Trump’s chief of staff explains the plan for the pandemic: “We are not going to control it” | International



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The Democratic candidate for president of the United States, Joe Biden, accused on Sunday Donald trump to surrender to the covid-19, while a new outbreak of the virus affects the president’s team, cases increase throughout the country and his campaign manager made an uncomfortable recognition.

Nine days before the vote, with more than 225,000 deaths from coronavirus in the United States, Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, acknowledged on Sunday that the White House is not “going to control the pandemic.”

“This is what we are going to do. We are not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we can have vaccines “Meadows told CNN on Sunday.

Biden immediately took advantage of Meadows’ comment and again criticized the government for its handling of the pandemic, which on Saturday reached a new record for new cases with almost 90,000 infected in one day.

“It was not a Meadows error,” Biden denounced in a statement. “It was an honest statement of President Trump’s strategy since the beginning of the crisis: waving the white flag of defeat and hoping that if ignored, the virus will go away,” he added.

“They are admitting defeat,” his running mate Kamala Harris also said during a campaign stop in Michigan. “I’ve been saying that, and Joe Biden has been saying it from the beginning.”

Marc Short, vice president Mike Pence’s team leader, tested positive for covid-19 over the weekend, the last to date to include his name on the list of Trump administration collaborators, including the president, who are have been infected with coronavirus.

“The vice president is going to continue with his travel schedule,” Republican campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News.

“He takes this very seriously (…) the people on his team are in quarantine, and he relies on the best recommendations from the White House medical unit.”

Trump’s campaign team tried on Sunday to evade the new coronavirus outbreak in their group by targeting Joe Biden, a senator for decades and former vice president of Barack Obama, accusing him of “47 years of failure” in Washington.

Murtaugh criticized Biden for his relaxed campaign schedule, saying the Democratic candidate was “feeling the pressure” and that he “took five or six days off” before the last presidential debate, held on Thursday.

Trump, 74, has maintained a fast pace for days, including scheduled stops for Sunday in New Hampshire and Maine, while Biden has set a more cautious course, speaking less frequently and in smaller groups.

Contrasting campaigns

The 77-year-old former vice president planned to participate in a virtual “I will vote” concert on Sunday.

“We’re running an incredibly tough campaign,” his deputy campaign manager told “Meet the Press” television.

“The difference between what we are doing and what Donald Trump is doing,” said Kate Bedingfield, is that “we are doing it safely.”

Ahead of the November 3 elections, and with more than 57 million people already casting their votes early, both campaigns are struggling to present their final arguments and win over the few voters who are still undecided.

On Saturday, a spirited Biden and former President Barack Obama accused Trump of mishandling the pandemic.

“Donald Trump is not suddenly going to protect us all. He cannot even take the most elementary measures to protect himself, ”Obama said, referring to Trump’s hospitalization for covid-19.

Trump, trying to divert attention from the pandemic to his plans for the economy, told his supporters in North Carolina: “This election is a choice between a Trump super recovery and a Biden depression.”

Grim polls for Trump

The president held three campaign rallies in one day on Saturday as he sought to close the gap with Biden by downplaying the severity of the coronavirus crisis and complaining that the media was obsessed with the problem.

Biden’s response was that the president should be more concerned about the health crisis.

“Donald Trump said, and continues to say, that we must learn to live” with the pandemic, the Democratic candidate said Saturday in his native Pennsylvania, a key state for the electoral result.

“We are not learning to live with the pandemic. She is asking us to learn to die with her, ”he added.

Biden has held a stable lead of around 10 points in national polls and a narrower one in disputed states like Florida, which typically decide the winner of the US presidential election.



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