WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

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• ???? Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”

• Global: Total confirmed cases: ~13,406,000; deaths: ~581,000

• U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~3,466,000; deaths: ~137,000

• Source: Johns Hopkins University

1/ Trump’s senior trade adviser criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci’s handling of the pandemic, accusing the nation’s top infectious disease expert of being “wrong about everything” related to the coronavirus. The White House tried to distance itself from Peter Navarro’s USA Today op-ed, saying Navarro wasn’t speaking on behalf of the administration and that he “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes.” Trump also lightly rebuked Navarro’s remarks, saying “He made a statement representing himself. He shouldn’t be doing that.” Fauci, meanwhile, responded: “I can’t explain Peter Navarro. He’s in a world by himself.” The Trump administration has tried to raise questions about Fauci’s credibility in recent days, including sending reporters a list of instances in which they alleged Fauci had been wrong about aspects of the pandemic. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC)

2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci called the White House’s attempts to discredit him “bizarre,” saying “it doesn’t do anything but reflect poorly on them.” The nation’s top infectious disease expert said undermining a top health official in the middle of a pandemic “ultimately hurts the president […] Rather than these games people are playing,” Fauci said, “let’s stop this nonsense […] We’ve got to figure out, How can we get our control over this now, and, looking forward, how can we make sure that next month, we don’t have another example of California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona?” (The Atlantic / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / NPR)

3/ At a press conference to announce new measures against China, Trump quickly veered into a rambling, stream-of-consciousness set of remarks, drifting from one topic to another for 54 minutes. Trump briefly addressed the coronavirus – vaguely promising a vaccine and demanding that Beijing be held responsible for “unleashing [the coronavirus] upon the world” – as he wandered from China, to trade, to Joe Biden, to military spending, to his friendship with Mexico’s president, to crime in Chicago, to the death penalty, to energy taxes, to climate change, to historical statues, to European trade, and more. At one point Trump paused and said: “We could go on for days.” Nevertheless, he persisted, suggesting that Biden would get rid of w...

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