Tag: Trump’s pandemic response

Gottlieb Confirms White House Rejected Pfizer Vaccine Offer

Buck Banks

“Pfizer did offer an additional allotment coming out of that plan — basically the second-quarter allotment — to the United States government multiple times and as recently as after the interim data came out and we knew this vaccine looked to be effective.”

— Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who serves on Pfizer’s board, confirmed to CNBC that the White House rejected an offer to lock in additional doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

Ridge: Trump ‘Beyond Despicable,’ ‘Soulless’

Buck Banks

“It’s so unworthy of a president. It’s beyond despicable. It’s soulless. It’s almost unspeakable in the middle of the pandemic to try to divide the country on a political basis when Covid-19 is really bipartisan.”

— Former Gov. Tom Ridge (R), quoted by the New York Times, on President Trump saying the coronavirus death toll from the coronavirus was actually not so bad “if you take out the blue states.”

Pandemic Continues to Take Toll on Jobs

Buck Banks

860,000

“The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak,” the AP reports. “Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even during the depths of the 2007-2009 Great Recession.”

A Picture Is Worth …

Buck Banks


Outside the White House, just after President Trump concluded his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

Vox: “It’s a moment that encapsulates what amounted to a week of gaslighting on Covid-19 by Trump and the Republican convention — an attempt to make America think that a president who had so clearly failed was in fact a victory for the US.”

Biden Questions Trump’s Mental Ability to Handle the Pandemic

Buck Banks

“After months of failure, he just gave up. You know, I used to think it was because of his personality, but I just don’t think he can intellectually handle it. I don’t think he’s competent enough to know what to do. He just waved the white flag.”

— Joe Biden raised questions about President Trump’s mental capacity, saying he did not have the intellectual know-how to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington Post reports.