Category Archives: Donald Trump

The challenge of implementing the small business loan program surfaced vividly last week, when the Small Business Administration delivered guidelines to banks just hours before they were due to turn on the spigot. As of Wednesday, banks said they still lacked critical information needed to close out loans and that SBA's loan authorization system continued to malfunction.

The flood of companies seeking assistance seems sure to compound the challenges facing banks, and the Treasury Department and SBA have done little to ease concerns that theyre getting on track.

The CARES Act included a provision meant to provide relief to companies by allowing them to get tax refunds by redoing their previous years taxes to include their current losses. There's one glaring problem: The companies are required to file for those refunds on paper and mail them in and most IRS employees are working from home. There's virtually no one there to pick up the mail.

There's also plenty of other guidance pending from the IRS, a typical problem in typical times but one sure to slow the impact of the CARES Act as companies struggle to survive.

Meanwhile, the IRS is still figuring out how to quickly parcel out the cash payments the new law promised to individuals and families across the country. The agency intends to deliver as many as possible via direct deposit, which would expedite those payments. But for many low-income Americans who don't file tax returns, the IRS would likely not have direct deposit info. So the agency is setting up a website to collect banking information in order to more quickly process the checks, but theres no timeline on when that will be up and running.

Planes are parked at Pinal Airpark on Wednesday in Red Rock, Ariz., as many passenger planes are being kept at the facility as airlines cut back on service due to the new coronavirus pandemic. | Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo

The CARES Act included $29 billion in an immediate infusion for passenger and cargo airlines, funding meant to quickly shore up the industry's cratering finances by paying workers' salaries and preventing layoffs. But even though the money was due to begin flowing earlier this week, it hasn't happened yet, and airlines are still in talks with the Trump administration over the terms.

Treasury released guidance for applying for the grants and loans last week, with the initial application deadline for grants last Friday. Airlines that missed that deadline won't get their applications considered as quickly. And perhaps most urgently, unions are concerned that some airlines could refuse the grants if the U.S. government insists on taking a stake in the airline as part of the tradeoff.

The law also includes another $29 billion in loans for airlines, part of the Treasury's $500 billion economic rescue fund. There's no deadline or timeframe for those funds to begin flowing, but there's no indication that any have moved yet. As of Monday, Treasury wasn't accepting applications for the loans.

So at a critical moment for the airline industry, the rescue law has done little in the way of providing relief.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

The law included $31 billion in emergency education assistance, much of it earmarked for states, K-12 schools, universities and direct aid for college students. But so far, there's been no funding distributed by the Education Department and there's been no guidance about how or when that money might arrive.

Higher education groups and state officials have been urging the Trump administration to move more quickly to immediately disburse the funding amid unprecedented school and college closures across the country. Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Jay Inslee of Washington over the weekend wrote a letter on behalf of governors, urging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to provide the funding within the next two weeks. But DeVos hasnt given any indication shes on board, meaning the relief money is still just sitting there.

Meanwhile, there's also a push among some Senate Democrats to exclude for-profit colleges from eligibility or to impose stringent restrictions on how those companies can use the money but a whole new layer of such oversight seems unlikely to be accepted by Republicans.

The FCC appears to be one of the few agencies moving quickly adopting an order last month to tap $200 million in CARES Act funding for a "Covid-19 Telehealth Program," an effort to speed grants to health care providers to expand telehealth capabilities. At the same time, the FCC is skipping its normal competitive bidding requirements to ensure the money gets to where its needed speedily a decision that could mean a worse deal for taxpayers.

Meanwhile, there are plans for a separate pot of $100 million in broadband funding flowing through the Department of Agriculture to help build out internet infrastructure in rural areas, plus another $25 million for USDA's Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband program. But this infusion has already stirred some concerns about exacerbating already existing problems with duplication and waste.

A Republican FCC commissioner has repeatedly raised concerns about the departments effort, worrying that the program has the potential to undermine and wastefully duplicate other broadband efforts, some of which may already receive financial help from the FCC.

Susannah Luthi, Brian Faler, Brianna Gurciullo, John Hendel, Michael Stratford and Zach Warmbrodt contributed to this report.

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Oversight sputters as Trump starts doling out billions in coronavirus aid - POLITICO

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news conference at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House February 29, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

WASHINGTON Vice President Mike Pence's office is barring top public health officials from appearing on CNN until the news network agrees to air the White House's daily coronavirus briefings in their entirety, CNN reported on Thursday.

CNN often airs only the first portion of the daily briefings live, the part that is typically led by President Donald Trump, before returning to their news anchors during the second half of the briefing.

Only after Trump is finished speaking, taking questions from the press and calling on various experts to come up to the lectern, do Pence and other top officials have their own dedicated time to take questions and make announcements.

Health officials like Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci are typically part of this second portion of the briefing. These are the officials that Pence is refusing to allow on CNN, although they regularly appear on other news networks and broadcast networks.

"When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air," a Pence spokesman told CNN, referring to the second portion of the briefing, according to the network's report.

CNBC reached out to the vice president's office and to CNN, neither of whom replied to questions about the report.

CNN has held weekly townhalls on Thursday nights for the past month, each of which has featured Fauci and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta discussing the coronavirus pandemic.

In the past week, however, Pence's office has denied CNN's request to have Fauci appear on its April 9 town hall, according to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.

The tensions between CNN and the White House over the network's daily briefing coverage also reflect larger issues at play, however, in an administration where the chief executive has repeatedly sought to undermine, blame and denigrate the free press.

There is already a great deal of bad blood between the Trump White House and CNN, whose reporters have aggressively questioned the president during his time in office.

The White House press office has also previously rescinded the credentials of at least one CNN reporter, White House correspondent Jim Acosta in 2018. After CNN sued the White House over Acosta's revoked pass, and the Trump administration backed down and reinstated him.

But the present situationalso reflects a broader unease developing among news broadcasters over whether, and how, to air the daily press briefings, which can stretch to over two hours in length, and tend to paint a rosier picture of the deadly pandemic than many outside the administration believe is warranted.

Trump has also used the briefings repeatedly to attack his political opponents, spread misinformation about the pandemic and tout unproven drugs and treatments.

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Pence bars top health experts Fauci and Birx from appearing on CNN, the network says - CNBC

On March 18th, researchers in France circulated a study about the promising experimental use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, in combination with azithromycin, an antibiotic, as a treatment for the disease caused by the coronavirus. The study was neither randomized nor peer-reviewed, and other scientists soon criticized its methodology. But Tucker Carlson, on Fox News, highlighted the work. The next day, President Trump promoted hydroxychloroquines very, very encouraging early results. He added, mentioning another unproven therapy, I think it could be, based on what I see, it could be a game changer.

At a White House press briefing on March 20th, a reporter asked Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whether hydroxychloroquine could be effective in treating covid-19. The answer is no, Fauci said, before yielding the microphone to Trump, who countered, May work, may not. I feel good about it. Thats all it is, just a feeling, you know, smart guy. A few days later, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said, Using untested drugs without the right evidence could raise false hope and even do more harm than good.

Trumps quackery was at once eccentric and terrifyinga reminder, if one was needed, of his scorn for rigorous science, even amid the worst pandemic to strike the country in a century. Yet his conduct typified his leadership as the crisis has intensified: his dependency on Fox News for ideas and message amplification, his unshakable belief in his own genius, and his understandable concern that his relection may be in danger if he does not soon discover a way to vanquish COVID-19 and reverse its devastation of the economy.

New York City now faces a troubling and astronomical increase in cases, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the emergency is overwhelming hospitals, straining drug and equipment supplies, and threatening to cause a shortage of ventilators. The grim course of events in the city is a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country, Cuomo said, and leaders elsewhere must take decisive action lest they, too, become inundated. Trump, though, spent much of last week promoting a contrarian gambit that has been percolating in the right-wing media. He said that, to revitalize the economy, he would like to lift travel restrictions and reopen workplaces across the country within weeks, perhaps by Easter, which is on April 12th, because, as he put it repeatedly, we cant let the cure be worse than the problem.

Public-health experts immediately warned against such a reversal of social-distancing rules. The virus will surge, many will fall ill, and there will be more deaths, William Schaffner, a specialist in preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, told the Times. When a reporter asked the President whether any of the doctors on your team had advised him that a hasty reopening was the right path to pursue, he replied, If it were up to the doctors, they may say, Lets keep it shut down... lets keep it shut for a couple of years. Public-health specialists have said no such thing; they have spoken of a conditions-based approach (You dont make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline, Fauci has said), while advising that, to save the most lives, local leaders must wait to lift restrictions in their areas until the data show that the virus has stopped spreading. Trump said that any loosening of rules he might seek around the countryhe mentioned Nebraska and Idaho as possible siteswould be based on hard facts and data, but he also said that he chose Easter as a target date because he just thought it was a beautiful time.

It is true, as Trump also argued, that enormous job losses and an all but certain recession caused by the pandemic will harm many vulnerable Americans, and claim lives, as ill people without health insurance, for example, forgo care or struggle to get it at stressed clinics and hospitals. Yet, at least in the short term, over-all mortality rates fall during recessions; the reasons for this arent fully clear, but social scientists think they may include the public-health benefits of a decrease in pollution, as a result of the slowing economy. In any event, the case the President made for hurrying an economic revival against the advice of scientists was morally odious; it suggested that large numbers of otherwise avoidable deaths might have to be accepted as the price of job creation.

Public-health officials spoke frankly to the press about the catastrophic prospects of the Presidents Easter folly. (President Trump will have blood on his hands, Keith Martin, the director of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, told the Times.) Trump responded on Twitter by lashing out at the LameStream Media for reporting such forecasts, calling the press the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. Last Wednesday, after Mitt Romney, the only Republican who voted to convict the President, on a charge of abuse of power, during the Senate impeachment trial, announced that he had tested negative for COVID-19, Trump tweeted mockingly, Im so happy I can barely speak. At the White House briefings, surrounded by the sorts of civil servants and experts he habitually disdains, Trump has adapted awkwardly to the role of solemn unifier. When he leaves the podium to tweet nonsense at his perceived enemies, he at least provides his opponents among the countrys homebound, screen-addled, and anxious citizenry with a galvanizing dose of his immutable obnoxiousnessa splash of the old new normal.

The journal Science asked Fauci why he doesnt step in when the President makes false statements in the briefings. I cant jump in front of the microphone and push him down, he said. Americas public-health system is fragmented and market-driven, conditions that only compound the challenge of quashing COVID-19. In the Trump era, however, decentralization has a benefit: the President is not solely in charge, and in the months ahead governors and mayors will continue to shape the odds of life or death for great numbers of Americans. Last week, Trump reviewed the possibilities for quarantine in New York City, his ravaged home town. He rambled about the stock exchange (Its incredible what they can do), before going on to pledge, If we open up, and when we open up... were giving the governors a lot of leeway to decide how this should be done. We can only hope so.

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The Meaning of Donald Trumps Coronavirus Quackery - The New Yorker

Rep. Ilhan Omar at 'Impeachment Now!' rally on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, Sept. 26, 2019. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn Political Action)

(CNSNews.com) -Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) sent out a tweet on Wednesday calling on Americans to participate in this years election and vote President Donald Trump out of office and end the rise of fascism in this country.

For those who plan to sit this election out or vote for Trump, just stop, Omar said.

The livelihoods of millions of marginalized people are at stake, she said.

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We must fight like hell to get Donald Trump out of the White House and end the rise of fascism in this country, she said.

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Ilhan Omar: 'We Must All Fight Like Hell to Get Donald Trump Out of the White House and End the Rise of Fascism in This Country' - CNSNews.com

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LIVE: President Donald Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force press briefing - FOX10 News

While the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus continues to tighten its grip around the world, United States President Donald Trump shared an optimistic vision forhis country after it reopens. Recently, the US recorded a jump of at least 2000 deaths in just 24 hours, and Trump tweeted on April 8 that once his great country reopens and the lockdown is lifted, their economy will boom in a way that people have not seen before. As of April 9, US has confirmed over 435,120 cases of COVID-19 infection with at least 14,795 fatalities. The US President even said that except the people who lost their family to coronavirus infection the the horror of the invisible enemy shall be forgotten.

After originating from Chinas wet markets, the coronavirus has now claimed over 88,516 lives worldwide as of April 9. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 209 countries and has infected at least 1,518,970 people. Out of the total infections, 330,697 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.

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After #ClapForBoris fueled criticism against UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, #AmericaWorksTogether backfired on United States President Donald Trump in a similar manner. During daily coronavirus briefing on April 8, while the coronavirus cases are still increasing in the country, Trump urged Americans to share your stories that showcase patriotism as well as citizenship under the hashtag. With the death toll in the US rising rapidly, the netizens chose to criticise Trump with the same hashtag.

Twitter users lashed out at the Republican US President for issues ranging from his response to the global health crisis to all the statements he has made in the press briefings. One of the internet users even said American works together, "only without Trump". Many resorted to blunt statements like calling Trump "fool" and "racist". One of them even accused the US President to be "greedy" and cited his dire wish to reopen America. However, there were few tweets that showcased support towards Trump and called him "most hardworking President ever".

Read -Donald Trump Suggests He May Resolve Ongoing Navy Crisis Over COVID-19 Handling

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Donald Trump says Americas economy will boom like never before once US reopens - Republic World - Republic World

SWEETWATER, Fla. The Miami-Dade Republican headquarters has the look and feel of a single-family home where the single family has an especial devotion to Donald J. Trump. Matching love seats open the space, with one positioned under watercolor portraits of the president and first lady, the other decorated with needlepoint American flag pillows. From the corner of the room, a particularly lifelike cardboard cutout of Mr. Trump keeps watch.

Then theres the kitchen, cluttered with Post-it notes, to-do lists, mementos and a bulletin board with a photo of Kellyanne Conway pinned next to a print of Jesus Christ.

I live here, Mariela Jewett says with a laugh, but its tough to tell whether shes joking.

Ms. Jewett, a 71-year-old Cuban-American, has worked for the local G.O.P. for 18 years, and she insists she hasnt seen so much enthusiasm in the party since the Reagan era. On one afternoon in late February, the telephone trilled with the numbing frequency of white noise a barrage that began after Senator Bernie Sanders extolled elements of Cubas communist dictatorship on CBSs 60 Minutes.

Now, the office is closed because of the coronavirus Miami-Dade has nearly 4,500 confirmed cases, and on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order after a conversation with Mr. Trump. Ms. Jewett said the crisis was like a nightmare, like an old movie, like science fiction. But she praised the president for his handling of it. Hes covered every aspect, she said.

To spend any time among Republicans in South Florida is to be in an America as Mr. Trump would have it, where his support extends beyond his white working-class base and includes unabashed admiration from the wealthy, from immigrants (at least many from Cuba and Venezuela), and from Jewish voters who thank him for the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

For Mr. Trump, scarred by the disapproval of many fellow New Yorkers, his newly declared home state offers a blissful safe space. And Florida has benefited: Mr. Trump has responded to Mr. DeSantiss requests for personal protective equipment for health care workers and other needs, while other governors have complained about insufficient federal help.

Of all the governors, Mr. Trump has found his kindred spirit in Mr. DeSantis, who for weeks marched to his own drum on the virus, refusing to close beaches or sound grave alarms, leading the state as if unencumbered by the sort of experts who now surround Mr. Trump.

In his drive to ensure that the state remains red in November, South Florida has become a political ground zero. The region has eluded Republican presidential nominees for decades, a reality Mr. Trump felt acutely in 2016: His explosion in support across the state was nearly offset by Miami-Dade alone, where a crush of Republicans broke ranks to help Hillary Clinton easily carry the county.

There are signs that Mr. Trump is poised to perform better here in November, particularly with Cuban-Americans who, after giving him the lowest share of their vote of the past three Republican nominees, are coming around to the president.

The coronavirus hasnt changed this, Republicans here say. For Trump supporters, the one thing more frightening than a pandemic is the idea of weathering it in a socialist country, something many of them believe Democrats are pushing America toward.

Anxieties the real and imagined, sincere and sinister have long propelled Mr. Trumps success. And now, as the Democratic Party veers further left on issues like health care and immigration, his ability to stoke them could be critical to piercing this blue stronghold of South Florida. If he succeeds, it would complete his coronation as the Florida Man of the modern Republican Party.

Since his election, the president has held 10 rallies across the state. That Mr. Trump included Florida in his so-called Thank You tour in December 2016 was fitting: His victory scrambled long-held wisdom about what it takes to carry this perennial battleground. Mrs. Clinton may have tallied more voters than any Democratic nominee since Jimmy Carter in cities like Jacksonville, where a strong showing has historically been central to Democratic victory. But Mr. Trump so toppled turnout models in rural and blue-collar counties that it didnt matter.

Some 20,000 voters flocked to the Amway Center in Orlando for the presidents re-election campaign kickoff rally last summer, many of them for the same reasons. With Mr. Trump, they feel seen and emboldened after years of feeling belittled by the leadership in both parties.

And when it comes to the coronavirus crisis, they dont feel that Mr. Trumps early dismissive attitude toward the threat was dismissive at all; rather, it was his attempt to stay positive and not incite panic.

I think thats why President Trump has been really out front, said Lee Green, a Republican in The Villages, a retirement community northwest of Orlando. So that people will stay calm, and not be silly. Few if any say they are concerned about Mr. Trumps falsehoods or divisiveness.

On one level, the presidents Florida base is much like his base anywhere else in the country. The difference here is that Mr. Trump reciprocates the obsession in full.

Mr. Trumps aspirations in Florida are intensely personal. Its a large part of why his campaign has devoted resources to South Florida, why in November Mr. Trump held a rally in a county where Mrs. Clinton won 66 percent of voters three years before.

For Mr. Trump, Broward County hits close to home. Some of the most recognizable names in his orbit, including his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, reside there. The city of Sunrise, where the president held his rally, is almost the precise midpoint between his beloved Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and the Trump National resort in Doral. Less than four weeks before the rally, he officially declared the former his new residence.

Accordingly, he billed the event a homecoming.

As Mr. Trump looks to bolster support, his Florida allies are thrilled that he himself can now contribute at the ballot box.

His base is solidly growing, said Karen Giorno, the Trump campaigns former chief strategist for the state. And now that he and the first lady are residents of Palm Beach County instead of Manhattan, their votes will finally count in 2020.

Among voters in Miami-Dade County, Cuban-Americans have long been central to any Republicans success, their loyalty tracing back to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. And come Election Day, they show up: In 2016, Cuban-Americans represented 6 percent of voters in Florida a critical margin in a state whose winner is often determined by less than one percentage point.

In Miami-Dades Cuban enclaves, Mr. Trump vastly underperformed past G.O.P. nominees. In 2012, Mr. Romney won Hialeah, a traditionally Republican city with the highest Cuban-American population in the country, by nine percentage points; four years later, Mr. Trump virtually tied with Mrs. Clinton there. In the heavily Cuban Miami suburb of Westchester, Mr. Trumps support was eight points lower than Mr. Romneys.

At the time, many in the community were repelled by Mr. Trumps apparent anti-Hispanic rhetoric, according to Dario Moreno, a pollster and associate professor of politics at Florida International University. Added to that were broader political shifts years in the making, with younger generations of Cuban-Americans increasingly leaning left and a growing number of older voters receptive to the warmer United States-Cuba relationship encouraged by President Barack Obama.

But the last three years have seen a reversion, Dr. Moreno said. Theres been a kind of return to the Republican Party from Cuban-Americans, mainly on the issue of Cuba and the more hard-line stance taken by Trump, he said. At many points, Mr. Trump has tightened the longstanding U.S. embargo on Cuba, reinstating the travel and business restrictions that Mr. Obama had loosened. While younger voters continue to oppose the embargo, Cuban-American support in Miami for Mr. Trumps policies has substantially increased over all.

Dr. Moreno, who is Cuban-American, said Mr. Trump today seemed more popular among the community than McCain, Romney, and himself in 2016.

Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade and a Cuban-American Republican, is among the converted. In 2016, Mr. Gimenez announced he would vote for Mrs. Clinton, arguing Mr. Trump lacked the makeup to be president.

Now, Mr. Gimenez is all in. In January, the two-term mayor went on Twitter to announce his bid to unseat Representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat, in the same post thanking Mr. Trump for all youve done for our economy & to fight socialism. Hours later, the president rewarded him with his complete and total endorsement!

Asked to explain his change of heart, Mr. Gimenez demurred. Im not going to get into those reasons. The president has won me over, he said. His record speaks for itself.

Mr. Gimenezs embrace of Mr. Trump is testament to how more and more Republican voters in Miami-Dade expect their candidate to support the president in the same way that those in, say, the Panhandle might. And if many of them were already coalescing around Mr. Trump, Mr. Sanders has only quickened their steps.

At a winter gathering of the Womens Republican Club of Miami, some fought tears when asked about Mr. Sanders, who, in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Feb. 23, praised Fidel Castro for introducing a massive literacy program in Cuba.

The point is that I was in Cuba that happened, said Lucy Pereda, 76. And what happened was not teaching people how to read and write. It was indoctrination.

Mr. Trump, however, has been tough on dictatorships, said the clubs 44-year-old president, Claudia Miro. Hes been tough on Cuba. Hes been tough on Venezuela.

Such conversations are taking place all across South Florida and not just among Cubans. Thousands of Venezuelans in Miami have already signaled their support for Mr. Trumps stance against Nicols Maduro, the countrys leftist leader, who has refused to cede power.

But there are also voters in South Florida whose support for Mr. Trump is less a response to Democrats than it is an appreciation of his record itself. Like Cubans, Jewish Floridians are among the states most reliable voters, most of them concentrated south of Palm Beach County. Unlike Cubans, they tend to vote Democratic: Mr. Trump won 27 percent of their vote in 2016, three points less than Mr. Romney in 2012, according to exit poll data.

Two years later, in his race for governor against Andrew Gillum, Mr. DeSantis proved his partys ability to increase those margins, winning 35 percent of Jewish voters.

Mr. Trump has zeroed in on this bloc with similar intensity, headlining the Israeli-American Councils annual summit meeting in December in Broward County, where thousands of Jewish supporters cheered as the president said the U.S.-Israel relationship was stronger now than ever before.

Irma Gordon, 86, who runs the Jewish Republican Club of Broward, said many of her members liked Mr. Trump in 2016, but now, she emphasized, everyone is for Trump.

Still, Ms. Gordon acknowledged that while she thinks more Jewish Floridians lean Republican today than they did in 2016, in part because of the presidents decisions such as moving the embassy to Jerusalem, its not only about what Trump has done. Its the way the Democratic Party She paused and shuddered. All this trying to make us socialist and communist the Democrats today, oh my goodness.

Ellen Motz, a retiree in Broward County, had been a Democrat all her life, founding her areas Jewish Americans for Obama chapter and campaigning for Mrs. Clinton in 2016. Last summer, she became a Republican because of Mr. Trump.

She felt Mr. Trump was truly working for the people. And when it came to the Democratic Party, she said, the negativity started getting to me to the point that I was just ready to quit.

Ms. Motz admires the president even more in this scary moment.

I know hes trying to make people feel better, she said. And when Democrats say he should have focused on the virus earlier, she said, I think, look at what he was dealing with at the time. All the impeachment hearings that was all they could think about with all that was going on in the world.

Mr. Trump has almost no chance of winning the Jewish vote here outright. But if he can continue to increase his support among the disparate groups that make up South Florida, all while maintaining his hold on the rest of the state, the 2020 election cycle could be Floridas final one as a battleground.

For now, his supporters arent worried about the coronavirus affecting Mr. Trumps chances in November.

In South Florida, Mariela Jewett says, with all Democrats today talking about socialism, voters have other concerns top of mind. Listen, she said, furiously chewing on a peppermint, I work too hard. Im 71 and still working. I dont want to give anyone my money

Shes interrupted when an older man opens the door at Miami-Dades G.O.P. headquarters. Hes looking for Trump merchandise, he says, some bumper stickers, whatever you have. Ms. Jewett explains that theyre fresh out. But the man lingers, and soon the strangers are spun up in conversation.

Im almost 71 and this country wasnt like this when I was young, he says, shaking his head. Somethings going on.

Ms. Jewetts voice then nearly cracks. Socialism! she cries. Its here!

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Donald Trump and Florida, a Love Affair - The New York Times

Wajahat Ali: This is what happens when the federal government abandons you

If we were doing a bad job, we should also be criticized. But we have done an incredible job, Trump said on February 27. Were doing a great job with it, he told Republican senators on March 10. I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, he tweeted on March 18.

For three-quarters of his presidency, Trump has taken credit for the economic expansion that began under President Barack Obama in 2010. That expansion accelerated in 2014, just in time to deliver real prosperity over the past three years. The harm done by Trumps own initiatives, and especially his trade wars, was masked by that continued growth. The economy Trump inherited became his all-purpose answer to his critics. Did he break laws, corrupt the Treasury, appoint cronies, and tell lies? So what? Unemployment was down, the stock market up.

Suddenly, in 2020, the rooster that had taken credit for the sunrise faced the reality of sunset. He could not bear it.

Underneath all the denial and self-congratulation, Trump seems to have glimpsed the truth. The clearest statement of that knowledge was expressed on February 28. That day, Trump spoke at a rally in South Carolinahis penultimate rally before the pandemic forced him to stop. This was the rally at which Trump accused the Democrats of politicizing the coronavirus as their new hoax. That line was so shocking, it has crowded out awareness of everything else Trump said that day. Yet those other statements are, if possible, even more relevant to understanding the trouble he brought upon the country.

Trump does not speak clearly. His patterns of speech betray a man with guilty secrets to hide, and a beclouded mind. Yet we can discern, through the mental fog, that Trump had absorbed some crucial facts. By February 28, somebody in his orbit seemed to already be projecting 35,000 to 40,000 deaths from the coronavirus. Trump remembered the number, but refused to believe it. His remarks are worth revisiting at length:

Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, right? Coronavirus, theyre politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, Hows President Trump doing? They go, Oh, not good, not good. They have no clue. They dont have any clue. They cant even count their votes in Iowa. They cant even count. No, they cant. They cant count their votes.

One of my people came up to me and said, Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didnt work out too well. They couldnt do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. Theyd been doing it since you got in. Its all turning. They lost. Its all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.

But we did something thats been pretty amazing. We have 15 people [sick] in this massive country, and because of the fact that we went early. We went early; we could have had a lot more than that. Were doing great. Our country is doing so great. We are so unified. We are so unified. The Republican Party has never ever been unified like it is now. There has never been a movement in the history of our country like we have now. Never been a movement.

So a statistic that we want to talk aboutGo ahead: Say USA. Its okay; USA. So a number that nobody heard of, that I heard of recently and I was shocked to hear it: 35,000 people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that? Thirty-five thousand, thats a lot of people. It could go to 100,000; it could be 27,000. They say usually a minimum of 27, goes up to 100,000 people a year die.

And so far, we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States. Nobody. And it doesnt mean we wont and we are totally prepared. It doesnt mean we wont, but think of it. You hear 35 and 40,000 people and weve lost nobody and you wonder, the press is in hysteria mode.

On February 28, very few Americans had heard of an estimated death toll of 35,000 to 40,000, but Trump had heard it. And his answer to that estimate was: So far, we have lost nobody. He conceded, It doesnt mean we wont. But he returned to his happy talk. We are totally prepared. And as always, it was the media's fault. You hear 35 and 40,000 people and weve lost nobody and you wonder, the press is in hysteria mode.

Originally posted here:

This Is Trumps Fault - The Atlantic

Throughout the administrations response to the pandemic, the president has repeatedly promoted his decision in late January to close the border to foreign nationals who had recently been in China while instituting a mandatory two-week quarantine for U.S. citizens returning from the countrys Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Those directives contradicted a series of WHO recommendations cautioning that travel bans to affected areas or denial of entry to passengers coming from affected areas are usually not effective in preventing the importation of coronavirus cases, but may instead have a significant economic and social impact.

In general, evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations and may divert resources from other interventions, the WHO reported, adding that such measures could interrupt needed aid and technical support and disrupt businesses.

The WHO did acknowledge, however, that travel restrictions may have a public health rationale at the beginning of the containment phase of an outbreak, as they may allow affected countries to implement sustained response measures, and non-affected countries to gain time to initiate and implement effective preparedness measures.

But the restrictions need to be short in duration, proportionate to the public health risks, and be reconsidered regularly as the situation evolves, the WHO advised.

The presidents initial order and the administrations subsequent actions, of course, did not heed any of those conditions.

Trumps travel ban was announced after the disease had already begun rampaging across China, not in the opening stage of the outbreak, and it did not accompany broader federal efforts to prepare the U.S. for the coming pandemic.

The ban, which has now extended beyond two months, also was not short in duration and included exemptions that reportedly allowed nearly 40,000 people to enter the U.S. on direct flights from China.

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Trump threatens World Health Organization funding - POLITICO

President Donald Trump said Monday that the White House and 3M reached a "very amicable agreement" that will bring more than 55 million masks to the U.S. each month, following a public dispute between the manufacturing giant and the president.

"So the 3M saga ends very happily," Trump concluded at a White House press briefing on the coronavirus outbreak.

Under the terms of the new deal, 3M will import 166.5 million respirator masks to the U.S. over the next three months. The additional masks will supplement the 35 million masks 3M produces domestically each month, the company said in a statement later Monday night.

"I want to thank President Trump and the Administration for their leadership and collaboration," 3M CEO Mike Roman said in the statement.

"We share the same goals of providing much-needed respirators to Americans across our country and combating criminals who seek to take advantage of the current crisis. These imports will supplement the 35 million N95 respirators we currently produce per month in the United States," Roman said.

The imported masks will primarily come from China starting this month, the statement said.

"The Administration is committed to working to address and remove export and regulatory restrictions to enable this plan," 3M said.

The company also said it will not stop exporting U.S.-made respirators to Canada and Latin America a major point of contention with Trump that spilled into public last week.

"We're very proud to be dealing, now, with 3M," Trump said at the press conference. The president added that he thanked Roman, who was "very happy to get it done."

The remarks at the latest daily press briefing marked a major shift in tone for the president, who last week harshly accused 3M of wrongdoing over "what they were doing with their masks."

They "will have a big price to pay!" Trump tweeted Thursday.

Roman pushed back in an interview on CNBC the next day, saying it was "absurd" to suggest 3M was not doing all it could to help the U.S. slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The dispute centered around 3M's exports to outside markets. 3M said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration asked it to stop exporting its U.S.-made respirator masks to Canadian and Latin American markets.

As a primary supplier of respirators to those markets, halting exports would have "significant humanitarian implications" for health-care workers there, 3M said. Choking off its flow of supplies to those countries could also cause foreign retaliation that might ultimately make respirators less available in the U.S., the company said.

"That is the opposite of what we and the Administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek.," 3M said.

Trump had invoked the Defense Production Act to authorize acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to"use any and all authority"to acquire as many respirators from the company or its affiliates as was deemed "appropriate." But 3M said in its statement that it wasalready working with the Trump administration on getting more masks to the U.S. prior to Trump's invocation of the DPA.

On Friday evening, Trump once again drew upon the Korean War-era law, signing an order to ban "unscrupulous actors and profiteers" from exporting critical medical gear used to protect wearers from the coronavirus.

"We're not happy with 3M. We're not at all happy with 3M. And the people who dealt with it directly are not happy with 3M," Trump said that evening.

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Trump and 3M strike deal to bring 166.5 million masks to US in three months to help coronavirus response - CNBC