Covid-19

Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy on Sunday called the Democratic Party "out-and-out communists" after The New York Times noted that President-elect Joe Biden has picked a "centrist" cabinet to lead his government.

Campos-Duffy began the segment by defending President Donald Trump's delay in signing a bill that provides money to keep the government running and to help with COVID-19 relief.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lent a helping hand to two Texas fracking billionaires by asking for changes to rules that would allow them to acquire a $35 million COVID-19 relief loan aimed at helping struggling businesses stay afloat.

The report notes that Texas billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks were on a buying spree as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country -- buying up bankrupt competitors and investing in others -- only to find they were prohibited from taking advantage of the government-backed loan program as one of their many companies struggled.

President Donald Trump continued to negotiate via tweet while on vacation at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.

"President Trump on Saturday continued to demand changes to the $900 billion stimulus deal that Democrats and Republicans approved on Dec. 21, raising the odds that the government could shut down on Tuesday and the economy could suffer a devastating shock in the final days of his presidency," The Washington Post reported. "His demand for $2,000 stimulus checks is a direct rejection of the $600 checks that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had personally proposed and negotiated with Democrats and Republicans. Now, Trump's rejection of the deal has confounded many leaders on Capitol Hill because they had thought Mnuchin negotiated the package on behalf of the president. The treasury chief's standing with many lawmakers is now in tatters just days before a full-blown crisis is set to occur."

President Donald Trump on Saturday remained on vacation at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, refusing to sign coronavirus stimulus or accept the fact he lost the 2020 election.

"Two critical federal unemployment programs were set to expire after Saturday as President Trump resisted signing a sweeping $900 billion aid package into law until lawmakers more than tripled the size of relief checks, putting the fate of the measure in limbo. Mr. Trump's resistance to signing the bill risks leaving millions of unemployed Americans without crucial benefits, jeopardizes other critical assistance for business and families set to lapse at the end of the year, and raises the possibility of a government shutdown on Tuesday," The New York Times reported Saturday.

On MSNBC Saturday, former George W. Bush State Department official Elise Jordan tore into Republicans in Congress for refusing to stand up to outgoing President Donald Trump as he threatens to torpedo COVID-19 relief legislation.

"President Trump met with Republican congressional allies at the White House Monday," said anchor Alex Witt. They were discussing the possibility of challenging the vote. What do you make of it?"

On Saturday, The Washington Post published a lengthy exposé of how missteps by President Donald Trump's Centers for Disease Control director, Robert Redfield, and other officials at the agency, led to a several-week delay in development of adequate coronavirus testing.

"The Washington Post reviewed internal documents and interviewed more than 30 government scientists and others with knowledge of the events to understand more fully the missteps in those early weeks as the coronavirus began to spread unchecked across the nation," reported David Willman. "Most spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to do so publicly."

On MSNBC Saturday, Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) tore into outgoing President Donald Trump for standing in the way of COVID-19 stimulus passage.

"I tend to think that this president has a flair for the drama, you know, he likes to draw these things out because he's treated governing as though it's a reality TV show," said anchor Tiffany Cross. "But ... this is not a game. Today people run out of money. Monday the government is set to shut down. For people who are sitting here waiting on a very thin layer of ice before they sink deeper into poverty and devastation, really, what do you predict is going to happen, and what can the Democrats in Congress do about it?"

Fred Piccolo, a communications director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), found himself at the center of controversy for his gross disregard of the lives lost to COVID-19.

In a late-night Twitter post on Wednesday evening, Piccolo shared a tweet that appeared to belittle the fact that people have died from the pandemic. He tweeted, "I'm wondering since 99% [of] Covid patients survive shouldn't you have 99 photos of survivors for every one fatality? Otherwise, you're just trying to create a narrative that is not reality."