A new poll shows that most Americans think Trump’s coronavirus response has made the pandemic worse. They’re right. Trump left states to go at it alone in obtaining critical supplies, he continues to risk a worse recession, and new documents show he downplayed the virus even as his own task force issued increasingly dire reports.

A new poll shows that most Americans think Trump’s coronavirus response has made the pandemic worse. 

Axios: “Most Americans think the federal government is making the coronavirus pandemic worse, according to the latest installment of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index…This is a pretty searing indictment of the federal response — not only that it has not helped, but that it’s part of the problem.”

New documents reveal that as Trump pushed states to lift restrictions his task force was giving him increasingly dire reports.

CNN: “As President Donald Trump was painting a positive picture of the coronavirus pandemic and urging states to reopen the nation’s businesses and schools, data from the White House coronavirus task force released Monday shows he was getting increasingly dire reports about the spread of the pandemic in July and August.”

The reports show Mike Pence declared that there was no second wave as the task force he runs privately warned states that their cases were spiking.

Axios: “In a June 23 report, the White House coronavirus task force privately warned seven states that they remained in the ‘red zone,’ indicating the highest risk of coronavirus spread. But just a week earlier, on June 16, Pence claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the ‘panic’ over a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases was ‘overblown.’”

Trump sowed chaos by leaving states to go it alone in obtaining critical PPE and medical equipment supplies, which still hasn’t abated.

Wall Street Journal: “How Trump Sowed Covid Supply Chaos. ‘Try Getting It Yourselves.’”

Wall Street Journal: “A landmark White House move left states to secure medical equipment themselves, causing problems that still haven’t abated”

Trump’s failure to provide additional coronavirus relief could cause a new wave of small business closures and prolong the recession.

New York Times: “The United States faces a wave of small-business failures this fall if the federal government does not provide a new round of financial assistance — a prospect that economists warn would prolong the recession, slow the recovery and perhaps enduringly reshape the American business landscape.”