"Hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for coronavirus or Covid-19."
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Yet, our president tweets witch doctor videos to 84 million people that hydroxychloroquine prevents and cures coronavirus and that you don't need a mask, while Asst. Secretary of Heath at the Department of Health & Human Services, Adm. Brett Giroir MD, said on today's program that he wouldn't (he can't) recommend its use at all and that we need 90 per cent compliance with mask wearing to bring the amount of cases down.
This week, the CDC has the total number of deaths at 152K+ while all the other sources have U.S. deaths at 157K+. Five thousand deaths is not splitting hairs and maybe that's because hospitals no longer report the data direct to the CDC as it goes through the administration first, an administration that has botched the response from the very beginning.
There is still no national coordination, a 'plan,' from this administration and we're seven months into the heavy. We still haven't gotten testing down, by Adm. Giroir's own admission. He explained that 90 percent of the tests turnaround in 5 days, but that makes tracing and tracking futile. The admiral flatly disagreed with Chuck Todd when asked about private labs dictating the turnaround time, However, Mr. Todd should have framed the question differently because we are indeed at the mercy of utilizing private labs because they can turnaround results in 48 hours, which is the window Dr. Fauci recommends.
And where is the president? Out playing golf. As Andrea Mitchell reported, the president has taken himself out of the negotiations for the next relief package, sending aides instead for the day-to-day. In between shots into the rough, he's heckling from the sidelines, undermining the process. You don't expect such a cynical question from the MTP moderator, but we're at that point: Has Mr. Trump given up on the job?
It certainly seems so because the press briefing aren't helpful, footage of his campaign stops shows him going through the motions, and worst of all Republicans behind the scenes and in some cases in front of them (more in a minute) have been instructed to distance themselves from the president. Trump has completely lost his mojo.
Not only has he lost his mojo, he has also lost the trust of the American people as Robert Draper said. He never really had a great amount to begin with, but now with the coronavirus raging through red states, the botched-response rumors that they were hearing they now realize are true; hence trust eroding even further.
Because his leadership through this pandemic crisis has been so abysmal, he did what any authoritarian-leaning leader would do, flout the Constitution and call for a delay in the election. As if Mr. Trump ever really had any regard for the Constitution, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke out in opposition to this notion.
As we know, the call for the delay is because he is losing in the polls so badly, Texas of all places is a dead heat. Heather McGhee explained that the president's racist dog whistling (foghorning?) about the suburbs isn't working as polls show that he's not only losing the suburbs but whites in general. Ms. McGhee also explained that just as significant (this column thinks even more so) as the president's words are his actions. The Trump Administration removed the Post Master General recently and inserted a Trump crony who is doing a system change as of this writing, making the post slower. In other words, eroding another institution. Don't mess with ____ing the Post Office! (fill in the blank) It was an invention of Benjamin Franklin after all.
Lastly, a quick comment on potential VP pick Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA). In a word: no. There's a lot to like about Congresswoman Bass: her experience in Congress and the ability to work with the other side, she's a happy warrior; she has great experience with healthcare and foreign policy; and she is correct in that to change Cuba, the U.S. has to have relations.
However, the opposition research about Ms. Bass's statements on Cuba and her having worked in country as a young adult will be a dagger for the Trump campaign that will use it to inflict endless cuts. So many that it will have an effect in Florida, the key swing state. It's a weapon that Democrats can not afford to put in Trump's hand.
Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, Board Co-Chair Color of Change; Robert Draper, The New York Times Magazine
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