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1. All right, friends, it's time for my semi-weekly Trump Roundup: a non-comprehensive list of the horrific things we found out about our president & his behavior this week. Let's all take a biiiig breath ... count to five ... exhale. Ready? Let's do this.
2. Desperate to blame someone else -- the only strategy he knows -- Trump has ramped up his accusations against China. Now he's saying they may have *deliberately* started the virus & there should be "consequences." https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-china-may-have-started-coronavirus-deliberately-2020-4
3. In fact, Trump, who is pathetically easy to manipulate, believed everything China told him & praised China's virus response for months as the virus spread. Politico has the receipts. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736
4. In January & February, the pathetically gullible Trump had millions of dollars worth of face masks & protective equipment shipped to China -- equipment Americans now desperately need. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/us-sent-millions-of-face-masks-to-china-early-this-year-ignoring-pandemic-warning-signs/2020/04/18/aaccf54a-7ff5-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html?wpisrc=al_news__alert-world--alert-national&wpmk=1
5. Trump has also blamed the WHO for not warning him earlier. In fact, at least 15 US officials were embedded with the WHO in Geneva and had access to all its information & deliberations in real time. Trump just ignored them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/17/trump-tells-damnable-murderous-lie/
6. Now states are desperately trying to get protective medical equipment (PPE) and, unfathomably, they are being forced to work around a federal blockade. Again: the federal gov't is blocking & seizing PPE headed to the states. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/hospitals-face-a-white-house-blockade-for-coronavirus-ppe.html
7. Any possible "reopening of the economy" requires mass testing, but there was less testing in the US this week than last week. There aren't enough tests, personnel, or money, and the federal gov't isn't helping. https://apnews.com/9983363b779562ec9ebaaf6303922ecb
8. Trump is going around saying states have the tests they need & are just whining. Maryland's Republican governor Larry Hogan says that is "just absolutely false." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/19/coronavirus-maryland-gov-says-its-absolutely-false-states-are-ready-to-reopen.html
9. Sufficient testing is just one of the many confident, unequivocal promises Trump has made the American people since the emergency declaration. He's not keeping any of them. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/13/832797592/a-month-after-emergency-declaration-trumps-promises-largely-unfulfilled
10. His failure on those promises has been deadly. Epidemiologists suggest that 90% of the US casualties from Covid-19 could have been avoided if physical distancing had been imposed 2 weeks earlier. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/covid-social-distancing.html
11. Now Trump is pursuing a deliberate strategy: setting himself up to take credit for any good news, but setting states up to take responsibility for any bad news. It would be grotesque & pathetic even if thousands of lives weren't at stake. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-assails-critics-of-his-coronavirus-response-as-he-focuses-on-reopening-u-s-11587149080
12. If you were wondering, yes, a number of Trump-owned properties are eligible for bailout benefits. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-hotels-do-appear-to-qualify-for-coronavirus-bailout-benefits
13. Thousands of hotels across the country have volunteered to house medical professionals at a discount rate, or free. Trump hotels ... have not. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-white-house-praised-hotels-for-housing-doctors-cities-say-trumps-hotels-arent-participating/2020/04/18/da553fde-8009-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html
14. Experts say the Obamacare health exchanges could be quickly & easily extended to provide subsidized health insurance for all Americans. The infrastructure is in place. But Trump & the GOP hate Obamacare, so ... tough shit for Americans. https://apnews.com/f7e0512ef351a6e6533ce2d844c40e57
15. States can't get the supplies they need to address the virus, in some cases b/c the feds are literally stealing them. But there is one sure-fire way to get access to those supplies: have a personal connection with the Trump cabal. https://apnews.com/4b50dd9806e6d31607b23dfe38df4408
16. Stimulus checks to Americans will be delayed for a few days so that, in an unprecedented move, Trump's name can be put on them. He can't legally be on the From line, so he'll be on the Memo line. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-stimulus-checks-delayed-20200415-vqirljpqg5d5vdmjzjtoaweeqy-story.html
17. The federal virus response is woefully behind, but Trump found time to award a $569 million no-bid contract to some GOP donors to build the wall on the Mexican border. https://www.thedailybeast.com/army-decides-a-coronavirus-pandemic-is-a-good-time-to-give-gop-donors-dollar569-million-to-build-the-wall
18. The administration also found time to defy experts by a) refusing to boost inadequate soot pollution standards, and b) gutting regulations on mercury & toxic metals. Thousands more will die from respiratory problems ... during a respiratory virus. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/climate/epa-mercury-coal.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes
19. Trump is cheering on state protests against physical distancing -- protests organized in part by "the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/far-right-coronavirus-protests-restrictions
20. That's it for now (may add more later). We'll finish with this: as of Jan. 19, Trump has made "false or misleading statements" over 18,000 times in the three years of his presidency. Add the recent virus lies & the number is certainly much higher. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/14/president-trump-made-18000-false-or-misleading-claims-1170-days/
20.5 Oops, the 18,000 lies above are as of April 3, not Jan. 19, so they do include lots of the virus lies.
21. An addendum here to No. 3. @ThePlumLineGS & @paulwaldman1 argue that Trump was not "gullible" in believing China -- in fact, it was part of a deliberate strategy to convince Americans that the virus was being contained & they didn't have to worry. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/17/biden-just-hammered-trump-china-theres-more-say/
22. Trump immigration policy has herded asylum-seekers into crowded, unsanitary camps just across the Mexican border. Nonprofits like UNICEF have fled. The virus is going to devastate them. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/opinion/matamoros-migrants-coronavirus.html
23. Also worth adding: during all this incompetence, all the lies & corruption, all the tragic, terrible suffering & death, Trump has...whined. He whines & whines, like a resentful, petulant adolescent. He is the perfect tribune for US conservatism, a movement of whiners.
24. "The CDC’s performance with the test kits marks an unparalleled low in its often-proud, 74-year history." https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/contamination-at-cdc-lab-delayed-rollout-of-coronavirus-tests/2020/04/18/fd7d3824-7139-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html
25. Meanwhile, any BS happy talk about "reopening the economy" will have to wait until testing triples, according to experts. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/17/us/coronavirus-testing-states.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
