teh plague

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that top White House staffers—specifically, those most in contact with Donald Trump—had been given top priority for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine even though initial deliveries of the vaccine are in such short supply that they are being rationed primarily to front-line healthcare workers.

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was taking questions after giving a speech in Tauranga when a man with a whiny North American accent demanded that the Deputy Prime Minister prove that the Coronavirus was real. Peters' response was recorded by SBS:

"Where's your evidence that there's a virus that causes the disease?" the man said, before being interrupted by Mr Peters.

"Sit down, sit down, sit down," Mr Peters said.

"We've got someone who obviously got an education in America. 220,000 people have died in the US, where there are eight million cases to date. We've got 79,000 cases just today, probably in India, and here is someone who gets up and says 'the Earth is flat'.

"Sorry sunshine, wrong place," Mr Peters said, to applause.

They didn’t tell them directly that they should readjust their portfolios. But they sent a very clear message, early on, that needed no further explanation.

As reported by the New York Times, Trump administration officials in late February strongly hinted to the Hoover institute, a conservative think tank that represents, among others, key Republican donors and business interests, that the COVID-19 pandemic in actuality presented a far more dire threat to their economic interests than that being conveyed to the American people at the same time, when the worst public health crisis this country has experienced in over a century was still a mere blip on every else’s radar.  ...

It’s now clear that Donald Trump lied to the nation about when he received a positive test for COVID-19. Trump was known to be ill, showing symptoms, and receiving treatment over a day before publicity around Hope Hicks’ diagnosis forced Trump to admit even a sliver of the truth. But if Trump trotting off to Minnesota and New Jersey to get his infectious face up close with supporters seems bad, what’s going on at the White House since then seems even worse.

Since Trump was hustled off by helicopter to Walter Reed Medical Center to receive “beyond state of the art” care, a number of White House aides have been seen on camera wearing masks and apparently taking COVID-19 more seriously. But as The Atlantic makes clear, the key phrase is “on camera.” Because behind the scenes, nothing has changed. Not only are senior officials still prowling the halls without masks, and without regard for social distancing, they’re continuing to act as if nothing has changed—and that disregarding science and lying to the public are the only possible strategies.

One thing that should be hitting Americans like a Category 5 s#it show at this moment: There are no experts to turn to. Trump has spent months attacking and diminishing the FDA and CDC, and in a crisis there seems to be no effort at all to revive their status. But what about the team that Trump himself put together? Where is Dr. Anthony Fauci? Where is Dr. Deborah Birx? Why is it that, at this critical point where Trump is sick, White House aides are sick, and Republican officials up and down the line are reporting more and more positive results in a growing superspreader event, the National Coronavirus Task Force is completely missing in action?

Over at the Daily Beast, an interview with Fauci makes it clear that the coronavirus task force actually stopped being a concern some time ago: “We used to meet seven days a week. Then five days a week. We’re now meeting one day a week and at most two times a week,” said Fauci. And when the task force does meet, Fauci says they talk more about the economy than the virus. Fauci mentions that Trump still spends at lot of time with retired radiologist Scott Atlas, but since Atlas’ job is to promote quackery and downplay the need for testing, he’s of limited use in an actual crisis.

The truth is that, after destroying the pandemic response team, Trump created his own COVID-19 team … then destroyed it. There’s no longer even a pretense of a national response to the pandemic.

As multiple outlets have reported, even Republican donors can’t figure out why Trump and his crew are so dedicated to blowing off COVID-19, even as Trump is tapping an oxygen tank before he heads for the hospital. Those donors aren’t exactly thrilled about being part of an indoor meet and greet conducted at a small table more than a day after Trump was aware he had tested positive for the disease.  ...