I posted the first half of the Presidential Events of August last week. Without further introduction, the second half of The Presidential Events of August 2020.
Protests
The month started with the DOJ planning to send agents to St. Louis and Memphis. While Republican officials complained about shadowy “others” traveling to inflame protests, right wing rallies and caravans brought violence.
While Nikki Haley said that the United States wasn't a racist country, a 17 year old, encouraged by the inflammatory rhetoric, traveled from Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and shot three protesters, leaving two dead. Police on the scene didn't arrest the shooter, and expressed their appreciation for right wing militias at Kenosha. Fox Host Tucker Carlson began the public defense of the shooter. He advocated for violence against protesters when he said, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Trump followed Tucker's lead, initially refusing to condemn the shooting, and later claimed the shooter killed the two people in self defense. The President never expressed sympathy for the man shot by police, or the men killed by the shooter, but he did express empathy for a man killed a few days later who traveled through Portland as part of a group called Patriot Prayer.
The President has failed in a basic duty. To express sympathy for all victims, choosing to reserve it only for those aligned with him. He also failed to condemn all violence, again only reserving his anger for only those he disliked.
Though the mayor of Kenosha and the governor of Wisconsin asked both Trump and Biden to stay away, they both visited the state, though only one spoke to Jacob Blake, the man shot and paralyzed by police. Trump said Black Lives Matters was a “Marxist organization,” and blamed Democrats for violence in Portland.
The Coronavirus
As mentioned earlier, the coronavirus passed 170,000 deaths in August, making it likely the second highest cause of deaths in the United States. This is the simple assumption. The most recent data for death by cause in the United States is from 2017 on the CDC website. In 2017, heart disease killed 647,000, cancer killed 599,000, and accidents killed 169,000. Though the deaths by accident will be higher two years later, because of an increasing population, it won't be much higher. And the coronavirus has killed 188,000 by today, and probably pass 200,000 by year's end. Also, August ended with a daily average of 44,000 new cases, and 900 daily deaths. The daily infection number is ten thousand more than the “peak” of 32,000 in April, though deaths are thankfully lower.
During this pandemic Trump reduced coronavirus funding for the National Guard. He made an exception for Texas and Florida.
Experts have expressed concern over the competency of the FDA under Trump. A spokesperson was fired after 11 days, because she overstated the effectiveness of blood plasma treatment. It was good she was fired, but bad that she made the statements, which she probably did because the President made the statement first. The administration blocked the FDA from regulating lab tests, including for the coronavirus. The FDA reported its first ever shortage of medical supplies. And the head of the FDA prepared to issue emergency authorization for a coronavirus vaccine before it completed clinical trials.
On the policy, the Senate failed to pass a stimulus bill. The Democratic controlled House passed a bill two months ago, but the Senate didn't start negotiations until late July. The Democratic plan proposed a three trillion dollar relief to states, citizens, the unemployed, and businesses. The Republicans wanted one trillion, and it was packed with military pork. When Democrats agreed to negotiate down to two trillion, Republicans refused to budge, with Senator Lindsey Graham even admitting that, “Half the Republicans are going to vote ‘no’ to any more aid.” After passing their tax bill which added to the deficit and gave nearly all the savings to the top 10%, it seems like Republicans are preparing to lose the White House and return to obstructing legislation in the name of the deficit.
Trump's Coronavirus
Though everything the administration does about the coronavirus is related to Trump, some are more directly connected to his actions.
He began the month by insulting Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force. He followed it up with a debacle of an interview where he said,“They are dying. That’s true. It is what it is,” in response to the question, “How [is the coronavirus under control]? A thousand Americans are dying a day.” The complete interview is worth viewing.
In response to Congress's failure to pass a relief bill, the President blamed Democrats, and signed four executive orders. The orders would defer payroll taxes, place a moratorium on federal evictions, add $400 per week to unemployment benefits, as long as states cover 25% of the increase, and postpone student loan payments to the government. Unfortunately, since the power of spending is reserved for Congress, it isn't clear if any of these orders are effective or legal. Businesses said they wouldn't implement the President's deferment of payroll taxes, and states said they wouldn't pay the extra unemployment benefits.
As September approached the President pressed for schools to reopen. He said it would be safe because the coronavirus would go away. Facebook removed a post because Trump lied saying children were, “almost immune from Covid-19.” He said the coronavirus was disappearing. It might be a self fulfilling prophecy. Since Trump repeatedly asked for fewer coronavirus tests, the CDC began recommending less testing. The President even accused the FDA of sabotaging the federal response to the coronavirus.
When asked if he would have called for Obama to resign over 160,000 deaths, Trump said he wouldn't have. Yet, there's always a Tweet.
The Environment
Trump weakened a rule on toxic wastewater, allowing coal plants to release additional arsenic, mercury, and other heavy metals into rivers and lakes.
The FEMA admin refused to answer whether humanity is contributing to global warming. If Trump is reelected for four more years, his policies will lead to irreversible climate damage.
The 2020 Election
Trump has repeatedly hinted he wouldn't concede the election. When asked of the President would not accept a loss, his Press Secretary said, “He will see what happens, and make a determination in the aftermath.” Trump said he wanted to send law enforcement to police polling stations, which is illegal, and voter suppression. Also related to the election, the recently installed Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, announced that National Intelligence would no longer brief Congress in person on election security.
Corruption
The President's administration is complete with corruption. August added more. A new book reported that Trump offered then DHS John Kelly the job of head of the FBI, as long as he swore loyalty to Trump. The same book, Donald Trump v. The United States, claimed that John Kelly tried to downgrade Jared Kushner's security clearance, but Donald Trump intervened.
Former White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was arrested for defrauding donors who sent money to a private organization to build a border wall. While We Build The Wall wasn't technically connected to the White House, they had the public support of key Trump supporters, including Don Jr.
Attorney General William Barr privately demanded Fox New owner, Rupert Murdoch, muzzle criticism of Trump, particularly Andrew Napolitano.
Trump also tried to withhold money from California to fight wildfires, for political pressure.
Bizarre Behavior
Some critics of Donald Trump say he has no empathy. That's totally false. He just reserves it for people who probably don't deserve it. It's true people deserve a trial where they are presumed innocent, but he only thinks it applies to people he likes. For example, he doubled down, and wished accused sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell, “Good luck.”'
Some things, like the aforementioned withholding money from California is clearly wrong. But it's a comforting normal sort of wrong one has come to expect from the President. Then there's the bizarre wrong. Former Trump official, Miles Taylor, claimed that Trump wanted to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland, because the Puerto Ricans were dirty and poor.
While the populace is worried about even attending school, because of the pandemic, Trump is focused on important issues like “patriotic education,” also called propaganda.
Finally:
While I didn't like President Obama, and am not enthusiastic for Joe Biden, they both shared a belief. That their policies should serve everyone, in every state, no matter who they voted for. Sure, both of the men were corrupted by lobbyists, their economic status, and their advisors, but they didn't differentiate between red or blue states, red or blue voters. Trump feels that only Republican States, and Republican voters are worthy of his patronage. In response to a question, Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows said, “Most of Donald Trump's America is peaceful,” as if he only governs part of it.
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