First Lady Melania Trump delivered public service announcement to the “parents of America” regarding the deadly covid-19 outbreak on Friday. From the halls of the White House, Trump straddled a grave yet optimistic tone as she delivered a litany of important reminders: Make sure children wash their hands, everything will go back to normal in due time, and “we’re all in this together.”
But if we’re all in this together, it is in spite of directives given by the Trump administration, not because of them. Americans have come together to donate to mutual aid funds and miscellaneous Cash App accounts; meanwhile, President Trump shrugs off concerns that the rich are able to get covid-19 tests before average Americans (“…that’s been the story of life,” he said) and tells governors to try to hoard respirators for themselves while they still can, a thoughtless and cruel move that would obviously leave some states—and their citizens—more disadvantaged than others.
We’re not all in this together, but a lot of us are trying, without the government’s help.Another day, another chaotic presser starring President Trump, flanked by some useful idiots and Dr. Anothony Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The main takeaways from today’s press conference include the following:
It is apparently news to Trump that there are Americans out there with covid-19 symptoms who are unable to be tested for covid-19.
Trump, not a doctor, directly contradicted some science from Dr. Fauci, a fucking doctor. From NBC News:
Fauci was asked whether there was any evidence that one such drug— hydroxychloroquine — might be used as an effective prophylactic measure against coronavirus.
“The answer is no,” Fauci replied.
Trump nevertheless said that he felt “good” about the treatments and that the federal government had already ordered “millions of units” of them.
Trump called NBC’s Peter Alexander a “terrible reporter” after Alexander asked “What do you say to Americans who are scared [about covid-19]?”
Then there was this moment when Dr. Fauci facepalmed after Trump called the State Department the “Deep State Department.”
He was probably contemplating how he got into this mess. So are we, buddy!
Trump also continued to deflect blame for his handling of this crisis, saying, “We inherited a broken, old, terrible system… we fixed it.” I, for one, would love to know what the fuck he’s talking about!
- Hey, remember how Michael Bloomberg promised to keep his campaign aides and staffers on his payroll into November? Yeah, well, he lied: The billionaire businessman and former New York mayor laid off hundreds, leaving them fucked in the corona-economy. [Politico]
- An uninsured woman’s coronavirus treatment cost her $34,927.43 and people still don’t think that universal healthcare should be a priority. [Time]
- The Senate Republicans’ coronavirus relief package is absolute garbage for a lot of reasons, but here’s a reason you might not have heard about: it could gut protections for disabled students. [HuffPost]
- Mar-a-Lago is closed, baby. [New York Times]
- Andrew Yang is donating $1 million in response to coronavirus. This definitely gives him something else to do besides giving people his UBI takes every day. [Guardian]
- FREE. THEM.
- Cardi B misses Peepaw.