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(CNN) – A staggering assertion by the White House that the United States cannot control the rapidly worsening pandemic is overshadowing President Donald Trump’s desperate bid to turn his re-election race against Democrat Joe Biden with eight days to go.
Comments by White House Secretary General Mark Meadows on CNN on Sunday alarmed medical experts who argue that letting the coronavirus rage is akin to a herd immunity policy that will cost thousands of lives. But with daily new infections hitting record highs, Trump spent the weekend in a campaign blitz in which he openly circumvented steps such as wearing masks and social distancing, which could slow the spread of the disease, and lamented that all the media talk only about “covid, covid, covid.”
“We are not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday. He argued that “appropriate mitigating factors” such as treatments and vaccines should be the priority.
The window into the administration’s thinking came when Trump spent the weekend building a giant trust request for voters. He declared that the country was “turning the corner wonderfully” in the battle against COVID-19.
Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, refuses to accept permanent guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on quarantine after his secretary-general and a bodyguard were among the five. people in its orbit who tested positive for a new coronavirus outbreak at the White House.
The latest signs that Trump is putting his political priorities before his duty to care for the American people come as the president plans a frenzied week of packed rallies that flout good social distancing practices.
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But the weekend of grim health data and controversy means the climax of the campaign will be overshadowed by the pandemic. It’s a harsh reality for Trump, as 60% of Americans in a recent CNN poll disapproved of his handling of the crisis.
The president has always downplayed the threat of the virus. He scoffed at the wearing of masks, turning the practice into a culture war problem. And he pressured Republican governors to open their states before the virus was under control. This helped set off a wave of infections in the Sun Belt during the summer.
As a result, his handling of the pandemic is a central campaign issue. And his behavior in recent days indicates that there will be no change in the White House’s approach to the pandemic if he wins the election, no matter how severe the virus is in winter.
The final week of the campaign begins with Trump trailing Biden in national popular vote polls by 9 or 10 points and by smaller margins in many of the states that will decide the Nov.3 election. If the poll is accurate, Trump has a narrow path to reelection. But he will have to fulfill his promise to massively expand his political base with new conservative voters. And you will almost have to top the table in competitive states.
Surprisingly, more than 58 million Americans have cast early votes, topping all early voting in the 2016 election. This means that it will be more difficult for either candidate to shake up the dynamics of the race at the last minute. Biden appears to have more routes to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. But Democrats are nervous after a late rise by Trump in 2016 led to a surprising victory over Hillary Clinton.
I’m one of those people, or competitors, who doesn’t end until the bell rings. And I feel superstitious when I predict anything other than a tough fight. So said Biden in an interview broadcast on CBS “60 Minutes” on Sunday when asked if Trump could still defeat him. “We feel good about where we are. But, you know, I don’t underestimate how he plays.
Meadows sends shockwaves through Washington
Meadows clarified the extent to which the White House has stopped fighting the pandemic – for example, public briefings by top government scientists.
The problem with his comments is that a vaccine, even if approved by regulators in the next few months, is unlikely to be available to all Americans until well into next year.
The kinds of cutting-edge treatments that helped Trump overcome his case of Covid-19 are not yet available to the general public or to the tens of thousands of Americans who are now infected every day. Public health officials like Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, have said that masks are one of the most powerful weapons in fighting the virus.
Biden took advantage of Meadows’ comments as he tried to argue that Trump’s denial and downplaying the biggest public health crisis in 100 years means he should be disqualified from serving a second term.
He said the White House secretary general had “astonishingly admitted this morning that the administration has given up even trying to control this pandemic. That he has renounced his basic duty to protect the American people. “
“This was not a slip of the Meadows, it was a sincere recognition of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been since the beginning of this crisis: wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus will simply disappear. It hasn’t, and it won’t. ‘
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The president and Pence, the head of the coronavirus task force, have consistently refused to model social distancing and the use of masks that is the most effective way to reduce infections while treatments and vaccines arrive.
On Sunday, for example, the president mingled with supporters who were maskless and close together, offering fist bumps and signing “Make America Great Again” caps.
That’s exactly the wrong message the president should send, given a modeling study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that in September only 49% of Americans reported that they “always” wear a mask in public. If that number were 95%, more than 100,000 lives could be saved from Covid-19 through February, according to the study.
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In a new opinion piece published Sunday in The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cautioned that it may be time to consider a limited and temporary national mask mandate.
Deaths are starting to rise again. And vaccines won’t be widely available until next year, even in the best of times. All who join to wear masks, for a limited time, will be the least expensive way for society a difficult winter, “wrote Gottlieb.
Pence, an ‘essential worker’
Even when news of the multiple infections broke out in the vice president’s office, the White House declared that he was an “essential worker.” A designation normally reserved for first-line first responders and medical personnel. And he said he would continue his campaign program.
Pence, who wore a mask, clapped his hands and took his podium at an event in North Carolina on Sunday. It is the latest attempt by Trump and his team to foster a false impression of normalcy as the crisis deepens every day. He never mentioned infections among his inner circle and barely mentioned the virus at the rally.
But the virus is now on the rise in 35 states and stable at 15. New infections topped 80,000 cases on both Friday and Saturday, breaking previous single-day records. US Chief Health Officer Dr. Jerome Adams warned Friday that hospitalizations have increased in 75% of jurisdictions nationwide. Deaths are also likely to start rising soon.
The total disconnect between the rapidly worsening reality and the behavior of Trump and Pence led David Gergen, an adviser to presidents of both parties who spoke on CNN, to condemn what he said were “a president and a vice president who put their lives and that of people at risk to promote their own political good fortune. ‘
Meadows’ comments appeared to be in line with the philosophy of White House adviser Dr. Scott Atlas, who has the ear of the president and has infuriated government scientists about the White House coronavirus task force.
Atlas has questioned the use of masks and seems to favor a similar approach to herd immunity. Letting the virus circulate freely in society to generate resistance among citizens. Such an approach could cost hundreds of thousands more lives, according to William Haseltine, president and president of ACCESS Health International.
The Meadows statement also had troubling echoes for another expert.
“I heard a lot about herd immunity in that statement and that’s horrible,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University, told CNN on Sunday.
“We can control the pandemic,” Reiner said, citing the low incidence of the virus in Washington, after previous peaks and crediting the use of masks to improve the situation.
What the secretary general is saying is surrender. No, no, no, we make everyone wear a mask, that’s how we lower the rates.
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The responsibilities of leaders
Meadows’ comments created uncomfortable moments for several Republican senators, who are advancing Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court toward a final vote on Monday.
“We are all in control and we all have a responsibility as leaders to set an example that is to do the right thing to stop the spread,” Second Senate Republican John Thune of South Dakota told reporters.
“There are certain elements that we cannot control. It’s a virus. It is very aggressive. It wants to infect a lot of people. But there are things about our own behavior that we can control.
The other South Dakota senator, Mike Rounds, said the government “definitely shouldn’t” stop trying to control COVID-19. Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun advised “using all weapons to get the virus under control.”
The new cases of covid-19 in the White House could not be closer to Pence.
Marc Short, his chief of staff, tested positive on Saturday, the vice president’s office announced in a statement at the end of the day. Sources told CNN that Marty Obst, a senior Pence adviser who is not a government employee, and at least three employees in Pence’s office also tested positive for the virus in recent days. Zach Bauer, a longtime aide and one of Pence’s closest employees, tested positive for coronavirus, CNN learned Sunday.
New fears about the coronavirus in the White House will not prevent Trump from swearing in Barrett after his long-awaited confirmation in the Senate on Monday. Despite the announcement ceremony in his rose garden last month turning into what the government’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, called a “super-spreading” event.
The event will be held at 9 p.m. ET outside, a source familiar with the invitation told CNN.
