Tension, infighting roil Trump White House as coronavirus strategy sputters

By Jeff Mason

 

FILE PHOTO: White House coronavirus task force members, including Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Robert Redfield and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen to President Donald Trump during the daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Differences over how to fight the coronavirus pandemic have sparked infighting and tension within the White House, hampering its response as the death toll mounts and President Donald Trump's approval ratings fall.

 

Physicians on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, particularly its coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, are frustrated that warnings about rising cases are being ignored, and dismayed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the renowned U.S. infectious disease expert, has been demeaned and disparaged, officials said.

 

Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 3 election in large part because of voter dissatisfaction with the president's response to the coronavirus, is signaling a shift in strategy.

 

After months of reluctance to wear a face covering in public, on Monday he tweeted a picture of himself with a mask and said he planned to relaunch regular briefings about the pandemic. At the first such briefing on Tuesday, he encouraged Americans to wear a face covering if they could not keep socially distant.

 

"Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they'll have an effect, and we need everything we can get,” he said.

 

The decision to restart briefings came after tension between Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose team took over leadership of the West Wing in March, and others in the White House, especially Vice President Mike Pence's team, about the right strategy for talking to the country about the pandemic.

 

Meadows sought to curtail task-force briefings, which were moved off the White House grounds and scheduled only infrequently, without participation by the president, in an effort to change the subject as Trump tried to focus on reopening the economy and boosting his re-election campaign.

 

Trump ended his regular coronavirus briefings in late April after a series of missteps including a suggestion that injecting disinfectant might cure COVID-19.

 

But the president decided to start them again after input from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who noted that Trump's approval ratings were higher when he was briefing the country regularly in the spring, and support from Jason Miller, a senior aide on his re-election campaign. The rest of the senior staff came on board.

 

"They all agree with it now," a White House official said of the differences among Trump's team.

 

Still, the doctors who have been crafting guidance for reopening states' economies are concerned about the growing number of cases and some are vexed that their advice has not been heeded, two officials said.

 

"Birx is getting increasingly frustrated," said an administration official with knowledge of the situation. "For her to get to that point, you know that's bad."

 

Birx declined to comment. Asked about her concerns, a source familiar with her thinking noted she had recently traveled to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina - several of which are coronavirus hot spots - and that many of those states implemented recommendations she provided.

 

The doctors are also dismayed at the treatment of Fauci, who has come under sharp criticism from top White House officials, including Trump, Meadows and trade adviser Peter Navarro.

 

"We're just trying to help. We're just trying to do our best for the public health of the nation," said one administration official on the task force. "What happened to Tony (Fauci) ... I don't even know how to characterize it other than it's shocking."

 

None of the doctors appeared with Trump at his briefing on Tuesday.

 

'STRATEGIC DISAGREEMENT'

The coronavirus pandemic has led to more than 141,000 deaths in the United States, battered the economy and put a spotlight on Trump's uneven handling of a national crisis.

 

Some in the White House, hoping to turn things around, have been pushing for a more robust message on mask-wearing, a practice health professionals say would make a big difference in stopping the spread of the virus, but has been met with resistance by some Americans.

 

Economic adviser Larry Kudlow has been a strong proponent of masks to help prevent further economic decline resulting from more outbreaks, officials said. Trump's daughter Ivanka, who serves as a senior adviser, and first lady Melania Trump, have also advocated mask-wearing.

 

Much of the tension within the White House, however, boiled down to differences between associates of Meadows and those working with Pence, who oversees the task force.

 

Meadows' team has been frustrated by what it sees as a lack of action by the task force, one White House official said. It took outside advisers such as Meadows or Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, sitting in on meetings sometimes to get things done, the official said.

 

The approach to school reopenings sparked consternation. Pence's team was asked to cancel a planned visit to a school while the administration coalesced around a plan to get students into school buildings, the official said.

 

That push is likely to include funding in the next legislative stimulus package to provide money for proper cleaning and barriers for teachers. A plan for teachers over the age of 50 to give instruction online while younger teaching assistants are present with children is also being considered.

 

A broad strategy was not in place when Pence spoke at the Department of Education earlier this month. Instead he had to defend a Trump tweet that U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for opening schools were too strict.

 

The tweet caught CDC Director Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar off guard, according to the official with knowledge of the situation.

 

The fact that a news conference was held at all irked the Meadows team.

 

"There is a strategic disagreement over the effectiveness of having very long national press briefings around this," the White House official said last week, before Trump himself said he would relaunch his own briefings.

 

Another White House official described complaints from Meadows' team as "foolish" and said advisers such as Kushner and Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had stopped attending task-force meetings a long time ago.

 

Trump has repeatedly praised Pence's leadership of the task force, and Pence's advisers stress that he would not do anything without the president's approval.

 

Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, said the task force was involved last week in policy discussions about cruise ships and additional travel advisories, and Pence is in regular contact with governors in hot spots who report that they are well supplied with personal protective equipment.

 

"Perhaps some of those same critics inside are unfamiliar with actually what's happening," Short said.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-22

 

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Is it finally dawning on them just who they have been enabling go ahead chew your own leg off it won’t change a darn thing imo just ignore trump contain him a better day will come In November we all know what we need to do good luck good health follow safe protocols 

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by Tug

This should NEVER have become a political issue. When you have a situation that pits doctors with decades of experience against a fool who has decades of lies and deceit, well what can be said for those who support the fool?

1 hour ago, webfact said:

frustrated that warnings about rising cases are being ignored, and dismayed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the renowned U.S. infectious disease expert, has been demeaned and disparaged

Poor old Fauci. Reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. For him to say NYC which was USA's worst handled area for the virus, was handled the best. Well, I think we can safely put him in the triggered political hack box and ignore everything coming out of his mouth.

 

"Fauci holds up New York as model for fighting coronavirus — ‘They did it correctly’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/fauci-holds-up-new-york-as-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-they-did-it-correctly.html

 

"Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/20/rand-paul-rips-anthony-fauci-praise-new-york-coron/

34 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Poor old Fauci. Reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. For him to say NYC which was USA's worst handled area for the virus, was handled the best. Well, I think we can safely put him in the triggered political hack box and ignore everything coming out of his mouth.

 

"Fauci holds up New York as model for fighting coronavirus — ‘They did it correctly’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/fauci-holds-up-new-york-as-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-they-did-it-correctly.html

 

"Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/20/rand-paul-rips-anthony-fauci-praise-new-york-coron/

Ahhhh they were the epicenter the virus WAS running rampant killing hundreds with competent leadership they turned it around they are indeed an excellent example as to what can be accomplished listening to experts and FOLLOWING their instructions I know who I listen to and it ain’t trump or anybody who is associated with him

"Strategy"? That's a good one.

 

We're told he's assembled staff, advisors and a cabinet which is better than Lincoln's "Team of Rivals".

 

Given the results, I'm not seeing much comparison?

 

I thought that mike pence was "in charge"? His performance so far rates as an Incomplete or an "F".

 

meadows is a failure as CoS.

 

Blame, deny, deflect, deny, prevaricate: all check.

 

Most imcompetent president ever? Yup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

58 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Poor old Fauci. Reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. For him to say NYC which was USA's worst handled area for the virus, was handled the best. Well, I think we can safely put him in the triggered political hack box and ignore everything coming out of his mouth.

 

"Fauci holds up New York as model for fighting coronavirus — ‘They did it correctly’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/fauci-holds-up-new-york-as-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-they-did-it-correctly.html

 

"Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/20/rand-paul-rips-anthony-fauci-praise-new-york-coron/

Yes, NYC did it right. That is why NYC  has knocked down its cases. You are criticizing Dr. Fauci  for something he had no control over. At the time, the mechanism of transmission of infection and just how infectious it was,  was not fully understood. Dr. Fauci had argued for a conservative approach from Day 1, but was over ruled as being bad for the economy.

trashing Dr. Fauci just shows how ignorant and petty you are.  New York state is the state which shows that the  infection can be contained.

What strategy? Donald admitted in his last Coronavirus conference that they are still "developing" a strategy. Over 6 months in and they are still crafting a strategy? Meaning they don't currently even have a strategy on how to handle the Coronavirus! Sad.

 

Trump says U.S. ‘in the process’ of crafting coronavirus strategy that has ‘developed as we go along’

 

Quote

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is “in the process of developing a strategy” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, adding that that plan of action has “developed as we go along.”

Trump’s remarks came more than six months after the first coronavirus cases were reported in the United States. At least 141,000 people in the U.S. have now died from Covid-19 and more than 3.8 million have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by Silurian

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Poor old Fauci. Reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. For him to say NYC which was USA's worst handled area for the virus, was handled the best. Well, I think we can safely put him in the triggered political hack box and ignore everything coming out of his mouth.

 

"Fauci holds up New York as model for fighting coronavirus — ‘They did it correctly’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/fauci-holds-up-new-york-as-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-they-did-it-correctly.html

 

"Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/20/rand-paul-rips-anthony-fauci-praise-new-york-coron/

So you say trump is incompetent for putting him in the committee. Nice of you to acknowledge that.

2 minutes ago, Silurian said:

What strategy? Donald admitted in his last Coronavirus conference that they are still "developing" a strategy. Over 6 months in and they are still crafting a strategy? Meaning they don't currently even have a strategy on how to handle the Coronavirus! Sad.

Trump says U.S. ‘in the process’ of crafting coronavirus strategy that has ‘developed as we go along’

Well, he's said several times it would magically disappear. That's a strategy, yes?

1 minute ago, J Town said:

Well, he's said several times it would magically disappear. That's a strategy, yes?

 

Only with the requisite hand gestures...

 

 

9 minutes ago, J Town said:

Well, he's said several times it would magically disappear. That's a strategy, yes?

90% of what he dribbles is BS!

If  Trump is seeking some salvage it will be interesting to see how his anti maskers cope with this  "new" strategy.

4 hours ago, J Town said:

Well, he's said several times it would magically disappear. That's a strategy, yes?

Believe it or not, that pretty much sums up Trump's "strategy."  Ignore it, lie about it, change the subject....anything but having to deal with it.  If Trump could have sent AG Barr to arrest all the news outlets who talked about it, he would have.  Not farfetched.  Trump wanted to stop all the testing so that the COVID numbers would go down.  Our POTUS.  That's why the USA is the laughingstock of the world.     

Trump...its a hoax, a scam, no masks.

 

Supporters... Its a hoax, a scam, no masks.

 

Trump..its real, its going to get worse, wear a mask

 

Supporters...its china fault, no one said not to wear masks. Fake news.

56 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

Believe it or not, that pretty much sums up Trump's "strategy."  Ignore it, lie about it, change the subject....anything but having to deal with it.  If Trump could have sent AG Barr to arrest all the news outlets who talked about it, he would have.  Not farfetched.  Trump wanted to stop all the testing so that the COVID numbers would go down.  Our POTUS.  That's why the USA is the laughingstock of the world.     

Sadly enough, too true.

 

Regarding Dr Fauci and how he has changed his suggestions as we learned more about the virus, the came to mind:

“When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?” -John Maynard Keynes

18 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Regarding Dr Fauci and how he has changed his suggestions as we learned more about the virus, the came to mind:

“When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?” -John Maynard Keynes

Well as more knowledge has been gained of course conclusions will change depending on the veracity of the new knowledge.

Scientists have open minds, often more open than many on here

8 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Poor old Fauci. Reality hitting him like a ton of bricks. For him to say NYC which was USA's worst handled area for the virus, was handled the best. Well, I think we can safely put him in the triggered political hack box and ignore everything coming out of his mouth.

 

"Fauci holds up New York as model for fighting coronavirus — ‘They did it correctly’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/fauci-holds-up-new-york-as-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-they-did-it-correctly.html

 

"Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/20/rand-paul-rips-anthony-fauci-praise-new-york-coron/

How very sad that America has come to this - petty point scoring over the statistics of what was an entirely controllable epidemic.

After all the destruction, hatred, havoc, bad policy, and ill will this man has sown, it is sure fun to watch him self destruct. 

 

He is literally cascading toward the greatest humiliation of his lifetime, and a life of utter scorn and obscurity. 

 

See ya Don! Pack your bags. Or better yet, resign now, or quit the campaign. That money could be put to better use. You have disgraced yourself and your nation. 

Just now, spidermike007 said:

After all the destruction, hatred, havoc, bad policy, and ill will this man has sown, it is sure fun to watch him self destruct. 

 

He is literally cascading toward the greatest humiliation of his lifetime, and a life of utter scorn and obscurity. 

 

See ya Don! Pack your bags. Or better yet, resign now, or quit the campaign. That money could be put to better use. You have disgraced yourself and your nation. 

If he were to resign now with the caveat that all sins be forgiven, I think that would be barely acceptable. Not palatable but acceptable.

Jesus!

 

It's like the whole Chinese Virus is Trump's fault? 

. Some people need to get a grip on reality... 

Just now, Boon Mee said:

Jesus!

 

It's like the whole Chinese Virus is Trump's fault? 

. Some people need to get a grip on reality... 

More deflection. What is his fault is his response to it, including not strongly backing masks until now.

Sheesh people, chill.

 

He's working on formulating a strategy, a powerful strategy.

 

Hopefully he comes up with a strategy before another 100,000 people die.

 

 

18 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Jesus!

 

It's like the whole Chinese Virus is Trump's fault? 

. Some people need to get a grip on reality... 

Nobody has said he's responsible for the whole virus situation.

Nobody has said he didn't cause the unnecessary deaths of US citizens.

Some people need to get a grip on facts.

 

 

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by J Town

35 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Jesus!

 

It's like the whole Chinese Virus is Trump's fault? 

. Some people need to get a grip on reality... 

The virus is not his fault. The extent to which it has spread, and the gross, partisan mismanagement of it is, to a large extent. So much could have been done, so much earlier. His level of incompetence as a leader is frightening.

 

He is done. Toast. He was knocked out by Covid, one minute into the first round. 

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Birx declined to comment. Asked about her concerns, a source familiar with her thinking noted she had recently traveled to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina - several of which are coronavirus hot spots - and that many of those states implemented recommendations she provided.

"A source familiar with her thinking" 

So now the left knows what you think

5 hours ago, Pottinger said:

How very sad that America has come to this - petty point scoring over the statistics of what was an entirely controllable epidemic.

Pandemic ! Unprecedented ! Please keep up! 

The epidemic originated in China . Afterward the  virus was transported all over the world and on March 11 it was determined by the WHO a pandemic

 

24 minutes ago, Yankeesvsredsox said:

Pandemic ! Unprecedented ! Please keep up! 

The epidemic originated in China . Afterward the  virus was transported all over the world and on March 11 it was determined by the WHO a pandemic

 

But trump knew it was a pandemic long before that, before anyone else. So of course he implemented a strategy and got it under control before anyone else, right?

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