Politics
Virologist pours cold water on Trump claim his coronavirus test results won't be available for another day
During a panel discussion following the coronavirus press conference conducted by Vice President Mike Pence -- that Donald Trump crashed -- a virologist cast a skeptical eye at the president's claim that the coronavirus test he claimed he took would take over a day to show results.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, Joseph Fair, identified as a virologist and epidemiologist, was asked about the president's comment that he took the test on Friday night but that his results were not expected for another day or so.
"Joseph we were speaking about that you were talking about that it happened last night and has yet to hear the results, he said, " host Witt asked.
"Yeah, I mean, typically a test like this, what we call a RTP-CR [reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction] takes around two hours completely," Fair explained. "And I would think if the president was tested, it would be a two-hour turn around on the assay."
"I'm surprised that there are no results yet," he added.
Watch below:
WATCH: Trump silences reporter asking him if he's sending 'mixed messages' with his coronavirus comments
During a surprise appearance at a press conference that was supposed to be helmed by Vice President Mike Pence, Donald Trump cut off MSNBC's Kelly O'Donnell as she tried to press him over sending " mixed messages" to the public every time he publically addresses the nation.
After O'Donnell asked him about his Friday Rose Garden comments and shaking the hands of the CEOs in attendance -- directly contradicting the CDC's advice to avoid contact that could spread the virus -- the president explained that he did it out of habit, while also defending manhandling the microphone for other speakers.
After the White House correspondent asked, "Why are you shaking hands?" Trump responded, "It's almost a habit. Frankly, I was a non-handshaker for the most part. I know it, too political people walk up. They want to shake my hand and I say, well --," before the reporter tried to get a word in.
"Wait a minute, just take it nice and easy, just relax," Trump cut her off. "People come up to me and somebody put their hand out and it's a natural reflex and we're all getting out of it -- all of us have that problem."
Watch below:
'An international embarrassment': Trump leveled by infectious disease expert for coronavirus response disaster
During a panel discussion on MSNBC on Saturday morning, an expert in infectious diseases hammered Donald Trump and his coronavirus task force for continuing to stumble about as the pandemic spreads across the country,
Speaking with host Ali Velshi, Dr. Irwin Redlener from the National Center for Disaster Preparedness compared the poor U.S. response to the epidemic to countries across the world that leaped into action when they realized what they were dealing with.
"Here's the deal," he began. "We don't know for sure that the virus is going to be less prevalent when the warmer weather happens -- we don't know that. You know, the speculation, this is true for some virus, this is a new virus, it is a novel virus. We don't understand the behavior."
"You were talking about the ability to control this in Hong Kong and Singapore, et cetera," he continued. "It's not just because they have a controlled society, in society. These are the places where is they started early testing and separating people. I want to give one piece of data: the United States of America has tested 5 people per 1 million compared to 3,600 people per million in South Korea."
"I wish I could use the language but I'm on television, but this is a phenomenal disaster for us. Not only did we start late, which got me worked up eight weeks ago, but it's still not fixed," he added. " This is a level of incompetence in the public health system that Americans have never seen before. You know, you remember whatever his name was? Michael Brown with Katrina and his job there was questionable. That was nothing compared to the problems we're having right now in messaging and technology. This is an international embarrassment."
Watch below:
Mike Pence burned to the ground by HBO's Maher for his Trump suck-up performance at coronavirus presser
On HBO's "Real Time," host Bill Maher hilariously destroyed Mike Pence just hours after the vice president appeared with Donald Trump to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and offered nothing but sycophantic praise for the president's response..
For this, the HBO host bestowed on Pence the "Ass-Kisser of the Month" award.
After showing a clip of the veep heaping praise on the president, Maher offered up a collection of parody Pence "facts" about the president such as, "President Trump can make women orgasm just by liking their tweets," and "Katy Perry's baby? His."
Watch below:
Trump declares coronavirus ‘National Day of Prayer’ -- and suggests looking to God for ‘protection’
The leader of the free world urged people to pray as he continues to receive harsh criticism for his response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
"It is my great honor to declare Sunday, March 15th as a National Day of Prayer," Trump tweeted.
"We are a Country that, throughout our history, has looked to God for protection and strength in times like these," he argued.
"No matter where you may be, I encourage you to turn towards prayer in an act of faith. Together, we will easily PREVAIL!" he predicted.
Nicolle Wallace mocks Trump's desperate attempt to 'erase' response to coronavirus: 'Good old fashioned do-over'
President Donald Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden Friday where he revealed a new strategy to face the coronavirus or COVID-19.
Trump repeatedly dismissed the massive failures of his administration to distribute test kits. Initially, Vice President Mike Pence said that there would be 1 million tests done by a week ago. Even a week later, there have only been a few thousand and the president is still shaking hands with people.
"Donald Trump, today, exercising his presidential prerogative for a do-over on coronavirus seeking to erase the stain of his disastrous Oval Office address," MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace began her Friday show. "Today, taking to the Rose Garden to declare a national emergency that would free up billions of dollars in federal aid as the virus continues its spread in the United States. Measures to contain it have now impacted most aspects of the daily lives of everyday Americans."
He also addressed the growing criticism of his response to the crisis by saying, "I don't take responsibility," and going on to blame former President Barack Obama for his response to another virus from 11 years ago.
When Trump was probed on firing his top pandemic leader from the national security counsel, he similarly passed the buck, saying he didn't know about it and said the reporter asked "a nasty question."
See Wallace's opener below:
'It's a nasty question': Trump pretends not to know he fired top health official on security council
President Donald Trump passed another buck on his decision to fire a top health officials who were responsible for the response to pandemics.
During his press conference Friday, PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump about the US Pandemic Response Team that was shoved out in May 2018.
"Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer abruptly departed from his post leading the global health security team on the National Security Council," Snopes fact-checked. His exit was part of the reorganization of the national security council by then-National Security Advisor John Bolton.
The team was then disbanded.
"It’s thus true that the Trump administration axed the executive branch team responsible for coordinating a response to a pandemic and did not replace it, eliminating Ziemer’s position and reassigning others, although Bolton was the executive at the top of the National Security Council chain of command at the time," said Snopes.
Trump said called it "a nasty question" and said he didn't know about it and instead claimed, "we're doing a great job."
See the video below:
Trump says 'I don’t take responsibility at all' for the testing problems -- then blames Obama for not testing for Swine Flu
President Harry Truman had a famous sign on his desk reading "the buck stops here," signifying that he was the decision-maker and responsible for the nation. When asked if he was responsible for the failures in testing for coronavirus, President Donald Trump passed the buck.
“I don’t take responsibility at all," Trump told the crowd of press in the Rose Garden Friday.
Trump then moved on to attack former President Barack Obama for not acting on Swine Flu, or H1N1. The Obama administration declared an emergency about a week after the problem was discovered and by this time in the process they had tested 1 million people. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the mortality rate for the disease in the United States was 0.002 percent.
In contrast, coronavirus is likely to kill far more people.
Former Obama campaign manager Dan Pfeiffer recalled Trump's declaration in 2016: "I alone can fix it."
See the video below:
'Trump makes Bush sound like Churchill': Anger spreads amid 'embarrassing' coronavirus national emergency announcement
As the coronavirus spread, President Donald Trump, again, tried to calm fears while also announcing he was calling a national emergency. The president called it "two very big words."
It's an odd move because the president has claimed that there isn't a crisis and that the panic is what is causing the crisis.
He also compared it to the Swine Flu, or H1N1, which had a relatively low mortality rate, rate of infection and was not declared a global pandemic.
It is ultimately leading to greater concern that the president isn't clear on the seriousness of the disease.
Trump also appeared to have learned about telemedicine over the course of the past few days. For most Americans, telemedicine has been a practice for years.
As he scrambles for ways to get a tighter grip on the situation, Americans were skeptical and frustrated. It took Trump two months to declare a national emergency for the virus.
Trump welcomed many CEOs of major corporations to say a comment about the work they're doing. They all shook Trump's hand. The president spent the weekend with two people who are now coronavirus positive.
You can see the tweets below:
Congressman furious overseas service members aren't being tested for coronavirus -- because there are no test kits
Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan (D) is sounding the alarm about military service members around the world who are being exposed to coronavirus/COVID19 but are unable to be tested for it.
Speaking to MSNBC Friday, Pocan specifically cited an Afghanistan base just outside a town that has reported five cases of coronavirus. He said that they hadn't even learned about it from the Pentagon, rather a family member contacted his office saying that a number of the troops have flu-like symptoms but aren't testing positive for the flu.
"Even if you do get the test, unless you get that processed in 72 hours, you can get a false negative or conditions of the test might be ruined," he explained. "We still have a lot of concerns on the front."
MSNBC's Andrew Mitchell noted that it isn't merely Afghanistan, there are members of the armed forces in Italy and in west Asia.
"How can that be possible that military doctors do not have access to these tests?" she asked.
"It shouldn't be possible," the congressman said. "We should be having those tests out like we need to get them across the country. We know the administration made a number of missteps and I'm not here to talk about that today but we're significantly behind where we should be. It's one thing about getting tests out but it's important we're proactively testing the right people, anyone in the medical system and health personnel."
Americans were told there were about 2.5 million tests and Vice President Mike Pence said that there would be at least 1 million tests done by the end of last week. That promise and deadline has come and gone, while doctors and hospitals are clamoring for test kits.
See the video below:
The View’s Meghan McCain predicts Trump will boot Mike Pence off the ticket — here’s why
"The View" addressed who they think Vice President Joe Biden should pick if he ultimately becomes the official Democratic nominee. According to the co-hosts, it must be a woman.
But if Biden picks a woman, Meghan McCain thinks Trump will go tit-for-tat and fire Vice President Mike Pence.
"I still think, though, if he chooses a woman, Trump is going to kick Pence out and put in Nikki Haley," she said. "Because I think they're going to go toe-for-toe. Like you want to identity politics me, I'll identity politics you. I think they're gangster."
Co-host Joy Behar said that the president's luck is changing right now and given Pence's more-stable leadership on coronavirus, Trump might falter. Others think that Trump has named Pence as the head of the coronavirus task force because if it goes awry he can throw the vice president under the bus.
"I don't know if the party would like that, to take Pence out," said Behar.
"I think they would. They need the win," McCain replied.
Watch the exchange below:
Trump convinced UFC CEO to continue public events despite coronavirus warnings: report
The coronavirus is shutting down sporting events, Broadway shows, concerts, Disney, travel and more, but the UFC said they trust President Donald Trump over safety.
CEO Dana White told ESPN he made the decision to soldier on after speaking to the president, TMZ observed.
"I talked to the President and the Vice President of the United States today about this and they're taking this very serious and they're saying 'be cautious and be careful but live your life and stop panicking,'" he said.
"Everybody is panicking and instead of panicking we're actually getting out there and working with doctors and health officials and the government to figure out how to keep the sport safe and how we can continue to put on events."
The doctors and medical professionals involved are the ones saying that the safest option is to stay out of mass-events. The concern isn't merely that UFC fans could contract the disease, it is that they become carriers for the disease and then give it to anyone they come in contact with.
“I can’t give you a number,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I can’t give you a realistic number until we put into the factor of how we respond. If we’re complacent and don’t do really aggressive containment and mitigation, the number could go way up and be involved in many, many millions.”
Saturday night's fight will be Kevin Lee vs. Charles Oliveira.
You can see the video of White below:
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.