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Coronavirus US live: Trump speaks on Fox after deaths in America climb past 2,500 Coronavirus US live: Trump rants at Pelosi and other politicians as deaths climb past 2,500
(32 minutes later)
Figures compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University show US passed 2,500 deaths among nearly 143,000 confirmed casesFigures compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University show US passed 2,500 deaths among nearly 143,000 confirmed cases
One last question: how can we pray for you?
Trump would love that, he says, he praises the evangelical communities, the communities of faith who “were on my side in the last election as you know”.
The New York Times reported yesterday on coronavirus cases, fear and confusion among students at the evangelical Liberty University in Virginia, who were told to come back despite the public shutdown.
Here’s our piece about how churchgoers all over the world are ignoring physical distancing advice:
How is the Trump family coping, Kilmeade asks. Trump says his son Barron, 14, is not unhappy with having to be schooled at home.
Now Trump’s on to what he knows about Elmhurst hospital in his native Queens, in New York, and its “body bags and refrigerated trucks”. He discussed that in the Rose Garden yesterday.
Now we’re on to Trump’s end-of-day briefings, of which he is proud in terms of “ratings”. Asked what his message for the American people is right now, he says they are in for a “month of achievement” in the fight against coronavirus.
The big thing is the coronavirus will be gone sooner or later, Trump says, and “hopefully we’ll keep the deaths down to the minimum number”.
Trump is asked again about possible drug treatments for Covid-19.
“First of all we’re going to have a vaccine,” Trump says, although he then says “that’s not for right now.”
He then returns to a subject from the Rose Garden, discussing an unnamed friend who is “heavy and not young” and is “in a coma”.
Trump says he expects to have a good idea about the effectiveness of hydrochloroquinine, the antimalarial drug he has spoken about enthusiastically, “within three days” or so.
Here’s Oliver Milman’s look at Trump’s enthusiasm for the drug and the problems with it:
Kilmeade asks if he will lift sanctions on Russia. “I put the sanctions on, Brian, no one else,” Trump says. It’s not true that Trump is the only person to have sanctioned Russia.
A major rant on foreign policy ensues – Trump is proud that he speaks to US enemies, then goes off on a strange course about how Russia “lost 50m people in world war two” and “now we don’t talk to Russia, we talk to Germany”.
The Fox hosts interrupt him and move on.
Now we’re on to Saudi Arabia and Russia about oil. Trump says that “right after this call I’m talking to a gentleman called Vladimir Putin”, then complains about how he has always been right about the need to get along with Russia.
Trump says he will talk to Putin about oil, about trade – hindered by the “nonsense that has been going on which has turned out to be a hoax”, meaning Robert Mueller’s report, above – and then he diverts to bragging about the strength of the US military.
He’ll also talk to Putin about the coronavirus. “That’s my next call,” he says.
Audience questions now. Trump is asked why airports are still open. He dodges the question.
An email from Wendy, an ER nurse who does not qualify for the stimulus bill. Has he considered hazard pay? “We’re looking at that,” Trump says. He salutes such “really brave people, in fact they’re warriors.”
“We are asking hospitals to consider things including bonuses,” he says.
Back to the civics lesson on the stimulus bill: Trump needed Democratic votes but claims success in removing things which were “totally crazy and had things which had nothing to do with people who lost their jobs”.
An email from Anthony, about truck drivers who need masks. “If they’re in the cab by themselves they should be in great shape,” Trump says. “I know a lot about trucks.”
Trump is really flying here – he’s in his happy place, after all, even if the Fox & Friends hosts are separated and not squashed together on the sofa as usual.
He’s still going. Here’s some relevant reading:
Brian Kilmeade asks about “the crap” that Democrats got into the stimulus bill, including funding for the Kennedy Center in Washington, which has become a running sore on the political right. How could this be, Kilmeade asks?
“Because we need their votes, they have the House,” Trump says, offering the host a basic lesson in civics.
Trump’s off on a rant after that – the Democrats “want windmills all over the place to ruin everyone’s house and farm”, he says, presumably windmills that cause cancer, and he attacks the Green New Deal too. Of course he does. It’s a disgrace, he says, but “we had to do it to get the deal”. Basic civics, again.
“I’m right on things,” Trump says. “That’s what I do.”
Kilmeade, to his credit, says “it looks like Republicans piled stuff in too”, citing funding won by lawmakers from Kentucky and Utah.
Trump doesn’t engage with that. “It’s a complicated way of screwing things up,” the president says, predicting Republicans will take back the House in November while keeping the Senate and the White House.
Now Trump is asked if Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, would make a better Democratic presidential nominee than Biden, who looks set to take the nomination.Now Trump is asked if Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, would make a better Democratic presidential nominee than Biden, who looks set to take the nomination.
Trump says Cuomo’s high ratings for handling the outbreak are mostly down to the federal response: “We’ve helped make him successful.” Controversial, to say the least.Trump says Cuomo’s high ratings for handling the outbreak are mostly down to the federal response: “We’ve helped make him successful.” Controversial, to say the least.
Trump says he wouldn’t mind running against Cuomo, then attacks “Sleepy Joe” Biden for his supposedly lagging mental acuity.Trump says he wouldn’t mind running against Cuomo, then attacks “Sleepy Joe” Biden for his supposedly lagging mental acuity.
Trump repeatedly says he has “gotten great marks also” for the outbreak response.Trump repeatedly says he has “gotten great marks also” for the outbreak response.
Asked about his shift to a 30 April date for relaxing social guidelines, Trump repeats a line from Sunday – it’s better not to declare victory too soon. He discusses the developing hotspots of the disease, including Louisiana and New Jersey. Both those states have Democratic governors who Trump says he gets on with well. He doesn’t like the Democrats in Michigan and Washington so much, of course.Asked about his shift to a 30 April date for relaxing social guidelines, Trump repeats a line from Sunday – it’s better not to declare victory too soon. He discusses the developing hotspots of the disease, including Louisiana and New Jersey. Both those states have Democratic governors who Trump says he gets on with well. He doesn’t like the Democrats in Michigan and Washington so much, of course.
He also praises the medical ship sent to Los Angeles and says he was there when they sent it out – that was the ship that went to New York.He also praises the medical ship sent to Los Angeles and says he was there when they sent it out – that was the ship that went to New York.
Fox are asking about the international situation, leading off on Benjamin Netanyahu going into isolation.Fox are asking about the international situation, leading off on Benjamin Netanyahu going into isolation.
While Trump attacks the Washington Post and the New York Times, his favourite targets, it’s worth remembering what Pelosi said about his response to the outbreak. This is from our report yesterday:While Trump attacks the Washington Post and the New York Times, his favourite targets, it’s worth remembering what Pelosi said about his response to the outbreak. This is from our report yesterday:
Now Trump is asked about the production of direly needed ventilators and other equipment by private companies and his reluctance to use the Defense Production Act, which enables a president to compel companies to work for the national interest.
Biden has said Trump must invoke the DPA in the next 48 hours but Trump says again he doesn’t need to, that the likes of General Motors are now working well with the government, and he doesn’t want to “nationalise the country”.
Trump also repeats a claim that ventilators sent to New York by the federal government were stacked in a warehouse in New Jersey and not used. Governor Cuomo has disputed this but Trump hits it regularly.
Trump also says he has spoken to Boris Johnson and been told the UK needs ventilators, as does everyone else.
Soon ventilators will be “a dime a dozen”, Trump says, accusing New York again of having dropped the ball on the issue before the outbreak.
Here’s Ed Pilkington and Victoria Bekiempis’s report on what Pelosi said yesterday:
“There’s something wrong with the woman,” Trump tells Fox & Friends, returning to familiar complaints against Pelosi including that her city, San Francisco, is supposedly a “slum”. Trump says the federal government may go in there and take over – which would be interesting.
He slams Pelosi again regarding impeachment, which he survived in the Senate.
“She lost,” the president says.
Trump answers a question about testing speeds from Dr Oz, a popular TV doctor.
Steve Doocey now asks if this is a “make or break week” for many US businesses, with rent due on 1 April. Trump agrees and says “nobody more worried than me for the country”.
He then boasts about having “the best economy we’ve ever had … and then one day they said, ‘By the way there’s a virus coming in and everyone asked what’s that all about and we had to shut it down.” It’s a familiar response and economists are happy to quibble about the “best economy” claim.
Trump salutes the $2.2tn stimulus bill passed by Congress last week and says he is pursuing a course to ensure the “least death”, saluting the public response. Then he trots out the 2.2m deaths line.
He’s asked about Nancy Pelosi, who he says is “a sick puppy” for saying he is responsible for US deaths because of the administration’s slow and chaotic response to the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.
The House Speaker has “a lot of problems” Trump says, she was “playing the impeachment game where she ended up looking like a fool … impeaches went on for years”. Her statement on Sunday about his culpability was a “disgrace to her family, her country”.
Trump also says she does not credit him for shutting down travel from China early in the outbreak. He did not totally shut down such travel.
The president and the speaker have not spoken in five months, according to reports and Pelosi’s own semi-confirmation on Sunday.
Trump also says “if Sleepy Joe Biden were president, no one would know what was going on”.
Trump is now talking about tests, new tests being developed and his hope that an antimalarial drug might be used to treat Covid-19. He also repeats that the US has “tested more than anybody in the world by far” – in fact the US does not lead the world in terms of tests per capita, and it is largely agreed that the Trump administration presided over a catastrophically slow start to the testing regime.
Trump now praises Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx, the public health experts who convinced him not to try to reopen the economy by Easter, and the administration’s response to the crisis in New York.
He repeatedly mentions the new hospital built at the Javits Center in Manhattan by the Army Corps of Engineers, all 2,900 beds of it. He doesn’t mention that it is not for Covid-19 cases but to take pressure off the rest of the healthcare system. Nor does he repeat Sunday’s insinuation that hospitals in New York are stealing or selling face masks.
Trump also says “deaths will be brought down to a very low number”. He doesn’t mention the 200,000 figure predicted by Fauci yesterday or the 2.2m if we do nothing figure Trump repeated in the Rose Garden.
Do we have enough equipment to handle the coming peak of the crisis, the president is asked.
“We should,” he says, repeating a familiar line about how nobody could ever have seen this coming – in fact, many people charged with preparing the country for such a pandemic did see it coming.
And here comes the claim that this is just like when “the general” told Trump in his first week in office that the US was out of ammunition. It wasn’t.
Here’s Donald…
Before Trump gets on the phone, Fox & Friends is interviewing Guy Fieri, a celebrity chef, about his efforts to support the restaurant industry and those who work in it, all hit horribly hard by the coronavirus shutdown.
There’s more about his grants programme, run with the National Restaurant Association, here. Trump is now trailed for 8am, top of the hour, two minutes from now.
Trump’s due imminently. Meanwhile, worrying news for New Yorkers and others dependent on online shopping and delivery as the outbreak paralyses their city: multiple outlets are reporting that workers at Amazon’s massive facility on Staten Island will stage a walkout today, over inadequate coronavirus protection measures at a warehouse where an employee has tested positive.
This is from the New York Post:
Amazon is not the only online firm facing unrest from uneasy workers and customers. Instacart workers are also preparing to strike on Monday.
This is from CNN Business:
… and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the US. Joanie Greve will be here later to take you through the day.
The day will likely get off to a lively start, because Donald Trump is due to be interviewed on Fox & Friends at 7.55am ET – not long from now. The Torquemadas of the long beige sofa will no doubt grill the president pitilessly about his administration’s coronavirus respo– … no, not really. The president will take softball after softball and, aiming for the cheap seats, potentially cause news.
After all, in the more august setting of the White House Rose Garden on Sunday night, Trump:
Extended federal guidelines on social distancing and other measures to fight the outbreak to 30 April, thereby scotching hopes of an Easter reopening of the economy he denied having ever been serious about.
Denied that he had seriously floated some form of quarantine for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – in fact on Saturday he did, prompting confusion, fear and a furious response from New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Implied that 100,000 or 200,000 US deaths from Covid-19, as predicted by Dr Anthony Fauci, would represent a successful government response.
Implied that New York hospitals were stealing or selling face masks they insist they desperately need.
Attacked PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor, again, and a representative of CNN, again.
Bragged about his “ratings” for such briefings being better than “Monday Night Football and the Bachelor finale”.
And more… here’s David Smith’s full report from the Rose Garden:
There’s a White House briefing on the schedule for today, too – at 5pm ET – so between that and the interview, here’s Oliver Milman’s look at five of the president’s most misleading (and oft-repeated) claims about the coronavirus outbreak and response:
And after all that, more sober and sobering news. Overnight, in figures compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the US passed 2,500 deaths from Covid-19, among nearly 143,000 confirmed cases. According to other counts, New York state counts for 1,000 or more of such deaths. A huge US Navy medical ship, the USNS Comfort, is due to arrive in New York harbor today, to provide relief for a healthcare system under terrible strain.