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After causing a serious coronavirus outbreak within the White House and trying to cover it up, President Trump has returned from the hospital while still contagious to a) remove his fucking mask and b) share his big takeaway from the experience: COVID-19 is no big deal, actually.
- Trump announced he would leave Walter Reed with the monstrous message that
dangerous corticosteroids coronavirus had left him with a youthful spring in his step, and shouldn’t be feared: “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” Powerful words from a still-sick man receiving a level of care that most Americans can neither access nor afford, for an illness that’s caused unimaginable suffering and grief for millions of families.
- The president’s insane return to the White House followed a weekend of recklessness, cover-ups, and staged propaganda photos. On Sunday Trump went for a joyride to wave at the Proud Boys and QAnon followers gathered outside Walter Reed, reportedly as a compromise after he demanded to be discharged from the hospital. That plague parade photo-op put the Secret Service agents in Trump’s hermetically-sealed SUV at enormous risk, prompting an attending physician at Walter Reed to speak out on Twitter: “Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
- The White House’s shredded credibility means that we have no reliable information about Trump’s condition, or even how long he’s been sick. On Saturday Trump’s physician Sean Conley dodged the question of whether Trump had received supplemental oxygen (he had), described a sunny outlook (which was immediately and ineptly contradicted by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows), and presented a timeline that put Trump’s diagnosis a day earlier than disclosed (which the White House immediately and ineptly tried to walk back).
- On Sunday the White House casually explained that Conley’s briefings were meant to lift Trump’s spirits, not provide the public with “facts.” Conley contended that he wasn’t “necessarily” involved in a cover-up, he just “didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.” (We must have missed when the FDA approved magical thinking as a coronavirus therapy; that’s our bad.) We do know that Trump is being treated with dexamethasone—a steroid generally reserved for severe cases—and Conley has repeatedly refused to answer questions about Trump’s lung health, so, happy conclusion-drawing.
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As Trump heads home to endanger even more of his staff, the White House continues to hide how long he may have been contagious.
- White House officials have repeatedly refused to say when Trump last tested negative, raising the increasingly likely possibility that he was aware of exposure or even an infection before stepping on the debate stage with Joe Biden last Tuesday. The White House has also refused to disclose the total number of infected staffers, decided not to conduct contact tracing, prohibited the CDC from doing so, and didn’t send an email to employees about the outbreak until Sunday.
- In a demonstration of the Trump administration’s continued willful ignorance about how coronavirus testing works, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tested positive today after repeatedly briefing reporters without a mask in spite of her exposure, because she had previously tested negative. The infected Trumpworld ranks now include Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie (who checked himself into the hospital as a “precautionary measure”), and Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien—among others.
As Donald Trump enjoys the finest available medical care and conceals the full scale of the harm he’s inflicted (and continues to inflict) behind the scenes, it’s impossible to imagine a more dangerous and disrespectful message for him to give vulnerable and grieving Americans than “Don’t be afraid of COVID.” There can be no coming back from that. 29 days.
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Recent polls show Jaime Harrison neck-and-neck with Lindsey Graham in the South Carolina Senate race, so Harrison stopped by Lovett or Leave It to chat about the homestretch and play a game with a South Carolinian listener. It's a delight. Watch here →
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If there’s one silver lining around the president unleashing a deadly virus within the highest reaches of government, it’s that Amy Coney Barrett’s speedy confirmation to the Supreme Court is no longer a sure thing. Three GOP senators—Mike Lee (R-UT), Tom Thillis (R-NC), and Ron Johnson (R-WI)—have now tested positive. Two of them—Lee and Thillis—are on the Judiciary Committee. Johnson was not at the Rose Garden Nomination Superspreader, and his infection points to the possibility that the virus is spreading through the larger Republican conference. The committee needs to have a quorum of 12 senators to move Barrett’s confirmation to the Senate floor; if Lee and Thillis (or any two Republicans) are unable to attend on October 15 and Democrats boycott the meeting, the process can’t begin. Mitch McConnell could try to bypass the committee entirely, but it would require majority votes that he may not have.
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- Joe Biden has continued to test negative for coronavirus, as have Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. The vice-presidential debate set to go forward as planned on Wednesday, with a plexiglass divider between the candidates (over the Pence team’s objections).
- Republicans have already loyally taken up President Trump’s awful coronavirus victory rhetoric. Here’s Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Fox News: “It’s not nearly as lethal as the experts told us it would be.” If anyone was hoping that Trump’s diagnosis might prompt some in the GOP to pause and reflect, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
- Only three states reported a decline in coronavirus cases compared to last week, and Wisconsin is experiencing a serious surge.
- The CDC has posted new guidance about airborne transmission of the coronavirus, two weeks after publishing and removing similar language.
- Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote an opinion calling for the Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the ruling that established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
- For those lucky few with enough remaining brain cells to think one election ahead, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has announced that he’ll retire in 2022, opening up a competitive seat in the next midterms.
- The Sackler family has been quietly negotiating a deal with the Justice Department to evade any criminal liability for Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis.
- Megan Thee Stallion slammed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron during her Saturday Night Live performance. (SNL returned with a live studio audience whose members were checked with rapid tests upon arrival, which in light of Recent Events seems more than a little questionable.)
- North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham got caught in what some outlets are calling a “sexting” scandal, which does not come close to capturing the berserk glory of texts like “starch your white shirt, and be ready to kiss a lot.” Anyway, North Carolina voters correctly do not give a shit.
- Dr. Jill Biden held up a large eggplant. Cal Cunningham, take notes.
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In addition to filing lawsuits and spreading misinformation to suppress turnout and spoil ballots, the Trump campaign has also been putting pressure on front-line election officials to ignore certain rules, including a new North Carolina procedure making it easier for voters to fix mistakes on their mail-in ballots. When it took issue with that rule, the Trump campaign not only filed a lawsuit, it sent an email to some of the state’s election offices with the message, “The NC Republican Party advises you to not follow the procedures.” That could result in voters being denied the opportunity to fix their ballots and have their votes counted. With voting already underway, the Trump team has homed in on the local level, looking for micro-disputes that it can blow up disingenuously, to raise doubts about the integrity of the national election.
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An Iowa judge issued an emergency stay blocking the GOP Secretary of State's directive that counties can't send voters pre-filled ballot applications.
Jaime Harrison ripped Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) a new one in their Saturday debate, and it is a joy to watch.
You absolute freaks for democracy have raised $32 million through Vote Save America in the last quarter, with most of it in September alone.
Meet Beatrice Lumpkin.
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