President Donald Trump spent days hyping a big coronavirus announcement. When the day finally came for his grandiose reveal, it was nothing more than a long list of names. Minute after minute ticked by as Trump read a list of 200 names of corporations and business leaders he says will somehow help him re-open the country, or something.
"With little explanation or context about their ultimate purpose, Trump spent roughly 10 minutes in the White House Rose Garden ticking off names of executives and companies from sectors including technology, agriculture, banking, financial services, defense, energy, transportation, sports and health care," Politico reported, noting he had "spent days hyping it up."
"All great institutions with lots to say and lots of good ideas," Trump bragged.
But no great plan on how to battle and beat the coronavirus.
That was Tuesday.
On Wednesday Trump tweeted about the great progress he is making during his "very productive calls" with those top business executives.
But those top business leaders are less enthusiastic than Trump portrays.
"In the first meeting of President Trump’s task force to reopen the economy, banking and financial services executives said the administration needed to dramatically increase the availability of coronavirus testing before the public would be confident enough to return to work, eat at restaurants or shop in retail establishments," The Wall Street Journal reports.
CNN adds those "industry leaders reiterated to the President what public health experts and governors have been telling him for weeks: that there would need to be guarantees of ramped-up coronavirus testing before people return to work."
Trump only engaged the business executives in response to his "conservative allies" who "are convinced that internal discussions on the coronavirus task force, and the information it provides the President, are overly weighted toward models and worst-case public health scenarios."
In other words, Trump's friends are urging him to re-open the country as soon as possible – if not earlier.