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,

This week, the United States hit the sobering milestone of [ [link removed] ]100,000
deaths due to COVID-19. Although the actual toll is [ [link removed] ]likely higher than
the recorded numbers, we are devastated by [ [link removed] ]the lives cut short by the
pandemic. The impact is especially pronounced among Black American and
Latinx people, who are [ [link removed] ]almost three times as likely to know someone who
has died due to the coronavirus than white Americans.

At least [ [link removed] ]one-third of the 100,000 deaths could have been avoided had
Donald Trump mandated social distancing measures just a week earlier to
curb the pandemic’s spread. His actions – and inaction – have had dire
health and economic consequences for people nationwide during this public
health crisis. Trump has continued to lie and deflect responsibility in a
desperate attempt to hold onto his office in the November election.

* Trump posted multiple [ [link removed] ]tweets on May 26 to attack voting by mail,
including his claim that California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom
is mailing ballots to “anyone living in the state, no matter who they
are or how they got there.” Once again, he tried to use the public
health crisis to stoke [ [link removed] ]anti-immigrant fervor among his base. And
the assertion he made is [ [link removed] ]incorrect. Trump’s statements were so
inaccurate that, for the first time ever, [ [link removed] ]Twitter appended links
below two of his posts encouraging readers to “get the facts about
mail-in ballots.” In retaliation, on May 28 Trump signed an
[ [link removed] ]executive order designed to limit protections for social media
sites – even though, if it makes it through the courts, the order
could actually force the sites to be harsher about [ [link removed] ]policing
inaccuracies in order to shield themselves from liability.
* Continuing his attacks on [ [link removed] ]science, Trump said in a May 24
interview that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine received
[ [link removed] ]“rave reviews.” He also dismissed the Columbia University
[ [link removed] ]report that connected the growing death rate in the U.S. to the
late date that social distancing measures were implemented by calling
it a partisan attack from a “liberal, disgraceful institution.”
Shortly after [ [link removed] ]this blog was updated last week, another
well-respected scientific journal published a [ [link removed] ]report echoing and
expanding upon Columbia’s findings – [ [link removed] ]which Trump also rejected.
* As localities implement reopening guidelines, Trump has continued to
flout public health and safety recommendations:

* On May 22, he declared churches to be [ [link removed] ]“essential” and called
on them to reopen immediately, irrespective of local social
distancing regulations, possibly because his campaign is worried
about his polling numbers [ [link removed] ]among white religious voters.
* Then, on May 25, Trump said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a
Democrat, needed to [ [link removed] ]“guarantee” full capacity at the
Republican National Convention or he would [ [link removed] ]withdraw it. He
made this threat as the county where the convention is scheduled
to take place is experiencing a [ [link removed] ]surge in confirmed
coronavirus cases.

* Trump continues to defy the safety recommendations of public health
experts by refusing to wear a face mask in public. On May 21, he
briefly wore one during a [ [link removed] ]private tour of Ford Motors, but refused
to do so publicly, saying he “didn’t want to give the press the
pleasure of seeing it.” Then on May 28, he [ [link removed] ]claimed that there are
“many different viewpoints” on wearing a mask, despite the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying [ [link removed] ]otherwise. Even some
[ [link removed] ]Republican officials have criticized Trump for ignoring the
protective protocol recommended by federal health experts.
* Trump has claimed that his push to reopen states’ economies is
designed to [ [link removed] ]give workers their jobs back. But data on unemployment
in Georgia, one of the first states to reopen, shows a steady rate of
unemployment insurance claims [ [link removed] ]a month after its reopening, with
almost two out of every five Georgians filing for unemployment since
mid-March. The U.S. hit another milestone this week, with [ [link removed] ]over 40
million Americans having filed for unemployment since the start of the
pandemic. The White House is so concerned about the negative coverage
Trump is receiving because of these numbers that they are [ [link removed] ]refusing
to release its traditional economic projections for the summer.
* Meanwhile, Trump [ [link removed] ]touted the current state of the stock market on
May 26, making clear his commitment to take care of the wealthy. A
report released on May 21 indicates that [ [link removed] ]America’s billionaires
saw their fortunes rise by $434 billion during the pandemic.
* During a weekend intended to commemorate the sacrifices of those who
have died in war, and as the death toll in the U.S. approached 100,000
lives lost to COVID-19, [ [link removed] ]Trump showed a complete disregard for
human life, alternately insulting Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, and
other perceived enemies, promoting conspiracy theories, and playing
golf.

Earlier this month, Sen. Lindsey Graham [ [link removed] ]claimed that Trump’s
“pro-life” stance guided his coronavirus response. But Trump’s disregard
for [ [link removed] ]mourning the dead or taking the pandemic seriously demonstrates
just how wrong Graham’s statement is. All of Trump’s lies and missteps
point to one truth: He cares about [ [link removed] ]his image and his grip on power
more than he cares about American lives.

It’s our duty to work as hard as we can to vote him out of office this
November.

This week, in the shadow of the pandemic’s toll, it’s clearer than ever
that this election is a fight for our lives.

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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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