The Next President of the United States

[Karabiner]

He's still pushing that Malaria drug - must have some stock.

[MintTrav]

'Scoop: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine'

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-white-house-01306286-0bbc-4042-9bfe-890413c6220d.html

So it seems on Saturday there was a stand-up row within the task force for the first time, between Anthony Fauci and Peter Navarro, an economist newly brought into the team. Navarro is a Harvard PhD and economics professor, but he is also highly political and an aggressive debater and Trump defender. Navarro was pushing the view that there is sufficient scientific evidence to push out Trump's malaria drug for Covid-19, and Fauci was resisting.

Trump keeps saying it might work and might not, so what do you have to lose by trying it, and shut down questions to Fauci about it in tonight's briefing. Patrice Harris, President of the American Medical Assoc, says you could lose your life - benefits are unproven and it's not harmless. It has strong side effects, and could hurt people. Also, other patients with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other auto-immune illnesses who take this drug have a lot to lose if they can't get it due to a rush on it from coronavirus people.  

As it's an existing drug and there are plenty of positive-tested patients available, tests to find out whether it works for Covid-19 could be concluded in a month. In the meantime, Harris says "The AMA is calling for a stop to any inappropriate prescribing and ordering of medications, including chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine...." (https://laist.com/2020/03/29/trump-coronavirus-treatment-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-what-we-know.php)

Navarro is a highly-effective operator and I wouldn't be surprised to see him taking a more prominent role in the future (unless he oversteps the line and falls out of favour, which he is quite capable of doing).

[MintTrav]

Navarro in action. He was involved in an extraordinary interview with CNN anchor Brianna Keilar last week, where he withstood some very aggressive questioning without losing his cool.

[Marky147]

He comes across very well, and handled that with some class. She ended up looking bad, imo.

[nirvana]

Watching Trumps press conference live for the first time.

So odd, just rambling away, he's got a script but it sounds like he's making it up as he goes along - perhaps he's just ad libbing a lot but even the meat of it surely can't be written by a professional

I ended up watching all of this. Apart from the sly digs at a few of the fake news press, which always seems so well, un-presidential, he actually looked more like a leader during questions.

Its kind of impossible to overstate how different he is to any other politician, incred wealth of footage for a zillion documentaries once the Trump era is over

[MintTrav]

Why should we listen to you and not Dr. Fauci?

Peter Navarro was out this morning for an interview with John Berman on CNN, followed by one with Fox & Friends. Both asked about the Axios report on his argument with Fauci and he admitted there had been disagreement but said the decision to 'surge' the drug was unanimous at the meeting.

The Berman one was spiky: “What are your qualifications to weigh in on medicine more than Dr. Anthony Fauci? Why should we listen to you and not Dr. Fauci?.....Do you have reason to doubt the analysis of Dr. Anthony Fauci?”  Navarro said that doctors disagree all the time and asked Berman if he would take hydroxychloroquine if he was sick, to be told “I would consult my doctor… not someone involved with trade policy.”

As you might expect, the Fox & Friends one was more straightforward.

Navarro got his way on this issue, facing down the leading infectious diseases scientist in the country (no doubt, having Trump on his side helped). Officially, he is the White House man on Trade and Manufacturing but, now he seems to have been given rein to cross over elsewhere, I'm expecting to see more of him.

[MintTrav]

Great news for Georgians - Gov Kemp rescinded some previous restrictions and reopened the beaches at the weekend. That's nice for them.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/04/06/coronavirus-officials-clash-after-georgia-governor-reopens-beaches/2953003001/

https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1247208747459543047

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[MintTrav]

It's Election Day in Wisconsin.

They're made of strong stuff in those parts and they're not going to let a virus stop their election. Other States may have delayed theirs, but Wisconsin isn't having any of that.

They have issued some guidelines to help voters keep safe, involving distancing and so on, so that's alright.

https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-04/NR%20Elections%20-%20Top%2010%20Things%20Voters%20Need%20to%20Know%2004-06-2020.pdf

Due to election workers pulling out, voters have been told that there has been some consolidation of voting centres and they may not be able to attend their usual one. Milwaukee usually has 1,400 election workers, but can only persuade 350 to take part this time, so has discontinued its 180 local centres in favour of er........5 large ones.

It's gonna be a long day.

[Marky147]

He's definitely a lot better than most of the others I can remember, and Fauci is very good in all the footage I've seen, too. Navarro definitely not one for being run over, and holds himself well even when riled.

Fauci should get the equivalent of whatever a knighthood is once this is all over, having to ride this out.

That Georgia must have been one of the late questions earlier, when Trump said he'd speak to him later, or words to that effect.

Absolute madness from Georgia & the cheeseheads!

[MintTrav]

If you ever get to vote in the US, allow a bit of time. It’s no quick in-and-out like it is here.

How to spread Covid at a voting centre:
1. Provide over-complicated and badly laid out voting forms that mean people have to hang around for longer.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Karabiner]

He's still pushing that Malaria drug - must have some stock.

In some quite unsurprising news:

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine-112913777.html

[Marky147]

If you ever get to vote in the US, allow a bit of time. It’s no quick in-and-out like it is here.

How to spread Covid at a voting centre:
1. Provide over-complicated and badly laid out voting forms that mean people have to hang around for longer.

I love America, but why is some stuff that should be so simple, so fking backwards?

[Marky147]

He's still pushing that Malaria drug - must have some stock.

In some quite unsurprising news:

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine-112913777.html

I did see that on Twitter, but was just browsing while I ate dinner and didn't want to go down a rabbithole

[MintTrav]

Blacks are being hit disproportionately by coronavirus.

Most places haven't reported statistics by race yet, but those that have are dramatic:

                   Black % in Population              Black % of Covid Deaths
Michigan                   14%                                       41%
Chicago                    30%                                       70%
Milwaukie                 27%                                        81%
Louisiana                  32%                                       70%

They're putting it down to them already having more heart disease, diabetes and lung disease and being less likely to have white-collar jobs where they can work from home.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-black-americans-race/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/african-americans-may-be-dying-covid-19-higher-rate-better-n1178011

[MintTrav]

Wisconsin is under a stay-at-home order, but they went ahead with the voting today. Governor Tony Evers, who is a Democrat, said all along that he didn't have the power to delay the vote. Then, on Monday, he issued an Order doing exactly that. Republican leaders in the State immediately went to the US Supreme Court and the Order was overturned by a 5-4 majority that followed party lines. The main reason Republicans wanted it to go ahead seems to be because one of the positions being voted on is on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which they really want to fill with a conservative, and they believe that low turnout works in their favour.

The virus was going to reduce turnout anyway, but voting was made harder by most urban election workers staying away. In Green Bay, for example, only 17 out of 270 election staff made themselves available, so polling stations were consolidated and reduced from 31 to 2. This happened throughout all the cities, but Conservative/Republican rural areas reported none of the issues experienced in urban parts. Despite the problems, many people queued for hours, but turnout is still expected to be low when it is published.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

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