Dear MoveOn member,

The United States is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with
far more cases than any other country.^1

Dr. Anthony Fauci, our government's leading infectious disease expert,
says that millions of Americans could get sick and "nearly a
quarter-million people in the United States could lose their lives"—and
that's if we now do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus.^2

Now, the Federal Reserve is estimating that job losses due to the crisis
could total 47 million and that the unemployment rate could hit 32%,
higher than the Great Depression.^3

It didn't have to be this way—but a majority of Americans don't know how
badly Donald Trump and his administration have mishandled the national
response.^4 In fact, they give Trump positive marks for his handing of the
crisis, and his approval rating is the highest of his presidency.^5

We've put together a list of 10 key ways that Trump has botched the crisis
so far (see below). We have to get this information out.

That's why we're aiming to launch and sustain a massive digital ad
campaign focused on voters who approve of Trump to educate them about his
part in creating this public health disaster. The ads will intensify
public pressure for relief efforts that focus on the hardest hit people
and communities—not big business bailouts—and will hold Trump accountable
for his failures. We need to keep these ads up until Election Day, but we
can only do it with your help. 



Will you chip in $5 a month to help us hold Trump
accountable for his failures? 

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Here are 10 key ways that Trump has let the coronavirus pandemic get out
of control:

 1. Refusing to take responsibility for his administration's response to
the pandemic. Trump doesn't believe he's responsible for how he and
his administration are dealing with the crisis. When asked by
reporters about it, he said, "I don't take any responsibility at
all."^6
 2. Shutting down the White House pandemic office. Trump closed the White
House's National Security Council Directorate for Global Health
Security and Biodefense in 2018—despite official briefings starting
even before his inauguration about the threat posed by pandemics.^7,8
 3. Ignoring intelligence warnings. Trump ignored dire warnings in January
and February from U.S. intelligence agencies about the coronavirus
pandemic, downplaying the threat and blocking necessary
preparations.^9 He also stonewalled inquiries from Congress starting
in early February.^10
 4. Failing to test. Trump failed to mobilize the government and private
sector to establish testing early on to contain the spread of the
virus.^11 Dr. Fauci calls the lack of early testing "a failing" of the
U.S. response.^12 Now, we're left with lockdowns and intense social
and economic disruptions to try to mitigate the harm.
 5. Failing to procure medical supplies. Trump failed to marshal the
powers of the federal government to procure the medical supplies and
hospital beds needed to meet the scale of this public health crisis.
For instance, if the Trump administration had reacted in February to
the ventilator shortage, the shortage would have been resolved by
mid-to-late April. Because the administration failed to react, we
might have enough ventilators only in early June, at best.^13
 6. Spreading lies and misinformation. Early in the crisis, Trump said
that the coronavirus would simply disappear. "It's going to disappear.
One day it's like a miracle—it will disappear."^14 Then, he promoted a
risky antimalarial drug as a treatment, with no evidence.^15 He
accused governors of not needing the personal protective equipment and
ventilators they asked for, and he accused health care workers of
stealing and selling masks.^16,17 And he still continues to spread
lies and advance his own political agenda, boasting about his poll
numbers and television ratings.
 7. Appointing Mike Pence to run the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Pence has a history of skepticism and denialism around science and a
record of poor response to public health crises as governor of
Indiana.^18
 8. Blocking access to health care, which puts all of us at risk. Trump
and his Republican lackeys in Congress refuse to pay for coronavirus
and COVID-19 medical care—except for testing.^19 But even the testing
provision is full of loopholes, with reports that people are showing
up at hospitals to get tested and then getting billed thousands of
dollars because, while the tests are free, the emergency room visits
are not.
 9. Favoring governors who are political allies when distributing
lifesaving medical supplies and pitting states against one another
instead of distributing supplies based on most urgent need and
fostering cooperation in this national emergency.^20
10. Failing to hire competent experts to manage this crisis. Trump and his
administration are incompetent, and, as a result, people are
needlessly dying. There is tremendous turnover in key administration
positions, many positions are left unfilled, and people are often
unqualified for their jobs. This results in horrifying incompetence in
the best of times, and catastrophic inadequacy now.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg ...

Trump's political strategy is to falsely repeat over and over that the
coronavirus is unprecedented, that no one saw it coming, and that his
response has been "great."^21

And the American public believes him. It's up to us to get the truth out
and hold Trump accountable as the pandemic continues to ravage our
communities.



Will you chip in $5 a month to help us get the truth out
about Trump and keep these ads up all the way through Election Day?

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Thanks for all you do.

–Emily, Dan, Anne, Jayne, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count," The New York
Times, accessed April 2, 2020
[link removed]

2. "Coronavirus May Kill 100,000 to 240,000 in U.S. Despite Actions,
Officials Say," The New York Times, March 31, 2020
[link removed]

3. "Coronavirus job losses could total 47 million, unemployment rate may
hit 32 percent, Fed estimates," NBC News, March 30, 2020
[link removed]

4. "President Trump's Job Approval Rating Up to 49%," Gallup, March 24,
2020
[link removed]

5. Ibid.

6. "Trump: 'I Don't Take Responsibility at All,'" New York, March 13, 2020
[link removed]

7. "I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it." The
Washington Post, March 13, 2020
[link removed]

8. "Before Trump's inauguration, a warning: 'The worst influenza pandemic
since 1918,'" Politico, March 16, 2020
[link removed]

9. "U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a
likely pandemic," The Washington Post, March 20, 2020
[link removed]

10. "Congress Wanted Answers From Trump on Coronavirus. He Blew Them Off."
The Daily Beast, March 20, 2020
[link removed]

11. "The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to Covid-19,"
The New York Times, March 28, 2020
[link removed]

12. "Top health official Fauci: People in US not easily getting
coronavirus testing 'is a failing,'" The Hill, March 12, 2020
[link removed]

13. "Slow Response to the Coronavirus Measured in Lost Opportunity," The
New York Times, March 24, 2020
[link removed]

14. "All the President's Lies About the Coronavirus," The Atlantic, March
24, 2020
[link removed]

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. "Trump could help solve the mask problem. Instead he's making baseless
attacks on New York nurses." Vox, March 30, 2020
[link removed]

18. "Mike Pence is exactly the wrong guy for this job," CNN, February 27,
2020
[link removed]

19. "He Got Tested for Coronavirus. Then Came the Flood of Medical Bills."
The New York Times, March 30, 2020
[link removed]

20. "Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued
by shortages and confusion," The Washington Post, March 31, 2020
[link removed]

21. "Trump said his coronavirus response has been a perfect '10.'
Public-health experts say that it's 'abysmal' and that he needs to 'stop
talking.'" Business Insider, March 17, 2020
[link removed]



Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day
by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage,
defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's
pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must
never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than
ever. Will you stand with us?



[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.




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