Trump Wants to Pretend That COVID-19 Is Over

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From the LA Times:

The Trump administration, eager to claim victory over the coronavirus, has been considering scaling back the national emergency declared earlier this year to control the pandemic, according to healthcare industry officials who have spoken with the administration.

….Several industry officials interviewed by The Times said they’d received indications over the last week from the Trump administration that lifting emergency declarations was being considered. “It was very much under discussion,” said one industry official, who asked not to be identified to avoid jeopardizing relationships with the administration.

Sure, that makes sense. If we test less, we’ll look better. If we lift the emergency declaration, it means everything is OK. As long as people die without anyone making a big fuss about it on TV—which is Donald Trump’s only gauge of reality—then America is great again.

The White House, naturally, denies they’re planning to do this, but I assume we all know what a White House denial is worth these days.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. The deadline’s almost here. Please help us reach our $150k membership goal by May 31.

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