As part of the ongoing project to catalog every awful thing the Trump Administration has done as a reference for future political arguments and whatever few posterity survives to see 2020, here’s everything awful the Trump Administration has done this week.
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1823. Justice Sotomayor warned that, thanks in part to Trump's appointees, the Supreme court was putting its thumb on the scale for the administration
1824. Claimed, without evidence, the coronavirus would die out when it got warm
1825. Reduced the number of toxic cleanups
1826. A Federal court sided with the administration's rule blocking funding for family planning clinics
1827. Was criticized for its terrible record keeping practices
1828. Flew American citizens likely carrying the coronavirus to the US despite CDC objections
1829. Systematically undermined the government's capacity to combat infectious diseases
1830. Praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose sectarian politics has led to an epidemic of violence against Muslims in India
1831. Refused to commit to providing an affordable coronavirus vaccine
1832. Put HHS workers and the country in danger by sending workers in to handle potential coronavirus cases without proper equipment and training
1833. Put Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus response despite his terrible track record with public health epidemics
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The big news this week was the Trump administration’s mishandling of the emerging public health crisis surrounding the coronavirus. The series of blunders began with the administration bringing potentially infected people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship back into the US over CDC objects, and continued on with revelations that the administration had hollowed out our ability to respond to public health crises through funding cuts and mismanagement of personnel. The realization that the guy from the Apprentice might kill us all by dropping the ball on a bat soup plague (who saw that one coming) sent markets tumbling, with the Dow suffering its biggest one day loss in history.
As always, I don’t expect to catch everything, so let me know if there’s anything you think I’ve missed. The full omnibus is being maintained here (a spreadsheet version can be found here). For an overall summary, click here.