Name: New Lincoln Project ad presents brutal timeline of Trump's coronavirus response
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New Lincoln Project ad presents brutal timeline of Trump's coronavirus response

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MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump is the narrator of the Lincoln Project's latest ad against him.Titled "Failure," it presents a brutal timeline of his response to the coronavirus crisis, beginning with Trump stating on Jan. 22, "We have it totally under control. One person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine." From there, the messages are similarly nonchalant, with Trump saying on Feb. 25 the country is "very close to a vaccine" and declaring on Feb. 27, "One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."As the ad continues, and Trump calls the coronavirus a "new hoax" (Feb. 28) and asks if (April 23), a tally appears, showing the U.S. death toll from the virus. It goes up steadily, and reaches 113,000 around June 20, when Trump is shown telling supporters in Tulsa that he has done "a phenomenal job" leading the country through the pandemic.The ad ends on July 21, with a clip of Trump standing in front of reporters during his first coronavirus briefing in months. The pandemic, he says, will "probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. That's the way it is." In a comment under the video on YouTube, the Lincoln Project refers to the coronavirus as #TrumpVirus, and says, "We could have won, but our 'wartime' president surrendered." Watch the ad below.Robert E. Lee High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, has a new name: John R. Lewis High School.In late June, the Fairfax County School Board voted to change the school's name so it was no longer honoring the Confederate general. The board spent the last several weeks trying to come up with a new name, and decided to following his death last Friday at the age of 80 from cancer. Lewis spoke at the March on Washington in 1963, and survived a beating by Alabama state troopers as he led a Selma to Montgomery protest march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge."Rep. Lewis was a champion of the civil rights movement, and our board strongly believes this is an appropriate tribute to an individual who is a true American hero," Fairfax County School Board Chair Ricardy Anderson said in a statement Thursday. "We will also honor his life's work by continuing to promote equity, justice, tolerance, and service in the work that we do."During the recent anti-racism protests that swept the country, there were renewed calls for Confederate statues and monuments to be removed and for schools named after Confederate figures to be renamed. Tamara Derenak Kaufax, a Fairfax County School Board member, said in a statement Confederate values "do not align with our community," and she believes Lewis' "extraordinary life and advocacy for racial justice will serve as an inspiration to our students and community for generations to come."China on Friday said it has ordered the United States to shutter its consulate in the western city of Chengdu, in response to the Trump administration telling China on Tuesday it had 72 hours to close its consulate in Houston.U.S. officials accused China of using the Houston consulate to engage in economic espionage, allegations Beijing denied. The United States has five consulates in mainland China, and the Chengdu location is valuable for gaining information on Tibet and Xinjiang, two areas that have experienced security crackdowns,On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Southern California, and said the United States "must admit a hard truth that should guide us in the years and decades to come, that if we want to have a free 21st century, and not the Chinese century of which [Chinese President] Xi Jinping dreams, the old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won't get it done. We must not continue it and we must not return to it."In response, Hua Chunying, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, said Pompeo is "launching a new crusade against China in a globalized world. What he is doing is as futile as an ant trying to shake a tree."A shows former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, ahead of President Trump in the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.In Michigan, Biden leads Trump by nine points, at 49 to 40 percent. Trump does well with white voters who do not have college degrees, up 10 points over Biden, while women back Biden over Trump by an 18-point margin. In 2016, Trump won Michigan by the narrowest of margins — just 0.23 points.Biden is up 13 points over Trump in Minnesota, 51 to 38 percent. When asked about issues facing the country today, more voters trust Biden on race relations (by 28 points), the coronavirus response (23 points), and China (10 points). Regarding the handling of the economy, Biden is up by just one point. Hillary Clinton won Minnesota in 2016 by 1.52 points, while former President Barack Obama won by 7.69 points in 2012 and 10.24 points in 2008.In Pennsylvania, Biden is ahead by 11 points, 50 to 39 percent. Biden has the support of voters under 35 (up 29 points), suburban voters (26 points), and women (17 points), while Trump leads among rural voters (up 17 points) and whites without a college degree (10 points). When it comes to job performance, 43 percent of voters approve of Trump while 56 percent disapprove.The surveys were conducted July 18-20, with 756 Michigan voters, 776 Minnesota voters, and 793 Pennsylvania voters randomly selected and polled by phone. In all three states, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.During his Thursday evening coronavirus briefing, President Trump conceded that in hot spots, school districts "may need to delay reopening for a few weeks."Earlier this month, Trump that schools were staying closed because it is "good for them politically," and the government would "put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools." While speaking on Thursday, he said districts should be "actively making preparations to open," but governors will make the final decision.Trump also said he will ask Congress to ensure the next coronavirus relief bill includes $105 billion for education, with that money going to schools so they can purchase masks, reduce class sizes, and hire more teachers. If a school district does not open, the funding should go to parents "to send their children to the public, private, charter, religious, or home school," Trump said.Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, Trump is "sowing seeds of chaos and confusion so he can fulfill his and [Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos' dream of privatizing and voucherizing public education. He's provided no plan and no funding and has ignored the health experts. Teachers won't let him get away with it."The late Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader and Democrat who represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District for more than two decades, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol next week.Lewis, 80, died last Friday after battling cancer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Thursday evening that an invitation-only ceremony will be held on Monday afternoon while Lewis lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda. Later in the day and on Tuesday, Lewis will lie in state outdoors, where the public will be able to pay their respects, with social distancing and mask measures in place.Lewis' family has asked people who want to honor him but do not live in the Washington, D.C., area to stay home, and use the hashtags #BelovedCommunity or #HumanDignity to leave a virtual tribute,President Trump on Thursday said he has accepted an invitation to at a New York Yankees game next month.Throwing the first pitch is a presidential tradition dating back to 1910, and this will be Trump's first time participating. Trump, who grew up playing baseball, told reporters that after team president Randy Levine asked him to throw out the first pitch on August 15, he asked, "How's the crowd going to be?" Because of the coronavirus pandemic, "you don't have a crowd," he added. "There's no such thing."Trump made the announcement shortly before Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert and now a household name because of his role in the coronavirus response, threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Washington Nationals. Fauci's throw was pretty far off, but he can always use the excuse that he was trying to make sure the ball and home plate were social distancing.Dr. Anthony Fauci’s first pitch was a little outside but we will forgive him because he has been a busy man— Antwan V. Staley (@antwanstaley)While standing in front of a map showing coronavirus hotspots across the United States, President Trump struck an optimistic tone about how the country is doing."You can see from that it's in great shape, lots of it," Trump told reporters on Thursday evening. "The northeast has become very clean. The country is in good shape, other than if you look south and west — some problems that'll all work out."Cases are surging across both regions, with California on Wednesday reporting a record 157 coronavirus fatalities, Texas and Alabama also reported a record number of deaths on Wednesday, with 197 in Texas and 61 in Alabama. In Mississippi, there have been over the last week, an increase of 70 percent from the average two weeks earlier. On Thursday, the United States hit four million confirmed COVID-19 cases.2020 The Week Publications Inc., All rights reserved.

MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump is the narrator of the Lincoln Project's latest ad against him.Titled "Failure," it presents a brutal timeline of his response to the coronavirus crisis, beginning with Trump stating on Jan. 22, "We have it totally under control. One person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine." From there, the messages are similarly nonchalant, with Trump saying on Feb. 25 the country is "very close to a vaccine" and declaring on Feb. 27, "One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."As the ad continues, and Trump calls the coronavirus a "new hoax"...

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New Lincoln Project ad presents brutal timeline of Trump's coronavirus response

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