This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/03/coronavirus-us-latest-updates-donald-trump-anthony-fauci-nancy-pelosi-deaths
The article has changed 17 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus US live: Trump blocks Fauci testimony as death toll hits 66,000 | Coronavirus US live: Trump blocks Fauci testimony as death toll hits 66,000 |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Political battle continues in Washington as governors look to reopen and experts warn fight against virus remains far from won | Political battle continues in Washington as governors look to reopen and experts warn fight against virus remains far from won |
| From a White House economic adviser to a White House public health adviser: Dr Deborah Birx is talking on Fox News Sunday: | |
| She’s referring to protesters who want state economies and societies reopened, and who have been seen in states across the US. | |
| Here’s an AP intro that sums up rather neatly the tensions between such demands and governors and experts who think reopening too quickly will most likely prove deadly: | |
| Relative to California and Washington state, for two nearby examples, Oregon has not been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus: the Johns Hopkins figures put cases there at 2,635 and deaths at 109. The protests there on Saturday were not as angry as those in Michigan, for example, this week, where armed men entered the statehouse, frightening lawmakers … and earning the support of the president. | |
| Nonetheless, the AP continues, “protest organizers [said] they view the social distancing mandates issued by Governor Kate Brown as government overreach. Since mid-March, Brown’s orders have closed many businesses, put some parks and campgrounds off limits, and required public schools to adopt distance learning programs. | |
| “Most of the protesters did not wear face masks, but they waved American flags and Trump campaign signs in the rain. Other signs read ‘Reopen Oregon’ and ‘Let me earn a living.’ | |
| “A group of healthcare workers demonstrated at the top of the Capitol steps, urging a phased plan to ease the state’s social distancing requirements. Most of the other protesters ignored them.“You can’t just place citizens under house arrest and enforce those orders,” event organizer Adam Ellifritt said. | |
| Here’s some video of the Michigan protests: | |
| White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow is up on CNN’s State of the Union, discussing the economy and how to get it going again with a pandemic still raging, as more than half of the 50 states are now attempting to do. | |
| Kudlow mentions that further aid may be coming for struggling Americans, with almost 30m unemployed, and also floats again the idea that the Trump administration may try to tie it to such moves as concessions on sanctuary cities, mostly Democratic-run places which do not co-operate with attempts to remove undocumented migrants. | |
| Many observers have pointed out tying aid to policy priorities like that would be unprecedented and, to some, unconscionable. | |
| Kudlow also predicts a “potentially strong springback” from state economies, and saying 2021 could “be one of the fastest growth rebounds in US history”. The economy is central to Trump’s case for re-election, of course. | |
| Here’s Robert Reich again on that: | |
| Kudlow is asked about disconnects between public health advisers who counsel caution on reopening and economic advisers, such as him, who say it is time to reopen. He defends his own previous remarks about the coronavirus being contained. Obviously. The virus has “spread exponentially in ways no one could’ve predicted”, he says, which epidemiologists and others would and do contest. Also obviously. | |
| Oh, and Maine: | |
| Maine is a state not yet so badly hit – Johns Hopkins figures put it at a little more than 1,150 cases and 56 deaths. But here’s Lauren Aratani with a more, uh, considered take on the problems facing a state dependent on summer tourism… | |
| Trump has also tweeted about how he misses his rallies: | Trump has also tweeted about how he misses his rallies: |
| Many people thought Trump was using his daily White House coronavirus briefings as rally substitutes, pounding out misinformation and attacks on familiar enemies with a captive national audience. Then the president used the podium (or lectern, Twitter pedants, a line I now have on shortcut) to suggest people might inject themselves with disinfectant to beat the coronavirus and that alley was, for now, in the main, closed off too. | Many people thought Trump was using his daily White House coronavirus briefings as rally substitutes, pounding out misinformation and attacks on familiar enemies with a captive national audience. Then the president used the podium (or lectern, Twitter pedants, a line I now have on shortcut) to suggest people might inject themselves with disinfectant to beat the coronavirus and that alley was, for now, in the main, closed off too. |
| It’s also worth remembering that the president has often claimed not to have left the White House during the pandemic other than to visit a hospital ship leaving Virginia for New York, when in fact he staged rallies and visited the CDC in Atlanta. | It’s also worth remembering that the president has often claimed not to have left the White House during the pandemic other than to visit a hospital ship leaving Virginia for New York, when in fact he staged rallies and visited the CDC in Atlanta. |
| Trump is currently at Camp David in Maryland. There is no White House briefing on the schedule but he does have a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington tonight, at 9pm ET. | Trump is currently at Camp David in Maryland. There is no White House briefing on the schedule but he does have a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington tonight, at 9pm ET. |
| Donald Trump is awake and – in Withnailian terms I can’t resist and initiates of the film will get, Curse of the Superman and all that – he’s stepped back into society and started tossing his orb about. | Donald Trump is awake and – in Withnailian terms I can’t resist and initiates of the film will get, Curse of the Superman and all that – he’s stepped back into society and started tossing his orb about. |
| One target this morning: President George W Bush, who has called for Americans to put partisanship aside during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump says Bush was “nowhere to be found” when his Republican successor was impeached, and thereby failed to “speak up against the greatest Hoax in American history!” | One target this morning: President George W Bush, who has called for Americans to put partisanship aside during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump says Bush was “nowhere to be found” when his Republican successor was impeached, and thereby failed to “speak up against the greatest Hoax in American history!” |
| Also in the firing line, on Saturday night, was MSNBC host Nicole Wallace. It turns out I’m right to think a double dog is a yoga pose, but in Trumpian tweet trash talk terms it’s the following: “She was thrown off The View like a dog, Zero T.V. Personas. Now Wallace is a 3rd rate lapdog for Fake News MSDNC (Concast). Doesn’t have what it takes!” | Also in the firing line, on Saturday night, was MSNBC host Nicole Wallace. It turns out I’m right to think a double dog is a yoga pose, but in Trumpian tweet trash talk terms it’s the following: “She was thrown off The View like a dog, Zero T.V. Personas. Now Wallace is a 3rd rate lapdog for Fake News MSDNC (Concast). Doesn’t have what it takes!” |
| Nice to see he’s using his time constructively. | Nice to see he’s using his time constructively. |
| On Saturday night, Trump also claimed to have done more for African Americans than any president, although Honest Abe” – Lincoln, who ended slavery, remember – “wasn’t bad”. He also said of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!”, earning predictable rebukes for praising a dictator. | On Saturday night, Trump also claimed to have done more for African Americans than any president, although Honest Abe” – Lincoln, who ended slavery, remember – “wasn’t bad”. He also said of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!”, earning predictable rebukes for praising a dictator. |
| To Sunday morning: Trump has already attacked “the Fake News” and “the Lamestream Media” about polls, of course he has, and he has also retweeted a message which ends “Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself.” | To Sunday morning: Trump has already attacked “the Fake News” and “the Lamestream Media” about polls, of course he has, and he has also retweeted a message which ends “Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself.” |
| That one, by the by, is from the same failed congressional candidate who’s “#FireFauci” tweet Trump retweeted last month, causing widespread consternation. | That one, by the by, is from the same failed congressional candidate who’s “#FireFauci” tweet Trump retweeted last month, causing widespread consternation. |
| It’s fun, keeping up with Trump tweets. Really, it is. | It’s fun, keeping up with Trump tweets. Really, it is. |
| …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus – and politics – in the US. First, as ever, the figures from Johns Hopkins University: | …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus – and politics – in the US. First, as ever, the figures from Johns Hopkins University: |
| US cases: 1,132,903 | US cases: 1,132,903 |
| US deaths: 66,380 | US deaths: 66,380 |
| New York cases: 312,977 | New York cases: 312,977 |
| New York deaths: 24,198 | New York deaths: 24,198 |
| Other states are badly hit: New Jersey is approaching 8,000 deaths, Michigan’s toll has passed 4,000. And states with governors looking to reopen their economies faster than might be wise are affected too: there have been more than 35,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths in Florida, for example, where the Grim Reaper himself, sort of, is patrolling the beaches in protest. | Other states are badly hit: New Jersey is approaching 8,000 deaths, Michigan’s toll has passed 4,000. And states with governors looking to reopen their economies faster than might be wise are affected too: there have been more than 35,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths in Florida, for example, where the Grim Reaper himself, sort of, is patrolling the beaches in protest. |
| In Washington, or near it at Camp David, Donald Trump continues to stir the pot. The Senate is due back in session on Monday – Mitch McConnell has judges to confirm, among other business – despite the dangers to its distinctly aging population. Trump has been busy slamming Nancy Pelosi, 80, for not reopening the House. It’s worth noting that Pelosi and McConnell together, a rare sight, turned down Trump’s offer of accelerated testing for members of Congress. | In Washington, or near it at Camp David, Donald Trump continues to stir the pot. The Senate is due back in session on Monday – Mitch McConnell has judges to confirm, among other business – despite the dangers to its distinctly aging population. Trump has been busy slamming Nancy Pelosi, 80, for not reopening the House. It’s worth noting that Pelosi and McConnell together, a rare sight, turned down Trump’s offer of accelerated testing for members of Congress. |
| Also, the White House has blocked Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House committee about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis. This is one that’s going to rumble on. In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump said: “The Democrats are just, as always, looking for trouble. They do nothing constructive, even in times of crisis. They don’t want to blame their cash cow, China, for the plague. China is blaming Europe. Dr Fauci will be testifying before the Senate very soon!” | Also, the White House has blocked Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House committee about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis. This is one that’s going to rumble on. In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump said: “The Democrats are just, as always, looking for trouble. They do nothing constructive, even in times of crisis. They don’t want to blame their cash cow, China, for the plague. China is blaming Europe. Dr Fauci will be testifying before the Senate very soon!” |
| Republicans control the Senate, although Fauci has a history of contradicting Trump or reportedly angering him by sticking to inconvenient facts whatever the venue for doing so. We’ll be watching this one as the morning shows roll on. | Republicans control the Senate, although Fauci has a history of contradicting Trump or reportedly angering him by sticking to inconvenient facts whatever the venue for doing so. We’ll be watching this one as the morning shows roll on. |
| There’s also mounting Democratic anger about Trump’s moves to neuter oversight of his administration, most recently by removing a health watchdog who wrote a report critical of the first responses to and preparations for the arrival of Covid-19. Elizabeth Warren: “When it comes to his handling of this pandemic, Donald Trump has a view on oversight: He doesn’t want any. Make no mistake: We will keep doing our jobs and holding him accountable for his botched response to a national crisis.” | There’s also mounting Democratic anger about Trump’s moves to neuter oversight of his administration, most recently by removing a health watchdog who wrote a report critical of the first responses to and preparations for the arrival of Covid-19. Elizabeth Warren: “When it comes to his handling of this pandemic, Donald Trump has a view on oversight: He doesn’t want any. Make no mistake: We will keep doing our jobs and holding him accountable for his botched response to a national crisis.” |
| All that and more to come, you lucky, lucky readers. Before it does, here’s our columnist Robert Reich with an elegant evisceration of the Trump administration’s moves to reopen the US economy… | All that and more to come, you lucky, lucky readers. Before it does, here’s our columnist Robert Reich with an elegant evisceration of the Trump administration’s moves to reopen the US economy… |