Trump was COVID-panicked in calls to Gavin Newsom, other governors, trashed ‘bonkers’ Sean Hannity, book says – SF Gate

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, former President Donald Trump made his feelings known that he didnot want a coronavirus-infested cruise ship off the coast of San Francisco to come to shore.

I like the [nations case] numbers being where they are, he said in a Fox News interview. I dont need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasnt our fault.

According to This Will Not Pass, an upcoming book from New York Times political correspondents Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, Trump had earlier called California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the middle of the night complaining about the cruise ship possibly being allowed to dock.

If we bring them ashore, Trump complained to Newsom, that could increase the total number of coronavirus cases in the country, Martin and Burns write in a passage reviewed by SFGATE.

Newsom spoke with Martin and Burns for the book and recalled needing to talk Trump down at 4:30 a.m. California time, which is three hours behind Washington, D.C.

The president was not a student of policy, Newsom knew, and sometimes he just sort of said stuff, Martin and Burns write. You had to wait him out and then ask for what you wanted which in this case, Newsom told him, was federal cooperation with bringing the boat into dock and processing the passengers for medical treatment or quarantine.

The ship in question the Grand Princess was ultimately allowed to dock. Passengers and crew were removed from the ship and transferred to locations including Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield for quarantines.

The book details Trumps other calls with governors in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as his highly transactional approach to the presidency. Martin and Burns report that governors found that Trump was most interested in helping people he got along with, and regions of the country he saw as Trump country.

According to the book,New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight in an attempt to communicate with Trump. (Newsom was unique among governors in having an easy cell-phone relationship with the president, Martin and Burns write.)

In that April 15, 2020, interview which is around the time American conservatives really began to sour on lockdowns Murphy defended his states stringent rules to Carlsonand apparently got a call from Trump afterward.

Trump had seen the interview and wanted Murphy to know he agreed with him, Martin and Burns write. The Fox guys, he said, were bonkers about the pandemic [Sean] Hannity especially, Trump said.

Murphy told Martin and Burns that Trump said Hannity was obsessed with the Swedish model of public health and said of the Fox News host, Listen, hes wrong.

The Swedish model is a reference to Sweden never entering a lockdown in response to the pandemic. Onlookers are still debating whether the approach was a success.

Not long after Trumps reported call with Murphy, the president fired off a series of tweets calling for other blue states to be LIBERATE[D], leaving governors confused. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told Martin and Burns he asked Trump what exactly the president wanted but never got a firm answer.

Then, on April 22, 2020, Trump voiced his disagreement with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemps plans to reopen certain sectors of his states economy, stating, I think its too soon. The book states that the public rebuke came because Trump sought to make Kemp pay a price for his disobedience on earlier calls during which Trump and aides, influenced by former adviser Dr. Deborah Birx, asked him to slow the pace of reopening. According to Martin and Burns, Trump put White House aides Brian Jack and Kayleigh McEnany in charge of getting Kemp to stand down, but neither was successful.

Trump is currently working to topple Kemp in Georgias 2022 gubernatorial primary (mainly over Kemps refusal to decertify his states election results), though that venture does not appear to be going well for the former president.

The book releases on May 3 and covers the end of the Trump presidency and the first few months of the Biden presidency.

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Trump was COVID-panicked in calls to Gavin Newsom, other governors, trashed 'bonkers' Sean Hannity, book says - SF Gate