Retiring Guy's Digest: Bray by bray: What Trump did during the pandemic (December 16-31, 2020)

December 22, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 18,855.636 (+204,971, 36.7% of current total)

December 22, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 51,303,310 (188,798)

CNN, 12/22/2020

A Republican leadership aide told CNN “no” when asked if this was expected. The aide pointed out that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had negotiated this bill. He was the White House’s voice in the room, everyone assumed. Another aide said Trump seemed to be “coming unhinged.” [emphasis added]

The President is upset about several provisions that were actually in the omnibus spending bill, not the Covid relief bill.

"Coming unhinged"? Trump's being iunhinged was one of the hallmark's of his entire presidency.

December 22, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 346,542 (+3,381, which is 42.8% of current total)

December 22, 2021. U.S. total Covid deaths = 808,414 (+1,351)

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December 20, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 18,429,666 (+175,857, 35.% of current total)

December 20, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 50,811,522 (72,740)

CNN, 12/20/2020

Just when it seemed like the President couldn't sink any lower in his quest to subvert the November election results, his mere entertainment of invoking martial law to negate Biden's victory underscores how laser-focused he still is on his own interests at a time when the nation is mired in crisis.
The idea came up during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting Friday between Trump, members of his team and two of his most discredited outside advisers -- lawyer Sidney Powell, a fount of baseless voter fraud theories, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom Trump recently pardoned and who first floated the martial law idea earlier last week.

December 20, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 338,754 (+1,709, which is 41.2% of current total)

December 20, 2021. U.S. total Covid deaths = 804,916 (+158)

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December 19, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 18,243,809 (+205,960, 35.% of current total)

December 19, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 50,739,052 (75,835)

Washington Post, 12/19/2020

After their warnings had gone largely unheeded for months in the dormant West Wing, Deborah Birx, Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield together sounded new alarms, cautioning of a dark winter to come without dramatic action to slow community spread.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall, was taken aback, according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions. He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment. And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions.
The doctors explained that the solutions were simple and had long been clear — among them, to leverage the power of the presidential bully pulpit to persuade all Americans to wear masks, especially the legions of Trump supporters refusing to do so, and to dramatically expand testing.

December 19, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 337,045 (+2,754, which is 41.2% of current total)

December 19, 2021. U.S. total Covid deaths = 804,758 (+492)

New York Times

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December 18, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 18,037,849 (+251,570, 35.2% of current total)

December 18, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 50,663,217 (170,035)

CNN, 12/18/2020

Trump ran for president pretending he was the consummate dealmaker, the chief executive who could make things happen with a snap of his fingers. He will go down in history as a president who worsened the grief and tragedy of the most consequential pandemic in 100 years by being contemptuous of masks and the safety precautions designed by his own administration -- a man incapable of empathy, who chose to remain cocooned in his White House bubble at a time when leadership would have mattered. [emphasis added]

December 18, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 334,291 (+3,231, which is 41.2% of current total)

December 18, 2021. U.S. total Covid deaths = 804,266 (+2,072)

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December 17, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 17,786,279 (+238,902, 35,2% of current total)

December 17, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 50,493,182 (146,195)

But not Trump

Reuters, 12/17/2020

Trump will get the vaccine when his medical team decides it is best, according to the White House. read more The president was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 this fall. Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, according to a statement from his office.
And thus began the rollout of Trump's wink-wink, nudge-nudge antivax campaign.

December 17, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 331,060 (+3,435, which is 41.2% of current total)

December 17, 2021. U.S. total Covid deaths = 802,194 (+1,157)

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December 16, 2020. U.S. total Covid cases = 17,547,377 (+253,097, 34.8% of current total)

December 16, 2021. U.S. total Covid cases = 50,346,987 (145,689)

CNBC, 12/16/2020

The emails surfaced as part of an investigation by the House coronavirus subcommittee into alleged political interference by the Trump administration. The probe came about after former HHS scientific advisor Paul Alexander and longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo were accused this summer of meddling with the work of career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist.

December 16, 2020. U.S. total Covid deaths = 327,625 (+3,737, which is 40.9% of current total)