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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump, still receiving treatment for Covid-19, ended talks with Democrats about an economic aid package for his pandemic-stricken country and received reprimands from Facebook and Twitter for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
His tweet disrupting talks for a new round of stimulus spooked Wall Street, causing stocks to tumble as much as 2% from their session highs, a serious hit on one of the metrics the Republican president has billed as a sign of success.
Trump’s move drew criticism from Democratic presidential opponent Joe Biden, Congressional Democrats and some Republicans, who said more was needed to help the millions who lost their jobs in a health crisis in which the United States leads the world in deaths and infections.
“The president turned his back on him,” Biden said in a Twitter post about Trump’s decision.
After days of mixed messages from doctors and assistants about his condition, Trump, 74, returned to the White House on Monday after spending three nights in a hospital.
His doctor said Tuesday that Trump reported no symptoms of Covid-19 and that he was “extremely well.”
But the disease continues to spread among Trump’s top advisers, and White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said he tested positive Tuesday.
Top US military leaders are also isolating themselves after Coast Guard No. 2 tested positive for the coronavirus, Pentagon officials said.
Officials said Trump was working in a makeshift office space in the residence rather than in the Oval Office, and that few high-level officials had face-to-face access exactly four weeks before the Nov.3 U.S. election in the that the Republican seeks re-election.
In his first major political pronouncement since returning to the White House, Trump abruptly suspended negotiations with Democratic lawmakers on coronavirus relief legislation until after the election, even as cases of the virus are on the rise across much of the country.
“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill that focuses on working Americans and small businesses,” Trump wrote on Twitter .
Despite Trump’s bravado, support for Biden has grown about 4 percentage points since mid-September, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll from Friday to Tuesday, with 52% of likely voters backing Biden versus him. 40% Trump.
Speaking in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of one of the bloodiest battles of the United States Civil War, Biden said the country was experiencing a “total and relentless partisan war” and, without naming Trump, blamed his handling of the coronavirus.
“Wearing a mask is not a political statement. It’s a scientific recommendation, ”he said, alluding to Trump’s refusal to wear a mask for safety even after falling ill.
Upon his return to the White House, Trump removed his mask to pose for photos.
‘He showed his true colors’
“Today once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, adding: “The White House is in complete chaos. “.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, in a fierce battle for reelection in Maine, called Trump’s decision to end the talks a “big mistake.”
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said he agreed with Trump’s decision and told reporters that “his opinion was that they were not going to produce a result and that we should focus on what it can be done. “
Democrats’ chances of winning a Senate majority increased in recent days when three nonpartisan U.S. election analysts added Lindsey Graham’s South Carolina seat to the list of what is now 10 Senate seats, which includes eight potentially vulnerable Republicans and two vulnerable Democrats.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in that chamber.
McConnell plans to focus on pushing for the confirmation of Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, who would cement a 6-3 conservative majority.
That nomination gave Trump and his fellow Republicans an opportunity to divert focus from the presidential coronavirus campaign, before Trump’s illness.
Minimize risk
Trump tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday after months of downplaying the deadly infection, and he kept that message on Tuesday.
“Many people each year, sometimes more than 100,000, and despite the vaccine, die from influenza. Are we going to close our country? No, we have learned to live with it, just as we are learning to live with Covid-19, in most populations, much less lethal !!! “Trump wrote on Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter Inc responded by placing a warning label on the post, saying it contained potentially misleading information.
Facebook Inc removed Trump’s post for violating its rules on Covid-19 misinformation, according to CNN.
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said the threat from Covid-19 was “very, very different” from the scope of influenza.
The United States has the highest death toll in the world from the pandemic, with more than 210,000 deaths.
By comparison, influenza typically kills between 22,000 and 64,000 people a year in the US, government statistics show.
Trump had no public events listed for Tuesday, and it was unclear when he would resume a full schedule of presidential duties and campaigns before Election Day.
He has not been seen in public since Monday night, but he tweeted that he was awaiting a second debate scheduled with Biden on Oct. 15 in Miami.
