U.S. coronavirus crisis takes a sharp political turn

[rooster59]

U.S. coronavirus crisis takes a sharp political turn

By Maria Caspani and Nathan Layne

 

U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from the news media during the daily coronavirus task force briefing as photographers photograph him through the windows at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. coronavirus crisis took a sharp political turn on Friday as President Donald Trump lashed out at four Democratic governors over their handling of the pandemic after having conceded that states bear ultimate control of restrictions to contain the outbreak.

 

The Republican president targeted three swing states critical to his re-election bid - Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia - where his conservative loyalists have mounted pressure campaigns challenging those governors' stay-at-home orders.

 

Amplifying a theme that his supporters have trumpeted this week in street protests at the state capitals of Lansing, St. Paul, and Richmond, Trump issued a series of matching Twitter posts touting the slogans: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA!"

 

Michigan has become a particular focus of agitation to relax social-distancing rules that rank among the strictest in the nation after Governor Gretchen Whitmer, widely seen as a potential running mate for presumed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, extended them through the end of April.

 

Protesters defying the restrictions from the steps of the state Capitol on Wednesday shouted "lock her up," a chant that was a staple of Trump's campaign rallies and originally referred to his 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

 

'WHEN IT'S SAFE'

 

Whitmer said on Friday she was hopeful her state, which suffered one of the country's fastest-growing coronavirus infection rates, can begin to restart parts of its economy on May 1. But she urged doing so cautiously to avoid reigniting the outbreak just as it was being brought to heel.

 

Responding to Trump's critique later in the day, Whitmer said Michigan will re-engage its economy when it's safe, adding: "The last thing I want to do is to have a second wave here."

 

Trump also took renewed aim at one of his favorite political foils, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, suggesting on Twitter that his state, the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, had asked for too much assistance that was never fully used.

 

At his daily news briefing, Cuomo shot back saying Trump should "maybe get up and go to work" instead of watching TV, and accused the president of favoring the airline industry and business cronies in a recent bailout package that left little for the states.

 

The flare-up in political sparring came as the number of known coronavirus infections in the United States surpassed 700,000, the most of any country. At the same time, the tally of lives lost from COVID-19, the highly contagious lung disease caused by the virus, has soared to more than 35,000. New York state accounts for nearly half those deaths.

 

While the death toll continued to climb, the rate of hospitalizations and other indicators have been leveling off, a sign that drastic social-distancing restrictions imposed in 42 of the 50 U.S. states were working to curtail the outbreak.

 

Stay-at-home orders and the closure of non-essential businesses have also strangled U.S. commerce, triggering millions of layoffs and forecasts that America is headed for its deepest recession since the economic collapse of the 1930s.

 

The result has been mounting pressure to ease the shutdowns, leading to clashes between Trump, who had touted the strength of the U.S. economy as the best case for his re-election in November, and governors in hard-hit states who warned against lifting restrictions too quickly.

 

Trump, who played down the coronavirus threat in its early stages, had been pressing to restart idled businesses as soon as May 1, at first declaring "total" authority to do so and branding governors who resisted his approach, many of them Democrats, as "mutineers."

 

STATE CONTROL AND TESTING

 

In the end Trump acknowledged it was up to the governors to decide when and how to relax the restrictions they themselves had imposed since last month, presenting new federal guidelines on Thursday as recommendations.

 

While the guidelines call for a phased-in, science-based strategy in keeping with the advice of leading health experts, the plan hinges on widespread testing to gauge the scope of infections and how many people might have developed immunity to the virus.

 

At a White House briefing on Friday, Trump's coronavirus task force members, through statements and graphics, pushed back against criticism from some governors and lawmakers that limited testing ability is impeding the country's return to normalcy.

 

"We believe today that we have the capacity in the United States to do a sufficient amount of testing for states to move into phase one in the time and manner that they deem appropriate," Vice President Mike Pence told reporters.

 

Cuomo argued earlier that the Trump administration was foisting responsibility for a massive testing program on the states without providing necessary financial resources.

 

"Is there any funding so I can do these things that you want us to do? No. That is passing the buck without passing the bucks," Cuomo said.

 

Even as Cuomo was addressing reporters, Trump immediately took to Twitter in Washington to fire back, saying he "should spend more time 'doing' and less time 'complaining.'"

 

Trump struck a more conciliatory tone during the White House briefing. Asked about criticism leveled at him earlier in the day by Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat who accused Trump of "fomenting domestic rebellion" with his "LIBERATE" tweets, the president demurred.

 

Trump denied he was suggesting that Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia lift their stay-at-home orders altogether, but added, "I think elements of what they've done are too much."

 

Of the protesters, Trump said, "These are people expressing their views." He added, "They seem to be very responsible to me. ... But they've been treated a little bit rough."

 

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Nathan Layne, Susan Heavey and Lisa Lambert; Writing by Grant McCool and Steve Gorman; Editing by Frank McGurty, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-18

 

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[stevenl]

Quote

Of the protesters, Trump said, "These are people expressing their views." He added, "They seem to be very responsible to me. ... But they've been treated a little bit rough."

With the protesters defying the restrictions it seems they are not 'very responsible'.

 

Quote

Trump denied he was suggesting that Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia lift their stay-at-home orders altogether, but added, "I think elements of what they've done are too much."

So why tweet 'LIBERATE LIBERATE LIBERATE'. He is simply continuing with his re-election campaign.

[PatOngo]

10 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

There really is time for the grown-ups in the US to retake the WH and send this dumb and dangerous POS packing.

Are they smart enough? Will they get of their lazy butts and make the effort to vote this clown/fool out of office?

[PatOngo]

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

With the protesters defying the restrictions it seems they are not 'very responsible'.

 

So why tweet 'LIBERATE LIBERATE LIBERATE'. He is simply continuing with his re-election campaign.

He cant see the big picture for his grossly inflated ego!

[4MyEgo]

He knows he is responsible for many deaths and will lose the next election, so why not try a desperate move to get the economy back on track, flip side is it will kill a hell of a lot more people, either way, he doesn't give a rat$ a$$ as he will be making money out of it.

[PatOngo]

19 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

He knows he is responsible for many deaths and will lose the next election, so why not try a desperate move to get the economy back on track, flip side is it will kill a hell of a lot more people, either way, he doesn't give a rat$ a$$ as he will be making money out of it.

This self directed reality show needs to end!

[Matzzon]

Let´s just say that I agree with all the posters above. Well said! Could not have done it better myself. 

[Matzzon]

He is a very dangerous man is the position of a mighty power he does not know how to control nor should ever have been given.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Matzzon

[Matzzon]

1 minute ago, UbonThani said:

Biden is senile.

Might be. Anyway, he is not the problem here. Yet.

[UbonThani]

Just now, xylophone said:

But that is the problem........he doesn't know that his inaction caused many US deaths,

Not true. People with weak immune systems die every minute. They are sick. They are weak. Their bodies are broken.

[UbonThani]

2 minutes ago, xylophone said:

A 9 yr old with reading difficulties (trump) vs adults with a brain.

Adults know that people with weak  immune systems doe from flus and this.

 

junk food kills 10mpa

 

Lets address the real reason people r dying

[bkk6060]

51 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

The sooner this dumb, incompetent, seditious POS is in jail and the US can fight its way back from Rogue State to respectability in the world won't come a moment too soon.

Are you angry?

4 more years.

I guarantee it.

[Nigel Garvie]

8 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Adults know that people with weak  immune systems doe from flus and this.

 

junk food kills 10mpa

 

Lets address the real reason people r dying

Simple, ask a doctor, not a paid lacky of 45 or faux news, but a real one. Ask hundreds of them. They all say the same, yes more older people die than younger ones, surprise, surprise. This doesn't explain the pandemic of people dying from a new specific disease with specific symptoms. The earth is spherical by the way.

[xylophone]

6 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Trump deserves 10 Nobel prizes for his handling of this crisis.

Lol.............let's see, one for being childish, one for not listening, one for being a compulsive liar, one or maybe two for backtracking on the virus (only a flu; will miraculously disappear, one for contradicting the experts, one for not acting soon enough, one for refusing to wear a mask, one for inciting civil unrest in certain states, one for saying that "I understand these things",..............add more please!!

[Phoenix Rising]

54 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Are they smart enough? Will they get of their lazy butts and make the effort to vote this clown/fool out of office?

Well, if Trump isn't enough of a motivator to get off your butt and vote for whoever stands against him then I don't know what it would take, I really don't.

Because trump is totally unqualified for the job in so many ways it's almost comical.

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, sharecropper said:

The sooner this dumb, incompetent, seditious POS is in jail and the US can fight its way back from Rogue State to respectability in the world won't come a moment too soon.

Tell us again how you really fell, glad I don't like either side and believe all politicians are liars, just like weatherman.

[Phoenix Rising]

36 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Biden is senile.

It doesn't matter. A retarded bobcat with Alzheimer's would be a better pick than what we have now.

[stevenl]

33 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Adults know that people with weak  immune systems doe from flus and this.

 

junk food kills 10mpa

 

Lets address the real reason people r dying

Time for you to compare the present number of deaths with average number of deaths.

[Phoenix Rising]

16 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Lol.............let's see, one for being childish, one for not listening, one for being a compulsive liar, one or maybe two for backtracking on the virus (only a flu; will miraculously disappear, one for contradicting the experts, one for not acting soon enough, one for refusing to wear a mask, one for inciting civil unrest in certain states, one for saying that "I understand these things",..............add more please!!

And one Nobel Peace Prize for always following the orders of his boss in Moscow.

[Thailand]

He will have his teams of lawyers trying to find ways to postpone the Nov election.

[WalkingOrders]

53 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

He is a very dangerous man is the position of a mighty power he does not know how to control nor should ever have been given.

Yet strangely people accept Presidents for life without question, but Trump will be gone in only 5 years. I wonder if the realization and inner turmoil of serving an evil totalitarian dictatorship will drive such people insane as they direct hatred toward the next, and next US President.

[Jai Dee]

Several off-topic troll posts (and replies) have been removed.

[Chomper Higgot]

"Trump issued a series of matching Twitter posts touting the slogans: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA!""

 

That's true but it misses a very important part of his third 'Tweet' in which Trump actually said:

 

“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”

 

So not only 'Liberate Virginia' but also brining the right to bear arms into to his rage. 

 

Text book stochastic terrorism. 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

Are you angry?

4 more years.

I guarantee it.

I don’t know who’s angry, but that looks a lot like trolling to me.

[Chomper Higgot]

Trump is using nightly ‘Coronavirus/Covid-19’ news briefings as campaign speeches.

 

Of course it’s got political.

[Curt1591]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

cant see the big picture

What's the "big picture"?

[sucit]

The next step in this is going to be letting people know there is going to be a continued and rising death toll. 

[UbonThani]

13 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Trump is using nightly ‘Coronavirus/Covid-19’ news briefings as campaign speeches.

 

Of course it’s got political.

everything is

[UbonThani]

15 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

What's the "big picture"?

Dont fall for the con

[WalkingOrders]

37 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Text book stochastic terrorism. 

A new slogan for the left to describe a 70 something year old President who fights back with words that seem to cut into his opposition like a surgical knife?

Nothing random about it Comrade!