Updated: October 15, 2020 9:11:26 pm
In an attempt to increase his chances of re-election, Trump has downplayed the severity of the crisis and the infection, especially after he caught himself and had to be hospitalized a few days ago.
During the last weeks before Election Day in the US, the country has seen an increase in coronavirus cases, focusing on the White House task force established to address the pandemic, and the various failures and mismanagement of the outbreak by the working group. Headed by Vice President Mike Pence, he has been largely invisible in conversations about the outbreak. Now, a CNN report says that three weeks before the election, the task force “for all practical purposes, was swept away by politics and competing interests.”
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In an attempt to increase his chances of re-election, Trump has downplayed the severity of the crisis and the infection, especially after he caught himself and had to be hospitalized a few days ago. Trump has rebuffed criticism that his campaign rallies and supporter gatherings are being labeled by leading US health experts as “super broadcast” events. CNN reported: “Trump was irritated to learn that Fauci had viewed his Rose Garden announcement of a new Supreme Court candidate as a ‘super spreader’ event and was enraged when Fauci and others in the task force warned against meetings. important as their political rallies. ” Read the report here: https://cnn.it/2ItBxmB
On Thursday night, Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden will hold prime-time town halls in lieu of their second presidential debate. A Reuters report said the debate was canceled after Trump virtually refused to participate. Both councils will be held at the same time, on competing news channels; Biden on ABC and Trump on NBC.
When the debate committee had planned a virtual debate between the two candidates due to the coronavirus outbreak and Trump’s infection diagnosis, the president withdrew and insisted on an in-person debate. NBC has said that Trump is no longer contagious. Read the report here: https://reut.rs/3k0dVDT
Trump has criticized Twitter and Facebook’s decision to remove a New York Post story about Joe Biden’s son Hunter, with allegations about business deals with a Ukrainian energy company. Reuters has stated that the story could not be verified, adding that Biden’s campaign has issued a statement that Republican-led Senate committees had previously concluded that Biden had not committed any crime related to Ukraine. Read the Reuters report here; https://reut.rs/3lQ84Su
In a new crackdown on fake accounts in the run-up to the election, Twitter said it has suspended fake accounts that claim to be owned by black Donald Trump supporters. A BBC report indicated that Twitter did not reveal the exact number of suspended accounts, but the social media platform had said that these accounts had violated its rules on spam and tampering with the platform. “Many of the accounts used identical language, including the phrase:“ YES, I’M BLACK AND VOTE FOR TRUMP !!! ”Said the BBC. This is important because it is similar to the disinformation campaign that had been witnessed in the 2016 elections in the United States, the BBC added. Read the story here: https://bbc.in/3k2GL6J
On Thursday night, Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden will hold prime-time town halls in lieu of their second presidential debate. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster)
Scrutiny of Trump’s taxes has also been renewed. A recent investigation by The New York Times had shown that he had paid “only $ 750 in income taxes to the federal government in 2016 and 2017, and for 10 years, he paid nothing at all.” Observers have said that the probe alone is unlikely to affect Trump in the upcoming election, but other factors such as the coronavirus may influence his fan base. The BBC has an explanation for how Trump has managed to evade paying taxes for so many years. Read the report here: https://bbc.in/3nUOKoH
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