Navigating Coronavirus — June 16
In today’s email, we take a look at the mounting damage caused by Trump’s rush to reopen before it was safe, as well as his new dangerous rush toward a vaccine that may put Americans at risk. And Navigator takes a deep dive into Asian Americans’ opinions on Trump and his coronavirus response in newly released data.
Read on for today’s Navigating Coronavirus…
It’s been 108 days since President Trump said we’d soon have zero cases in the U.S. We now have 2.1 million cases and more than 118,000 deaths.
THE LATEST
Message guidance on the latest developments with President Trump’s handling of the crisis.
1. TRUMP PUSHED THE COUNTRY TO REOPEN TOO SOON, NOW HE’S IGNORING THE CRISIS HE CREATED.
Trump rushed to reopen the country before it was safe and now we’re in a completely predictable scenario where coronavirus is spinning out of control. Three months into this outbreak, he’s continuing to ignore experts and blame others for his failures.
- HE’S EVEN BLAMING TESTING >> Bloomberg: “Trump, Pence Say Coronavirus Increase Due to Broad Testing”
- Trump Monday on the U.S. outbreak: “China should not have let it happen.”
- AND HE’S EFFECTIVELY SHUT DOWN THE TASK FORCE >> CNN: “Task force officials out of public view as White House pivots to economic message”
- “Their absence coincides with the White House shifting of attention from addressing the health ramifications of coronavirus to reopening states and resuming campaign rallies.”
Trump has given up on fighting the virus — and now his team is lying about its impact and ignoring public health experts’ warnings about how Trump is making it worse.
- VOX: “Pence follows up Trump’s coronavirus lie with one of his own, falsely claims that Oklahoma, where cases are going up, has ‘flattened the curve’”
- TRUMP: “We expect to have, you know, it’s like a record-setting crowd. We’ve never had an empty seat and we certainly won’t in Oklahoma.”
- “Tulsa World editorial: This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally”
- “Tulsa is still dealing with the challenges created by a pandemic. The city and state have authorized reopening, but that doesn’t make a mass indoor gathering of people pressed closely together and cheering a good idea. There is no treatment for COVID-19 and no vaccine. It will be our health care system that will have to deal with whatever effects follow.”
2. TRUMP’S RUSH FOR A VACCINE COULD BE DANGEROUS, TOO.
Experts worry Trump is rushing the timeline of a thoroughly tested vaccine just to help his own personal political interests — yet again putting himself above keeping Americans safe.
- POLITICO: “President Donald Trump has promised that there will be a coronavirus vaccine before the year is out. But public health experts are growing increasingly worried that the White House will pressure regulators to approve the first vaccine candidate to show promise — without proof that it provides effective, reliable protection against the virus.”
- Drs. Ezekiel Emanuel and Paul Offit in the NYT: “In a desperate search for a political boost, he could release a coronavirus vaccine before it had been thoroughly tested and shown to be safe and effective.”
This could end up being Hydroxychloroquine 2.0…
NAVIGATOR TRACKING NUMBERS . . .
Today, Navigator is releasing new data examining thousands of interviews with Asian Americans on attitudes towards coronavirus, the economy, and Trump.
FULL MEMO >> DEMOGRAPHIC DEEP DIVE: ASIAN AMERICANS
- Asian Americans are the most likely demographic group to identify as Independents — and they overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump. Among AAPI Americans, Trump’s overall approval is just 30%, economic approval is just 35%, and pandemic approval is just 32% — far lower than the overall public.
- Asian Americans have been more impacted by coronavirus than the overall public. They also have greater concerns about the virus’ effects and report having experienced deeper financial anxieties than the overall public. They are also more likely than the overall public to say the government needs to do more to improve the economy in response.
- Asian Americans have more intense concerns about Trump’s handling of the pandemic than the overall public.
ECONOMIC CRISIS IN CONTEXT
The latest on how the economic crisis sparked by coronavirus is actually fueled by years of President Trump’s conservative economic policies, focusing today on Trump’s continued attempts to help Wall Street at the expense of the economy.
Trump and his advisors are trying to downplay COVID-19 and juice the stock market with calls for more smiling, fewer tests, and pushing workers back to work — but that will be devastating for the economy.
- Trump’s economic advisor continues to be focused on reassuring the stock market that everything is fine — just yesterday he said the surge in COVID-19 cases were just “bumps” and vowed that Trump will keep opening the economy no matter how dangerous that would be for workers.
- Trump wants to cut off the expanded unemployment benefits — which expire on July 31 and have allowed workers to keep their heads above the water and stay safe — and replace them with a program that only benefits workers willing and able to go back to work during a pandemic.
- Trump is sidelining public health experts and downplaying COVID-19 while claiming to be focused on the economy, but the reality is that he’s focused on helping Wall Street and massive corporations, not the actual economy.
- The only way the economy will recover is by listening to public health officials, stamping out this pandemic, and making sure workers and families have the support they need until that happens.
- Reminder: The stock market is not the economy.
MUST READ: While Trump has his eyes on the stock market, new reporting highlights the devastating impact Trump’s handling of this economic crisis is having on workers and families across the country.
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Navigating Coronavirus is a joint project of Governing for Impact, Groundwork Collaborative, The Hub Project, and Navigator Research.
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