Trump Continues To Downplay COVID-19 And Refuses To Listen To Experts Even As New Cases Surge
September 28, 2020
Instead of doing more to combat the pandemic, Trump continues to downplay it and refuses to listen to experts even as the coronavirus once again surges across the country. While Trump shows more concern for his re-election than the virus that’s claimed more than 200,000 American lives, voters in battleground states and people across the globe are speaking out about his failed coronavirus response.
New coronavirus cases continue to increase in almost half the U.S. and on Friday hit the highest single-day increase in a month and a half.
CNN: “Almost half the US is reporting increased numbers of new Covid-19 cases as health experts warn of a potential coronavirus surge in the fall and winter. As of Sunday, the number of new coronavirus cases has increased by at least 10% or more compared to the week before in 21 states, most of them in the West, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.”
Axios: “The United States reported 55,054 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Why it matters: It was the highest single-day increase since August 14, when the country reported 64,350 new cases over a 24-hour span, and suggests that the U.S. has yet to contain the spread of the virus.”
Test positivity rates have surpassed 25% in several Midwestern states as cases and hospitalizations surge.
Reuters: “The number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is topping 25% in several states in the U.S. Midwest as cases and hospitalizations also surge in the region, according to a Reuters analysis.”
Trump continues to ignore the experts and his own CDC director has expressed concern that he is sharing incorrect information with the American people from the Fox News advisor he appointed.
NBC News: “The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has grown increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump, pushed by a new member of his coronavirus task force, is sharing incorrect information about the pandemic with the public. Dr. Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC, suggested in a conversation with a colleague Friday that Dr. Scott Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about a range of issues, including questioning the efficacy of masks, whether young people are susceptible to the virus and the potential benefits of herd immunity.”
REDFIELD: “Everything [Atlas] says is false.”
The White House continues to politicize the vaccine approval process and undermine public trust in a coronavirus vaccine.
Washington Post: “On the same day President Trump blasted the Food and Drug Administration’s plan for tougher standards for a coronavirus vaccine as a ‘political move,’ a top White House aide demanded detailed justifications from the agency in what some fear is an attempt to thwart or block the standards designed to boost public trust in a vaccine.”
The Trump administration is spending $300 million to run a PR campaign to downplay the coronavirus instead of doing more to combat it.
Politico: “The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to ‘defeat despair’ about the coronavirus, a $300 million-plus effort that was shaped by a political appointee close to President Donald Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official, using taxpayer funds.”
Voters in battleground states, including those who voted for Trump, say his coronavirus response has been terrible and call it an embarrassment.
North Carolina independent who voted for Trump in 2016: “49-year-old Christina Donnell, an independent who voted for Trump four years ago, said through a black face mask that Trump’s ‘terrible’ handling of the pandemic and divisive leadership more broadly are her chief concerns. ‘It’s embarrassing to the country,’ Donnell, a lawyer who previously lived in Washington, said of Trump’s leadership. ‘He’s an embarrassing role model.’”
The world now looks down on and feels sorry for the U.S. because of Trump’s lack of leadership and failed coronavirus response.
Myanmar member of parliament: “I feel sorry for Americans.”
Mayor of Sarnia, Ontario: “Personally, it’s like watching the decline of the Roman Empire.”
Indonesian politician and activist: “The world sees the dismantling of social cohesion within American society and the mess in managing Covid … There is a vacuum of leadership that needs to be filled, but America is not fulfilling that leadership role.”