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| Coronavirus US live: Trump says 'we may have to put out a fire' if second wave hits as deaths reach 67,000 | Coronavirus US live: Trump says 'we may have to put out a fire' if second wave hits as deaths reach 67,000 |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The president claimed he had ‘saved hundreds of thousands of lives’ at a Sunday Town Hall, after revising his death estimate as US figures climb | The president claimed he had ‘saved hundreds of thousands of lives’ at a Sunday Town Hall, after revising his death estimate as US figures climb |
| This is Joan Greve, taking over for Martin Pengelly. | |
| The president has once again given himself high marks for his response to the coronavirus crisis, despite widespread criticism of some comments he has made about the virus, including his infamous suggestion that Americans ingest disinfectants to help protect their health. | |
| “Getting great reviews, finally, for how well we are handling the pandemic, especially our strong production of desperately needed ventilators, the building of field hospitals & beds, and soon, the great things we are doing on testing,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “People are really working well together!” | |
| The president has continued to boast about the country’s production of ventilators, even as the focus of the coronavirus response has shifted to testing. Public health experts have warned that the US will need to dramatically ramp up coronavirus testing to effectively reopen the economy. | |
| It’s also worth noting that most Americans do not agree with the president’s assessment of how he has handled the crisis. A poll taken last week showed 53% of Americans disapproved of his response to the pandemic. | |
| More from the Associated Press, on a controversy in San Francisco which placed the coronavirus response on a particularly jagged fault line in US society, thus: | |
| “San Francisco’s police chief said the city’s rank and file will wear neutral face coverings to defuse a controversy that was sparked when officers sent to patrol a May Day protest wore masks adorned with the ‘thin blue line’ flag. | |
| “The police union ordered and distributed the masks emblazoned with black-and-white American flag with a blue stripe across the middle. The symbol is associated with the Blue Lives Matter movement, a response to the national Black Lives Matter movement [which protests police brutality towards people of colour]. | |
| “In an email obtained by KTVU-TV, Chief Bill Scott told his officers Friday he considered the blue flag and stripe ‘a meaningful expression to honor fallen officers’. However, he worried that some may perceive the symbol as ‘divisive and disrespectful’. | |
| “A retired civil rights lawyer told the San Francisco Chronicle the masks, which also include the logo for the San Francisco Police Officers Association, violate a long-standing policy that bars police from expressing political opinions while wearing their uniforms. | |
| “ ‘The thin blue line is a political symbol,’ John Crew said. ‘And it’s a POA-branded mask. It’s like wearing a political button.’ | |
| “The police union president, Tony Montoya, said the union had shown the masks to Scott’s command staff, and several had asked for more than one. The blue line ‘represents law enforcement’s separation of order and chaos,’ he said.” | |
| Here’s more from the Guardian on Black Lives Matter: | |
| Back to the media frenzy. Don Lemon of CNN, a frequent target of Trump’s ire and that of his family and supporters, addressed the president directly on Sunday night after Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory about Barack Obama. | Back to the media frenzy. Don Lemon of CNN, a frequent target of Trump’s ire and that of his family and supporters, addressed the president directly on Sunday night after Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory about Barack Obama. |
| “In a time when we need leadership,” Lemon said, “when we need compassion, this is the crap that you’re peddling? Conspiracy theories?” | “In a time when we need leadership,” Lemon said, “when we need compassion, this is the crap that you’re peddling? Conspiracy theories?” |
| Trump’s retweet, he said, was “a new low from a president who goes low all the time”. | Trump’s retweet, he said, was “a new low from a president who goes low all the time”. |
| Lemon continued: | Lemon continued: |
| For the record, the tweet which Trump retweeted said “Evidence has surfaced that indicates Barack Obama was the one running the Russian hoax” and was by David J Harris Jr, an African American conservative. The piece opens: “In the new releases it appears to be saying that Operation Hurricane was being run from the Oval Office. This would be huge if true.” | For the record, the tweet which Trump retweeted said “Evidence has surfaced that indicates Barack Obama was the one running the Russian hoax” and was by David J Harris Jr, an African American conservative. The piece opens: “In the new releases it appears to be saying that Operation Hurricane was being run from the Oval Office. This would be huge if true.” |
| That’s a reference to Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s investigation of Russian election interference. | That’s a reference to Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s investigation of Russian election interference. |
| Harris’s Apple podcasts bio says he’s “an entrepreneur, founder of UncorkedLiving.com, a healthy lifestyle supplement company, and a speaker” and Trump has retweeted him before. | Harris’s Apple podcasts bio says he’s “an entrepreneur, founder of UncorkedLiving.com, a healthy lifestyle supplement company, and a speaker” and Trump has retweeted him before. |
| So there’s that. No response yet from Trump, though he has attacked MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski. | So there’s that. No response yet from Trump, though he has attacked MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski. |
| To take a break from the president’s Twitter feed, the Associated Press has a moving report from Denver, where “a retired Colorado paramedic who died from coronavirus after volunteering to help combat the pandemic in New York City was being honored on Sunday.” | To take a break from the president’s Twitter feed, the Associated Press has a moving report from Denver, where “a retired Colorado paramedic who died from coronavirus after volunteering to help combat the pandemic in New York City was being honored on Sunday.” |
| Here’s the rest of the AP report: | Here’s the rest of the AP report: |
| In the words of that meme with the dog with the coffee in the burning room, “this is fine”: | In the words of that meme with the dog with the coffee in the burning room, “this is fine”: |
| It’s barely dawn on a Monday in the middle of a pandemic which has killed 67,000 Americans and the president is up and about, not apparently to work on stopping the virus but to bait two breakfast hosts on MSNBC who on Friday, as it happens, interviewed Joe Biden about the allegation of sexual assault against him, an allegation the presumptive Democratic nominee denies and which Trump, who denies numerous such allegations himself, reportedly thinks is “bullshit”. | It’s barely dawn on a Monday in the middle of a pandemic which has killed 67,000 Americans and the president is up and about, not apparently to work on stopping the virus but to bait two breakfast hosts on MSNBC who on Friday, as it happens, interviewed Joe Biden about the allegation of sexual assault against him, an allegation the presumptive Democratic nominee denies and which Trump, who denies numerous such allegations himself, reportedly thinks is “bullshit”. |
| I’m tired from typing that sentence. It’s true, for what it’s worth, that Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, and his wife, Mika Brzezinski, were once on friendly terms with then-candidate Trump. I remember a call-in where they were wearing pyjamas and Trump, by then president-elect, seemed to threaten nuclear apocalypse. | I’m tired from typing that sentence. It’s true, for what it’s worth, that Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, and his wife, Mika Brzezinski, were once on friendly terms with then-candidate Trump. I remember a call-in where they were wearing pyjamas and Trump, by then president-elect, seemed to threaten nuclear apocalypse. |
| Not friends now, anyway, and not for a very long time. | Not friends now, anyway, and not for a very long time. |
| …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, and the politics around it, in the US. I always start with the basic figures, from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland: | …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, and the politics around it, in the US. I always start with the basic figures, from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland: |
| US cases: 1,157,875 | US cases: 1,157,875 |
| US deaths: 67,677 | US deaths: 67,677 |
| New York cases: 316,415 | New York cases: 316,415 |
| New York deaths: 24,708 | New York deaths: 24,708 |
| New York is the hotspot, other states are badly hit: New Jersey (7,871) and Michigan (4,053) and Massachusetts (4,004) have had the next most deaths. | New York is the hotspot, other states are badly hit: New Jersey (7,871) and Michigan (4,053) and Massachusetts (4,004) have had the next most deaths. |
| The weekend saw Donald Trump lead his country through the crisis mostly by retweeting conspiracy theories and tweeting complaints before staging on Sunday night a Fox News town hall which saw more of the latter. | The weekend saw Donald Trump lead his country through the crisis mostly by retweeting conspiracy theories and tweeting complaints before staging on Sunday night a Fox News town hall which saw more of the latter. |
| Fox News put the event at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, prompting the 45th president to complain that he had been treated worse by the press than the 16th – who, remember, guided the Union through a horrific civil war, managed to legislate slavery out of existence and was shot dead on a trip to the theatre. | Fox News put the event at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, prompting the 45th president to complain that he had been treated worse by the press than the 16th – who, remember, guided the Union through a horrific civil war, managed to legislate slavery out of existence and was shot dead on a trip to the theatre. |
| Among other points, Trump boosted efforts in more than half of the states to reopen their economies despite warnings from public health experts that it could well be too soon to do so safely; said there would no more stimulus aid for struggling states without a payroll tax cut, a controversial move to say the least; and said he had “saved hundreds of thousands of lives” before projecting a final death toll of around 100,000, up from his previous estimate of 65,000 (see 67,677 figure above). | Among other points, Trump boosted efforts in more than half of the states to reopen their economies despite warnings from public health experts that it could well be too soon to do so safely; said there would no more stimulus aid for struggling states without a payroll tax cut, a controversial move to say the least; and said he had “saved hundreds of thousands of lives” before projecting a final death toll of around 100,000, up from his previous estimate of 65,000 (see 67,677 figure above). |
| Earlier, White House task force member Dr Deborah Birx told Fox News Sunday: “Our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives lost, and that’s with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance”. | Earlier, White House task force member Dr Deborah Birx told Fox News Sunday: “Our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives lost, and that’s with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance”. |
| Trump also said “We may have to put out a fire”, when asked if he was worried about a coronavirus resurgence in the fall. | Trump also said “We may have to put out a fire”, when asked if he was worried about a coronavirus resurgence in the fall. |
| And he said the administration would present evidence for its claim the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory “at the right time”. The right time obviously wasn’t ABC’s Sunday talkshow earlier, where secretary of state Mike Pompeo made the claim and said he’d seen evidence, but didn’t of course provide any. | And he said the administration would present evidence for its claim the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory “at the right time”. The right time obviously wasn’t ABC’s Sunday talkshow earlier, where secretary of state Mike Pompeo made the claim and said he’d seen evidence, but didn’t of course provide any. |
| Later the vice-president, Mike Pence, admitted his mistake in not wearing a mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last week – a rare enough step in this administration. | Later the vice-president, Mike Pence, admitted his mistake in not wearing a mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last week – a rare enough step in this administration. |
| Anyway, that Lincoln quote. I’m a Lincolnhead, so indulge me. But it’s quite something: | Anyway, that Lincoln quote. I’m a Lincolnhead, so indulge me. But it’s quite something: |
| Paging Harold Holzer. | Paging Harold Holzer. |
| Here’s some more reading as the day gets going: Bryan Armen Graham on what Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer had to say about anti-lockdown protests which Trump has supported. It’s a striking headline… | Here’s some more reading as the day gets going: Bryan Armen Graham on what Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer had to say about anti-lockdown protests which Trump has supported. It’s a striking headline… |