Week 192

This week, as the coronavirus raged out of control in many states, Trump sought to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, with several members of the regime publicly attacking Fauci’s credibility. Reporting indicated Trump had lost interest in the pandemic, with an adviser telling the Post, Trump’s “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it” — as the country hit a daily record 77,000 new cases.

As Trump continued his fall in the polls, he fired his campaign manager, but stuck with his strategy of us vs. them: this week repeatedly invoking the white “suburbs” and stoking not-so-well disguised racist tropes of integration. He turned a Rose Garden speech meant to address measures against China into a bizarre, meandering, hour-long campaign speech — drawing ire from even Fox News.

In new tests of authoritarian boundaries, Trump sent federal law enforcement to Portland, Oregon — uninvited and unwelcome — to quell protests. In what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described as “unidentified stormtroopers” and “Trump’s secret police,” law enforcement in unmarked cars were seen grabbing protestors off the streets and whisking them away. Trump also sought to hide the extent of the pandemic, by ordering hospitalization data to be sent to Washington rather than the CDC, and threatening to block funding for testing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill.

On Monday, WAPO reported Trump has made 20,000 false or misleading statements while in office. Trump reached 10,000 lies in 827 days, averaging 12 per day, and took only 440 days to reach the next 10,000, averaging 23 per day.
On Saturday, Trump was seen publicly wearing a face mask for the first time during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to meet wounded servicemembers and Covid-19 health care providers.
Before he left the White House and got on a helicopter, Trump told reporters, “When you’re in a hospital, especially … I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.” He only wore the mask inside the hospital.
On Saturday, Robert Mueller broke his silence for the first time since stepping down as special counsel, rebuking Trump’s Roger Stone clemency in an op-ed, “Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.”
Mueller wrote, we found “numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign” including Stone, and Russia “perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.”
He noted Stone lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks, the existence of written communications with his intermediary and his communication with the Trump campaign, and tampered with a witness.
Mueller added, “We made every decision in Stone’s case…on the facts and the law,” and those who “conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity,” adding, “Claims to the contrary are false.”
On Saturday, Trump shot back at the only two Republican Senators who criticized his clemency, calling Sens. Pat Toomey and Mitt Romney “RINOs,” saying they have no problem with the actions of his enemies.
On Sunday, the editorial board of the conservative National Review criticized Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence, calling it “indefensible,” saying he was justly convicted and “deserved to go to jail.”
On Sunday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham said Mueller may be invited to testify, tweeting Democrats on the panel have previously requested it, and “That request will be granted.”
On Saturday, NBC News reported that turnout was a factor in Trump canceling his rally scheduled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire tonight. The NH GOP state party scrambled all week to get people to attend.
On Saturday, in an interview with the Times, Elaine Duke, who served as the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary following Hurricane Maria, said Trump considered selling Puerto Rico.
Duke said Trump asked, “Can we outsource the electricity? Can we can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?” She added the idea was never seriously considered or discussed after Trump raised it.
On Saturday, The Scotsman reported the Trump Organization plans to build a “new class coastal retreat” in Scotland, targeting retirees and wealthy golf enthusiasts — the largest foreign development since Trump took office.
On Sunday, Trump golfed at one of his properties for the 277th time, as the coronavirus surged. He defended himself, tweeting, “My “exercise” is playing…a quick round of golf.” He was seen driving a golf cart.
Trump again lied, claiming, “Obama played more and much longer rounds” — Obama had played 102 rounds at this point — adding, “When I play, Fake News CNN, and others…scream “President Trump is playing golf.””
Trump also tweeted, “We have now built 240 Miles” of his wall, and 450 miles would be built by year-end, adding, “The Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders for anyone, including many criminals, to come in!”
Trump also tweeted, “No, Radical Left anarchists, agitators, looters or protesters will not be knocking down or harming,” statues or monuments, threatening, “If they even try, an automatic 10 years in prison. Sorry!”
On Sunday, Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos told “State of the Union” she wants school fully reopened in the fall, saying, “Kids need to be in school. They need to be learning, they need to be moving ahead.”
When asked if she can assure parents and teachers they will not catch the virus, DeVos said, “Well, the key is that kids have to get back to school,” and there are “really good examples that have been used in the private sector.”
DeVos told “Fox News Sunday” schools could lose funding, saying, “American investment in education is a promise to students and their families. If schools aren’t going to reopen…they shouldn’t get the funds.”
On Sunday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, wearing a face mask, told “Face the Nation” the Trump regime is “trying to correct” its guidance on face masks, adding, “But it’s very hard to do.”
On Sunday, Admiral Brett Giroir, who leads the regime’s testing efforts, told “This Week” that “We expect deaths to go up” over the next two to three weeks, noting, “you have more cases, more hospitalizations.”
On “Meet the Press,” Giroir criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying, “I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100 percent right, and he also doesn’t necessarily — he admits that — have the whole national interest in mind.”
On Sunday, Florida reported 15,300 new daily cases, a U.S. record. Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted calls for mandatory statewide face masks. The U.S. reported more than 60,000 new daily cases three days in a row.
On Sunday, NBC News reported the White House is actively seeking to discredit Fauci. An official gave NBC a list of nearly a dozen past comments by Fauci that the official said had ultimately proven to be wrong.
The move was characteristic of opposition research used in political campaigns, seeking to discredit and marginalize an opponent, even as the virus surged and the U.S. passed 135,000 deaths and 70,000 daily cases.
WAPO reported Trump is annoyed that Fauci is polling better than him: a recent NYT-Sienna College poll found 67% of respondents said they trusted Fauci for “accurate information” on Covid-19, compared with 26% for Trump.
On Sunday, WAPO reported long delays in getting coronavirus test results, with some states struggling to provide them in seven days, others longer, are making the results virtually useless in stopping spread.
The rising demand caused shortages of swabs, chemical reagents, and equipment. The delay in testing has made it impossible to replicate the model that successfully worked in other countries: test, trace, and isolate.
On Sunday, Business Insider reported Japanese authorities demanded answers after major Covid-19 outbreaks at two U.S. Marine bases there, saying they were “shocked” and furious at the U.S. not taking it seriously.
On Sunday, Axios reported in an effort to trap leakers, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is feeding specific nuggets of false information to staffers to see if it get passed on to reporters.
On Monday, Trump quoted a tweet by his social media director of a video clip of Biden, and added, “Is this what you want for your President??? With no ratings, media will go down along with our great USA!”
Trump also tweeted, “Never in history have Police been treated so badly” as in “Democrat run cities,” which he called “a mess,” and “Radical Left politicians that are treating them so badly, and so disrespectfully!!!”
Trump also complained again about Fox News, tweeting, “So hard to watch,” adding, “Their contributors are a disaster, and all over the place. The Radical Left has scared Fox into submission.”
Trump also tweeted, “The Silent Majority will reign!” And also tweeted, “The Lamestream Media is not talking about what is happening with the Stock Market and JOBS…The Radical Left will destroy the USA.”
Trump also retweeted former game show host Chuck Woolery, sharing a tweet on coronavirus, saying, “Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust.”
Later Monday, Woolery tweeted, “To further clarify and add perspective, Covid-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus.” By Thursday, Woolery’s Twitter account no longer existed.
On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters, “Trump’s COVID scandal makes what Nixon did at Watergate look innocent. Nobody died in the Watergate scandal. Thousands of people are going to die in this.”
On Monday, Fauci said on a webinar that Covid-19 is “clearly the most challenging” public health crisis he’s ever dealt with, including HIV, Ebola, Anthrax, and Zika, adding, “We haven’t even begun to see the end of it.”
On Monday, three states, including hard-hit California, New Mexico, and Oregon put new restrictions on indoor activities, rolling back their reopening. Wyoming extended restrictions.
On Monday, NPR reported the U.S. military is deploying 740 military health professionals to Texas and California to help with the surge in those states’ coronavirus cases.
On Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told “Fox & Friends” the regime will “leave it to localities” to create guidelines for reopening schools. Last week, the regime said it would supply guidelines.
On Monday, federal judge Amy Berman Jackson demanded more information on Trump’s clemency for Stone, ordering the parties provide her with a copy of the executive order by Tuesday.
On Monday, NBC News reported 17 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump regime over its rule that takes visas from international students, calling it a “cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action.”
On Monday, at a roundtable on law enforcement, Trump repeated the surge of coronavirus cases, blaming, “when you test, you create cases. So we’ve created cases.”
Trump also blamed Obama and Biden, saying, “Biden and Obama stopped their testing — they just stopped it. You probably know that. I’m sure you don’t want to report it.” Covid-19 did not exist when Obama was in office.
Trump continued to stoke division, saying, “When you have 20 people killed, 22 people killed in one weekend in Chicago, and you have 88 shootings — it’s not even conceivable. That’s worse than Afghanistan.”
Trump also said the federal government may need to “take over cities” to combat rising crime, adding, “Numbers are going to be coming down even if we have to go and take over cities.”
Attorney General William Barr praised Trump at the roundtable, saying, “First, let me say what an honor it is for me to serve under a President who is such a strong supporter of law enforcement,” but made no mention of granting clemency to Stone.
Later Monday, speaking to reporters, Trump said he does not rule out pardoning Michael Flynn, saying he will wait “until I find out what’s going to happen,” adding, “I think he’s doing very well with respect to his case.”
On Monday, AZ Central reported on a photo showing Gov. Doug Ducey at a graduation barbecue with no face mask or social distancing — despite his administration giving that advice to help stop spread.
On Monday, NBC News reported Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd, a beloved longtime Arizona elementary school teacher, died of Covid-19 after sharing a classroom for summer school with two teachers, who turned out also to be positive.
On Monday, a photo of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz flying aboard American Airlines without a mask was shared on social media. Cruz’s office claimed he was drinking coffee, but he was later seen in the terminal without one.
Cruz is chair of the Senate Commerce subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over airlines and the FAA. In June, American Airlines said masks are required on flights and can be removed to eat or drink.
On Monday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a 6-week abortion ban. A federal judge quickly blocked the measure. Same day, Tennessee saw a record 3,314 daily coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blasted Gov. Brian Kemp for stopping her effort to impose more restrictions amid the state’s surge, calling it “baffling.”
On Monday, after Florida Gov. DeSantis finally started sharing data on Covid-19 hospitalizations, data showed more than 8,000 were hospitalized, up more than a thousand over the weekend alone.
On Monday, NYT reported an analysis by nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families U.S.A. found a record 5.4 million Americans lost health insurance between February and May, higher than in any single year on record.
On Monday, Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff for communications, posted a cartoon mocking Fauci, likening him to a faucet drowning Uncle Sam, and adding, “Sorry, Dr. Faucet!”
The cartoon was drawn by artist Ben Garrison, whose work is often promoted by the alt-right. Garrison was disinvited from a White House event because his work contains anti-Semitic messaging.
On Monday, top Trump ally Stephen Moore told the Daily Beast that he is is preparing a new assault on Fauci, showing “times Dr. Fauci’s been wrong during not just [this pandemic], but during his entire career.”
Moore said he and his team at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity have been working on the memo for weeks, and that they will send their final product to the White House and Trump and to “publicize it,” once ready.
On Monday, a man in a MAGA hat in Kansas flashed his gun at a BBQ restaurant when a student working there asked him to wear a mask as ordered by the governor. The state had a record 1,080 daily cases Monday.
On Tuesday, Sean Ruis, 43, stabbed a 77 year-old man after an argument at a Quality Dairy Store in Eaton County, Michigan, over Ruis’ refusal to wear a face mask.
On Monday, in response to requests from its football players, University of Texas announced it will make sweeping changes, including renaming a hall and field, and erecting a statue for UT’s first Black football letterman.
On Monday, the NFL Washington Redskins announced the team would change its name following pressure from sponsors. Owner Daniel Snyder had fiercely resisted calls to do so for more than two decades.
On Monday, McEnany told reporters Trump believes the Native American community “would be very angry” about the NFL team name change, saying, “These teams name their teams out of strength, not weakness.”
On Monday, NYT reported that the State Department quietly lifted a ban on sales of silencers to private overseas buyers, intended to protect U.S. troops from ambushes, after efforts by gun industry lobbyists.
Michael Williams, as American Suppressor Association general counsel, tried for two years to overturn the ban, then as a White House lawyer he passed it through. ASA could make $250 million a year off the ban.
On Monday, a New York judge lifted the restraining order on Mary Trump’s book, on the eve of its release, citing the First Amendment and the John Bolton case of the horse being out of the barn.
On Monday, a federal judge in Indiana halted what would have been its first execution in 17 years, saying the execution “poses an unconstitutionally significant risk of serious pain.” The Trump regime said it would appeal.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to go ahead with execution of Daniel Lewis Lee. Attorney General Barr said Lee “finally faced the justice he deserved.”
On Tuesday, four bipartisan former CDC directors wrote in an op-ed, “No president ever politicized its science the way Trump has,” adding, “We’re seeing the terrible effect of undermining the CDC play out.”
On school reopening, they said, “it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release.” And noting, “Sadly, we are not even close to having the virus under control. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
On Tuesday, JAMA Editor Howard Bauchner said the “whisperings, innuendos, and attacks from the White House and others” on Fauci are “unseemly and unfair” and show a lack of commitment to public health.
On Tuesday, Giroir told the “Today” show on accusations of public health officials lying, “we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie. We are completely transparent.”
On Tuesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield warned on a webinar that “the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be the probably one of the most difficult times that we experienced in American public health.”
Redfield said the pandemic could be brought under control over the next four to eight weeks if “we could get everybody to wear a mask right now.” He noted “ample evidence” of asymptomatic spread.
Redfield also contradicted Fauci, blaming “a lot of Northerners decided to go South for vacations,” for the outbreaks in several Southern states, rather than their reopening too soon.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney formally announced the city would cancel all large outdoor events, including the Philadelphia Marathon, through at least February 28 due to the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the Sun Sentinel reported 31% of children in Florida tested have been positive. Public health officials warned that much is not known about the long-term health consequences of the virus on children.
On Tuesday, an Axios-Ipsos poll found most Americans say it would be too risky to send their children back to school in the fall, including 82% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans, as well as 89% of Black Americans.
On Tuesday, a Gallup poll showed GOP governors are losing residents’ support on Covid-19: just 43% say their governor communicates clearly, down from 54% a month ago. Democrats were stable at 58%.
On Tuesday, CNN reported both Canada and Mexico announced they will extend their U.S. border closures for another month, until at least late August, amid spikes of confirmed cases across the U.S.
On Tuesday, the White House launched a new ad campaign called “Find Something New,” which encouraged people who are unemployed or unhappy in their jobs to go out and “find something new.”
The campaign is the product of the White House’s American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, co-chaired by Ivanka and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Finding a job has taken on a new urgency with the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the Trump regime rescinded its order that would have stripped international students of their U.S. visas if their college was holding online courses, and will reinstate a policy giving flexibility.
The federal judge overseeing the case brought by Harvard and M.I.T., which was set to go to trial Tuesday, announced in a Massachusetts court that the government and plaintiffs had reached a resolution.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported internal documents showed the Strategic National Stockpile and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have an inadequate stockpile amid the latest coronavirus surge.
The disclosure came as Trump and senior regime officials pressured states to reopen. For example, the federal stockpile has fewer than 900,000 gloves in reserve after shipping 82.7 million of them.
The federal stockpiles have 29,000 pairs of goggles on hand, and has only been able to provide 29% of the 4.9 million requested. On surgical masks, just 29% of the 17.9 million surgical gowns requested have been shipped.
On Tuesday, in an interview with CBS News, when asked why Black Americans are still dying at the hands of law enforcement, Trump said, “So are White people. What a terrible question to ask. So are White people.”
Asked about his defense of the Confederate flag, Trump said, “All I say is freedom of speech. It’s very simple. My attitude is freedom of speech. Very strong views on the Confederate flag. With me, it’s freedom of speech.”
On Tuesday, the Trump regime ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC, and send all coronavirus patient information to a central database in Washington in a notice from the Department of Health and Human.
The move alarmed public health experts, who feared the data — including daily data on how many people are being treated, and how many beds and ventilators are available — will be distorted for political gain.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would appoint controversial former aide Sebastian Gorka to the National Security Education Board, which oversees the government’s national security education program.
On Tuesday, it what was called a news conference in the Rose Garden, carried initially live by CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, Trump gave a meandering 57-minute monologue, followed by only six minutes of taking questions.
The speech was heralded as an announcement of new measures against China to punish it for its oppression of Hong Kong, but Trump quickly went off-script to a campaign-style rally, running from one topic to another.
Trump drifted on topics, often in a run-on sentence, from China to the Paris Accord to crumbling highways to the economy to energy taxes to trade with Europe to illegal immigration to crime in Chicago.
Trump also repeatedly attacked Biden, saying he would get rid of windows if elected, and would “abolish the suburbs” and had “gone so far right.” Trump also challenged Biden’s mental acuity.
A White House reporter for the Times noted, “Even for those who follow Mr. Trump regularly and understand his shorthand, it became challenging to follow his train of thought.”
One senior official said Trump’s initially planned speech may have devolved into a rambling monologue because Biden received extensive television coverage earlier in the day for his $2 trillion climate plan.
Fox News covered Trump’s speech in its entirety. After, anchor Bret Baier noted, “had President Obama made this kind of speech from the Rose Garden, Republicans on Capitol hill would likely have been up in arms.”
NBC News veteran Andrea Mitchell tweeted, “I have covered 7 Presidents. I have never seen a POTUS use the Rose Garden or any White House platform to launch a political attack against his opponent for reelection.”
Later Tuesday, Ivanka tweeted a photo of her holding a can of Goya beans, with the caption, “If it’s Goya, it has to be good” in English and Spanish. Ethics watchdogs said the tweet violated the Standards on Conduct, known as the Hatch Act.
The White House defended Ivanka, saying, “Only the media and the cancel culture movement would criticize Ivanka for showing her personal support for a company that has been unfairly mocked, boycotted and ridiculed.”
On Friday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed an ethics complaint over Ivanka’s photo with the Office of Government Ethics, saying it violated the Hatch Act.
CREW also filed ethics complaints against Meadows for two Fox News appearances in which he advocated for Trump’s re-election against Biden, saying they violated the Hatch Act.
Later Tuesday, USA Today ran an op-ed by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro which claimed Fauci “has been wrong about everything I interacted with him on.” The column ran in print Wednesday.
Navarro claimed Fauci fought against stopping flights from China, flip-flopped on the use of masks, and said there was only anecdotal evidence on hydroxychloroquine despite one study showing it reduced mortality.
Amid criticism of its publication, later Wednesday, USA Today ran a fact-check story by its Washington reporter Ledyard King examining five of Navarro’s claims.
Also later Wednesday, a note by Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor, admitted USA Today had solicited and published the column, but it was “misleading and did not meet fact-checking standards.”
On Wednesday, a White House spokesperson said the op-ed “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone” and Trump values the expertise of the medical professionals.
Asked by reporters if he was okay with what Navarro wrote, Trump said, “I get along very well with Dr. Fauci,” and when pressed added, “That’s Peter Navarro, but I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.”
Trump added, “He made a statement representing himself. He shouldn’t be doing that,” adding, “We’re all on the same team, including Dr. Fauci.”
Chief of staff Meadows added the op-ed “was an independent action that was a violation of well-established protocols,” and Trump “did not approve it,” and “publicly noted that Peter should not have written this.”
Later Wednesday, in an interview with the Atlantic, Fauci called White House efforts to discredit him “bizarre,” and added, “I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that.”
Fauci also noted the talking points released by the White House painting him as inaccurate on the coronavirus were “nonsense,” saying, “I stand by everything I said. Contextually, at the time I said it, it was absolutely true.”
Fauci added, “I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it’s only reflecting negatively on them,” and said of the Navarro op-ed, “I can’t explain Peter Navarro; he’s in a world by himself.”
On Wednesday, a Quinnipiac poll found Biden leading Trump 52-37, up from 49-41 a month ago. Biden’s lead with Independent voters grew to now back him 51-34 percent, up from 43-40.
The poll also found 31% think Trump is honest, 35% say he has good leadership skills, 37% that he cares about the average American. On coronavirus information, 30% trust Trump, 67% trust Fauci.
On Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, 35% approve, 62% disapprove, and 62%/31% say he is hurting rather than helping contain the spread. His overall approval was 36% approve, 60% disapprove— his worst since August 2017.
On school re-opening, 61% disapprove of Trump’s handling, 29% approve. On Russia bounty, 59% say they do not trust Trump, and 62–25% that they are not satisfied with Trump’s response to the reports.
On Wednesday, Walmart announced the company will require face masks in all its U.S. stores starting July 20, becoming the largest company to impose restrictions.
On Wednesday, CNN reported Los Angeles and San Diego, California schools will extend remote learning into the fall. However, Orange County voted to fully reopen schools, with no social distancing or masks.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced he had tested positive for Covid-19. The state had a record 993 daily cases on Tuesday — as many as the state reported from June 1 to June 10, before Trump’s rally.
On Tuesday, Mississippi Today reported after years of activism, a Confederate monument at the entrance of the University of Mississippi was removed. The statue will be moved to a nearby cemetery.
On Wednesday, the city council in Asheville, North Carolina passed a resolution 7-0 approving apologizing to its Black residents for the city’s role in slavery, and racist and discriminatory practices past and present.
The resolution also calls for reparations in the form of investments in their community such as “increasing minority home ownership,” “increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities,” and more.
On Wednesday, the U.S. surpassed 3.5 million cases. The outbreak has increased in 41 states in the past two weeks. More than 137,000 Americans had died.
In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly said, “I can’t in good conscience open schools.” In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said, “this is not a drill. It certainly is not any hoax…The enemy is here.” California hit a record of 11,000 daily cases.
On Wednesday, as Vice President Mike Pence planned an indoor rally at Ripon College in Wisconsin, the school’s president emailed campus that there was a “mixed response” and the school was only renting a room to the campaign.
On Wednesday, Trump sent a series of tweets. Trump attacked Biden: “Has anybody seen or reviewed the written “pact” between Bernie Sanders & Sleepy Joe,” calling it “The guaranteed destruction of America.”
Trump also tweeted his support for Goya: “@GoyaFoods is doing GREAT. The Radical Left smear machine backfired, people are buying like crazy!” causing fresh calls from the Latino community to boycott the company.
Trump also tweeted at “Fox & Friends” while the show was airing, saying, “88 and 2 (really 1) in ENDORSEMENTS…and @FoxNews was critical. Has anyone ever done so well?” after Jeff Sessions lost in the primary.
Trump also tweeted, “96% Approval Rating of President Trump in the Republican Party.” This, and the claim on endorsements, were lies. Notably, major media outlets stopped covering these tweets.
Trump also made reference to a controversial opinion writer leaving the Times, tweeting, “Wow. The @nytimes is under siege,” adding, “They never covered me correctly — they blew it. People are fleeing, a total mess!”
Trump also tweeted, “The Biden-Sanders unity plan takes a sledgehammer to charter schools, punishing students for their zip codes. No one will be SAFE in Joe Biden’s America!”
And tweeted, “Biden and the Radical Left want to Abolish Police, Abolish ICE, Abolish Bail, Abolish Suburbs, Abolish the 2nd Amendment — and Abolish the American Way of Life,” adding, “No one will be SAFE.”
On Wednesday, WAPO reported with the coronavirus spreading out of control, Trump has no plan to address the pandemic. Almost all developed countries have managed to control the virus, except the U.S.
There was no national strategy, apart from unenforced guidelines. When Trump makes proclamations like reopen schools, the regime did not develop plans of how to do so, leaving it to states and local authorities.
The federal government is taking no role in testing or contact tracing. Experts say 5 million tests per day are needed, but just 600,000 are being conducted, and results often take more than a week to get back.
On Wednesday, ABC News reported Trump and Fauci spoke for the first time since early June. A regime official said Trump “characterized the call as very good and friendly,” and they “are working toward the same goal.”
On Wednesday, Fauci said in an interview with “InStyle” that this week was “very stressful” and that he did not like “the conflict,” adding, “I’m an apolitical person,” and “I don’t like to be pitted against the president.”
On Wednesday, days after last week’s Supreme Court ruling against him, Trump’s lawyers renewed their effort to block the Manhattan district attorney’s access to his financial records.
In a court filing with the federal judge in Manhattan, Trump’s lawyers argued the DA’s subpoena seeking eight years of his corporate and personal tax returns was too broad and politically motivated.
On Wednesday, the Twitter accounts of some of America’s most high-profile politicians, including Biden, Barack Obama, and Mike Bloomberg were hacked, raising concerns about security ahead of the election.
The accounts of Apple, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, AmazonCEO Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates were hijacked, given the hackers the potential ability to influence and sway public opinion by using these voices.
On Wednesday, Gov. Cuomo announced New York State would be sending PPE, test kits, and other medical equipment to Atlanta, saying, “we are paying it forward,” noting Atlanta Mayor Bottoms’ efforts to fight this virus.
Later Wednesday, in a new executive order, Georgia Gov. George Kemp overruled local governments that have issued mandatory mask laws, nullifying a mask mandate in Atlanta and elsewhere.
Later Wednesday, Trump replaced campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien, amid sinking poll numbers. Trump’s relationship with Parscale had been strained since the failed Tulsa rally.
Trump has been pushed by allies in recent months to expand his base and define his run against Biden. In his rambling Rose Garden speech, Trump framed the election as the starkest choice in U.S. history.
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims rose another 1.3 million, slightly higher than expected, and the 17th straight week of job losses in excess of 1 million.
On Thursday, Gallup found a big swing in party preferences in 2020: in January, 47% were Republicans or leaning and 45% Democrat or leaning (+2R) — in June, 50% were Democrat and 39% Republican (+11D).
On Thursday, U.K., U.S., and Canadian intelligence agencies accused a Russian hacking group of cyberattacks targeting organizations involved in coronavirus vaccine development in the three countries.
The hacking group APT29 — also known as “Cozy Bear” and “the Dukes” — was behind the malicious activity. The group was accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee before the 2016 U.S. election.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state-run news agency TASS on Thursday that “Russia has nothing to do with these attempts and we do not accept such accusations.”
On Thursday, Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan wrote in an op-ed about how Trump played down the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, and left states on their own, including Maryland, for testing supplies and strategy.
On Thursday, Politico reported the RNC will move to significantly restrict attendance at its convention in Jacksonville. Top officials met with Trump Monday evening. Trump has demanded an in-person convention.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel wrote in the letter to RNC members that with coronavirus cases surging in Florida “adjustments must be made to comply with state and local health guidelines.”
On Thursday, the Health and Human Services Inspector General found Medicare chief Seema Verma violated federal contracting rules by steering more than $5 million in contracts that ultimately benefited GOP-aligned friends.
On Thursday, Politico reported Trump’s team has launched a sweeping loyalty test for officials across departments including HHS, Treasury, Labor and Commerce and the top tier positions in the Trump regime.
The one-on-one interviews being conducted are to test each official’s loyalty to Trump, and are meant to root out threats of leaks and other potentially subversive acts in the months ahead of the election.
On Thursday, in remarks on the South Lawn meant to be on deregulation, Trump again evoked the ‘suburbs’ in making a play for white suburban voters using a divisive and racist messaging once made against integration.
Trump warned fair housing regulations designed to combat housing segregation will “obliterate” the suburbs, saying, “Your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise.”
Trump said, “Biden and his bosses from the radical left want to significantly multiply what they’re doing now,” saying the result is “you will totally destroy the beautiful suburbs. Suburbia will be no longer be as we know it.”
On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported Trump regime officials acknowledged the Homestead shelter for migrant children did not conduct child-abuse background checks for employees now accused of sex abuse.
On Thursday, LA Times reported Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” set a first-day record for the publisher of 950,000 first day sales.
On Thursday, Florida reported 14,000 new daily cases and a record 156 more deaths. Gov. DeSantis said the state would start shifting testing away from commercial labs that have long delays to deliver results.
On Thursday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported scores of protestors without masks packed a room for the Utah County Commission meeting for two hours on reopening schools, to demand in-person classes without masks.
On Thursday, ProPublica reported the CDC removed data on hospital capacity around the country from its website, and then amid a public outcry restored the data.
The agency noted the data may no longer be updated because of a change in federal reporting requirements by the Trump regime this week, for hospitals to report data to HHS not the CDC.
In a statement, HHS said it “is committed to being transparent with the American public about the information it is collecting on the coronavirus,” and “has directed CDC to re-establish the coronavirus dashboards.”
On Thursday, at the daily briefing, asked about online learning, McEnany said Trump “has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open,” and claimed, “The science should not stand in the way of this.” This is not true.
McEnany also called mayor Lori Lightfoot “the derelict mayor of Chicago” and suggested she should request federal aid to combat the city’s problems. Lightfoot tweeted, “Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth.”
On Thursday, in a speech at the National Constitution Center, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the founding principles of American life are “under attack” by protestors and the mainstream media.
Pompeo was there to release the first report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, which after a year’s work claimed property rights and religious freedom, the foremost unalienable rights, are under attack.
Pompeo said the “core of what it means to be an American, indeed the American way of life itself, is under attack. Instead of seeking to improve America, leading voices promulgate hatred of our founding principles.”
Pompeo also criticized the NYT’s 1619 Project on the history of American slavery, saying, “They want you to believe the Marxist ideology,” and, “The Chinese Communist Party must be gleeful.”
On Thursday, Atlanta Mayor Bottoms said, “A better use of taxpayer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing. If being sued by the state is what it takes to save lives in Atlanta, then we will see them in court.”
On Thursday, Gov. Kemp sued Mayor Bottoms and city council to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask, saying Bottoms had overstepped her authority by disobeying his executive order.
As of Thursday, Georgia reported more than 3,400 daily cases, with more than 2,800 people hospitalized — the highest on record. The state reported that 84% of its critical care beds were full.
On Thursday the U.S. hit another daily record of 77,255 cases according to Johns Hopkins, breaking a previous record six days earlier of 67,791. California, Florida, and Texas accounted for nearly half the cases.
On Thursday, 3M announced it had investigated more than 4,000 reported instances of suspected price gouging, counterfeiting, and fraud, and filed 18 lawsuits relating to its N95 masks.
On Thursday, Judge Dolly Gee delayed the deadline for the release of migrant children held by ICE until July 27, after both parties asked for more time to negotiate how the 97 children impacted will be released.
On Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced she will introduce an amendment to the next coronavirus relief bill that would bar states that do not implement mask mandates from receiving stimulus funding.
Later Thursday, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported around 2 a.m. Thursday night, federal law enforcement officers in unmarked vehicles jumped out and grabbed protestors off the streets in Portland.
The officers wore green military fatigues and generic “police” patches. Mark Pettibone told the Post after leaving a peaceful protest he was approached, and was unsure if they were police or far-right extremists.
Pettibone was detained and searched for a weapon. He did not have one. They drove him to a federal courthouse and placed him in a holding cell. They read him and asked if he would waive his Miranda rights. He said no.
The officers then let him go. Pettibone did not know why they arrested him, or if what happened to him legally qualifies as an arrest. He was not told why he was arrested. Legal scholars questioned the constitutionality.
Civil rights activists suggested the Trump regime is testing the limits of its executive power. Federal officers from the U.S. Marshals Service and Department of Homeland Security have stormed Portland’s streets.
Sen. Ron Wyden tweeted on Thursday, “A peaceful protester in Portland was shot in the head by one of Donald Trump’s secret police,” after Marshals Service officers severely wounded a peaceful protester Saturday.
Wyden added, “Trump and Chad Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media.”
There have been nightly protests in Portland in the six weeks since the killing of George Floyd. Trump sent federal officers on July 10 to quell violence, at times using tear gas despite a state law that bans its use.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler tweeted criticism of DHS on Tuesday, decrying the “violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics Wolf’s agents use.”
Acting DHS Sec. Chad Wolf responded in a statement Thursday that Portland is “under siege” by “a violent mob,” and claiming that “Each night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property.”
Wolf later Thursday appeared on “Hannity” and said he was called by “not only the mayor but the governor,” and told to “Please pack up and go home,” adding, “that’s just not gonna happen on my watch.”
Wolf claimed, “we need to make sure that we’re supporting our law enforcement officers here and making sure that they’re going to continue to protect the federal courthouse here. That’s what the DHS does.”
On Friday, Wolf tweeted a photo of him addressing men in camouflage, and added, “Our men and women in uniform are patriots. We will never surrender to violent extremists on my watch.”
On Friday, deputy secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli told Fox News, “What we’ve seen around the country is where responsible policing is advanced, violence recedes.”
Cuccinelli added, “Portland hasn’t gotten that memo. Nor have a lot of other cities. And the president is determined to do what we can, within our jurisdiction, to help restore peace to these beleaguered cities.”
On Friday, Gov. Kate Brown tweeted, “I told Acting Secretary Wolf that the federal government should remove all federal officers from our streets. His response showed me he is on a mission to provoke confrontation.”
Brown added the tactics being used in Portland are “coming from the same President who used tear gas to clear out peaceful protesters in Washington, DC to engineer a photo opportunity.”
On Friday, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told “Fox & Friends” that Trump should bring back his daily briefings on the coronavirus, saying his “numbers were much higher when he was out there.”
On Friday, WAPO reported that the rancor between Trump, who is focused on the economy and his reelection, and scientists amid the surge in cases, has undermined the U.S. response, which lags other developed countries.
Trump recently has committed less time and to the virus. One adviser said he is “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it. He’s not calling and asking about data. He’s not worried about cases.”
Fauci, Redfield, and even Mick Mulvaney, the White House chief of staff during the start of the pandemic, have been publicly speaking out, criticizing testing capacity and suggesting everyone should wear a mask.
Nearly 90 organizations, including the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, sent letters to Pence, head of the White House task force, condemning the regime’s attacks on Fauci.
Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Liz Cheney, have been advised by health officials of the dire state of what is coming with flu season, and the urgent need for masks.
On Friday, LA Times reported as Trump sinks, he is pulling down Republicans running for the Senate too, giving Democrats their best hope of winning the White House, Senate, and House in a decade.
New campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission showed Democratic candidates outpacing Republicans last quarter by a 3 to 1 margin. Biden said Democrats could win 55 Senate seats.
On Friday, an NBC News/WSJ poll found a divide emerging inside the GOP between Trump supporters (53% of the party) and those who are more supporters of the party than of Trump (39% of the party).
Of the non-Trump Republicans, 54% approve of his handling of the coronavirus (versus 92 %), 46% approve of his handling of race relations (versus 91%), and 70% say they will vote for Trump (versus 100%).
On Friday, a WAPO-ABC News polls found on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, 60% disapprove, 38% approve, down from 53% disapprove, 46% approve in May. Notably 19% of Republicans disapprove.
The poll also 52% “strongly” disapprove of his handling, and the poll also found more than 6 in 10 say they do not trust what Trump says about the outbreak, including 2 in 3 Independents and nearly 3 in 10 Republicans.
On face masks, 79% report wearing a mask at least “most of the time” when around other people outside their home, including 57% who report wearing a mask all the time.
On Friday, Gov. DeSantis said in an interview he is not ordering closure of gyms despite the surge in his state, saying it “doesn’t make sense,” citing, “most people who are going to the gyms are in the low-risk groups.”
On Friday, an employee at a Ralphs supermarket in Los Angeles used pepper spray and called the police on a man who was asked and refused to wear a face mask, and then started ramming a woman with a shopping cart.
On Friday, CNBC reported Trump properties have made more than $17 million from the campaign and RNC since 2016. In the second quarter, Trump Victory steered $3 million to Trump properties.
The payments also showed that on March 31 and April 1, there were a series of 43 payments totaling $380,000 from the Trump campaign to Trump Hotels for a week-long “donor retreat,” held in early March.
The campaign also paid Las Vegas Sands, the casino company owned by Trump and GOP donor Sheldon Adelson, payments totaling $250,000 in March, as Trump hoped to take part in a fundraiser at Adelson’s home.
On Friday, Politico reported the White House is blocking CDC director Redfield from testifying next week in a hearing on reopening schools held by the House Education and Labor Committee.
Pence has said the CDC would issue guidance for reopening this week, and Redfield had indicated shortly as well. Friday, the CDC said of guidance, a “full set will be published before the end of the month.”
On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler said his panel will mark up two bills next week meant to rein in Trump’s pardon power, saying of Trump’s clemency for Stone, “This quid pro quo is unacceptable.”
On Friday, CNN reported Trump had the official portraits of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush moved from the prominent Grand Foyer of the White House to a rarely used room.
Tradition calls for the portraits of the recent presidents to be given the most prominent placement. The paintings were moved into the Old Family Dining Room, outside of Trump’s vantage point in the White House.
On Friday, Defense Sec. Mark Esper effectively banned Confederate flags from military bases, saying in a memo that the American flag is the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.”
While not specify which flags were prohibited, he stated, “flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”
On Friday, Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant announced charges against two of the men involved in the attempted lynching of Vauhxx Booker outside of Bloomington, Indiana on July 4.
On Friday, Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, called the media “a criminal network” who “have zero intention to tell the truth,” and said he is happy to fight with Trump against “America’s biggest enemy.”
On Friday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, announced in a letter she had a recurrence of cancer, but a July 7 scan showed chemotherapy significantly reduced the liver lesions, and she is “fully able” to work.
On Friday, NBC News reported 1,072 of the 1,798 inmates at a federal prison in Seagoville, Texas had tested positive, as well as ten staff members. The outbreak was the largest yet at a federal prison.
On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced both public and private schools must use online learning until the state’s measures are met. He added Orange County will not be allowed to reopen, despite their vote.
On Friday, in a preview of his interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, Trump was fact-checked on his assertion that “they [Democrats] want to defund the police and Biden wants to defund the police.”
Wallace responds, “Sir, he does not.” Trump falsely claims, “He signed a charter with Bernie Sanders…” Wallace said the charter said nothing about defunding the police. Trump replies, “Oh really?”
Trump then said, “OK, let’s go” and called for someone off-camera to get a copy of the charter. Later, Wallace said in a teaser clip on Fox News that Trump “couldn’t find any indication — because there isn’t any.”
Later Friday, Trump tweeted, “Corrupt Joe Biden wants to defund our police. He may use different words, but when you look at his pact with Crazy Bernie, and other things, that’s what he wants to do.”
Trump also attacked Mary Trump, tweeting his “seldom seen niece who knows little about me, says untruthful things about my wonderful parents (who couldn’t stand her!) and me, and violated her NDA.”
Trump added, “She’s a mess!” Mary replied on Twitter, “5.23 million v. 5.11 million,” noting her interview on MSNBC’s “Maddow” had more viewers than Trump’s Hannity” appearance in June.
Mary told Rachel Maddow that she had heard Trump and other family members use the N-word and anti-Semitic language frequently. Trump did not respond.
On Friday, Biden said he is now as the presumptive Democratic nominee receiving intelligence briefings, and warned Russia is trying to meddle in November’s U.S. election.
Biden said, “The Russians are still engaged in trying to delegitimize our electoral process. Fact,” and added China also was conducting activities “designed for us to lose confidence in the outcome” of the 2020 election.
On Friday, in a statement, Customs and Border Patrol said its agents were responsible for at least one arrest captured in a video, claiming the person was suspected of assaulting federal officers or damaging federal property.
On Friday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against DHS and U.S. Marshals Service to block federal law enforcement from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or using physical force against journalists or legal observers.
On Friday, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit against DHS, U.S. Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection, and Federal Protection Service for their actions, and asked for a temporary restraining order.
The lawsuit said their agents “allegedly engaged in unlawful law enforcement in violation of the civil rights of Oregonians by seizing and detaining them without probable cause.”
Rosenblum said in a statement, “These tactics must stop. They not only make it impossible for people to assert their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully” and “create a more volatile situation on our streets.”
Later Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted about Portland, noting, “Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.”
Pelosi added, “These are not the actions of a democratic republic. @DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission,” adding, “Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”
Pelosi added, “First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police,” calling it “disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic.”
On Friday, Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon who helped organize and was the youngest keynote speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, and who was called the “conscience of Congress,” died at age 80.
Later Friday, Trump send 35 tweets or retweets after the announcement of Lewis’s death, but did not acknowledge the news in any way.
On Saturday, Trump did not issue a statement on Lewis’ death. He headed to his course in Virginia for his 278th round of golf since taking office. At 11 a.m., he ordered flags flown at half-staff for the remainder of the day.
On Saturday, Biden said in a statement, “We are made in the image of God, and then there is John Lewis,” and said he spoke to Lewis days before and “He asked us to stay focused on the work left undone to heal this nation.”
On Saturday, NBC News reported the public health director in Nueces County, Texas said 85 infants under one-year old tested positive Friday, setting a single-day record.
On Saturday, The Hill reported that young people are increasingly driving the spread of Covid-19 in many states around the country, prompting at least 12 states to re-close bars and restaurants.
Although young people are less likely to be hospitalized and die, accounting in part for the lower mortality in the recent spike, public health officials warned they can act as vectors of spread to vulnerable Americans.
On Saturday, NYT reported Dr. Deborah Birx believed in mid-April that the virus was fading, and the U.S. would follow a curve like that of Italy based on models. Fauci disagreed, saying “models are only models.”
Meadows held daily meeting that Birx was the only health official to attend, along with Hope Hicks, the chiefs of staff for Jared and Pence, economic adviser Kevin Hassett, and a few others.
Birx delivered the news inside the White House that people were hoping for: “All metros are stabilizing,” and the virus hit its “peak.” The authors of the IHME model cautioned Birx that their model was only a snapshot.
In mid-April, Trump grew impatient with stay-at-home recommendations, amid high unemployment and falling poll numbers. On April 16, Trump shifted responsibility to the states. On April 17, he tweeted, “LIBERATE!”
Not until early June did White House officials recognize their assumptions about the course of the pandemic were wrong. Birx discovered the virus had spread with invisible ferocity during May when states reopened.
Redfield estimated in April and May they were missing 10 cases for every one they confirmed. There are now still internal divisions about publicly acknowledging the reality of the situation.
Trump’s disdain for testing played a role in missing the spread, and allowing it to spread uncontrollably. Public health officials also noted Trump’s unwillingness to wear a mask set an example that others followed.
On Saturday, WAPO reported the Trump regime is looking to block billions of funding for states to conduct testing and contact tracing from the upcoming coronavirus relief bill.
The regime is also looking to block billions sought by GOP senators for the CDC, as well as billions more for the Pentagon and State Department to address the pandemic at home and abroad.
As the week came to a close, there were 14,114,752 worldwide cases and 597,861 dead from the coronavirus. The U.S. had 3,672,947 cases (26.0%), 139,480 deaths (23.3%), and a mortality rate of 3.8%.

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Police respond to protesters during a demonstration, Friday, July 17, 2020 in Portland, Ore. Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them.