The Guardian’s global coverage of the coronavirus continues now on this blog, and will take in all the latest developments in the White House and the US.
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Summary
From me and Joanna Walters:
- Mike Pence is expected to debate Kamala Harris tomorrow, as planned. Despite Pence being in contact with Donald Trump and others who have tested positive for Covid-19, the White House physician has given him the go-ahead to resume normal activity, contradicting CDC guidelines to quarantine for two weeks after exposure to the virus.
- Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, is the latest person in the president’s orbit to test positive for Covid-19. The immigration hardliner who has espoused white nationalist views said he will quarantine following his diagnosis. His wife Katie Miller, who is the press secretary to Mike Pence, contracted the coronavirus earlier this year.
- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gave a speech on the historic fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Biden expressed concern that America is so divided it’s in a “dangerous place” but not irretrievable. He also called on Americans to follow the “scientific recommendations” for how to protect themselves against coronavirus, including wearing a mask and social distancing, in his campaign speech this afternoon.
- Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, he said the next presidential debate should be cancelled if Donald Trump remains positive for Covid-19 by then. He will be “guided by the guidelines of the Cleveland Clinic and what the docs say is the right thing to do”, he said.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the White House is “in complete disarray” after Trump abruptly crushed talks between Democrats and Republicans on a fresh coronavirus economic relief bill. News that negotiations failed triggered an immediate stock market selloff. Pelosi accused Trump of “putting himself first at the expense of the country”.
- The White House will reportedly bow to Federal Drug Administration standards on the correct process for approving any safe and effective US vaccine against coronavirus. The FDA said it will require at least two months of safety data before considering authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, thwarting Trump’s attempts to deliver a vaccine by election day.
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Stephen Miller, the top Trump adviser who has tested positive for Covid-19, was among the most ardent defenders of the administration’s policy too separate children from parents.
The immigration hardliner who has publicly espoused racist and white nationalist ideas that migration and amnesty for immigrants would “decimate” the US, was a key player in the president’s decision to ratchet up zero-tolerance policies that resulted in at least 5,400 children being separated from their parents.
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US attorneys along the border with Mexico were told in 2018 by top Trump administration officials to prosecute undocumented immigrants who crossed the border, even if it meant separating them from their children who were barely more than infants.
A draft report summarizing a two-year inquiry into Trump’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy reviewed by the New York Times recounts that Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general, told prosecutors in a conference call, “We need to take away children.”
Rod Rosenstein, then the deputy attorney general, on a later call added that it did not matter how young the children were, and said that government lawyers shouldn’t have refused to prosecute two cases involving very young kids.
The draft report also documented other revelations that had not previously been known:
- Government prosecutors reacted with alarm at the separation of children from their parents during a secret 2017 pilot program along the Mexican border in Texas. “We have now heard of us taking breastfeeding defendant moms away from their infants,” one government prosecutor wrote to his superiors. “I did not believe this until I looked at the duty log.”
- Border Patrol officers missed serious felony cases because they were stretched too thin by the zero-tolerance policy requiring them to detain and prosecute all of the misdemeanor illegal entry cases. One Texas prosecutor warned top Justice Department officials in 2018 that “sex offenders were released” as a result.
- Senior Justice Department officials viewed the welfare of the children as the responsibility of other agencies and their duty as tracking the parents. “I just don’t see that as a D.O.J. equity,” Mr. Rosenstein told the inspector general.
- The failure to inform the U.S. Marshals Service before announcing the zero-tolerance policy led to serious overcrowding and budget overruns. The marshals were forced to cut back on serving warrants in other cases, saying that “when you take away manpower, you can’t make a safe arrest.”
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Joe Biden said if Trump remains covid-positive by the next presidential debate, they should cancel the event.
“I’m not sure what President Trump is all about now. I don’t know what his status is. I’m looking forward to being able to debate him, but I just hope all the protocols are followed,” Biden said, speaking to journalists Hagerstown, Maryland.
But if Trump still had Covid-19, “we shouldn’t have a debate”, Biden said. “Too many people have been infected. It’s a very serious problem, so I will be guided by the guidelines of the Cleveland Clinic and what the docs say is the right thing to do.”
So far, Biden has been testing negative for the virus, despite having interacted with Trump during the first presidential debate last Tuesday – when the president may have been infectious.
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Mike Pence, who is scheduled to debate Kamala Harris tomorrow, “does not need to quarantine”, per White House physician Jesse Schonau.
The CDC recommend that people who have been exposed with anyone who has the virus quarantine for at least two weeks regardless of whether they test negative. Contradicting that recommendation, Schonau said in a memo that Pence is “encouraged to go about his normal activities”.
The commission organizing the debates have allowed Pence to participate without a plexiglass barrier to contain potentially contagious droplets, but Harris and the debate moderator will be allowed to erect barriers to protect themselves.
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Stephen Miller tests positive for Covid-19
Stephen Miller, a top aide to Donald Trump, has tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Over the last 5 days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday. Today, I tested positive for Covid-19 and am in quarantine,” Miller said in a statement.
More than a dozen White House officials and others in the president’s orbit have now tested positive for the virus, according to counts by multiple news organizations. Earlier this year, Miller’s wife, Katie Miller – who is Mike Pence’s press secretary – contracted the virus.
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The Trump administration’s energy department is rolling out a lengthy report touting oil and gas as “providing energy security and supporting our quality of life”, without acknowledging that fossil fuels are the main cause of the climate crisis.
Released a month before the election, the report is strikingly at odds with the realities of climate change that the American public has been coping with over the past few months, from huge wildfires to destructive derecho storms and a series of intense hurricanes.
The cover of the report features verdant produce and a happy couple cooking over a gas stove. The department uses the word “climate” in the report only once, in reference to an industry initiative. The department estimates it spent about $200,000 on the project.
“Over the past two decades, Americans have witnessed dramatic growth in our nation’s ability to produce the oil and natural gas needed to power our vibrant economy and support our modern lifestyle,” the introduction says.
The report doesn’t cover any of the industry’s downsides – from fueling climate change to polluting communities where it operates and providing the feedstock for plastic waste that is covering the earth. It focuses on the national security values of US energy independence but does not mention that the defense department frequently names the climate crisis as a threat.
Assistant secretary of fossil energy Steve Winberg said the report is meant to assist in the department’s goal of increasing oil and gas production in the US, which president Donald Trump made official in an executive order early in his term. Already, the US is a net exporter of oil and gas.
Whistle-blowing vaccine expert quits NIH over politicization of coronavirus response
Dr Rick Bright, the senior government scientist who said he was demoted from his role heading a federal agency in charge of vaccines this spring, has resigned from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In an addendum to a whistleblower complaint that Bright filed in May, his lawyers say NIH colleagues rejected his recommendations to scale up Covid-19 testing “because of political considerations” and because of fears that the “Trump administration would not approve a plan that called for broad-based testing of asymptomatic people.”
Bright was the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority – but he says he was removed after he resisted pressure by the administration to make “potentially harmful drugs widely available”, including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.
After being reassigned to the NIH, he was again sidelined, Brights lawyers said. “I have 25 years of vaccine development and 12 years of drug development experience that is under-utilized,” he said on 25 September to Dr Francis Collins, the director of the institutes. “For now, I am not being fully utilized for the breadth of my experience as the pandemic rages and Americans die. In short, I long to serve the American people by using my skills to fight this pandemic. The taxpayers who pay my salary deserve no less.”
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Donald Trump’s election campaign may claim the president has beaten Covid-19, but it fell foul of the NFL’s copyright rules on Tuesday.
The campaign tweeted a video of the San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk leaping over a Philadelphia Eagles defender on his way to scoring a touchdown during Sunday’s game between the two teams. The campaign superimposed Trump’s head on Aiyuk’s body with Covid-19 as the Eagles defender. The video was a reference to the president’s release from hospital after treatment for Covid-19. He also told Americans that they shouldn’t be “afraid of Covid”, a virus that has killed more than 200,000 people in the US.
However, on Tuesday the video was removed from Twitter with a message that said “this media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner”. The video also showed a brief clip of an anti-Trump protester from an ITV News report. It is unclear if ITV News or the NFL, which Trump has regularly criticised over player protests, requested the removal.
Trump’s attempts to downplay the dangers of Covid-19 have been attacked by public health experts and doctors. There has also been speculation that the president has downplayed the toll the virus has taken on his health. There may be a warning from the video too: the Eagles came back from 14-8 down to win Sunday’s game 25-20.
The president often depicts himself as a model of sporting excellence. He is proud of his golf game, although there are many stories of him cheating. He has also claimed he could have played baseball professionally, although his record in high school suggests otherwise.
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Failure to provide more support for households and businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic could have “tragic” economic consequences, the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, warned.
As Congress remains gridlocked over a new round of stimulus in the wake of the coronavirus recession, Powell warned: “The expansion is still far from complete.”
“At this early stage, I would argue that the risks of policy intervention are still asymmetric. Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship,” he told a virtual economics conference.
Republicans have warned against providing too much money for the unemployed, arguing the cash is a disincentive for people to return to work. But the risks associated with overly generous relief were smaller, Powell said: “Even if policy actions ultimately prove to be greater than needed, they will not go to waste.”
In contrast a prolonged slowdown could exacerbate existing racial and wealth disparities in the economy, which “would be tragic, especially in light of our country’s progress on these issues in the years leading up to the pandemic”, Powell said.
Joe Biden has maintained a lead in Michigan, a swing state, per a Reuters/Ipsos poll that questioned likely voters and people who’ve already cast their mail-in ballots.
Biden led Trump 51% 5o 43%, with the Democratic candidate up two points since mid-September. Voters said they trusted Biden over Trump to handle the coronavirus pandemic and the economy. Of those polled, 10% said they had already voted.
In North Carolina, another key swing state, the president was locked in a tie with Biden – with both polling at 47%.
The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:
Companies including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple have amassed to much power and should be reined in with new legislation, US lawmakers concluded in a major report resulting from a 16-month inquiry into America’s largest tech platforms.
These companies “wield their dominance in ways that erode entrepreneurship, degrade Americans’ privacy online, and undermine the vibrancy of the free and diverse press,” the House Judiciary Committee concluded in its nearly 500-page report.
“The result is less innovation, fewer choices for consumers, and a weakened democracy.”
The report follows the committee’s 16-month inquiry into the effects of market dominance by major web platforms. That investigation saw America’s leading tech figures – including Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai – testify before lawmakers during historic Congressional hearings in July. However the report was critical of their testimony, saying that the CEOs’ “answers were often evasive and non-responsive … raising fresh questions about whether they believe they are beyond the reach of democratic oversight”.
To address this monopoly, the committee offered a list of nearly a dozen changes, including “structural separations” of some of the companies. It also suggested the prevention of future mergers that could lead to monopolization, and to reform antitrust laws to better rein in such explosive growth and domination before businesses are able to grow to this size
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Today so far
Well, that was a lively afternoon. It’s still going helter-skelter so hang onto your hats. Signing over the blog to my colleague in California, the incomparable Maanvi Singh. Do stay with us.
Main events in the last few hours:
- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gave a speech on the historic fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a little earlier in which he expressed concern that America is so divided it’s in a “dangerous place” but not irretrievable – if you put him in the White House.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the White House is “in complete disarray” after Donald Trump abruptly crushed talks between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill over a fresh coronavirus economic relief bill.
- The White House will reportedly bow to Federal Drug Administration standards on the correct process for approving any safe and effective US vaccine against coronavirus coming out of trials – which is likely to make the process slower than the president would like (ie before the election).
- US stocks plunged as the axe fell on coronavirus economic relief talks.
- The US president, being treated in the White House for coronavirus, abruptly tweeted that he had intervened to stop talks on a new round of relief for American people, businesses and institutions suffering economic hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic. Talks off until after the election, apparently.
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The writer who accused Donald Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the past argued that he cannot hide behind his job as US president in order to escape as a defendant from her defamation lawsuit.
In a filing in Manhattan federal court last night, lawyers for former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll urged a judge to reject the Department of Justice’s bid to replace Trump’s private legal team and substitute the government as a defendant, with taxpayers footing the bill for costs and any damages, The Associated Press writes.
In June 2019, Trump denied raping Carroll in Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s, or even knowing who she was. Her lawyers said Trump was not acting in his role as president when he said that.
“There is not a single person in the United States - not the President and not anyone else - whose job description includes slandering women they sexually assaulted,” the lawyers wrote.
The Justice Department and a lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond on today to requests for comment. US district judge Lewis Kaplan oversees the case.
Last month, the department said Trump acted “within the scope of his office as president” when speaking with the press about Carroll, and was shielded from her lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
But in Monday’s filing, Carroll’s lawyers Roberta Kaplan and Joshua Matz said that law generally covered lower-level government employees, often in federal agencies, but not the president.
The lawyers also noted that since taking office, Trump has sometimes claimed his business dealings and Twitter activity were “personal” matters. They said this made it incongruous for his comments about Carroll to be “presidential” in nature.
“Only in a world gone mad could it somehow be presidential, not personal, for Trump to slander a woman whom he sexually assaulted,” they wrote.
Multiple women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct occurring before he took office. He has denied their claims.
Biden: "Wearing a mask is not a political statement"
Joe Biden called on Americans to follow the “scientific recommendations” for how to protect themselves against coronavirus, including wearing a mask, social distancing, in his campaign speech this afternoon.
He urged the government to focus on testing and contact tracing.
“Wearing a mask is not a political statement, it’s a scientific recommendation,” he said.
Biden stood out in the open with the historic grounds of Gettysburg behind him. He removed his mask to speak, as he was many feet from the audience, who were also spaced apart from each other, and once he finished speaking he put his mask back on.
He said if he was elected president he would marshal all the resources at his disposal to “turn division into unity ... I think some people are looking for that.”
“We can disagree about how we move forward” but a return to civil discourse on such topics would be welcomed by many voters, he predicted.
Meanwhile, re Gettysburg and Lincoln’s short speech four months after a crushing defeat for Confederate general Robert E Lee on the battlefield there, here’s a quick recap:
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Though he was not the featured orator that day, Lincoln’s brief address would be remembered as one of the most important speeches in American history. In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government.
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Biden: 'As I look across America today, I'm concerned the country is in a dangerous place'
The Democratic nominee for the presidency, Joe Biden, is talking in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, right now.
He is giving a speech in that historic place, site of a turning point in the US civil war, saying America “can and must” figure out how to work across partisan lines again.
“There is something bigger going on in this nation that just our broken politics. Something darker ... I’m talking about something different, something deeper, too many Americans seek not to heal divisions but to deepen them.”
He’s calling for bridges, not walls, and says the anger and division we are seeing today “is not normal”.
Biden says he decided to run for president after the far right rally and resulting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. A counter-protester was killed and white supremacists chanted racist slogans and came armed. Donald Trump, however, said there were “very fine people” on both sides.
Biden said he recalled “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, the KKK ... spouting the same sort of bile heard in Germany in the thirties ... hate never goes away, it only hides. When it’s given oxygen, when it’s treated as normal, we have opened a door in this country that we must rush to close.
“There is no place for hate in America”. With Biden as president, he promises, hate “will be given no safe harbor”.
He adds: “I believe in law and order, I have never supporting defunding the police” but says he also understands injustice and the need for racial equality and that those two things can be achieved together.
“We have no need for armed militias to be on America’s streets,” he says. He says he trusts law enforcement to do their job.
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Pelosi: 'Clearly the White House is in complete disarray'
Here’s the full statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (third in line to the presidency should Donald Trump and Mike Pence become incapacitated, which is worth mentioning with coronavirus now openly stalking the White House and other corridors of federal power).
“Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress.
“Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus, as is required by the Heroes Act. He shows his contempt for science, his disdain for our heroes – in healthcare, first responders, sanitation, transportation, food workers, teachers, teachers, teachers and others – and he refuses to put money in workers’ pockets, unless his name is printed on the check.
“At the same time, the President is abandoning meeting the needs of our children as they adjust to learning in-person, virtual or hybrid. Instead, Trump is wedded to his $150 billion tax cut for the wealthiest people in America from the CARES Act, while he refuses to give real help to poor children, the unemployed and America’s hard working families.
“Clearly, the White House is in complete disarray. Sadly, they are rejecting the urgent warnings of Federal Reserve Chairman [Jerome] Powell today, that ‘Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses. Over time, household insolvencies and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy and holding back wage growth. By contrast, the risks of overdoing it seem, for now, to be smaller. Even if policy actions ultimately prove to be greater than needed, they will not go to waste.’”
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Some don’t hold back in their opinions on the axe being brought down on the latest coronavirus economic relief negotiations on Capitol Hill.
Here’s Minnesota’s Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who survived a primary challenge this summer.
The only logical response to this fuckery, is to vote them out.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 6, 2020
Not by analyzing their cruelty, inaction and irresponsible politics.
It’s about power and the people need to reclaim that power on Nov. 3rd. https://t.co/qZgqwc7efq
Henry Olsen, columnist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Mindbogglingly insane. https://t.co/9t2rhYfswp
— Henry Olsen (@henryolsenEPPC) October 6, 2020
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Joe Biden tests negative for coronavirus
This wouldn’t normally make a headline by itself. But since Joe Biden and Donald Trump shared a stage in Cleveland, Ohio, a week ago for the first presidential debate, then the president announced early Friday he was infected with coronavirus, every test of both candidates for the White House is news.
Especially as it has not yet been definitively established and verified when Trump had his last negative test, prior to apparently testing positive last Thursday.
Biden will be campaigning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, later today.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from the latest talks on a new coronavirus stimulus bill shows he is unwilling to crush the virus, as cases continue to rise across much of the country.
“Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement, referring to the Republicans aka the Grand Old Party.
“Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus, as is required by the Heroes Act,” Pelosi added.
Trump’s surprise move this afternoon came after Pelosi on Sunday said during an interview with NBC’s “Face the Nation” that progress was being made in her negotiations with the Trump administration on a bill to build on the more than $3 trillion in coronavirus aid enacted into law earlier this year, Reuters reports.
Earlier today, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell told a business conference the US economic expansion was “far from complete” following the deep contraction stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
A failure by the United States to provide further relief, Powell warned, “would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.”
Following Trump’s announcement breaking off negotiations, US stocks were down more than 2 per cent in late afternoon trading.
In recent days, financial markets were hopeful progress toward a Covid-19 vaccine and another round of economic stimulus from Congress would boost the US economy, which has been showing signs of renewed weakness.
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had been talking regularly over the past week or so as they attempted to narrow the gap between a recent Democratic call for around $2.2 trillion in new spending to battle the pandemic and bolster the economy, versus around $1.6 trillion sought by the Trump administration.
It was not clear whether enough Senate Republicans would have gotten behind any deal, however.
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Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement via Twitter that negotiations should end between top Democrats and Republicans over a fresh coronavirus economic relief are being called an own goal for the president by some.
Lawmakers have long thought they would be unable to compromise on a deal before the election. But the failure to deliver desperately needed to aide to Americans was seen as a problem for both parties. Now, Trump has made it a White House decision not to continue negotiating. https://t.co/CaqIZ0IxOk
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) October 6, 2020
And
I will never understand how a president who has time and time again demonstrated he acts first in his own self interest is refusing to accept an offer to spend $2.2 trillion boosting the economy weeks before facing voters in his reelection bid. It makes no sense.
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) October 6, 2020
This reminds us of when Trump said you could blame him for the extended government shutdown in late 2018.
Here’s Nate
Wait, so Trump not only rejects stimulus funds that would probably have helped his re-election chances, but *also* does so in a way to make sure that he personally will take blame for it?
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 6, 2020
Donald Trump has repeated many times that there would be a US vaccine very soon, within a few weeks, wait and see, etc. Several vaccines are in Phase Three clinical trials but there is no official word yet that a successful vaccine is about to emerge.
Here’s the WSJ’s report on the latest developments around Covid-19 vaccine approval in the US.
The Wall Street Journal writes this afternoon:
The White House endorsed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s plans for assessing whether a Covid-19 vaccine should be given widely, casting aside objections to requirements that would likely mean a shot won’t be cleared until after Election Day, people familiar with the matter said.
The FDA promptly issued the guidelines on Tuesday afternoon, saying it hopes the release “helps the public understand our science-based decision-making process that assures vaccine quality, safety and efficacy for any vaccine that is authorized or approved.”
For two weeks, Trump administration officials had expressed opposition to the plan, in large part because it called for a two-month observation period to see whether people who got the vaccine had suffered negative side effects, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
That two-month waiting period would make it all but certain that any vaccine couldn’t be approved for use in the U.S. before the election, a target that President Trump had been aiming for.
After raising the objections, White House officials refused to sign off on the guidelines and didn’t seek changes that could lead to an administration go-ahead, according to people familiar with the matter.
The FDA, however, was prepared to follow its guidelines even though the White House hadn’t signed off, and the agency had notified vaccine makers about the details.
White House backs down on rushing vaccine vetting before election - report
Sometimes this feels less like a live blog that operation warp speed blog, here’s your next headline: Donald Trump has apparently bowed to the FDA in the guidelines that will be used to declare as safe and effective any coronavirus vaccine emerging from clinical trials in the US.
Breaking: @WhiteHouse has dropped its objections and signed off on @US_FDA's guidelines for vetting Covid-19 vaccines, @TomBurtonWSJ and @rebeccaballhaus report. The ok likely means a vaccine won't be ready for wide use before Election Day. Story coming to @WSJ soon.
— Jonathan Rockoff (@jonathanrockoff) October 6, 2020
Wall Street drops on apparent end to Covid cash talks
US stocks just fell sharply and were down more than 2% in late afternoon trading after Donald Trump said he was calling off negotiations with Democratic lawmakers on coronavirus relief legislation until after the election.
The U.S. stock market's reaction to Trump cutting off stimulus talks with the Democrats until after the election... pic.twitter.com/4e1zXoFD0N
— Eric Martin (@EMPosts) October 6, 2020
Stocks, which had been moderately higher, reversed course after the comments on Twitter from Trump, who returned to the White House late yesterday after a three-day hospital stay where he received an experimental treatment for the disease, Reuters reports.
Hopes for further fiscal stimulus had been helping to support the market.
“Investors are certainly focused on any type of stimulus that they can get. The (Federal Reserve) is pretty much saying we’re done, there’s not much more to do, the financial markets are functioning, it’s now up to you lawmakers to do the next step,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in Chicago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 309.6 points, or 1.1%, to 27,839.04, the S&P 500 lost 37.53 points, or 1.10%, to 3,371.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 139.42 points, or 1.23%, to 11,193.06.
Comments from officials that a stimulus deal was still possible had lifted the three main stock indices yesterday, helping them recoup losses from last week that were sparked by the news that Trump had contracted Covid-19.
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Trump tells his negotiators to stop talks on latest Covid economic relief measures
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been in jaw-jaw in recent days, trying to thrash out a compromise on the latest relief package, which has been in limbo for weeks as millions of Americans continue to struggle in the coronavirus-related downturn.
Now the president has shut the process down until after the election, it seems.
...request, and looking to the future of our Country. I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business. I have asked...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
Then:
...also coming back in record numbers. We are leading the World in Economic Recovery, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
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When Donald Trump tweeted: “Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu”, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy responded, also on Twitter with: “This is a lie. The flu doesn’t kill 100,000 a year.”
The United States has the world’s highest death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 209,000 deaths. By comparison, influenza typically kills between some 22,000 and 64,000 people a year in the United States, US government statistics show, Reuters reports.
Trump’s tweet was later flagged by Twitter.
Refreshing to see it is flagged. pic.twitter.com/mMW8RrNBvS
— Terra Incognita (@Inc0gnitaTerra) October 6, 2020
Trump’s chances of winning November’s election have taken a hit over the millions of jobs lost during coronavirus lockdowns, and he has frequently sought to encourage a return to work despite the pandemic.
Trump’s doctor said on Tuesday he was doing “extremely well” and reporting no Covid-19 symptoms. Sean Conley, a Navy commander, said a team of physicians met with the president on Tuesday morning.
Trailing Biden in opinion polls, Trump’s campaign is projecting optimism.
“We’re looking forward to him getting back on the trail when the doctors say it’s physically feasible for him to do so. He’s ready now,” Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News.
A Twitter post by Biden showed images of himself donning a mask and Trump removing his. “Masks Matter. They save lives,” the caption read.
Wear a mask. pic.twitter.com/TSuLuzAXEB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 6, 2020
All but one member of the US joint chiefs of staff is now self-quarantining, according to CNN’s long-time Pentagon oracle, Barbara Starr.
The one member who isn’t, the commandant of the Marine Corps, was not in the relevant meetings with vice commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, who tested positive yesterday.
As a precaution, Milley is working from home, a defense official tells Starr. Milley has so far tested negative. As Donald Trump’s top military adviser, he maintains a full classified communications suite in his house, the official said.
Also isolating are the chief of staff of the US Air Force, Charles Brown, the chief of naval operations Admiral Michael Gilday and the chief of Space operations, General John Raymond.
They are all working from home, according to several officials. Those also working from alternate locations or from home include: General John Hyten, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General James McConville, chief of staff of the army, General Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard, General Paul Nakasone, US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, and General Gary Thomas, assistant commandant of US Marine Corps.
The prospect of the virus spreading among senior Pentagon leaders will likely raise additional national security questions, particularly given the military’s role in attempting to reassure the American public following Trump’s positive diagnosis last week. In a statement issued last Friday morning, the Pentagon sought to alleviate fears that Trump’s positive Covid-19 diagnosis presented a potentially imminent threat to national security, emphasizing that the development did not warrant a change in defense alert levels or military posture.
“There’s no change to the readiness or capability of our armed forces. Our national command and control structure is in no way affected by this announcement,” said Hoffman at the time, “the US military stands ready to defend our country and interests.”
Stormy Daniels fired back at Melania Trump on Tuesday, a remarkable exchange spurred by a secretly recorded tape in which the first lady called the adult film star “the porn hooker”.
In a tweet, Daniels both said she “wasn’t paid for sex and therefore technically not a ‘hooker’” and taunted the Slovenian-born first lady with reference to both her status as an immigrant and nude pictures released during the 2016 election. (Melania Trump reportedly suspects Roger Stone over the pictures, but he denied it and I digress.)
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims an affair with Trump in 2006, when Melania had just given birth to her son, Barron. Trump denies the claim. That said, erstwhile Trump fixer Michael Cohen ended up going to prison in part for his role in a hush money payment to Daniels.
On Monday, Cohen released a podcast interview with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former aide to the first lady who has released both a book, Melania & Me, and sections of calls she recorded without telling her friend, she says in self-defence.
In her interview with Cohen, Wolkoff played a snatch of tape in which Melania Trump complains about a Vogue photoshoot in 2018:
“Annie Leibovitz shot the porn hooker, and she will be [in] one of the issues, September or October.”
“What do you mean?”
“Stormy.”
“Shut the fuck up. For what?”
“It was yesterday it came up,” Trump says. “For Vogue. It will be in Vogue. Annie Leibovitz shot her.”
Leibovitz did photograph Daniels and her then attorney, Michael Avenatti, for an August 2018 story entitled Stormy Daniels Isn’t Backing Down.
Updated
The Pentagon has now made a statement about some of its top figures being obliged to quarantine, including chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley.
The top US military leaders are self-quarantining after the Coast Guard’s No. 2 tested positive for the coronavirus, Pentagon officials said today, Reuters reports.
The Coast Guard disclosed earlier today that Admiral Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, had tested positive yesterday for the virus.
Ray had attended a meeting last week with service chiefs, including Army General Milley.
“Out of an abundance of caution, all potential close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining and have been tested this morning,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive tests to report at this time.”
Updated
Early afternoon summary
It’s been an interesting morning dominated by coronavirus-related stories. We’re expecting lots of developments in the coming hours, so stay tuned.
Main events today so far:
- General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and other Pentagon leadership are self-isolating after a top military figure caught Covid-19.
- Florida just extended its deadline for voter registration after the online system had a meltdown yesterday. Hurry to register, folks!
- At least one other White House staffer has tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days, according to multiple reports today, maybe two more, we await details.
- Donald Trump was reported to be still short of breath after arriving back at the White House from hospital last night. The president has coronavirus. His doctor has reported Trump has no symptoms today. We await details.
- Michelle Obama released a video slamming the president’s handling of the pandemic and telling people to vote as though their lives depend on it.
Senior Pentagon leadership quarantining - report
Teeny virus laughs at walls, people with big guns guarding president, generals.
Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, and other senior soldier, sailor types are going to be, in some sense, confined to barracks - aka working from home or something similar - after a coast guard leader caught Covid-19, CNN reports.
Gen. Mark Milley and several members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are self-isolating and working from home after a top Coast Guard official tested positive for coronavirus, per @barbarastarrcnn. The Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, is positive.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 6, 2020
Last time we heard anything interesting from Milley was when he was apologizing for his sheep-like participation in one of Donald Trump’s previous photo opps - the Bible debacle, where peaceful demonstrators near the White House were tear-gassed and beaten so the president could pose outside a church.
We wish all the guys a speedy return to the parade ground.
Updated
Florida extends voter registration deadline after meltdown - but just by one day
Florida governor Ron DeSantis today extended the state’s voter registration deadline - after unexpected and unexplained heavy traffic crashed the state’s online system and potentially prevented thousands of enrolling to cast ballots in next month’s presidential election.
DeSantis extended the deadline, which had expired yesterday, until 7 pm today. In addition to online registration, DeSantis ordered elections, motor vehicle and tax collectors offices to stay open until 7 pm local time for anyone who wants to register in person, The Associated Press writes.
Florida secretary of state Laurel Lee, who oversees the voting system, said the online registration system “was accessed by an unprecedented 1.1 million requests per hour” during the last few hours of yesterday.
Lee said in a statement earlier today that the state “will work with our state and federal law-enforcement partners to ensure this was not a deliberate act against the voting process.”
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned elections officials nationwide last week that cyberattacks could disrupt their systems during the run-up to the election.
They particularly noted “distributed denial-of-service” attacks, which inundate a computer system with requests, potentially clogging up servers until the system becomes inaccessible to legitimate users.
Here’s the Guardian’s Sam Levine with an important link:
You can register to vote in Florida here https://t.co/38ZQOfKXS6 https://t.co/nZr0OJDElD
— Sam Levine (@srl) October 6, 2020
The potential for outside meddling is an especially sensitive issue in Florida, The AP adds, a key battleground state in November’s election between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The state has lingering questions about Russian hacking during the election four years ago.
Last year, state officials confirmed that election-related servers of at least two Florida counties were breached by Russian meddlers. No votes or records were tampered with.
This is not the first major computer shutdown to affect the state government this year. For weeks in the spring, tens of thousands of Floridians who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic couldn’t file for unemployment benefits because of repeated crashes by that overwhelmed computer system, delaying their payments.
DeSantis replaced the director overseeing that system but blamed the problems on his predecessor, fellow Republican Rick Scott, who is now a US senator.
A civil rights group had threatened to sue if the governor did not extend the deadline.
Meanwhile, check out Guardian reporter Kenya Evelyn’s excellent film from Florida about Black voters’ rights and opinions there this election, here.
Updated
Virginia governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said he’s developed “mild” symptoms of Covid-19 more than a week after testing positive for the disease, but he’s working remotely and has slammed Donald Trump for scoffing at coronavirus.
The president has not only still been flouting federal guidelines and medical advice on how not to spread the virus, despite himself still being infectious, but is sending the shocking message to the public that we all need to “learn to live” with this deadly virus.
Northam said and the Washington Post reported that:
“I had a little bit of cold-like symptoms over the weekend and lost my sense of taste or smell, but other than that I feel fine,” Northam (D) said Monday afternoon in a telephone interview.
But Northam, who is a physician, said he was alarmed that Donald Trump was playing down the severity of the disease while apparently suffering a more serious bout.
Of the president’s scoffing, Northam added: “That’s absolutely the wrong message.” He pointed out that more than 210,000 Americans have lost their lives to Covid-19 already and almost 7.5 million have been infected. “It’s irresponsible to make a statement like that.”
A former Army doctor, Northam said he had served on the staff at Walter Reed medical center, the military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, where Trump spent Friday night until Monday evening, and knows that the president “has access to the best medical care, medications, treatments other people don’t have access to.”
Military valet close to Trump tests positive for coronavirus - report
A military valet who comes in contact with the president has tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend, a person familiar with the matter has told NBC News.
NBC’s White House correspondent Peter Alexander said that brings to 15 the number of people working in the White House and around Donald Trump who we now understood have contracted the virus.
BREAKING: Trump military valet tests positive for COVID-19:@PeterAlexander, @NBCNews https://t.co/Bz736abzK0
— Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) October 6, 2020
The military valet has not been named. One such valet caught coronavirus a few months ago, someone whose job it was to serve food the Trump. We’ll bring you more details as they emerge.
A little earlier, this occurred when masked White House comms maven, Alyssa Farah, held less a gaggle than a hovering.
“I anticipate you will hear from him at some point today,” Alyssa Farah told us after her Fox News appearance, referring to Trump speaking.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 6, 2020
Any other positive cases other than the milaide? “Not to my knowledge,” Farah said.
(She would have been wrong if she’d said “no.”) pic.twitter.com/uSWv6Juk58
Updated
Facebook and Twitter intervene
Donald Trump’s terrible tweet this morning, lying about flu and boasting that humans are “learning to live with Covid” has been removed by Facebook and flagged by Twitter.
#BREAK Facebook has removed President Trump's post where he falsely claimed that Covid-19 is less deadly than the flu. https://t.co/dBnT7m7CO6
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) October 6, 2020
Flu is not deadlier than Covid.
Twitter has flagged this Trump tweet after Facebook removed the same post claiming that the flu is deadlier than covid. pic.twitter.com/FLAewcPRPP
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) October 6, 2020
Steroid could provide mood roller coaster for Trump
As the US president insists he’s “feeling great” and looking forward to debating Joe Biden again on October 15, we ask: “What’s he on?”
My London-based colleague, Guardian science editor Ian Sample, reports that White House physician Sean Conley refused to detail all the president’s medicines, as Trump returned to home from hospital, but said he will receive further doses of the antiviral drug, remdesivir, along with dexamethasone, a steroid that can benefit patients who need help with their breathing.
Ian spoke to experts and notes that dexamethasone damps down the immune system, but in patients whose oxygen levels are faltering, that’s made up for by calming inflammation that can, at worst, lead to respiratory failure.
The prestigious US Mayo Clinic asks patients to look out for more than a dozen “common” problems ranging from aggression, mood swings, depression and nervousness to trouble with thinking, speaking and walking. That info is more relevant to long-term use, however.
Dr Ray Sheridan, a consultant physician and director of medical education at the UK’s Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said patients on a short course of low dose dexamethasone are more likely to feel perkier and hungrier, but little else.
Sheridan likened the effect to having a cup of coffee or two. But since dexamethasone is often given to patients who are struggling to breathe, the sudden rush of oxygen into their system, coupled with the realisation that they may not be about to die after all – and many patients fear they will – the combined effect can be impressive.
Whether it is enough to prompt a joyride around Walter Reed medical center has not been examined in a randomised controlled trial...
As Trump paused before entering the White House last night, he was clearly out of breath. That is not unexpected for his stage of the illness. The virus spreads initially through cells in the respiratory tract and largely in the lungs, where it causes direct damage and inflammation that can take weeks to recover from.
In line with dexamethasone making people more alert, it can disturb their sleep, especially if they receive the steroid in the evening, and that in turn can make patients more irritable. Again, the effects tend to be short-lived for those on the usual course of treatment: a maximum of 10 days during a hospital stay.
Another recorded side-effect of dexamethasone is aggression, but Sheridan suspects this is rare and probably only seen in Covid-19 patients when the drug happens to exacerbate delirium brought on by pneumonia.
Juli Briskman, unlikely rebel-turned-pol, has just tweeted an eye-catching pic.
North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/9cUfaDctox
— Juli Briskman (@julibriskman) October 6, 2020
Let’s hope the Biden-Harris campaign is rolling in North Carolina, because there are crucial votes to be won, according to this piece from NBC, where the headline and sub-head sum it up: “As presidential race narrows in North Carolina, voters say they want face time with Biden. Polls show a tight race in the Southern battleground, increasing pressure on Biden to visit a state key to a Trump path to victory. Read more here.
NC Democrat Brian Caskey, running for state senate in North Carolina, also tweeted the pic a few days ago, saying: “This picture tells a story. It’s a story of corruption, of failure, and of indecency. It’s time to take our country (and the state of North Carolina) back.”
Briskman, of course, famously flipped off Trump’s motorcade in 2017, lost her job as a result, but is now supervisor for the Algonkian district of Loudoun county, Virginia.
Trump still short of breath - report
The White House resembled a ghost town again on Tuesday, as officials stayed home to wait out the infectious period from an outbreak of the coronavirus within the building and among people who had been there, Maggie Haberman writes for the New York Times.
Trump was in the White House residence, convalescing, as a number of advisers and other officials stayed home, either because they had contracted the coronavirus or had been near people who did.
A culture of panic replaced a culture of negligence about precautions against the virus, led by Mr. Trump, that had infused the White House since March.
The White House communications and press shops were bereft of people. The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, announced on Monday that she had tested positive. Two other press office aides have also tested positive.
And a military aide who comes in contact with Mr. Trump tested positive over the weekend, a person close to the president said, confirming a report by CNN.
Mr. Trump was considering some kind of a nationwide televised address, two people familiar with the discussions said. But while there were no new reports of him needing oxygen, he was still sounding somewhat short of breath in conversations, another person said.
The president is considering giving some kind of nationwide televised address today, per two people familiar with the discussions. This plus confirming CNN report on a military aide (valet) testing positive this weekend and other details from last 24 hrs https://t.co/nTTY7DALzv
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 6, 2020
It may be a while before there’s a press conference in the briefing room at the White House. At least, one that’s attended by journalists. Let’s hope.
After Trump returned to the White House with Covid-19, the same day Press Sec McEnany tested positive, we stumbled upon this in the briefing room. For @Reuters pic.twitter.com/YBnXfoOjrR
— Erin Scott (@erinscottphoto) October 6, 2020
The White House gift shop, which is not affiliated to the White House, has started taking pre-orders for a “President Donald J. Trump Defeats COVID” commemorative coin.
Not kidding. This is from Reuters, not The Onion, or Saturday Night Live.
This despite the fact that the president still has coronavirus and medical experts say the outlook for his infection is not yet known.
The news agency writes:
Last in a series of coins marking moments in Trump’s first presidential term, the coin celebrates his “ascendance over and personal defeat of the deadly COVID pandemic virus”, the gift shop website said.
The coin was priced at $100. There was no photograph of the coin on the website.
The design of the coin was informed by superhero graphic art, Anthony Giannini, the creator of the series and CEO of the gift shop, said in a statement on the webpage.
“Like it or not, President Donald J. Trump is strong to a mythic level,” his statement reads, and goes on to say the design of the coin has been intentionally concealed until its release.
Trump told Americans “to get out there” and “not fear” Covid-19 as he returned to the White House on Monday, after a three-night hospital stay to be treated for the virus, and removed his white surgical mask to pose for pictures.
The Republican president, running for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 US election, was admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday after being diagnosed with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The White House Gift Shop also produced a commemorative coin ahead of the summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in 2018.
In both cases, re peace talks and beating coronavirus, producing such coins may be seen as premature...
Once firmly in Republican control, many American suburbs are increasingly politically divided — a rare common ground shared by Republicans and Democrats.
As such, they are poised to decide not just who wins the White House this year but also who controls the Senate and the contours of the debate over guns, immigration, work, schools, housing and health care for years to come, The Associated Press writes.
The reasons for the shift are many. Suburbs have grown more racially diverse, more educated, more economically prosperous and more liberal — all factors making them more likely to vote Democratic. But demographers and political scientists are just as likely to point to another trend: density.
Suburbs have grown more crowded, looking more and more like cities and voting like them, too.
For decades, an area’s population per square mile has been a reliable indicator of its political tilt. Denser areas vote Democratic, less dense areas vote Republican. The correlation between density and voting has been getting stronger, as people began to sort themselves by ethnicity, education, personality, income and lifestyle.
The pattern is so reliable it can quantified, averaged and applied to most American cities. At around 800 households per square mile, the blue of Democratic areas starts to bleed into red Republican neighborhoods.
A purple ring — call it the flip zone — emerges through the suburbs.
But the midterm elections of 2018 showed that flip zone has moved in the era of Donald Trump, with dramatic consequences. When Democrats across the country penetrated deeper into the suburbs, finding voters farther away from the city, they flipped a net 39 House districts and won a majority of the chamber.
An Associated Press analysis of recent election results and density shows Democrats in Arizona, for example, moved the flip zone two miles deeper into the suburbs from 2016 to 2018, reaching right to the northern edge of Interstate 101 in Phoenix into areas filled with cul-de-sacs of homes and backyards large enough for swimming pools. The shift helped them win a Senate seat for the first time in 24 years.
The AP’s analysis essentially maps the challenge Trump and his Republican Party are facing today. Polling shows the president trailing Democrat Joe Biden badly in many key suburbs in battleground states. To hold the White House and control of the Senate, he and his party must stop the flip zone from moving farther out again.
You can read the rest of AP’s fascinating analysis here.
Joe Biden is campaigning in Arizona on Thursday.
My Guardian senior political reporter colleague Lauren Gambino is from Arizona, where the AP’s initial case study moved from San Francisco.
And points out:
and if tract housing and wide interstates don't make you homesick, you're obviously not from the west.
— Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) October 6, 2020
Updated
Here’s the full video from Michelle Obama, in which she has roundly condemned president Donald Trump for his coronavirus response, and also spoken at length about racism in the US, describing Trump’s policies as racist.
She said Trump is guilty of “whipping up violence and intimidation” over Black Lives Matter protests, and said that too many people in the country, because of the color of their skin, only see Black people as “a threat to be restrained.”
“Racism, fear, division - these are powerful weapons and they can destroy this nation if we don’t deal with them head on,” she said.
Updated
Michelle Obama: coronavirus response is 'just one example of Trump’s negligence'
Michelle Obama is currently broadcasting a video on the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus.
There’s no better person to convey what’s at stake in this election than my friend, @MichelleObama. Tune in to hear her closing argument. https://t.co/wc7mywLUHy
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 6, 2020
She said the coronavirus is just one example of Trump’s negligence. She says that seven months since the pandemic began he still has no comprehensive plan, and still won’t even commit to wearing a mask regularly. She said:
In the greatest crisis of our lifetimes, he doubled-down on division and resentment, railed against measures that could have mitigated the damage, and continues to hold massive events, without requiring masks or social distancing knowingly exposing his own supporters to a dangerous virus. Today, more Americans have died from this virus than died in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korea combined. Take all those lives bravely sacrificed and double it. That is roughly the scale of this tragedy. And our commander in chief, sadly, has been missing in action.
She said she saw hope, though, in the response of the American people. That they, she said, had answered the call. She said it is “not too much to ask our leaders to rise to the occasion as well”.
She went on with her attack on Trump:
After seeing the presidency up close for eight years, maybe the most important thing I’ve learned about the job is that how a president focuses their time and energy in office is a direct reflection of the life they’ve lived before entering the White House. A president’s policies are a direct reflection of their values, and we’re seeing that truth on display with our current president, who has devoted his life to enriching himself.
My heart goes out to everyone touched by this virus, from those at the White House, especially the Secret Service and residence staff whose service ought never be taken for granted, to all those names and stories most of us will unfortunately never know. https://t.co/dtEUrcjPAy
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 6, 2020
Updated
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is unveiling two new ads today, after it made the decisions to drop negative attack ads when it was announced that Donald Trump had contracted coronavirus. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they’ve opted to focus on healthcare and leadership style.
One ad, “No matter what”, aims to sell Biden’s policy of making healthcare coverage accessible to all Americans by reversing Trump’s tax cuts.
The other, “Gets it done”, attempts to emphasise Biden’s willingness to listen and heed expert advice.
The new adverts will play in 15 battleground states, indicating the extent to which the Biden campaign believe states are in play.
New York City councilmember Mark Levine here on Twitter, making a fair point that concentrating on one coronavirus victim in the White House can be a distraction from the wider picture in the nation as a whole, where cases are rising across a wide range of states and territories.
The most important covid story in America right now is not one patient who's back at the White House.
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) October 6, 2020
It's the fact that cases are now rising again in *34* states and territories. pic.twitter.com/4hn1UofQH2
You can keep a track of the progress fighting the coronavirus on our interactive.
Get the numbers here: Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state
Peter Beaumont reports for us on the ‘ghost town’ that is the White House as some of those who can are starting to work from home in the wake of the president’s positive coronavirus test:
[There is] a skeleton staff of about 100 of butlers, ushers, cleaners, custodians and maintenance workers, who are often older and drawn from groups at higher risk of developing severe symptoms of the virus.
Members of the Secret Service have also been thrown into the spotlight with some present and former members complaining anonymously they felt Trump had put service members at risk when they accompanied him on a controversial “drive-by” stunt.
Many staff say privately they only learned about positive tests from media reports and several were exposed, without their knowledge, to people the White House already knew could be contagious. It took until late Sunday night, nearly three full days after Trump’s diagnosis, for the White House management office to send a staff-wide note to say those with symptoms should “please stay home and do not come to work”.
Reports from within the White House paint a picture of workers spooked by a lack of information over when and how certain officials became infected.
Others have pointed to the fact that Trump and his medical team have refused to disclose when the president received his last negative test, making it impossible for many to know if they had contact with him in a period when he was potentially contagious.
Read more here: White House likened to ‘ghost town’ as anxiety over coronavirus cluster grows
Tom Bevan, co-Founder & president of RealClearPolitics is distinctly unimpressed with CNN’s coverage this morning of the coronavirus outbreak at the White House.
I've consumed a lot of media over the last 20 years since starting RCP. It's my job. But I have never seen anything as biased and one-sided from a major media outlet as CNN's front page this morning. pic.twitter.com/6spBXdtVlk
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) October 6, 2020
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has issued a report saying it found a “deluge” of anti-Semitic tweets containing offensive tropes and misinformation targeting Jewish lawmakers in a new study of social media.
The Online hate index report: The digital experience of Jewish lawmakers finds that:
- A large number of tweets questioned the loyalty, honesty, ideology, and faith of Jewish incumbents. There appears to be a concerted effort at trying to portray Jewish incumbents as less patriotic and more dishonest, due in part to their Jewish background.
- Misinformation related to Jewish Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros constitutes 39 percent of all tweets targeting Jewish incumbents that were labeled problematic in the sample set. These tweets push a series of debunked antisemitic conspiracy theories.
- Fifteen percent of tweets analyzed also included tropes related to the broad conspiracy theory that Jews control key political, financial, and media systems and exploit them for their advantage to the detriment of others. These tweets often allege that Jewish incumbents are part of the “Deep State”.
- The sample set also includes content that employed explicit antisemitic language. While these only accounted for 7 percent of all problematic tweets, Twitter had yet to remove them despite the posts containing explicit forms of antisemitism that violate the platform’s stated rules and policies.
The ADL note that “We find distinct antisemitic tropes targeting Jewish incumbents, many of which have been recently amplified by QAnon” and make several recommendations, including “offering far more services and tools for individuals facing or fearing online attack, including assisting with tracking and capturing information, providing resources, and creating better customization options to mitigate harm.”
The findings of the report were based on a review of 5,954 tweets posted between 23 July and 22, directed at all 30 Jewish incumbents up for re-election in November
Read more here: ADL – Online hate index report: The digital experience of Jewish lawmakers
Texas police officer charged with murder over killing of a Black man
Away from the president and coronavirus, in Texas a white police officer has been charged with murder over killing of Black man.
A white police officer has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting of a black man following a reported disturbance at a convenience store in a small east Texas town over the weekend, authorities said.
Wolfe City officer Shaun Lucas, 22, was booked into the Hunt county jail over the death of 31-year-old Jonathan Price, the Texas Rangers said in a statement released by the Texas department of public safety.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas were not objectionably reasonable,” the statement said. Jail records show bail was set at $1m.
According to the statement, Lucas responded to a disturbance call on Saturday night following a report of a possible fight. He made contact with Price, who was reportedly involved in the disturbance, and Price “resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away”, the Texas Rangers said.
Lucas used a stun gun before shooting Price, who was taken to a hospital and died, the statement said. Police did not release details about the disturbance, but family and friends of Price said the one-time college football player was intervening in a domestic disturbance when he was shot.
There’s more here: Texas police officer charged with murder over killing of black man
I’m always loathe for the live blog to just become a running commentary on Donald Trump’s tweets, but following his false claim just now about late-term abortions being allowed “right up until the time of birth, and beyond – which would be execution”, the president has now tweeted about flu season, contradicting his own previous words about the coronavirus.
Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
As a reminder, one of the key revelations from Bob Woodward’s recent book about the president was that early on in the pandemic Woodward had Trump on tape explaining how deadly the coronavirus was, and that it was more serious than flu, while repeatedly saying the opposite in public. As my colleague Victoria Bekiempis wrote:
During a 7 February phone call with Woodward, Trump reportedly recognized that the virus was dangerous. “It goes through the air. That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.” Woodward also reported that Trump said: “This is deadly stuff.”
Woodward’s reporting on Trump’s comments show the dramatic divide between the president’s apparent knowledge of coronavirus’s dangers and his public statements. Trump told the public on 27 February: “It’s going to disappear. One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.” Trump also compared Covid-19 to the seasonal flu in a 9 March tweet, writing: “Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on” during flu season. “Think about that!”
Remind yourself here: Trump knew Covid was deadly but wanted to ‘play it down’, Woodward book says
The president is continuing to tweet about abortion rights, and claiming without any evidence that Joe Biden is in favor of “(very) LATE TERM ABORTION, right up until the time of birth, and beyond - which would be execution.”
Biden and Democrats just clarified the fact that they are fully in favor of (very) LATE TERM ABORTION, right up until the time of birth, and beyond - which would be execution. Biden even endorsed the Governor of Virginia, who stated this clearly for all to hear. GET OUT & VOTE!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
Late term abortions are in fact very rare in the US, and the use of the phrase ‘late term’ does not imply that they occur towards the very end of pregnancy or beyond the due date of birth. Trump’s claims on this have been repeatedly debunked.
Last year, after he used similar imagery in his state of the union address, Pam Belluck wrote for the New York Times:
Late-term abortion is a phrase used by abortion opponents to refer to abortions performed after about 21 weeks of pregnancy. It is not the same as the medical definition obstetricians use for “late-term,” which refers to pregnancies that extend past a woman’s due date, meaning about 41 or 42 weeks. Contrary to Mr. Trump’s claim, late-term abortions do not allow “a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth.”
The most recent data on this from the CDC covers the year 2015. My former colleague Mona Chalabi wrote for us about the real scale of late-term abortions last year.
In 2015, more than 400,000 abortions took place in the US. Of those, just 5,597 (or 1.3%) happened on or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vast majority (91%) of abortions take place at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy.
And as Belluck wrote:
Abortions after 24 weeks comprise less than one percent of all abortions. When they occur, it is usually because the fetus has been found to have a fatal condition that could not be detected earlier, such as a severe malformation of the brain, or because the mother’s life or health is at serious risk.
Read it here: The truth about late-term abortions in the US: they’re very rare
The president is up and tweeting, and his first message of the day is an attack on Joe Biden over abortion rights.
Wow. Joe Biden just took a more Liberal position on Roe v. Wade than Elizabeth Warren at her highest. He also wants to PACK our great United States Supreme Court. This is what the Dems will do. Remember as they try changing positions before elections end. GET OUT AND VOTE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
For their part, the Biden’s have been enjoying a bit of a love-in on Twitter.
❤️
— Dr. Jill Biden (@DrBiden) October 6, 2020
Here’s a couple of slides showing the demographic breakdown of that CNN poll this morning that gives Joe Biden a 16 point national lead. It’s notable that Biden leads Trump in all age ranges. It’s only in the 50-64 age bracket that the two candidates are close.
New CNN national poll has Biden leading among all age groups, including by 21 points among seniors. pic.twitter.com/I2LYNb2z38
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) October 6, 2020
There’s a split among white voters. Biden holds the lead with all white women of any educational background. Trump, however, retains the support of the majority of white men without college degrees.
Biden leads among white voters overall (51 to 47), but Trump continues to maintain a strong lead among white men with no college degree: pic.twitter.com/3D1lI1XTbs
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) October 6, 2020
It’s not a national vote though – and our US election polls tracker is useful to keep an eye on who is leading in the crucial swing states that will decide who ends up in the White House.
Nathan Robinson writes for us this morning on the main topic of the day: Trump says ‘don’t be afraid of Covid’ – that’s easy for him to say
Coronavirus hits poor people and people of color very hard, and the pandemic-caused recession led to millions losing their health insurance. Many of the people who have caught coronavirus have indeed been heroes, risking their lives in the service of others. But they have not been invincible, for the simple reason that Covid-19 is a deadly virus that cannot be stopped through willpower and tweets.
Donald Trump’s “don’t fear Covid” attitude has caused a giant outbreak among high-ranking Republicans. It’s not easy to feel much sympathy for such people, because they ignored and scoffed at public health experts. The White House housekeepers who have contracted Covid-19, however, did not ask for this. Donald Trump simply does not care about their health and well-being, just as he doesn’t care for that of his Secret Service agents. Not only did he not fear Covid-19, but he didn’t fear passing it on everyone in his vicinity. That’s not bravery, it’s sociopathy.
Even though Trump’s illness is clear proof that he was foolish and irresponsible, he will try to turn it into proof that he was right, that there was no need for masks and everyone should go about their business as normal. Of course, he can only say this because, as the president, he gets well taken care of by a giant staff of people who risk their lives to preserve his own. But Trump has never shown any sign of noticing or caring about other people’s struggles. His post-infection attitude is going to be an even more aggressive form of denialism about the immense suffering that his incompetence has caused.
Read it here: Nathan Robinson – Trump says ‘don’t be afraid of Covid’. That’s easy for him to say
One notable person who has added their voice to the criticism of the president’s comments not to fear Covid is Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.
Spencer is an Ebola survivor, who bought the disease back to New York with him – as criticised by Donald Trump at the time.
“Your lack of empathy is the single greatest threat to the American people. You have failed us” he told Trump, in a series of tweets overnight.
I followed all public health guidance and infected no one.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) October 6, 2020
You’ve unnecessarily exposed numerous people over the last few days, your administration is refusing to do contact tracing, and there’s an outbreak in the White House because of your dangerous disregard of public health. https://t.co/XQu14wSdIj
‘Don’t let it dominate your life’ you said!
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) October 6, 2020
210k Americans have died.
We held their hands & called their families over grainy video connections so they could see their last breaths.
Your lack of empathy is the single greatest threat to the American people.
You have failed us.
Spencer isn’t alone in being a medical professional who has criticised the president.
Read it here: Medics condemn Trump’s ‘dangerous’ Covid comments
The CNN poll didn’t just ask questions about voting intention, it also surveyed people about Trump’s coronavirus infection and their attitude to it.
The poll found that 63% of American adults believe that Donald Trump has behaved irresponsibly in the way he has handled the risk of coronavirus infection to others around him.
They also asked whether people believed the information coming out of the White House about the president’s health – and the answer was that 40% of people believe some of it, 28% of people believe none of it, and just 12% say they believe ‘almost all of it’.
On overall approval of how the Trump administration has handled the pandemic, it’s bad news for the president as well – 60% of the American public now disapprove.
CNN analyst David Chalian described it on air as “a high watermark of disapproval on the major issue in America today”. Chalian said:
These numbers for the president are going in the wrong direction, precisely at the worst possible political moment for him, of course, being a month away from election day. 60% now disapprove of the way the president has handled the coronavirus outbreak. Only 37% approve. It’s 60% disapproval on the issue that is defining his reelection effort.
CNN Poll: Biden leads Trump nationally by 16 points
CNN have a new poll this morning that gives Joe Biden a national lead among likely voters of 16 points over incumbent president Donald Trump.
Joe Biden’s advantage over President Donald Trump has expanded and the former vice president now holds his widest lead of the cycle with less than a month remaining before Election day, according to a new nationwide CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.
Among likely voters, 57% say they back Biden and 41% Trump in the poll that was conducted entirely after the first debate and mostly after the President’s coronavirus infection was made public.
Biden’s favorability ratings have also improved, with 52% of Americans now saying they have a positive impression of the former vice president, compared with 39% who have a positive view of Trump.
CNN note that:
These increases in support for Biden have not come alongside substantial decreases in backing for Trump. The President’s core supporters remain as supportive of him as they have been, if not more. Among white men without college degrees, for example, Trump’s support has increased from 61% in September to 67% now. But Trump does not appear to have made any gains among the groups his campaign needs to attract in order to dent Biden’s longstanding lead.
Biden +16, in new CNN poll.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 6, 2020
We’re closer to Reagan-Mondale territory now than the likelihood of a nailbiter. https://t.co/OXCahw7uhP
Read it here: CNN – CNN Poll: Biden expands lead over Trump after contentious debate and President’s Covid diagnosis
Don’t forget though, it isn’t winning the popular vote that counts – just ask Hillary Clinton – it’s about putting together enough Electoral College votes by winning states to get over the finish line.
We’ve got an interactive where you can have fun, or terrify yourself, by building your own US election results night and plotting a path to victory for either Biden or Trump.
This is a very moving op-ed on the NBC News site this morning, by Kristin Urquiza, co-founder of Marked by Covid. Urquiza, who earlier this year appeared in a segment about the coronavirus at the Democratic National Convention, writes:
The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas, the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in. Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center early in his illness. There he had access to an army of specialists, 24/7 monitoring from top doctors and nurses and experimental drugs denied to almost every other person with the coronavirus.
My dad had similar symptoms (low-grade fever, chills, cough, low energy) once he contracted the virus, yet the clinic he visited told him to go home and to go the hospital only if he couldn’t breathe. He was sent home on a Friday, and by the next Tuesday, his health had declined so far that it led to his untimely death.
Would my father be alive right now if he had gotten even a small fraction of the care Trump is getting? If the hospital had the capacity to admit my father out of an “abundance of caution,” would my dad still be here? He deserved that opportunity.
As did Juan Carlos “Charlie” Rangel, who had to wait three hours when his daughter Rosemary Rangel Gutierrez called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. When Charlie’s condition deteriorated, Rose’s young sister drove him to the hospital herself. He died days later. And Rosie Davis’ mom, Mary Castro, who lived in a nursing home and had to wait days to go to the hospital after first exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms. If Charlie and Mary had had access to care that prioritized an “abundance of caution,” would they still be here today, too?
Read it here: NBC News – Kristin Urquiza: The Trump tweet ‘don’t be afraid of Covid’ is a betrayal of my father’s memory
In among the medical information we do have about Doanld Trump is that he started a five-day course of remdesivir. Time magazine have a piece from back in May which has suddenly become topical again, explaining how the drug works to fight Covid-19 inside the body. It has some neat animated illustrations of it in action. Of the drug itself they remind us:
Remdesivir isn’t new. It was initially developed to treat Hepatitis C and RSV, a virus that causes respiratory infections. It was also researched as a treatment for Ebola as well as Sars and Mers—two other coronaviruses that infect humans much like the virus that causes Covid-19. It never made it to the approval stage for those uses.
However it has been rapidly approved this year for use as a promising therapy against the coronavirus.
It isn’t a vaccine, and doesn’t prevent infection; instead, it attacks and disrupts the virus once it is already spreading inside the body. The drug mimics and then inserts itself into the virus, slowing down replication.
Read more here: Time – How Remdesivir works to fight Covid-19 inside the body
While we are on the topic of the election, Slate have a piece this morning where election law professor Rick Hasen, who wrote a book entitled Election Meltdown earlier in the year, has given this verdict on the way that the president has been eroding trust in November’s election.
As Donald Trump has been flailing in the polls, he has been ramping up his attacks on voting. Remember, this is a guy who claimed there was massive voter fraud in the election he won back in 2016. But now, much of it is targeted at the use of mail-in balloting, but it’s not only that. He’s talking about sending poll watchers to places. When he says that in a debate at the same time he’s talking about the Proud Boys standing by, it’s very worrisome. And he won’t commit to a peaceful transition to power.
I think we’re still in a situation where the election’s going to have to be very close for any of this to matter, but in terms of the statements that Trump is making that undermine democratic elections and the rule of law, we’re kind of off the charts. It’s hard to imagine any US presidential candidate or president from a major political party making the kind of incendiary, unsupported statements undermining our election process like Donald Trump has done.
Carol Anderson, the Charles Howard Candler professor of African American studies at Emory University was also part of the conversation in the piece, and this is her assessment of the situation:
Trump has never really been about democracy and that’s one of the fundamental, foundational pieces we need to understand. And we see that in terms of the way that he kneecapped the post office, knowing that mail-in ballots would be absolutely crucial in the midst of a pandemic. You see it with Louis DeJoy, who went in and gave the order as postmaster general to dismantle sorting machines. And then you add to that the judge who released the RNC from that consent decree on poll watchers. And then you add to that the incendiary refusal to say that white supremacists are bad. So you’re mixing all of this together and what you have is this toxic stew. What Trump does is that he puts a kilo of pure uncut white supremacy on the table, and he has his minions just snort it up and it empowers them. It makes them feel strong. It makes them feel invincible, while everything around them is being destroyed. And the more that he gets in trouble, the more kilos he puts on the table.
Read it here: Slate – Why Donald Trump’s attacks on voting have ramped up
Some election logistics news, with Reuters reporting that the US supreme court has ensured that a restrictive Republican-backed law in South Carolina that requires voters to have a witness sign mail-in ballots will be in place for the 3 November election.
The justices, granting a request by various Republican officials, put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the restriction. With a lot of potential for dispute, the court said in a brief order that ballots already sent would not have to comply with the signature requirement.
The law had been challenged by a group of Democratic voters and the state Democratic Party, who argued that requiring a witness to sign ballots would endanger people during the coronavirus pandemic and could decrease voting.
Some 150,000 mail-in ballots already have been distributed to South Carolina voters.
The state was won convincingly by Donald Trump in 2016 with a 15 point lead over Hillary Clinton. However a poll last week had Trump only 1 point above rival Joe Biden.
Crucially though, there’s also a Senate seat up for grabs, and Republican incumbent Lindsey Graham is considered to be vulnerable to his Democratic challenger, Jaime Harrison. Polls have them close together, and Graham’s role in pushing for the swift confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the US supreme court could be a big focus of the campaign. Graham and Harrison appeared in a TV debate together at the weekend.
The Washington Post editorial board have not been overly impressed with the president’s behaviour over his coronavirus infection. Late last night they wrote:
We wish President Trump and the first lady speedy recovery from the coronavirus. We wish the infected White House staff speedy recovery, and the unknown number of people in this cluster who might have caught the virus over the last week or so, from Cleveland to Duluth to Bedminster to the White House Rose Garden. But every one of them — and the nation as a whole — must reject Mr. Trump’s unconscionable declaration Monday: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” This disease is a fearsome killer, and Mr. Trump’s magical thinking will not change that.
We had hoped that perhaps once Mr. Trump tested positive, once he was on oxygen and had to be hospitalized, he would be chastened, perhaps gaining a better understanding of the fear and anger across the country at his botched handling of the pandemic. Mr. Trump shows no sign of undergoing any such epiphany. His tweet suggests that he is returning to the tactic of happy talk that has characterized his disastrous response to the pandemic all year long.
Read it here: Washington Post – Covid-19 is a fearsome killer. Trump’s magical thinking will not change that
Away from coronavirus for a second, the main election set-piece this week in American politics is due to be the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris on Wednesday night.
David Smith in Washington writes for us on how both candidates will seek to prove they can handle the presidency when they meet – separated by plexiglass – in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Pence is a socially conservative Christian evangelical man from the midwest, Harris a progressive mixed race woman from California. Her past career as a criminal prosecutor, and a tormentor of Trump allies in congressional hearings, mean she is widely seen as a formidable debater.
Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said: “Most people think that Harris is going to win. So just like Joe Biden benefited from low expectations in the first presidential debate, Pence is going to be aided by that. He’s pretty familiar with policy and facts. He’s not going to win any personality contests but he’s going to deliver a solid performance over 90 minutes. He has a good chance to prevail as the underdog.”
He added: “In some ways, just like Biden, Harris is a very inconsistent debater. In the Democratic primary, she did great in the first one in Miami in June 2019, and that rocketed her up to the top tier. But then she was never able to re-create that magic in subsequent debates.
“Her kryptonite was Tulsi Gabbard. They got into exchanges where Gabbard got the best and got under her skin a little bit and so that’s something that Pence could review video and try to emulate.”
Read it here: Mike Pence v Kamala Harris: Trump’s health raises stakes of vice-presidential debate
Writer Ed Solomon had his own suggestion overnight for how Harris should approach Pence’s record on coronavirus in the debate.
Kamala should show up in a full hazmat suit and start by saying “Whoever is head of the Coronavirus Task Force almost got the President killed anyways what’s the first question?”
— Ed Solomon (@ed_solomon) October 6, 2020
NBC News have some new polling data this morning on how the American public feel about the coronavirus. The questions were asked between 28 September and 4 October, which only covers some of the period during which we were all made aware that Donald Trump had contracted it.
It shows that while the majority of US adults are worried about the virus, there is some fatigue that has set in about the concerns, even as the average daily death number has risen.
Sixty-five percent of American adults say they are worried that someone in their family will be exposed to the virus (32 percent say they are very worried, while 33 percent say they are somewhat worried). Over that period, there were an average of 42,871 daily coronavirus cases and 692 daily deaths from the virus, according to NBC News’ analysis.
That’s a decline of only 5 percentage points since the first week of the poll, from 29 June through 6 July, when a combined 70 percent said they were worried (36 percent were very worried, and 34 percent were somewhat worried). Over that week, for comparison, an average of 596 people died from the virus, and there was an average of 47,597 new daily cases.
Read it here: NBC News – Poll: Majority still fears virus exposure as Trump says not to be ‘afraid’
Robin Givhan at the Washington Post has this scathing verdict on Trump’s behaviour yesterday:
When he arrived at the White House, he walked up the steps, stood in front of four American flags. And removed his mask. He removed his mask in a show of what? Ego. Recklessness. Selfishness.
He is still convalescing from Covid-19, a highly unpredictable and deadly disease. He remains contagious. His doctor has noted that he may not be “entirely out of the woods.” And since he has been at Walter Reed, the White House has become a coronavirus hot spot. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday added her name to the list of staff, residents and recent visitors who have tested positive in the past week, which also includes the first lady.
But no matter. Image is Donald Trump’s everything. Health — his, others’, yours — be damned.
Trump announced his return in a victorious tweet in which he described Covid-19 as nothing to worry about despite the fact that more than 210,000 people have died in the United States. After receiving treatment unavailable to the average American, he declared himself feeling better than he did 20 years ago, as if he had just spent a few days at a spa.
Read it here: Washington Post – The president cares about his image. That’s pretty much it
Novelist Francine Prose has written for us this morning to assess if Donald Trump has learned anything from Covid-19. Her verdict? No.
Trump was hospitalized with Covid-19. The first lady has been infected, as have a several of Trump’s close associates – Chris Christie, Kellyanne Conway, and Kayleigh McEnany, among others. It’s striking that we’ve heard so little about the severity of their symptoms, now that Donald Trump effectively appears to have become the nation’s only Covid-19 patient. At least 11 people have tested positive for the virus after a 26 September gathering convened to celebrate the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett for supreme court justice. The party, which began in the Rose Garden and moved indoors, is now considered to have been a super-spreader event.
We’d like to believe that suffering instructs and ennobles; that our grief, fear and pain increases our sympathy for the grief, fear and pain of others. But again, Donald Trump seems to be ineducable, impervious to shame, guilt, or any sense of personal responsibility, unaffected by anything except vanity, selfishness and reckless self-regard. Certainly, the experience of having his blood oxygen level drop so low that supplemental oxygen was required must have been alarming, and yet the president continues to believe that bluster is the best medicine.
At a moment when our need for truth and transparency has never been so great, the president and his cohorts continue to lie, to get caught in lies, and to lie again to cover up the previous lies.
Read it here: Francine Prose – Has Trump learned anything from Covid-19? Absolutely not
I’m very aware from my own inbox that journalists don’t always elicit the greatest deal of sympathy, but David Bauder reports for the Associated Press today about the heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow Donald Trump.
Three reporters have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks.
Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive. Journalists are left to wonder if a still-contagious president will gather them for a public appearance, and how their safety will be ensured.
Michael D. Shear of the New York Times is the only reporter to reveal his positive test. He can’t say for sure where he contracted the virus, but he covered Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on 26 September, and rode back on Air Force One, where the president spoke to reporters without a mask.
“What’s frustrating is when you know the risks can be mitigated if they took it more seriously,” he said yesterday. Shear took a coronavirus test late Thursday and found he was positive the next morning; now he fears he has given it to his wife.
Following the the positive tests for Shear and two others, the White House correspondents association (WHCA) recommended remote work for all reporters who are not part of the day’s press pool and who don’t have an enclosed work space. The 13-member press pool, with a rotating cast of journalists, is responsible for following the president when he leaves the White House.
“Trump takes the health and safety of those who work for and cover him very seriously”, spokesperson Judd Deere said. “The White House works to incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices to limit Covid-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible on the grounds and when the president is traveling,” he added.
The WHCA has placed signs on the door to the press briefing room saying that masks are required for admittance. “The only people who have habitually not followed that rule have been White House staff,” Jonathan Karl, ABC News White House correspondent said.
American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan said she found it infuriating that Trump and his team had risked the health of her colleagues.
With underlying health conditions, Ryan has been doing her job from home since March. “I didn’t sign up to die for this, especially for someone who’s always saying that we’re the enemy.”
Updated
There may still be questions about whether Donald Trump will be taking additional coronavirus precautions while he is infectious, but somebody who was taking no chances yesterday was Beatrice Lumpkin.
The 102 year old made a stir on social media yesterday after she was photographed casting her vote-by-mail ballot in Chicago wearing full PPE to protect against Covid.
A political activist for much of her life, Lumpkin said she first voted 80 years ago, but this was the most important election of her lifetime.
If you haven’t heard it yet, our Today in Focus podcast is all about how Covid-19 reached the White House.
The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, tells Anushka Asthana that questions still remain about the extent of the president’s illness despite briefings from his medical team. There are also worries about how the president and his staff could have been exposed to the virus despite extensive testing in the White House.
Meanwhile, with only a month until election day, Trump faces a period of recovery that could see him off the campaign trail.
The president yesterday was at pains to downplay the impact of coronavirus on his own health, saying “Don’t let it dominate you, don’t be afraid of it, you’re going to beat it.”
There are already over 210,000 Americans who did not beat the coronavirus this year, and that message from Donald Trump has angered some of the bereaved left behind by the pandemic which has caused nearly 7.5 million cases in the US.
Gene Johnson and Peter Prengman for the Associated Press have spoken to some of those affected, to gauge their reaction to the president’s remarks.
“I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” said 64-year-old Scott Sedlacek. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment.”
Sedlacek was among the first people to be treated for Covid-19 at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, and the doctors and nurses were able to give him plenty of attention. He recovered after being treated with a bronchial nebulizer in March, but the ensuing months have done little to dull the trauma of his illness.
Emergency room doctors, public health experts, survivors of the disease and those who have lost loved ones were all aghast, saying that Trump’s cavalier words were especially dangerous at a time when infections are on the rise in many places. At the weekend CNN reported that only three states in the whole of the US were seeing coronavirus infection rates declining.
Marc Papaj, a Seneca nation member who lives in Orchard Park, New York, lost his mother, grandmother and aunt to Covid-19. He said he was finding it tough to follow the president’s advice not to let the virus “dominate your life.”
“The loss of my dearest family members will forever dominate my life in every way for all of my days,” Papaj said, adding this about Trump: “He does not care about any of us, he’s feeling good.”
Dr. Tien Vo, who has administered more than 40,000 coronavirus tests at his clinics in California’s Imperial County, had this to say: “Oh, my Lord. That’s a very bad recommendation from the president.”
The county is a farming region along the Mexican border that, at one point, had California’s highest infection rate. Its 180,000 residents are largely Latino and low-income, groups that have suffered disproportionately from the virus. Cases overwhelmed its two hospitals in May.
“The president has access to the best medical care in the world, along with a helicopter to transport him to the hospital as needed,” Dr. Janet Baseman, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, wrote in an email. “The rest of us who don’t have such ready access to care should continue to worry about Covid, which has killed a million people around the world in just a handful of months.”
With a series of puzzling medical briefings by his personal physician Dr Sean Conley, off-the-record contradictions to them by senior White House officials, and what the president has said himself in public, there are still a great deal of unanswered questions about Donald Trump’s illness. Here’s a run down of what we know – and what we don’t – about the US president’s health:
What we know:
Doctors have disclosed that over the weekend the president’s blood oxygen levels had dropped below normal levels at least twice, and that he was receiving steroid treatment typically used in more serious cases, suggesting the president was enduring more than a mild case of Covid-19.
They say that Trump will continue to receive his treatments at the White House, which is equipped with medical facilities.
Trump on Friday began a five-day course of remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug currently used for moderately and severely ill patients.
He received a single dose Friday of an experimental drug from Regeneron, that supplies antibodies to help the immune system fight the virus.
Trump has also received treatment with the steroid dexamethasone. It has only been proven to help in more serious cases. Among concerns with its use is that steroids can reduce the body’s own ability to fight off infection.
Conley said on Monday that Trump may not entirely be out of the woods yet, but his clinical status supported the president’s safe return home. He said the president could resume his normal schedule once there is no evidence of live virus still present.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says those with mild to moderate symptoms should isolate for at least 10 days.
Stephanie Grisham, the spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, said all precautions are being taken to safeguard those serving the ailing Trumps in the White Houses residential quarters, in consultation with the White Houses medical unit.
What we don’t know:
We still don’t really know the extent to which Trump was ill, or how ill he is now.
Conley, in daily news briefings at Walter Reed, has detailed vital signs like temperature and blood pressure when they are normal, but repeatedly refused to give information that would indicate how serious the president’s respiratory troubles may have been, in particular.
Conley also has failed to explain why Trump is receiving treatment typically reserved for difficult Covid-19 cases.
Trump’s doctors said that the president had refused to waive patient-doctor confidentiality to allow them to discuss the results of his lung scans. Covid-19 can cause significant damage to lungs and scans can reveal signs of pneumonia and other problems.
With treatment still evolving in the pandemic, Trump’s doctors concede they themselves don’t know everything about the interplay of the medications he is taking. “We’re in a bit of uncharted territory,” Conley said.
Conley also refused to detail when Trump last tested negative for Covid-19. That’s important for contact tracing of those he might have been in close contact after that time, and means it is still unclear if the president had coronavirus when he attended last Tuesday’s presidential debate with Joe Biden.
The White House also is withholding details on what steps it is taking to stop the spread of the outbreak underway in Trumps circle. More than a dozen aides, lawmakers and political figures around Trump have confirmed positive tests in recent days. One New York Times journalist yesterday – who had tested positive after attending the White House event celebrating the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the US supreme court which has been pinpointed as a potential source of the outbreak – said that the administration had not messaged him at all to try and contact trace him.
Officials aren’t saying what measures are being adopted to protect the health of White House staffers as the infectious president returns home. The management team at the White House did not email staff about what to do following Trump’s positive test until late on Sunday evening. It had been announced that he had the coronavirus on the Friday morning.
It is not known if Trump – who just last week was mocking election rival Biden for wearing masks – has committed to abide by any coronavirus precautions. His removal of his mask when returning to the White House, and insisting on a drive to wave at supporters outside Walter Reed on Sunday suggest not.
Updated
Here’s a reminder of how Donald Trump left the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after spending several days receiving treatment for Covid-19. Trump’s doctors said the US president was ‘not yet out of the woods’ but had met all standard hospital criteria to be discharged.
Trump’s physician, Dr Sean Conley, said: ‘We remain cautiously optimistic and on guard because we’re in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he has so early in the course.’ When asked by reporters Conley said he was ‘not at liberty to discuss’ Trump’s latest lung scans due to health privacy regulations.
The president then appeared at the White House. He removed his surgical mask on the balcony and recorded a video message telling people not to be afraid of Covid-19. ‘Don’t let it dominate you, don’t be afraid of it, you’re going to beat it,’ the US president said. ‘I know there’s a risk, there’s a danger but that’s OK’. He suggested he may now be immune to the disease though he added he did not know.
The Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker has recorded that 210,192 people in the US have died from coronavirus.
First Lady Melania Trump, who also announced that she had tested positive on Friday but who has been less visible over the weekend, thanked Americans on Twitter for their prayers and continued support. “I am feeling good & will continue to rest at home. Thank you to medical staff & caretakers everywhere, & my continued prayers for those who are ill or have a family member impacted by the virus.”
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Tuesday – another day which will be dominated by discussion of the president’s health. Here’s a quick summary of where we are, and a little of what we can expect today:
- Donald Trump left Walter Reed hospital, where he was being treated for coronavirus, on Monday evening. He wore a mask while leaving the hospital and again as he walked from Marine One to the White House. He then removed his mask to pose for photographs, while standing near photographers. Trump still has coronavirus, is still contagious, and according to CDC guidelines, should remain in isolation until at least 10 days after his diagnosis, which came in the early hours of Friday.
- Trump’s personal physician, Sean Conley, said the president met the discharge requirements but was “not entirely be out of the woods yet”. He said Trump would take another dose of remdesivir before leaving the hospital, his fourth. Conley repeatedly refused to say when Trump’s last negative test was, which would have implications for contact tracing and provide more context to the timeline of when the president knew he had Covid.
- Trump tweeted a video in which he said of the virus, “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.” Coronavirus has already killed 210,117 Americans – or one in every 1,560 people in the country. Yesterday there were at least 39,000 new cases and 460 new deaths reported in the US.
- Anthony Fauci warned on CNN that Trump could experience a “reversal” in his progress. The top US infectious diseases expert and White House Coronavirus Task Force member said: “The issue is that he’s still early enough in the disease that it’s no secret that if you look at the clinical course of people sometimes, when you’re five to eight days in, you can have a reversal.”
- Shortly after Trump’s maskless moment at the White House, Joe Biden held a town hall in which he repeatedly stressed the importance of masks to protect others. He also tweeted several times about this. “I would hope that the president having gone through what he went through will communicate the right lesson to the American people: Masks matter. They save lives,” Biden said.
- Trump plans to participate in next debate, a spokesman for the president’s campaign said. The debate is due to be held on 15 October.
-
When vice president Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris debate on Wednesday, they will do so separated by plexiglass shields. Frank J Fahrenkopf Jr, chairman of the debate commission, said: “The Trump campaign agreed to that so long as we don’t surround Vice President Pence all the way around. He doesn’t want to be in a box.”
- Trump’s top spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, announced she had tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, in yet another escalation of an outbreak that has thrown the White House into disarray.
- The president’s schedule for Tuesday remains clear. The White House published Trump’s daily guidance and schedule events for Tuesday, which lists no public events, though this isn’t an indication that Trump won’t make an appearance.
- Joe Biden is traveling to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania today to campaign in the battleground state.
