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,

COVID-19 has continued to ravage our nation for six months now, and for
the duration of those six months, Donald Trump has lied, evaded, and
dismissed the severity – and even the existence – of the crisis.

This week, Donald Trump finally changed his tune, likely due to dismal
[ [link removed] ]polling numbers about his handling of the pandemic. Several Republicans
were quick to note his [ [link removed] ]new tone on coronavirus, but no one should be
fooled. Trump says a lot of things – most of them [ [link removed] ]false – but his
actions continue to indicate the scope and impact of his [ [link removed] ]failures
during the pandemic.

* On July 21, Trump held the first official coronavirus briefing
[ [link removed] ]since the end of April. However, he did not include any [ [link removed] ]members
of the White House’s coronavirus task force – [ [link removed] ]not even Dr. Anthony
Fauci. Instead, the briefing largely consisted of Trump [ [link removed] ]repeating a
handful of his favorite false talking points. While he did acknowledge
the pandemic, he also referred twice to the “China virus,” continued
to blame the rise of confirmed case numbers on increased testing, and
said that COVID-19 will just “disappear.”
* On July 20, news broke that Trump is [ [link removed] ]planning to issue a series of
executive orders on issues beyond COVID-19 to try to improve public
perception and shift media coverage away from his handling of the
pandemic. The anticipated orders focus on hot-button election issues
among his base, including a [ [link removed] ]renewed effort to rescind the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
* Trump may be trying to redirect public attention away from his
performance during the pandemic, but his clash with Senate Republicans
over their latest coronavirus relief package was widely reported on
July 21. The Trump administration [ [link removed] ]objected to the $25 billion
allocated to testing and contract tracing, instead aiming to “zero out
the funding for testing and the nation’s top health agencies,”
including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In an
unusual display of breaking ranks with Trump, Republicans have begun
to openly voice [ [link removed] ]their frustration over Trump’s demands,
particularly due to the severe shortage of [ [link removed] ]testing that continues
to hamper the U.S. response. On July 23, Trump [ [link removed] ]said in a Fox News
interview that testing is “overrated,” underscoring his seeming
refusal to acknowledge the science behind the experts’ coronavirus
recommendations.
* Almost two months after [ [link removed] ]forcing the Republican National Convention
(RNC) to relocate to Jacksonville, Florida when Charlotte, North
Carolina couldn’t guarantee an in-person event, Trump [ [link removed] ]announced
that the Jacksonville portion of the RNC was canceled. “They said
‘Sir, we can make this work very easily,’” Trump said at a White House
press briefing. “I said there's nothing more important in our country
than keeping our people safe, whether it's from the China virus or the
radical left mob."
* This week, new data on COVID-19 infection rates among children and
teenagers revealed that infection rates in that demographic are
“ballooning” nationwide. California and Mississippi are now
[ [link removed] ]reporting that ten percent of their cases are among children; in
Florida, nearly [ [link removed] ]one-third of children tested there return positive
results. A single Texas county [ [link removed] ]reported that 85 children under age
two have tested positive for COVID-19. Despite this alarming
development, Trump continued to [ [link removed] ]threaten to withhold federal
funding from public schools in a rambling and revealing interview with
Fox News’ Chris Wallace on July 19.

Trump may have finally acknowledged COVID-19 from the briefing room podium
this week, but he also couldn’t resist incorporating falsehoods and
self-congratulation while doing so. “We’re leading the world,” he
[ [link removed] ]lied. But this week the U.S. [ [link removed] ]surpassed four million confirmed
cases of coronavirus nationwide – with a million cases having been added
in only 15 days.

We must remember that Trump will only continue to lie – and despite their
recent disagreements, Senate Republicans will continue to enable him. It’s
up to the rest of us to demand the relief and protections we need to stay
safe and defend our democracy, and to hold them all accountable if they
refuse.

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The [ [link removed] ]Falsehoods and Failures series will appear every Friday on our
blog. [ [link removed] ]You can find the previous 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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