With those dire warnings, these officials offer words of comfort. Adams said in the next breath: “I want Americans to understand that, as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
On Sunday, Trump offered a similar warning. But he took his words of comfort much further than any of the experts have been willing to by indicating that after this week, things will get better: “In the days ahead, America will endure the peak of this terrible pandemic,” Trump said.
Trump’s assurance that the worst comes this week does not take into account places where the virus has not spread as rapidly. In the District, for example, experts are predicting the highest number of cases as late as June or July, with Maryland predicting May. The Washington Post reports that the death toll in the United States is almost certainly higher than the official numbers.
Trump’s confidence stands in stark contrast with what Fauci said hours earlier, that “we are struggling” to get the virus under control.
2. The federal government is stockpiling drugs that have not been proven
Specifically, one that Trump has been touting for weeks, saying he has a good feeling about it.
“We bought massive amounts of it, 29 million doses of it,” Trump said of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug. The Trump administration approved its use for clinical trials in New York, despite there being no scientific consensus at this time that it works and health experts having concerns about heart and vision risks.
When NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked Trump how he draws a line between being enthusiastic about a possibility and “playing doctor,” Trump explained his logic this way: “If it doesn’t work, great. If it doesn’t work … it doesn’t kill people.”
When CNN’s Jeremy Diamond asked Trump why he doesn’t just let the clinical trials play out and let science determine whether the drug works, Trump claimed he wasn’t pushing the drug (even though he has, near daily) and attacked the reporter for asking the question.
When a reporter asked Fauci to comment on this, Trump intervened and wouldn’t let Fauci speak.
3. Trump’s strategy to deflect: Blame governors
Particularly, Democratic governors. He has questioned whether New York needs the 30,000 ventilators sought by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
He has used gendered language to attack Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is pleading with the federal government for more supplies.
And on Sunday, he went after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said earlier in the day that he had “given up” on the federal government helping states.
Trump said he asked his aides to give him a list of all the things the federal government has done for Illinois (it sent 600 ventilators and is building a hospital in Chicago), then said: “He’s not able to do what he’s supposed to be able to do as a governor. He has not performed well.”
Trump’s harsh words come as people inside his administration are criticizing the federal government, not the states, for being short of ventilators. From Washington Post reporting this weekend:
In late March, the administration ordered 10,000 ventilators — far short of what public health officials and governors said was needed. And many will not arrive until the summer or fall, when models expect the pandemic to be receding.“It’s actually kind of a joke,” said one administration official involved in deliberations about the belated purchase.
In addition, Trump belatedly moved to force General Motors to make ventilators, meaning the devices will not be ready for months.
To the extent that the president can make governors his scapegoat for the clearly documented failings of the federal government, he is trying.