President Donald Trump is breaking under intense pressure as his policy choices continue to result in devastating outcomes, a former top White House official said on Thurday.
"One American dying a minute now," former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci posted on Twitter.
"The worst quarter in our modern economic history," he continued. "A threat of delay against a Presidential election."
"The guy is finished," Scaramucci continued.
"Completely unraveling. You can see it on his eyes," he suggested.
Bestselling author Don Winlsow has released his latest ad against President Donald Trump.
The ad, titled "Trump's Evil Plan" warns of Trump using three strategies to try and win the 2020 election.
"Trump can't run on the economy, because he's destroyed it," the narrator says. "And he cannot run on his response to the coronavirus, because it is a disaster with 150,000 dead."
"So Donald Trump is going to play three cards in his final days before the election," the narrator predicts. "Card number one, he's going to start a civil war."
"Card number two, he's going to promise a vaccine that is not remotely ready," the narrator says. "Card number three, he's going to try an October surprise on Joe Biden."
On Thursday, The New York Times editorial board tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his inaction on a new round of coronavirus stimulus, which has ensured the $600 a week supplemental unemployment benefits will lapse on Friday and millions of Americans will teeter on the brink of financial ruin.
"Congress needs to extend the emergency aid programs that were created in March to help Americans endure a broad suspension of economic activity. Instead, even as the pandemic rages on, Congress is allowing those aid programs to expire," wrote the board. "[The] payments end this week, even as unemployment remains at a level last experienced during the Great Depression. The federal government also is ending a moratorium on evictions, as well as a program that provides aid to small businesses."
"The abject failure to act is not the fault of Congress in a collective sense," wrote the board. "House Democrats passed a serviceable aid bill more than two months ago. Responsibility for the current debacle rests specifically and squarely on the shoulders of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and the other 52 Senate Republicans."
"From the moment Congress passed the last big coronavirus aid bill, in March, it has been a matter of public record that the aid was going to end in August," continued the board. "For a time, there was reason to hope that the worst of the pandemic could be over by now, too. But it has been clear for weeks that the United States has failed to control the pandemic and that many Americans still would need economic aid beyond July. Yet Mr. McConnell and his caucus chose to spend the summer confirming federal judges rather than confronting the crisis."
And even now that the deadline is here, McConnell is holding his ground and demanding poison pills in the stimulus, like near-total lawsuit immunity for corporations that expose employees to coronavirus. Meanwhile, the board noted, "Mr. McConnell put forward a proposal on Monday that included billions of dollars for new F-35 jet fighters, but not a penny in aid for state and local governments."
"President Trump is not helping," concluded the board. "But Mr. Trump is not a member of the Senate. He does not have the power to prevent Senate Republicans from doing their jobs. That responsibility is theirs alone."
On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," in the wake of Republican businessman and Trump ally Herman Cain's death from COVID-19, anchor Erin Burnett walked through the unsafe decisions made by the president's team at the rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that Cain attended weeks before.
"It's important to note we do not know where Herman Cain contracted the virus, but 11 days after contracting it is when many people who become ill from it seek urgent hospital care," said Burnett. "Regardless, neither Cain or anyone else should have been at the rally because there was no social distancing and almost no masks. But President Trump can be very convincing. He wanted that rally. He wanted it bad."
"The Trump campaign, at that rally, did not take the safety of its supporters seriously," said Burnett. "That is just a fact. He did not mandate masks. The president's press secretary made it clear she would not wear one. And The Washington Post reports that the Trump campaign directed the removal of the stickers reminding people to social distance. You can see people pulling 'do not sit here' stickers off the chairs. They were doing that very specifically, in effort to make the room look more crowded, have people all sitting next to each other. The turnout didn't end up what they hoped. They wanted people jammed in, showing a normal life."
"The president had been encouraging this deadly mentality, that it's not important to wear a mask, it's not important to socially distance," said Burnett. "We've seen it again and again from him. We even saw it yesterday, at the Trump event in Midland, Texas. No social distance, no masks. This is yesterday, people, 117 days after they said wear masks. Or just two days ago when the president claimed that because hydroxychloroquine is a cure, which by the way it is categorically not, that people don't need to wear masks."
"And people in power are echoing Trump," added Burnett. "Staffers working for Trump's ally, Congressman Louie Gohmert, who just tested positive for the virus yesterday, they tell Politico they were berated in the congressman's office for wearing masks as if it was something bad or weak or inappropriate to do. The president's allies and supporters have all too often followed his lead in their scorn for masks, and this has deadly consequences."
The former chair of the Republican National Committee had harsh words for followers of President Donald Trump after the passing of Herman Cain.
Cain attended Trump's controversial rally in Tulsa that was held in defiance of public health guidelines and subsequently died of COVID-19.
"Look, Herman Cain was a buddy of mine," Steele said. "I appreciated every moment I got to spend with him and my heart goes out to him and his family for this loss."
"The reality of it is for those who don't think this is serious, those who think this is some made-up China virus that was imported into the country, you know, live in that bubble and you will die in that bubble. That's all that can be said."
"Folks, we cannot -- we cannot stop you from being stupid," he continued. "We put the information out there. We've tried to educate and inform. We've got the best and brightest scientists in the country summarily dismissed by this administration and particularly the president. You know what the realities are, you've had family members and friends that have been sick and dying since it began. I can't help your stupidity at this point, that's your risk, it won't be mine."
On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that sailors aboard the USS George H. W. Bush carrier are facing a new outbreak of COVID-19.
"A 'small number' of sailors on the USS George H.W. Bush have contracted COVID-19, according to a Naval Air Force Atlantic spokeswoman," reported Madeline Charbonneau. "The crew members who have the virus were sent home to isolate and will be receiving medical support, Commander Jennifer Cragg said. Those still on board the ship are taking precautionary measures including wearing personal protective equipment and social distancing."
So far, over 9,000 sailors have been diagnosed with coronavirus. One of the early outbreaks, on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, caused controversy after Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of command for the leak of a letter warning that his sailors were in danger.
Big Tech firms delivered robust results Thursday, highlighting the lifeline they have provided during the pandemic as well as their extraordinary economic power which was the subject of an intense congressional hearing a day earlier.
The results from Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet -- ironically the same firms whose chief executives were in the spotlight at an antitrust hearing in Congress this week -- were largely better than expected.
The reports illustrated the importance of social networks, digital content and connected devices to pandemic-hit consumers while also delivering gains to shareholders of the Big Tech firms.
Apple profits rose eight percent to $11.2 billion and revenues were up 11 percent to $59.7 billion in the three months ending June 27.
The California tech giant saw a modest increase in iPhone sales, with more significant rise for accessories and services such as its apps and digital content.
"In uncertain times, this performance is a testament to the important role our products play in our customers' lives and to Apple's relentless innovation," chief executive Tim Cook said.
Amazon meanwhile said profits nearly doubled to $5.2 billion on sales that climbed 40 percent to $88.9 billion.
"This was another highly unusual quarter, and I couldn't be more proud of and grateful to our employees around the globe," said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.
Amid rising sales in its grocery, video and cloud computing operations, Amazon has told investors it expects to spend all its profits this year on costs related to keeping employees and customers safe during the pandemic.
- 'Challenging times' -
Facebook said its profits doubled as well compared with the same period last year, when it paid a hefty fine to US regulators, to $5.2 billion.
Revenue rose 11 percent to $18.7 billion, suggesting minimal impact from an ad boycott of the leading social network over its handling of hateful content and misinformation.
"We're glad to be able to provide small businesses the tools they need to grow and be successful online during these challenging times," said Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, as Facebook said its core social network grew to 2.7 billion while its total audience including its "family" of apps had more than 3.1 billion users.
Alphabet reported a rare drop in revenue and profit in a quarterly update that nonetheless topped market expectations.
Profit slumped some 30 percent to $6.96 billion from a year for the online giant that relies on digital advertising for most of its income.
Revenues dipped two percent to $38 billion, as chief financial officer Ruth Porat said: "We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment."
Alphabet shares edged up slightly in after-market trades following the release, while the other firms showed stronger share increases.
In Washington on Wednesday, the CEOs of the four tech firms faced an onslaught of criticism from US lawmakers at an antitrust hearing which could lay the groundwork for tougher regulation of the major internet platforms.
On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that South Carolina officials are hastily constructing tent hospitals to temporarily increase health care capacity for the COVID-19 surge in the state.
"In the parking lot of Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, construction workers have been working around the clock to erect a series of inflatable white and blue medical tents as doctors inside scramble to contain the wave of coronavirus patients," reported Pilar Melendez. "The rural hospital, which serves a population twice the size of Rhode Island, is nearly full, forcing officials to ask the National Guard to erect the state’s first field hospital, comprising four tents to provide overflow capacity for at least a dozen virus patients at a time."
"Meanwhile, Gov. Henry McMaster this week announced a slew of businesses could reopen," continued the report. "Festivals, concerts, movie theaters, stadiums, gymnasiums, concert halls, performing arts centers, parks, and racetracks can reopen at 50 percent capacity."
So far, over 85,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in South Carolina, and 1,551 people have died.
Brazil's first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, tested positive for the new coronavirus Thursday, the government said, after her husband spent two weeks in quarantine with it.
The announcement came five days after President Jair Bolsonaro said he was over his illness and resumed his normal work routine.
Michelle Bolsonaro, 38, "is in good health and will follow all established protocols," the president's office said.
"The first lady is being treated by the presidential medical team," it added.
Bolsonaro, 65, has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic as Brazil has surged to become the country with the second-highest number of infections and deaths in the world, after the United States: more than 2.5 million and 90,000, respectively.
The far-right president, who has compared the virus to a "little flu," has fought to end state and local stay-at-home measures to contain it, arguing the economic fallout could be worse than the disease itself.
He is instead pushing the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, and took it himself when he was infected, despite numerous studies finding it has no benefit against COVID-19 and can cause serious side effects.
Bolsonaro regularly flouted social distancing guidelines before his diagnosis, hugging and shaking hands with supporters at rallies.
After he came down with a fever and tested positive for the virus on July 7, he spent two weeks in quarantine in the presidential palace, holding meetings remotely.
Michelle Bolsonaro had announced on July 11 that she and her two daughters tested negative for the virus.
Bolsonaro said Saturday he was recovered and had received a negative test result.
On Thursday, in his first public event since his illness, he greeted a crowd of supporters in the northeastern state of Piaui, removing his face mask at several points.
Five of Bolsonaro's ministers have also tested positive for the virus. The latest came Thursday: Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes.
On May 11, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that he had "not yet felt the urgency" of passing another Covid-19 relief package despite skyrocketing unemployment claims and warnings of a prolonged economic recession.
Now, more than two months later, persistent inaction by the Republican-controlled Senate has pushed 30 million Americans to the brink of a steep financial cliff as federally enhanced unemployment benefits are set to lapse in just 24 hours barring a last-minute deal in Congress that appears all but impossible.
In recent weeks, McConnell justified delaying passage of another stimulus bill on the grounds that state reopenings could jumpstart the U.S. economy, rendering another relief package unnecessary.
But that prediction has not borne out; Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that the "pace of recovery looks like it has slowed."
"There's probably going to be a long tail where a large number of people are struggling to get back to work," Powell said as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to surge across the nation, forcing states to pause their nascent reopenings.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department announced that the U.S. economy shrank at a record-shattering 32.9% annual rate last quarter. New Labor Department numbers also out Thursday showed that 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number of people in the U.S. who are either receiving unemployment insurance (UI) or waiting for approval to more than 33 million.
"The policy response to this should be clear," Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a blog post Thursday. "Congress and the president need to restore the extra $600 in unemployment insurance so long as the job market remains damaged, and needs to provide large-scale, flexible aid to state and local governments to keep the coming revenue shortfalls facing these governments from translating into spending cuts and austerity."
Economist Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, called the new Commerce Department numbers the "ugliest GDP report any of us have ever seen."
"Really sorry for yelling at you at 8:46 am," Bernstein added in an all-caps tweet, "but vital, enhanced UI benefits expire tomorrow because congressional Republicans failed to extend them. 'Malpractice' is far too weak a word for this epic, cruel failure."
It remains to be seen whether the ominous new economic figures will spur congressional negotiators to reach a deal to prevent the federal unemployment lifeline from lapsing for at least a week, causing a massive drop in income for tens of millions of people.
"We are nowhere close to a deal," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday after leaving a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, estimated this week that the GOP plan to reduce the federal UI boost to $200 per week would cut total weekly unemployment payments "from a national average of $920.68 per week to $520.68 per week."
"If enacted, the proposal would have devastating consequences for American families, businesses, and the economy," wrote Century Foundation senior fellow Andrew Stettner.
Compounding the pain of the likely benefit lapse is the fact that another rent payment is due for many Americans in just two days. Last Friday, as Common Dreamsreported, a federal moratorium on evictions expired, leaving the more than 12 million people in the U.S. who live in homes with federally backed mortgages vulnerable to being forced onto the streets.
"Rent is due this week. Unemployment benefits expire this week. The eviction moratorium is gone," tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "Congress can—and must—prevent this catastrophe."
After refusing to put forth his own plan for months and blocking House Democrats' proposal to extend the $600-per-week unemployment payments through January of next year, McConnell on Wednesday attempted to blame Pelosi for the coming lapse in benefits—a narrative Democrats immediately rejected.
"Let's get a few things clear: This is happening because when House Democrats passed an extension 10 weeks ago Senate Republicans said they needed a 'pause,'" tweeted Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "Then they didn't do a single thing until it was too late. Then they introduced a bill that is terrible, stupid, and unworkable. Even the Republicans hate their own bill, there is nearly universal agreement that it is bad policy."
"The Republicans are playing with the lives of 30 million people," Beyer added, "not to mention the recovery of the entire U.S. economy."
On July 27, the president and his son Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted a viral video featuring Dr. Stella Immanuel, in which the Houston pediatrician rejected the effectiveness of wearing face masks for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the disease.
Journalists quickly dug into Immanuel’s background and found that she’s also claimed that having sex with demons can cause illnesses like cysts and endometriosis.
These beliefs don’t come out of thin air, and she’s far from the only person who holds them.
As in many religions, demons in Judaism and Christianity are often evil supernatural beings that torment people.
Although it’s difficult to find a lot of clarity about demons in the Hebrew Bible, many later interpreters have understood demons to be the explanation for the “evil spirit” that haunts King Saul in the first book of Samuel.
Another example appears in the book of Tobit. This work was composed between about 225 and 175 BCE and isn’t included in the Hebrew Bible or accepted by all Christians. But it is considered part of the Bible by religious groups like Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Beta Israel and the Assyrian Church of the East.
Tobit includes a narrative about a young woman named Sarah. Although Sarah doesn’t suffer any physical affliction, Asmodeus, the demon of lust, kills every man betrothed to her because of his desire for her.
The Christian gospels are full of stories linking demons and illness, with Jesus and several of his early followers casting out demons who afflict their victims. In one of the most prominent stories told in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus encounters a man possessed by a group of demons who call themselves “Legion” and sends them into a nearby herd of pigs who stampede off a cliff.
Demon lore spreads far and wide
Demons pervade biblical apocrypha, which are stories about biblical subjects that were never included in the canonical Bible and include various associations between demons, illness and sex.
The early Christian text “Acts of Thomas” was likely composed in the third century and became hugely popular, as it was eventually translated into Greek, Arabic and Syriac. It tells the story of the apostle Thomas’ travels to India as an early Christian missionary. Along the way, he encounters a number of obstacles, including people who have been possessed by demons.
In the fifth act, a woman comes to him and pleads for help. She tells the apostle how, one day at the baths, she encountered an old man and talked to him out of pity. But when he propositioned her for sex, she refused and left. Later that night, the demon in the guise of an old man attacked her in her sleep and raped her. Although the woman attempted to escape the demon the next day, he continued to find her and rape her every night, tormenting the woman for five years. Thomas then exorcises the demon.
Another demon story is found in the “Martyrdom of Bartholomew,” which probably dates back to the sixth century. Bartholomew also travels to India, where he finds that the inhabitants of a city worship an idol named Astaroth who has promised to heal all of their illnesses. But Astaroth is actually a demon who causes afflictions that he then pretends to cure in order to gain more followers. Bartholomew reveals the farce and performs several miracles to prove his own spiritual prowess. After forcing the demon to confess to his deceit, Bartholomew drives him into the wilderness.
Apocrypha like the “Acts of Thomas” and “Acts of Bartholomew” were popular in the medieval period, and even those who couldn’t read or write knew these stories. They also helped fuel the “witch craze” of the 16th and 17th centuries, in which zealous Christian leaders persecuted and killed thousands of people – mainly women – for their beliefs, often concocting claims that they consorted with demons.
Beliefs that persist today
It’s clear that Immanuel has profited from her beliefs in the supernatural, especially in right-wing and religious circles. She has over 9,000 followers on Facebook and over 94,000 on Twitter, with a dedicated platform as a pastor. In fact, she casts herself as a prophet and destroyer of demons.
It isn’t difficult to find other modern Christians who connect demons, sex and health issues. The conservative Christian magazine Charisma published a story claiming that sex with demons causes homosexuality. And researchers recently were able to show that belief in supernatural evil could predict negative attitudes toward abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex and pornography.
Meanwhile, many evangelical Americans believe that Trump is God’s chosen one, who has been tasked with fighting actual demons. Trump’s personal minister, Paula White, is just one conservative figure known to espouse these views.
If anything, the coronavirus pandemic has shown how many on the religious right continue to rely on faith over science. Studies have already emerged showing how the tension between faith and science has influenced many conservative Christians to resist the use of masks and other public health responses to the pandemic.
With many conservative Christians sharing some of the same views about demons as Immanuel – and conservative Christians forming a core base of support for the president – Trump’s promotion of the doctor’s beliefs makes perfect sense.
In the spring, New York City was the coronavirus epicenter of the United States, but now, Sun Belt states are the ones being hit especially hard by the pandemic — including Florida. And the South Florida Sun Sentinel, in an editorial published on July 29, pleads with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to do more to combat the health emergency Floridians are facing.
“With each passing day, COVID-19 continues to careen out of control in Florida,” the Sun Sentinel’s editorial board warns. “A record 216 deaths were reported Wednesday (July 29). That broke the previous record of 191 deaths, reported just Tuesday.”
DeSantis, a far-right ally of President Donald Trump, has drawn widespread criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic — from being much too fast to reopen non-essential businesses in his state to not doing more to encourage Floridians to wear protective face masks. In its editorial, the Sun Sentinel tells DeSantis, “Help us all out. Far better that you require people to wear masks in public than to continue fostering conditions that will force another shutdown. Your refusal to impose a mask order — a requirement now in effect in 32 other states — is out-of-touch with the mainstream. A new Quinnipiac poll found 79% of Floridians support a mask requirement, including 60% of Republicans. If that’s not a mandate, what is?”
According to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the worldwide death count from coronavirus had reached 668,500 as of early Thursday afternoon, July 30 — and that included more than 151,000 deaths in the U.S., where some states are seriously concerned about people coming in from Florida.
The Sun Sentinel explains, “At least 12 states have singled out Floridians for 14-day quarantines should we dare to fly north to escape the heat and whatever lurks in the air. Who can blame them? Florida now boasts the second highest number of cases per 100,000 people, with 2008. That’s more than New York, at 1690; Illinois, 1365; Texas, 1345; and California, 1164. Florida is second only to New Jersey with 2018.”
The publication concludes its editorial by urging DeSantis to do a lot more to encourage the use of face masks.
“A lot has been learned about the coronavirus over the course of these five long months, including this: when it comes to masks, asking nicely doesn’t always work,” the Sentinel tells DeSantis. “The science is clear: face coverings reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus and can save lives. Issue a mask mandate, governor. If you can wear one in public, so can we all.”
