO. His tweets became even more cruel and nasty, to the point where he used Memorial Day to call a Marine Veteran Congressman “a fraud”, and promoted conspiracy theories that a veteran news reporter committed murder. It was now, “business as usual” as if the virus never existed.
By the end of May, there were 1,787,680 known cases of the virus in the U.S. and 104,396 people had died. Over 50,000 people had died during the month of May, and the numbers were continuing to rise.
Who Needs WHO?
As of June 4, nearly 1,900,000 cases of the virus had been reported and over 108,000 deaths, and Trump had announced his terminating of the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization, to include a stoppage of all much needed funding in the middle of a Global Pandemic!
As the month of June rolled by, Trump was consumed by the protests in every major city over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. But he still had time to plan his first rally in several months, in Tulsa Oklahoma. Despite surging numbers of new cases in Tulsa and nationwide, Trump orchestrated an indoor rally in a building planned to hold between 19-20 thousand people. After bragging for months that a million reservations had been pre-sold, less than 7,000 people actually showed up. During his speech he said that the “virus was dying out.” He also made the outrageous claim that “Testing is overrated.” He went on to explain that “The numbers have gone up because “he” had ordered so much testing.
“We lead the world in number of tests. When you have that many tests, the numbers are going to go up. So I told my people, slow down the testing. Just slow it down.”
He also suggested that some Americans who wear masks do so not only to guard against the virus, but perhaps to display their hatred for him.
June 22, 2020 2,302,302 cases 120,333 deaths
The U.S. death toll passed 120,00 lives.
June 23, 2020 2,336,615 cases 121,117 deaths
At a Turning Point Action address to Young Americans Trump repeated his oft claimed proclamation, ‘It’s going away.”
American Exceptionalism
June 25, 2020 2,414,870 cases 124,325 deaths
In a briefing at the White House, Trump said,
“The Coronavirus deaths are way down. Mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world. Our economy is roaring back and will NOT be shut down again. Embers, or flare ups, will be put out as necessary.”
The truth was that, on that date, although the U.S. had just 4% of the Global Population, we had 25% of Global coronavirus cases and the second highest death rate per capita in the world.
As the country moved into July, with the number of cases and deaths rising at what seemed to be unstoppable numbers, Donald Trump decided to hold a campaign rally at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. On July 3rd, in a speech lasting just 40 minutes, Trump spent less than 5 minutes addressing the Pandemic crisis, “thanking doctors, nurses and scientists working tirelessly to kill this virus.”
On Saturday evening, July 4th, at the White House, before a small crowd of first responders and their families, Trump once again touted the number of tests conducted in the US, claiming that the U.S. was leading the world in the number of tests, a claim that once again was blatantly false. At that point in early July, the U.S. was not even in the top 10% of countries who were actively testing. He also stated that
He then went on to proclaim that “the U.S. will have a vaccine solution long before the end of the year.” He had absolutely no basis for either of these claims.
As the virus continued to spike in Texas, California and Florida, Trump kept his focus on everything and anything that would shift the Public narrative to anything but the Pandemic: Law and order, “our Heritage”, the statues that represented the Confederacy and, of course, his jobs report. Meanwhile, Governors across the country shut down beaches, bars and other businesses due to the rising numbers of cases . A few days later, United Airlines announced that, despite receiving billions of dollars in Federal Aid, it may furlough as many as 36,000 employees.
Masking the Truth
July 15, 2020 3,478,017 cases in the U.S. 137,106 deaths
This date, and these numbers, may be the last legitimate numbers we see concerning the actual effect of the COVID-19 in the US. Today Trump ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC in Atlanta and send all COVID-19 information to a central database in Washington. The handoff had an immediate effect. By late Wednesday afternoon one of the important CDC webpages that tracked how many hospital beds in the U.S. were occupied by COVID-19 patients had ceased to operate. The CDC confirmed that the page’s disappearance was the result of Trump’s bypass order.
This previous day, the Trump White House continued its attack on the credibility of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top Infectious disease specialist. Peter Navarro, who is neither a Doctor nor a Scientist, but is the White House Senior “Trade Advisor”, penned an OpEd published in USA Today that said Dr. Fauci had been wrong on multiple occasions with the advice he had given the President. He said he only listens to Dr. Fauci “with skepticism and caution.”
Science is Optional
July 17, 2020 3,630,587 cases in the U.S. 138,782 deaths
- Trump makes a concerted effort to downplay recommendations of his own Health experts as he ramped up pressure to open schools.
- Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s Press Secretary, said “we cannot let science dictate whether we should open schools.
- Ashish Jha, the Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said that reopening schools in heavily infected states would backfire.
- NY Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced that the nation’s largest public school system would not reopen in the fall.
- Harvard University and MIT announced that it has sued the Federal Government over an Executive order that would require international Students to attend classes in person.
We Don’t Need No “Stinkin” Testing
July 18, 2020 3,698,161 cases in the U.S. 139,659 deaths
Trump is trying to force Senate Republicans to remove billions of dollars from the Stimulus Proposal that would be used to fund Coronavirus Testing and the CDC plan for Contact Tracing. At the same time Trump stated that he “Doesn’t agree” with CDC Director Robert Redfield’s Guidelines on Mask wearing.
In an op-ed on CNBC this week, Former White House Chief of Staff Nick Mulvaney argued that the U.S. still has a “massive testing problem.” “Any stimulus should be directed at the root cause of our recession: dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. I know that isn’t popular with most Republicans, but we still have a testing problem in this country.”
Leading by Bad Example
July 22, 2020 3,970,000 confirmed cases 144,000 deaths
As both the confirmed case count and the death count in the U.S. continued to surge, Trump brought back his daily briefings for the first time since his infamous comments on drinking Lysol and somehow getting ultra-violet light into the body somehow as possible cures. He still managed to lie about the numbers and the virus landscape in general even though it became painfully obvious that he was reading from a totally scripted speech. The day before Trump tweeted,
Ignoring the fact that the U.S. continued to lead the world in both confirmed cases and deaths. Moreover, the U.S. ranked ninth in the world in testing on a per-capita basis. Glaringly missing from the briefing were any Health Department or Science experts. He also claimed that the Governors were praising “him” for providing them with all the PPE and Ventilators that they needed. Most of the Governors asked about this after the briefing exposed this as a lie. Hospitals were filling up, and ICU beds were in short supply.
Trump also claimed during the press conference that he has several calls each day from leaders of other countries asking him how he has managed to do so well against the virus. In truth, Trump has absolutely no contact with leaders of other countries.
Children Stop COVID-19 Cold
July 23, 2020 4,026,300 confirmed cases 144,032 deaths
As the Coronavirus cases passed 4 million confirmed cases for the first time, with 1 million of those coming in just the last 15 days, Trump held his third press briefing in three days. Once again, there were no health experts at the briefing. Trump explained the previous day, “they are briefing me. I’m meeting them. I just spoke to Dr. Fauci. Dr. Birx is right outside. And they giving me all of — everything they know, as of — as of this point in time. And I’m giving the information to you, and I think it’s probably a very concise way of doing it. It seems to be working out very well.”
The same day, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos claimed that
“children were Covid-19 stoppers, and they don’t transmit the virus.”
As with Peter Navarro, the “Trade Advisor”, DeVos is neither a Health professional nor is she a scientist. Yet Trump allows her to make these sort of announcements as if she is. Later that day, during a Fox interview, Trump said that “testing is overrated, but he will continue them”, proving that, 5 months into the Pandemic, he still has no understanding of what this virus is doing to the country.
Trump Bogeys
July 26, 2020 4,339,929 confirmed cases 146,591 deaths
With the country moving quickly toward 150,000 deaths, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, spent the weekend GOLFING at his resort in Bedminster NJ. So far since he took the oath of office, Trump has played golf 302 times at a cost to Taxpayers of $138 million. In comparison, NY City spent $95 million for testing since the Pandemic started.
July 28, 2020 4,433,450 confirmed cases 148,450 deaths
At his afternoon press conference, Trump inaccurately suggested that large portions of the country no longer have any transmission of the virus.
“We’re seeing improvements across the major metro areas and most hotspots. You can look at large portions of our country; it’s — it’s corona-free. But we are watching very carefully California, Arizona, Texas, and most of Florida. It’s starting to head down in the right direction, and I think you’ll see it rapidly head down very soon. But if you look, California, Arizona, Texas, and, for the most part, most of Florida, it’s starting to head down.”
When asked where those major metro areas were, the White House had no answer. But USAFacts, a not for profit group that supplies data to the CDC, found that only 230 counties in the U.S. did not report any new cases in the past week, and they accounted for a total of 0.5% of the population.
The Emperor has No Clothes
July 31, 2020 4,545,737 Confirmed cases 153,782 deaths
As we begin to move into August, the eighth month that the coronavirus pandemic has been with us, the majority of Health and Science experts, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, began to strongly refute all of Trump’s statements regarding the virus. That includes, every member of the Coronavirus Task Force soundly refuting Trump’s consistent lies about Hydroxychloroquine as a cure .
Trump is also taking aim at getting schools open. He has pushed the idea that “children” are “almost immune” to the virus. Once again, the Health experts on the Task Force, as well as other scientists throughout the US, have strongly rebuked Trump’s comments.
With less than 100 days left until the 2020 Presidential election, Trump has turned the majority of his energy to other “shiny objects” to distract the American people from the horrors of the Coronavirus pandemic. There will be no National Policy on the virus forthcoming. The confusion that he has elicited over the past 7 months will remain just that……. Confusion. On this date, polls have indicated that his approval rating for handling the Pandemic is in the mid-thirties (34%). Unless this virus “disappears, like a miracle” as he has frequently stated at his briefings, his failure to provide any semblance of leadership during this crisis will, in all likelihood, cost him the election.
Deep State of Denial
August 3, 2020 4,696753 confirmed cases 156,505 deaths
With 90 days left until the elections, Trump has continually returned to the same rhetoric that he has used since the Pandemic started. In a series of late night tweets, he called Dr. Fauci a “fraud” over their disagreements about Hydroxychloroquine as a cure, even though the vast majority of scientific experts have agreed with Dr. Fauci. Trump tweeted that “it works great” at the same time that the FDA stated that there is massive evidence that it doesn’t work. In a later tweet that same day, Trump claimed that “the virus is receding.” Meanwhile, with 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has 25% 0f the world’s deaths. Scientific experts are saying that it is possible that we will have upwards of 19,000 deaths during the month of August. We actually had over 30,000.
With the country caught in an intensifying series of crises, from the Pandemic to anti-racist protests to the ongoing failure to extend jobless benefits to tens of millions of jobless Americans, Trump again took the weekend to GO GOLFING at his Virginia Golf course!
In what may be the final statement on Trump’s response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and the complete lack of any National Policy, in an on-air interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios, when asked to defend his handling of a crisis that has taken the lives of over 156,000 Americans and is currently tracking 1,000 deaths a day, Donald J. Trump said,
“It is what it is.”
It’s All About the Election, Stupid
There appears to be no concern from Trump for the health and well being of the citizens of America. His persistent mantra and his every action plays to his open-at-all costs theme clearly to protect his flagging reelection prospects. Donald J. Trump is willing to sacrifice any of us without a shred of remorse. In the end, we will be merely left to speculate how many lives were needlessly lost by this incompetent, delusional President.