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      in Elections

      Donald Trump Jr says he will pass time in Covid isolation by cleaning his guns

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      Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son who has tested positive for the coronavirus, has said he will pass the time in isolation battling with the virus by cleaning his collection of guns.
      Trump Jr is now the fourth member of the Trump family to have become infected with Covid. The president, the first lady and their son, Barron, have recovered from the virus, as has Trump Jr’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
      In a video posted to his Instagram account, Trump Jr breezily announced: “Apparently I got the rona.” He then went on to say he had no symptoms of the virus but would stay indoors out of an abundance of caution.
      He asked his supporters for their book and Netflix recommendation before adding: “I may have a couple days of solo time and there’s only so many guns I can clean before that gets bored.”
      Trump Jr, like his father as president, has been frequently criticized for downplaying the severity of the pandemic as it killed more than 250,000 Americans. In October Trump Jr told Fox News that critics of the Trump administration’s widely slammed approach to the pandemic are “truly morons” and said Covid-19 deaths in America are “almost nothing”.
      Trump Jr is believed to have political ambitions beyond being just his father’s son and has successfully courted popularity with the Republican party’s conservative base, carefully cultivating an outdoorsy and hunting popular image. More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Covid rampages across US, unifying a splintered nation as cases surge

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      The Disunited States of America are united once more. After a brutal election that exacerbated bitter partisan divisions and left the country feeling as though it had been torn in two, it has at last been thrown back together.For all the wrong reasons.The great leveler is coronavirus. Covid-19 is rampaging across the US as though it were on a personal mission to unify the splintered nation in an unfolding catastrophe. Of the 50 states of the Union, all but one – isolated Hawaii – is seeing alarming surges in new cases. The virus is on the rise so uniformly across the vast landmass of the US, that records are being shattered daily.Almost 12m cases have been recorded. In just one day the US notched up 184,000 new cases – six times the total number of infections in South Korea since the pandemic began.Almost 80,000 Americans are currently in hospital fighting for their lives, and the death rate is soaring inexorably towards 2,000 a day – close to the peak reached in April.This week the country passed the grimmest landmark so far: 250,000 dead Americans. And already the total has gone up significantly beyond that tragic milestone.As Michael Osterholm, a member of the coronavirus advisory team assembled by Joe Biden, put it: “We are in the most dangerous public health period since 1918.”The result of this terrifying march of untrammeled disease is that panic has begun to set in at state level. Governors and mayors from coast to coast have been scrambling to batten down the hatches, from New York City where the country’s largest public schools system was closed on Thursday barely two months after it reopened, to California where governor Gavin Newsom announced he was “pulling the emergency brake”.It is in the heartland states that the true horror of the current crisis is unfolding. Here Donald Trump’s historic mishandling of the pandemic is coming home to roost.Across the midwest, Trump’s playbook towards Covid-19 has been avidly embraced by Republican governors, from Kristi Noem in South Dakota, to Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, Kim Reynolds in Iowa, and Mike Parson in Missouri. They have mimicked the president’s relentless downplaying of the virus, lying about the pandemic being under control, and spurning of mask wearing.The results are now plain to see – runaway infection levels, staggering positivity rates and hospitals at breaking point.Only now, when the virus is pummeling the midwest like a tornado, have some of the Republican governors begrudgingly begun to change tack. Take Reynolds, the pro-Trump governor of Iowa. More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Republican officials finally forced into action on Covid-19 as reality bites

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      After Republicans won big on election night in the state of Iowa, in America’s heartland, Governor Kim Reynolds claimed vindication for her light-handed approach to the coronavirus pandemic.
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      “It was a validation of our balanced response to Covid-19,” Reynolds said of the vote. “One that is mindful of both public health and economic health.”
      That was two weeks ago. Since then, the trajectory of the pandemic in Iowa, as elsewhere in the American midwest, has taken a sharp and tragic turn.
      Daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 and hospitalizations are up 100% in Iowa since election night, and daily deaths are up more than 50%, hitting 41 on Tuesday. Nationwide, the United States has passed 250,000 confirmed deaths – about twice as many as any other country.
      Like other Republicans torn between fighting the pandemic and fighting the culture wars, Reynolds spent months dismissing the need for a mask mandate in her state, calling it a “feelgood” measure. But new warnings from local hospitals of a dangerous overload finally drove Reynolds to reverse course this week.
      “The pandemic in Iowa is the worst it has ever been,” she said. “No one wants to do this. I don’t want to do this.”
      The reluctance to “do this” is not exclusive to Reynolds – but it is exclusive to one of America’s two major political parties.
      mask mandates
      Since the start of the pandemic, Republican officials across the country, cowed by Donald Trump, conspiracy-swayed constituents and lesser political calculations, have resisted asking voters to take personal action to stop the spread of Covid-19. Until recently, many of those states had escaped the worst consequences of the official dereliction, enjoying some luck in the mysterious dynamics of the virus’s spread.
      But with the arrival of cooler temperatures, an increase in indoor activity and widespread pandemic fatigue, that story has changed terribly this fall, as public health experts predicted it would. With each passing week, the unwillingness of elected Republicans to act against the virus is taking an increasing toll, health experts say.
      And the mistrust in basic public health guidelines that Republicans have sown has a further, potentially destructive cost yet to be paid: the climate of mistrust seems likely to hamper the country’s imminent effort to escape the virus’s clutches through universal vaccination.
      “It’s not just that the anti-mask, anti-distancing, anti-testing Republicans are wrong as a matter of public policy,” tweeted Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative anti-Trump Bulwark. “It’s not even that they lack empathy for those who suffer. They relish their lack of empathy. They glory in their callousness. They are proud of their inhumanity.” More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Coronavirus taskforce briefing: Fauci urges vigilance as vaccine is in sight

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      Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases expert, has promised that “the cavalry is on the way” in the form of a coronavirus vaccine but urged one last great national effort to stop the spread.
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      Fauci was speaking at the White House coronavirus taskforce’s first press briefing since July. He was joined by Vice-president Mike Pence and response coordinator Deborah Birx, but there was no sign of Donald Trump or his controversial adviser Scott Atlas.
      The taskforce broke its long silence as the virus surges to new highs, infecting more than 158,000 Americans – and killing in excess of 1,100 – every day. The total death toll now stands at a quarter of a million. Trump, little seen in public and refusing to accept election defeat, has been accused of all but giving up on the fight.
      Taskforce members said they did not support a new national lockdown or school closures. But Fauci noted the “extraordinarily impressive” efficacy of vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna in clinical trials and told reporters that he wants to “put to rest any concept that this was rushed in an inappropriate way. This is really solid”.
      Fauci continued: “We now, as the vice-president said, are telling you that help is on the way, which has two aspects to it. It means that we need to actually double down on the public health measures as we’re waiting for that help to come, which will be soon. We’ll be getting vaccine doses into people at a high priority at the end of December.”
      “We’re not talking about shutting down the country. We’re not talking about locking down. We’re talking about intensifying the simple public health measures that we all talk about: mask wearing, staking distance, avoiding congregant settings, doing things to the extent that we can outdoors versus indoors. If we do that, we’ll be able to hold things off until the vaccine comes.”
      Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, added: “Now I’ve used that metaphor that the cavalry is on the way. If you’re fighting a battle and the cavalry’s on the way, you don’t stop shooting. You keep going until the cavalry gets here, then you might even want to continue fighting.”
      White House coronavirus taskforce briefings were an almost daily occurrence during the first surge of the virus in April, with Fauci and Birx becoming household names. But they fell away during the summer as the president fought the election campaign, suffered his own infection and increasingly derided Fauci. He brought in a new adviser, Atlas, who has falsely attacked the science of face masks and state measures to reduce infections.
      Pence said Thursday’s briefing was taking place at Trump’s request, but he took no questions either about the virus or his boss’s refusal to acknowledge that Biden won the election.
      The taskforce acknowledged that infections and hospitalisations are rising across the country. Pence acknowledged that the test positivity rate over the past 30 days has risen from 5% to 10%, and in some parts of the country is much higher. Birx, pointing to a graphic, added: “This is more cases, more rapidly than what we had seen before.”
      But Pence also insisted that the country is much better prepared in terms of personal protective equipment and other resources than it was at the start of the outbreak, as well as a system and kits to distribute a vaccine.
      “America has never been more prepared to combat this virus than we are today,” said the vice-president. “The day after one of these vaccines is approved we’ll be shipping vaccines to the American people and within a day after that we’ll be seeing those vaccines injected into Americans.”
      He added: “We’re getting there, America.”
      On Thursday the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) urged Americans to avoid travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. Birx added her voice calling for “decreasing those friends and family gatherings where people come together and unknowingly spread the virus. Every American needs to be vigilant in this moment because we know that when you are, we can mitigate this virus and stop this spread together.”
      But Pence also ruled out the type of mass closures of businesses that America witnessed in the spring. “President Trump wanted me to make it clear that our taskforce, this administration, and our president does not support another national lockdown, and we do not support closing schools.”
      The pointed remark about schools came a day after New York officials announced public schools would once again close after the city’s positivity rate hit 3%.
      Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, argued that it is possible for schools to safely conduct in-person instruction. He insisted: “They can do it safely, and they can do it responsibly. The infections that we’ve identified in schools, when they’ve been evaluated, were not acquired in schools. They were actually acquired in the community.”
      The big threat in transmission is “not the public square, but family gatherings” where people get comfortable and remove their masks, Redfield added.
      Alex Azar, the health secretary, said Pfizer would seek an emergency use authorisation Friday from the Food and Drug Administration for its coronavirus vaccine. The application and clinical trial data will be reviewed by an independent board of scientists before approval is granted. Azar added: “Hope and help are on the way.”
      Moderna is expected to file for emergency approval for its vaccine candidate in the coming weeks. More

    • 175 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      'I don't care what you think': Cuomo lashes out at reporters at Covid briefing

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      [embedded content]
      Watching Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus press briefings was once a household ritual for many in the US and around the world. But on Wednesday, the New York governor lost his cool.
      Things turned tense when Cuomo was pressed by a reporter about news that the New York City public school system – the largest in the US – would likely close on Thursday due to rising infections.
      Cuomo, who seemed unaware of the news, berated the reporter, who asked him to clarify whether or not New York parents should expect to send their kids to class on Thursday. “Let’s try not to be obnoxious and offensive in your tone,” he told the Wall Street Journal reporter Jimmy Vielkind.
      Covid-19 cases are spiking across the US, with deaths surpassing a quarter-million on Wednesday and hospitals throughout the country once again overwhelmed by patients.
      Cuomo declined to clarify whether the state would override city orders shutting down classrooms, and when the New York Times’ Jesse McKinley, who followed up, said “I think Jimmy’s correct in asking that question. I don’t think it’s obnoxious at all,” Cuomo retorted: “Well, I don’t really care what you think.”
      In March and April, when coronavirus cases first exploded across New York, Cuomo earned a reputation for delivering daily briefings that included not just updates on the latest case numbers, but also musings about how crisis can bring out the best in humanity, worries about how his ageing mother would fare through the pandemic and stern lectures to youngsters thinking about flouting the rules.
      Cuomo’s lively, empathetic delivery earned him fans. The comedian Chelsea Handler declared, “I’m officially attracted to Andrew Cuomo” and officials across the political spectrum praised his leadership.
      But on Wednesday, the governor’s outburst earned him no admirers. “Cuomo is offering a really embarrassing and condescending answer to a totally legitimate question about what’s happening” with schools, tweeted the Chalkbeat NY reporter Alex Zimmerman.
      “Parents are confused. Reporters are confused. Workers are confused. Kids are confused!” said Jessica Ramos, a Democratic state senator. “Cuomo? Not confused. Also, doesn’t recognize or care that you’re confused.”
      The governor’s performance also drew comparisons to Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese film characters.

      Scott Wolf
      (@scottwolf)
      Pacino is a lock for next years Oscars. His Cuomo is UNCANNY. 🙌🏻🎭 https://t.co/FqKuVtPEdx

      November 18, 2020

      Others lamented the logic of allowing bars, restaurants and gyms to remain operational while shuttering schools.

      Jessica Winter
      (@winterjessica)
      Can the kids go to school in restaurants

      November 18, 2020

      “Thinking tonight of all the New York City parents who just found out today that schools are closed starting tomorrow, even though schools have proven to be quite safe and bars and restaurants are still open,” said Dr Colleen M Farrell, a pulmonary and critical care fellow Weill Cornell Medicine. “This burden will, yet again, fall largely on women.”
      Cuomo, who has a history of clashing with Bill de Blasio, New York City’s mayor, had suggested schools could be kept open as the state ramps up testing capacity. But city officials announced school closures after New York surpassed a 3% Covid test positivity rate. Adding to the confusion: per the state’s calculations, which often diverge from the city’s numbers, the positive tests in New York City were at 2.5%.
      The hostile Wednesday press briefing came after Cuomo, who earned praise for leading New York through an initial surge of infections, published a book titled American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.
      “Cuomo is being incredibly condescending and rude for someone who wrote a book about how well he managed the pandemic before it was over,’” wrote BuzzFeed’s David Mack. More