A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.

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[ [link removed] ]45's Falsehoods and Failures: Weekly Coverage of Trump During COVID-19

PFAW Member,

The last time the White House held an [ [link removed] ]official coronavirus press
briefing was May 1, but that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump from sowing chaos
and confusion about the federal government’s pandemic response. This week,
he has instead turned to [ [link removed] ]falsely buoyant publicity events to project an
image he considers politically advantageous. [ [link removed] ]His unrelenting push to
reopen the economy in the midst of still-climbing virus cases is having
dire consequences, all while he attacks the media and manipulates
government officials to obscure his failures during this public health
disaster.

* To shield himself from the consequences of his actions, Trump and his
administration continue to take drastic steps to [ [link removed] ]reduce oversight
of their response to the pandemic. In addition to [ [link removed] ]replacing a
public health official who candidly reported on the federal
government’s severe supply shortages, Trump recently said he would
only permit Dr. Anthony Fauci and other members of the White House
coronavirus task force to testify [ [link removed] ]before the Republican-led Senate.
* Trump is likely stonewalling legitimate government oversight to
support companies to which he has close ties with financial
assistance. Despite [ [link removed] ]funds running out before many small American
businesses could receive coronavirus stimulus aid, a [ [link removed] ]prominent
Chicago family closely linked to the Trump administration received a
$5.5 million loan. At least [ [link removed] ]three other companies with ties to the
administration received $18.3 million, as did [ [link removed] ]Trump-connected
fossil fuel firms. Well-connected and already well-funded businesses
were [ [link removed] ]far better positioned to utilize the Small Business
Administration’s initial coronavirus aid program, further
disadvantaging the [ [link removed] ]businesses which are truly struggling during
the pandemic. Additionally, the Trump administration has announced
that [ [link removed] ]it will not disclose data surrounding federal medical supply
distribution during the crisis, and the business leaders Trump has
been consulting for advice about reopening the economy include at
least [ [link removed] ]three large campaign donors. He also [ [link removed] ]named one of his
key allies, a top Republican fundraiser, to the role of postmaster
general, potentially furthering Trump’s [ [link removed] ]ongoing campaign to hinder
peoples’ ability to vote by mail through [ [link removed] ]dismantling the U.S.
Postal Service.
* While Americans are suffering, Trump is otherwise focused on the
progression of his 2020 reelection campaign, particularly after being
shown [ [link removed] ]polling data for several states that had him trailing behind
presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. After [ [link removed] ]lashing out at his
campaign manager, Trump then put into motion [ [link removed] ]an ad blitz to
promote his self-described “success” in responding to the coronavirus
crisis. And, with the timing of the election likely in mind, this week
Trump made unfounded promises to the public that [ [link removed] ]a working
coronavirus vaccine would be ready before the end of the year,
contradicting the timelines of both health officials and vaccine
production experts.
* Even though the federal government has made no significant progress in
increasing coronavirus test supply production and distribution, Trump
continues to make overblown claims about having done so, including
that [ [link removed] ]the United States has “tested more than every country
combined.” In reality, health care professionals across the country
[ [link removed] ]still lack both testing and personal protection equipment (PPE).
While celebrating a National Nurse Day event at the White House on
Wednesday, [ [link removed] ]Trump directly contradicted a nurse who described her
and others’ access to PPE during the pandemic as “sporadic,” and then
made the unprompted comment that the “shelves” had previously been
“empty” of PPE because “it wasn’t put there by the last
administration.” This just continues a pattern of Trump [ [link removed] ]blaming
President Obama for medical supply shortages and having “broken tests”
for an illness that wouldn’t exist for at least another three years
after the administration turned over.
* [ [link removed] ]Trump let the federal guidelines regarding social distancing
measures expire to allow him to focus on reopening the economy, even
if [ [link removed] ]the recovery data didn’t back up his desire to do so. [ [link removed] ]Not a
single U.S. state has met the Center for Disease Control’s
recommendations that they see a 14-day drop in cases before reopening
businesses and easing other restrictions. Within days of the
guidelines expiring, states such as [ [link removed] ]Kansas, Missouri, [ [link removed] ]Texas,
[ [link removed] ]Alabama, and [ [link removed] ]Georgia all recorded a marked increase in
confirmed cases of and deaths related to COVID-19.
* The final storyline from Trump’s involvement with the coronavirus
response this week tracks his promises regarding and dismissal of the
rising death toll – and [ [link removed] ]his preference for saving the economy over
saving human lives. During the past week, the death toll in the United
States has risen above [ [link removed] ]a staggering 70,000 lives lost to
coronavirus (even with many [ [link removed] ]deaths likely undercounted).
Previously, the [ [link removed] ]White House had predicted that we wouldn’t reach a
death toll of 60,000 until August, and [ [link removed] ]Trump has been using that
number for weeks as a benchmark for the total national deaths overall.
To address the new data pouring in, Trump changed his messaging to
claim that [ [link removed] ]as many as 100,000 Americans would die during the
pandemic, even as he quietly [ [link removed] ]strategized with his aides about how
to undermine the accuracy of these death tolls. [ [link removed] ]The administration
ordered 100,000 new body bags, but gave mixed signals about the status
of the White House’s coronavirus task force, going from it being
[ [link removed] ]phased out before June to [ [link removed] ]Trump trumpeting its success as the
reason for it continuing indefinitely. Privately, the [ [link removed] ]White House
projected the death toll in the United States to increase to 3,000 per
day by June. Trump’s actions are becoming even more divorced from the
reality of the pandemic on the ground, and millions of people are at
risk because of it.

In addition to the [ [link removed] ]ever-increasing death rate in the U.S., [ [link removed] ]nearly
one in five Americans have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus-prompted
[ [link removed] ]economic downturn, and Trump’s increasingly strident [ [link removed] ]“disaster
nationalism” is having [ [link removed] ]frightening consequences for [ [link removed] ]Americans
across the country.

As criticism mounts regarding the administration’s [ [link removed] ]calculated failure
to protect human life during a crisis in a shortsighted attempt to revive
the national economy, Trump has continued to praise himself aggressively.
[ [link removed] ]“The one thing that the pandemic has taught us is that I was right,”
Trump said at a recent event, [ [link removed] ]“and that includes medicine and other
things, you know.”

Leaving aside the fact that the [ [link removed] ]Federal Drug Administration has
officially cautioned against using hydroxychloroquine – the anti-malaria
drug [ [link removed] ]Trump spent weeks promoting – as a treatment for COVID-19, there
is ample evidence that Trump has done nothing right in his response to
coronavirus.

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The [ [link removed] ]Falsehoods and Failures series will appear every Friday on our
blog. [ [link removed] ]You can find last week's post here. For ongoing coverage of
Trump and the Right Wing's response to the coronavirus, check out PFAW's
[ [link removed] ]Right Wing Watch.

Thanks as always for your ongoing support – stay safe and healthy!

– Sarah, PFAW

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