The motivating factors inside Trump's head, that finally had him give up on his Easter miracle
Today in Vanity Fair;In response to:
“The Campaign Panicked”: Inside Trump’s Decision to Back Off of His Easter Coronavirus Miracle
An impulsive promise (“His view was: I need to show people there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”) led to Fauci pushback. Poll numbers—and a friend in a coma—pushed Trump to reverse course.
By Gabriel Sherman
April 1, 2020
The national debate set off by Donald Trump’s announcement that he wanted churches packed on Easter was, like so many Trump crises, a self-inflicted one. In the days after Trump tweeted that “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” his medical advisers, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, implored Trump not to relax the government’s social distancing guidelines. Trump dug in. “His view was: I need to show people that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” a former West Wing official told me. Under pressure, members of the coronavirus task force discussed privately how parts of the country might be opened in April, but cautioned Trump not to get locked into a specific timetable given the deteriorating conditions in New York hospitals and ominous upticks in cases in New Orleans, Detroit, and elsewhere. “They discussed it internally, but they never intended Trump to announce it,” a Republican working with the task force told me.
Trump’s impulsive decision—and its messy aftermath—consumed the West Wing during the critical week that governors were pleading with the White House to deliver medical supplies before hospital systems began to collapse. “It was totally crazy,” the Republican told me. Dr. Fauci, Senator Lindsey Graham, and others raced to convince Trump that an Easter opening would be a cataclysmic error that could cost millions of lives. “This is a very, very stressful situation for everybody, including me,” Fauci told me in a phone interview on Monday. By last weekend Fauci’s arguments broke through: Trump agreed to extend the social distancing guidelines until the end of April.
Trump’s latest tonal and tactical shift (and almost certainly not the last) was driven by several factors, both personal and political. Trump learned that his close friend, 78-year-old New York real estate mogul Stan Chera, had contracted COVID-19 and fallen into a coma at NewYork-Presbyterian. “Boy, did that hit home. Stan is like one of his best friends,” said prominent New York Trump donor Bill White. Trump also grew concerned as the virus spread to Trump country. “The polling sucked. The campaign panicked about the numbers in red states. They don’t expect to win states that are getting blown to pieces with coronavirus,” a former West Wing official told me. From the beginning of the crisis, Trump had struggled to see it as anything other than a political problem, subject to his usual arsenal of tweets and attacks and bombast. But he ultimately realized that as bad as the stock market was, getting coronavirus wrong would end his presidency. “The campaign doesn’t matter anymore,” he recently told a friend, “what I do now will determine if I get reelected.”
“The Campaign Panicked”: Inside Trump’s Decision to Back Off of His Easter Coronavirus Miracle
An impulsive promise (“His view was: I need to show people there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”) led to Fauci pushback. Poll numbers—and a friend in a coma—pushed Trump to reverse course.
By Gabriel Sherman
April 1, 2020
The national debate set off by Donald Trump’s announcement that he wanted churches packed on Easter was, like so many Trump crises, a self-inflicted one. In the days after Trump tweeted that “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” his medical advisers, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, implored Trump not to relax the government’s social distancing guidelines. Trump dug in. “His view was: I need to show people that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” a former West Wing official told me. Under pressure, members of the coronavirus task force discussed privately how parts of the country might be opened in April, but cautioned Trump not to get locked into a specific timetable given the deteriorating conditions in New York hospitals and ominous upticks in cases in New Orleans, Detroit, and elsewhere. “They discussed it internally, but they never intended Trump to announce it,” a Republican working with the task force told me.
Trump’s impulsive decision—and its messy aftermath—consumed the West Wing during the critical week that governors were pleading with the White House to deliver medical supplies before hospital systems began to collapse. “It was totally crazy,” the Republican told me. Dr. Fauci, Senator Lindsey Graham, and others raced to convince Trump that an Easter opening would be a cataclysmic error that could cost millions of lives. “This is a very, very stressful situation for everybody, including me,” Fauci told me in a phone interview on Monday. By last weekend Fauci’s arguments broke through: Trump agreed to extend the social distancing guidelines until the end of April.
Trump’s latest tonal and tactical shift (and almost certainly not the last) was driven by several factors, both personal and political. Trump learned that his close friend, 78-year-old New York real estate mogul Stan Chera, had contracted COVID-19 and fallen into a coma at NewYork-Presbyterian. “Boy, did that hit home. Stan is like one of his best friends,” said prominent New York Trump donor Bill White. Trump also grew concerned as the virus spread to Trump country. “The polling sucked. The campaign panicked about the numbers in red states. They don’t expect to win states that are getting blown to pieces with coronavirus,” a former West Wing official told me. From the beginning of the crisis, Trump had struggled to see it as anything other than a political problem, subject to his usual arsenal of tweets and attacks and bombast. But he ultimately realized that as bad as the stock market was, getting coronavirus wrong would end his presidency. “The campaign doesn’t matter anymore,” he recently told a friend, “what I do now will determine if I get reelected.”
Comments (30)
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., there was a brief update on one of my radio stations tonight. I wish it would have have given more numbers but they didn't. Over 200,000 infected with 50% tested Asymptomatic.
Thinking about that Asymptomatic part alone, could indicate it won't be gone until it runs it's course. Fauci could be right about the possibility of needing a vaccine like we have for the flu.
had in the house was cough drops at the time. I got those when I was first getting sick.
D - 2 years old ? Wow ! Yeah, a vaccine is definitely needed. They are working on it, and may even have one, but the testing won't be done for a while.
I would like to be starting back to work in another week or so. It appears that may not happen.
It may take until we get an effective vaccine for everyone.
Apparently I managed to escape from my crib, which was netted over the top to keep me in. I even made it outside of the hospital because I was going home.
I was in the hospital for about 6-8 weeks I think is what I was told. I only remember bits and pieces myself.
As it stands right now, I have no plans on filing if I don't have too. All I might be able to cap out with, is maybe three months or so. Any thing beyond that and I'll be in trouble.
I hope you will be 'blessed' soon.
Indeed, I think its complex. Different regions will likely have different timing for their peak.
Thus, travel between different regions (e.g. states) may spark additional peaks. This is exacerbated by the fact, that different states are enacting different restrictions. However, the virus itself does not innately recognize state borders, so regions is a more applicable term.
One thing I heard lately, which is encouraging, is that the virus has a molecule that essentially proofreads it's nucleic acid strings. Thus, mutations would be much rarer than with many other viruses.
So, once an effective vaccine is developed, it may not need to be changed each year, as is needed with some other vaccines.
"Once a store reaches its capacity, customers will be admitted inside on a '1-out-1-in' basis". Company announcement here:
much of what we're doing now could be lost as COVID-19 comes back again.
#1. If an effective vaccine is ready before then, that would likely be a game changer.
Indeed, whenever it arrives, it is likely to be a game changer.
#2. If an effective safe treatment could be found, that could be quite helpful, especially
for those whose lives are in jeopardy.
#3. A lot of the people have already been infected and the majority will recover and likely be immune.
#4. The hospitals will be better prepared by then.
Any pics I've ever seen of Walmart customers, may mean that not many customers could be allowed in before it reaches capacity.
Also, I've read that a lot of stores have now reserved morning hours for seniors.
I'm not sure if Walmart has also reserved a time slot for seniors.
I should also add, that the stores I have gone in have much shorter lines than usual.
Indeed, driving to a store is much more of a breeze. There is little traffic at all.
I've never seen it like that, except at 2 am to 4 am.
WhiteHouse
-- a rare occurrence. We can expect to hear from
POTUS
likely speaking to the pool reporters in the briefing room, sometime after 1830EDT (2230UTC).