thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-05--'World's Loneliest Elephant' Will Leave Zoo To Embark On New Life

ISLAMABAD ( AP ) — An elephant who has become a cause celebre for animal rights activists around the world will be allowed to leave his Pakistani zoo and transferred to better conditions , the animal welfare group helping with the case said Saturday .
Dubbed the ‘ world ’ s loneliest elephant ’ by his supporters , Kaavan has languished at a zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for more than 35 years .
Martin Bauer , a spokesman for Four Paws , said the elephant has been finally given medical approval to travel , most likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and better conditions .
Rescuing Kaavan from the zoo ’ s dire conditions attracted the attention of animal activists around the world , and celebrities including U.S. singer Cher , who lobbied for his relocation .
“ Unfortunately , the rescue comes too late for two lions that died during an attempted transfer at the end of July after local animal handlers set a fire in their enclosure to force them into their transport crates , ” Bauer said in a statement released on Saturday .
He said Four Paws was invited by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transfer the remaining animals in the zoo .
Kaavan has until now been forced to live a solitary life in a small enclosure .
Friday ’ s medical examination showed the elephant was overweight , even as he showed signs of malnutrition .
His nails were cracked and overgrown apparently from years of living in an improper enclosure with flooring that damaged his feet .
“ Following the checks , which confirmed Kaavan is strong enough , steps will now be taken to finalize his relocation to an animal sanctuary potentially in Cambodia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be a long one , said Bauer , adding that Kaavan ’ s wounds are more than just physical .
He also suffers behavioral issues .
Kaavan , who lost his partner in 2012 , has battled loneliness as well as poor living conditions .
Both have taken their toll , said Bauer in an interview .
“ He also developed stereotypical behavior , which means he shakes his head back and forth for hours .
This is mainly because he is simply bored , ” said Bauer .
It wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to travel .
Rights activists have lobbied for his relocation since 2016 .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
ISLAMABAD (AP) — An elephant who has become a cause celebre for animal rights activists around the world will be allowed to leave his Pakistani zoo and transferred to better conditions, the animal welfare group helping with the case said Saturday.
Dubbed the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ by his supporters, Kaavan has languished at a zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for more than 35 years.
Advertisement
Martin Bauer, a spokesman for Four Paws, said the elephant has been finally given medical approval to travel, most likely to Cambodia, where he will find companionship and better conditions.
The overweight elephant Kaavan underwent a full medical examination at the zoo on Friday, said Bauer.
In May, Pakistan’s High Court ordered the Marghazar Zoo closed because of its abysmal conditions blamed on systemic negligence.
Rescuing Kaavan from the zoo’s dire conditions attracted the attention of animal activists around the world, and celebrities including U.S. singer Cher, who lobbied for his relocation.
Advertisement
“Unfortunately, the rescue comes too late for two lions that died during an attempted transfer at the end of July after local animal handlers set a fire in their enclosure to force them into their transport crates,” Bauer said in a statement released on Saturday.
He said Four Paws was invited by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board to safely transfer the remaining animals in the zoo. Kaavan has until now been forced to live a solitary life in a small enclosure.
Friday’s medical examination showed the elephant was overweight, even as he showed signs of malnutrition. His nails were cracked and overgrown apparently from years of living in an improper enclosure with flooring that damaged his feet.
“Following the checks, which confirmed Kaavan is strong enough, steps will now be taken to finalize his relocation to an animal sanctuary potentially in Cambodia,” Bauer said.
His recovery will be a long one, said Bauer, adding that Kaavan’s wounds are more than just physical. He also suffers behavioral issues.
Advertisement
Kaavan, who lost his partner in 2012, has battled loneliness as well as poor living conditions. Both have taken their toll, said Bauer in an interview.
“He also developed stereotypical behavior, which means he shakes his head back and forth for hours. This is mainly because he is simply bored,” said Bauer.
The Four Paws team that carried out Kaavan’s physical included wildlife veterinarians and experts.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-06--The Real Consequences Of Getting ― Or Being Denied ― An Abortion

But does abortion actually harm women ?
And what of those who are denied a desired abortion ?
How might their mental health be impacted by a forced pregnancy ?
These questions are at the heart of research done by Diana Greene Foster , a professor at the University of California , San Francisco in the obstetrics , gynecology and reproductive sciences department .
Foster has spent the past 10 years investigating the outcomes for women who had or were denied abortions , tracking their emotional , physical and economic health .
To get the most accurate picture , she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the gestational deadline to women who were too late to the clinic and were turned away .
The difference between the two groups was often a matter of days .
The results of Foster ’ s study , aptly named The Turnaway Study , were recently published in a book with the same title .
Among her findings : Abortion did not increase women ’ s risk of having suicidal thoughts or their chances of developing post-traumatic stress disorder , depression , anxiety , low self-esteem or lower life satisfaction .
Nor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of alcohol , tobacco or drugs .
Women who got the abortions they wanted were more likely to have a positive outlook on the future ; 95 % said abortion was the right decision for them .
The outlook for women who were denied an abortion was less cheery .
They were more likely to live below the federal poverty level and to be unemployed .
They struggled more than their counterparts to afford basic necessities like food , housing and transportation .
They were more likely to stay in contact with violent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health problems .
It really came from wanting to test the idea that abortion hurts women , which is an idea that is circulated widely and promoted by anti-abortion advocates .
It is important not just to ask the question of whether abortion hurts women , but also how does restricting access to abortion affect women ?
There have been hundreds of restrictions in just the past 10 years .
So , knowing and understanding the effect of those seems extremely important .
Exactly .
If they were going to turn a woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the normal counseling and then say , “ By the way , there ’ s a study out of UCSF which will ask you about your health and well-being for the next five years .
Might you be interested ?
” If the woman said yes , they would put them on the phone with us .
Then they would approach the next two women who received an abortion just under the gestational limit to see if they would participate .
We followed them over time to ask them about their physical health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ achievement of other life plans .
The leading cause of showing up to a clinic later in pregnancy is not realizing you ’ re pregnant .
That can be a marker of a chaotic life , but it also can happen to lots of people , like women who just had a baby , young women who ’ ve never had regular periods , women with chronic health conditions that have similar symptoms as for pregnancy .
What was surprising was not the reasons they gave , but how prescient they were in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were denied .
So they ’ re worried about not being financially prepared , and we see that they become poor .
They worry that their relationship isn ’ t strong enough to support a child , and we see that relationships dissolve whether or not they have the baby .
They say they need to focus on other kids , and we see that their existing kids do worse when they are denied an abortion than receive it .
When the government takes an active role in trying to prevent people from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for their lives ― for their physical health , for their economic well-being and for their life trajectory .
This meddling in people ’ s decision-making is really short-sighted .
They ’ re focused on this one pregnancy and not the woman ’ s well-being or her existing children .
One in 20 women had reported that they experienced violence from the man involved in the pregnancy in the months prior to becoming pregnant .
The difference between women who receive an abortion and those who are denied is that those who receive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposure to that guy , whereas the women who don ’ t receive an abortion have ongoing contact and a higher risk of experiencing violence .
Over time , the relationships dissolve and eventually the women extricate themselves , but it is years of continued violence , whereas getting an abortion might have enabled her to get away .
I wish we ’ d asked about whether people were trans men .
We had the inclusion criteria of just pregnant women so I don ’ t know if there were trans men who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think they were eligible .
We also restricted the study to exclude people seeking abortions for fetal anomaly .
I should have included them just to understand more about their experience .
It ’ s a separate study , but it really should be done .

A new book, "The Turnaway Study," adds essential data and perspective to the ongoing debate over abortion. Photo: Getty
For decades, anti-abortion activists have argued that abortion is harmful to women, claiming that it often leads to regret, mental health issues and dependence on drugs and alcohol. Even former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy bought into this reasoning, writing in 2007 that those who have abortions may experience “severe depression” and a loss of self-esteem.
That thinking has been used to justify onerous abortion restrictions, such as long waiting periods, that can make it harder to obtain the procedure and even effectively bar it for some.
Advertisement
But does abortion actually harm women? And what of those who are denied a desired abortion? How might their mental health be impacted by a forced pregnancy? These questions are at the heart of research done by Diana Greene Foster, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences department.
Foster has spent the past 10 years investigating the outcomes for women who had or were denied abortions, tracking their emotional, physical and economic health. To get the most accurate picture, she compared women who obtained an abortion just before the gestational deadline to women who were too late to the clinic and were turned away. The difference between the two groups was often a matter of days.
The results of Foster’s study, aptly named The Turnaway Study, were recently published in a book with the same title. Among her findings: Abortion did not increase women’s risk of having suicidal thoughts or their chances of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or lower life satisfaction. Nor did it increase women’s use of alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Women who got the abortions they wanted were more likely to have a positive outlook on the future; 95% said abortion was the right decision for them.
The outlook for women who were denied an abortion was less cheery. They were more likely to live below the federal poverty level and to be unemployed. They struggled more than their counterparts to afford basic necessities like food, housing and transportation. They were more likely to stay in contact with violent partners. And they experienced more serious health problems.
Advertisement
Foster’s findings are particularly relevant now, as the coronavirus pandemic, the economic downturn and ongoing efforts to restrict abortion access have made the procedure even more difficult for many to obtain.
HuffPost’s interview with Foster has been edited for clarity and length.
Why did you begin this project?
It really came from wanting to test the idea that abortion hurts women, which is an idea that is circulated widely and promoted by anti-abortion advocates. It is important not just to ask the question of whether abortion hurts women, but also how does restricting access to abortion affect women? There have been hundreds of restrictions in just the past 10 years. So, knowing and understanding the effect of those seems extremely important.
How was the study conducted? It sounds like you relied on clinic staff to connect you to patients.
Exactly. If they were going to turn a woman away, they would give her all the normal counseling and then say, “By the way, there’s a study out of UCSF which will ask you about your health and well-being for the next five years. Might you be interested?” If the woman said yes, they would put them on the phone with us.
Then they would approach the next two women who received an abortion just under the gestational limit to see if they would participate. We followed them over time to ask them about their physical health, mental health, economic well-being and achievement of other life plans.
The leading cause of showing up to a clinic later in pregnancy is not realizing you’re pregnant. That can be a marker of a chaotic life, but it also can happen to lots of people, like women who just had a baby, young women who’ve never had regular periods, women with chronic health conditions that have similar symptoms as for pregnancy.
Advertisement
[Entering the study, the groups of those who received abortions and those who didn’t] were very similar. They don’t have different emotional profiles.
Why did women say they were seeking abortions?
The reasons women sought abortions in this study are very similar to national data on why women have abortions: They didn’t have enough money, had partner-related reasons, needed to focus on other kids, or they believed it would interfere with other future opportunities.
What was surprising was not the reasons they gave, but how prescient they were in predicting the outcome of the people who were denied. So they’re worried about not being financially prepared, and we see that they become poor. They worry that their relationship isn’t strong enough to support a child, and we see that relationships dissolve whether or not they have the baby. They say they need to focus on other kids, and we see that their existing kids do worse when they are denied an abortion than receive it.
One of the main goals of the study was to find out if abortion hurts women. Does it?
No. We don’t find evidence of any systematic pattern of worse mental health for women who receive an abortion compared to those who are denied. We don’t find evidence that abortion hurts women, but there are several ways in which being denied an abortion hurts women.
When the government takes an active role in trying to prevent people from getting abortions, it has serious consequences for their lives ― for their physical health, for their economic well-being and for their life trajectory. This meddling in people’s decision-making is really short-sighted. They’re focused on this one pregnancy and not the woman’s well-being or her existing children.
Advertisement
One of the interesting findings was about domestic violence. Can you elaborate on that?
One in 20 women had reported that they experienced violence from the man involved in the pregnancy in the months prior to becoming pregnant. The difference between women who receive an abortion and those who are denied is that those who receive an abortion see a sharp drop-off in exposure to that guy, whereas the women who don’t receive an abortion have ongoing contact and a higher risk of experiencing violence. Over time, the relationships dissolve and eventually the women extricate themselves, but it is years of continued violence, whereas getting an abortion might have enabled her to get away.
What was the most surprising thing you found?
The most surprising thing was that two women denied abortions died from childbirth and pregnancy, which is a shockingly high rate of maternal mortality, much higher than we would have expected, and a total tragedy.
The other thing that was surprising was just how widespread the effects are. It’s not just the woman’s life, it’s her kids, it’s her future kids, it’s her relationships.
Was there anything that came up in this study that you did not get to research thoroughly or that you think deserves more research?
I wish we’d asked about whether people were trans men. We had the inclusion criteria of just pregnant women so I don’t know if there were trans men who would have participated but didn’t think they were eligible. We also restricted the study to exclude people seeking abortions for fetal anomaly. I should have included them just to understand more about their experience. It’s a separate study, but it really should be done.
Advertisement
How do you hope your research is used?


The Useful Idiot

The following is excerpted from “The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican Party with Racism and the Rest of Us with Coronavirus,” by S.V. Dáte.
A pandemic never occurred to them. The idea that Donald Trump would ever be required to sit still, pay attention and make rational decisions that would determine whether hundreds of thousands of Americans would live or die not once crossed the minds of those who put him into the Oval Office.
Advertisement
Oh, they all had their various reasons for wanting him there. For white evangelical Christians, he had explicitly promised to appoint the federal judges they had so longed for to turn back the nation’s cultural clock. For Mitch McConnell, a Trump win — as unlikely as it seemed — was the only real path to making sure Republicans retained control of the Senate and he himself remained majority leader. And for Vladimir Putin, having Trump in the White House — as unlikely as it seemed — would be a dream come true, an opportunity to wreak havoc on his longtime adversary and weaken its historic alliance with Western Europe.
Russia’s dictator, of course, was not remotely interested in what Trump’s ascension might mean for Americans in the event of an actual calamity. If they were dumb enough to vote for him, well, they deserved whatever they got. In any event, it was not his problem.
As for Trump’s American supporters, perhaps so much time had passed since Sept. 11, 2001, that the idea of a genuine national emergency was but a faded memory. Perhaps the quiet competence that President Barack Obama’s team had employed with the 2009 flu pandemic and later with the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak had diminished the perceived threat that a simple virus could present.
For whatever reason, even as they watched the noise and chaos and nonsense generated by candidate Trump for a full year and a half, the consequences of a real crisis requiring real leadership actually happening on the watch of a President Trump had never really dawned on them.
Advertisement
True, there existed then — and continues to exist today — a significant cadre of Republican voters who genuinely believed that the Trump they watched on “The Apprentice” was the real Donald Trump. That he was a real billionaire, based on his own efforts and smarts. That he was capable of making rational, quality decisions based on the facts presented to him.
That excuse, though, does not work for those Republicans from McConnell on down to the congressional candidates who had occasion to speak with Trump in person. As one top Republican National Committee member told me after his first face-to-face encounter with Trump two months before the 2016 election: “OK. Our guy is insane.”
His was not a minority view, by the way. Trump’s incoherence, his temper, his impulsiveness, his breathtaking ignorance — all of it was well-known among the top tiers of the Republican machinery. But for them, it was simply a challenge to overcome, another hurdle that fate had placed between them and their holy grail of judges and tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks. Not once did I ever hear any concern that just maybe they were working to install a useful idiot who truly was an idiot, with absolutely zero leadership qualities one ordinarily looks for in someone aspiring to become the chief executive of the world’s remaining superpower.
It was an abject failure of the Republican Party’s responsibility to the country. In our two-party system, both have a duty to weed out candidates who fail the threshold test of commander-in-chief and, relatedly, emergency-manager-in-chief. Through the summer and fall of 2015 and then the early nominating contests of 2016, it was clear as day that Trump was not credible in those roles, and yet neither the remaining candidates nor the party leadership made a serious effort to ensure his defeat.
True, there were some who voiced warnings. Jeb Bush called Trump a “chaos candidate” who would bring us a “chaos presidency.” But there was also Ted Cruz, who literally praised Trump for the better part of a year, refusing to criticize him in the hopes of one day inheriting his voters. By the time Cruz did unload on him, it was seen as sour grapes. Such was the cynicism and game-playing that put us where we are.
Advertisement
“Trump’s incoherence, his temper, his impulsiveness, his breathtaking ignorance — all of it was well-known among the top tiers of the Republican machinery. ... Not once did I ever hear any concern that just maybe they were working to install a useful idiot who truly was an idiot.”
Republicans will pay a price for that negligence. This already became apparent in the off-year elections, with Democrats winning back the House in 2018 and scoring wins in such unlikely races as a special election for an Alabama Senate seat in 2017 and the Kentucky governorship in 2019. Whether Republicans suffer a complete presidential year wipeout in the autumn of 2020 or four years later is debatable, but that it will happen is not. Trump is betting not just his own future, but that of the party he hijacked on the dwindling demographic of angry white men without college degrees, disproportionately in the South. This is not a winning bet.
Separate from the Republican Party’s failure to safeguard the country, though, is the failure of ordinary Americans. Trump did not elect himself. And while he had the direct help of Russia and the unintended help of the FBI director, it was, in the end, actual Americans who cast their ballots for him.
In a representative democracy, the buck ultimately stops with the voters. So, yes, the president failed us miserably in his handling of the pandemic. From pretending he had stopped the virus from entering the country to claiming it wasn’t so bad to wishing that it would just go away to nonsensically hyping an unproven treatment to discouraging the use of masks to eventually just getting bored with it and moving on, the president could not have handled this more poorly had he been actively trying to fail us.
This is on him — the many hundreds of thousands, even millions, of serious illnesses that might not have happened with a competent response. The 150,000 deaths, at least, that could have been avoided. But it’s also on us.
Advertisement
When the coronavirus reckoning is complete, when all the numbers are eventually tallied, here’s one more that should be included: the 62,984,828 who enabled it to happen back on Nov. 8, 2016.
In truth, no one should have been surprised by Trump’s ruinous handling of a real disaster when it arrived in January 2020. He himself had given us all a clear warning just a few months earlier when he ginned up a fake one for no good reason at all.
In late summer 2019, Trump wreaked chaos and confusion upon Americans trying to plan for the possible arrival of a massive hurricane along the Southeast coast. As residents of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas anxiously tracked Dorian’s projected path, Trump tossed out his own forecast on Twitter, adding a new state into the mix:
“In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”
Advertisement
Almost immediately, the phones lit up at the National Weather Service office in Birmingham as panicked residents called to ask if it was true: that Dorian was going to cross Florida and hit them. This led to a tweet from the meteorologists in that office — who at the time did not know where the misinformation was coming from — stating that Alabama was not, repeat, not in Dorian’s path and everyone should calm down.
And that, in turn, spawned a weekslong imbroglio, with the White House and Trump’s various apologists on one side insisting that Trump had been right and Alabama had been in danger at the time Trump posted his tweet, versus the meteorologists and tropical storm experts at the National Hurricane Center who pointed out that the consensus forecast was already calling for the storm to parallel the East Coast and then head off to sea. Front and center was a week-old tracking map onto which Trump had, with a black Sharpie, apparently drawn a semicircle to include Alabama.
The defenses of him afterward were largely along the lines of, well, that’s just Trump being Trump. Which was both true and — although this went underappreciated at the time — downright horrifying.
It was an open rejection of expertise in a life-and-death field. What Trump was saying was that because he was the president of the United States, his opinion of where the storm would head and whose lives were in imminent danger was every bit as valid as the opinions of those who had devoted their adult lives to the study of Atlantic cyclones. It was beyond parody.
In the Oval Office of the White House, President Donald Trump holds a chart showing the original projected track of Hurricane Dorian that appears to have been extended with a black line to include parts of the Florida panhandle and Alabama on Sept. 4, 2019. Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
Advertisement
Most stunning of all was the view within his senior staff that it was no big deal. One aide even kept on his desk a printout of the tracking chart in question, kind of as a souvenir from what he considered a ridiculous kerfuffle in which Trump had, yet again, owned the press.
That, right there, should have been a bright red flashing warning sign. Because a hurricane is a slow-moving menace that is observable through publicly available images from weather satellites and other data. What’s more, the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service continued to do their jobs, notwithstanding the president’s meddling. What Trump did was inexcusably dangerous — but only those foolish enough to still be listening to the man, given the track record of his first two and a half years in office, were going to be negatively affected. Everyone else would listen to the Hurricane Center and local emergency management officials and act accordingly.
No, the bigger risk that became obvious with the hurricane map stunt was the possibility of a threat that truly required a competent presidential response. Trump could not even properly manage the approach of a hurricane — something that typically happens several times every single year — and then tried to coerce his executive branch agencies into revising history in an attempt to back up his silly tweet.
How would he manage a threat that a president, and only the president, was in a position to deal with?
I actually mentioned that in a long piece about Trump’s endless dishonesty, and even posited the threat of a deadly disease. That article published on Jan. 15, 2020.
Advertisement
Unfortunately, it was only a week later that America started to get the answer to that question.
It’s easy now as the pandemic drags on and the American death toll climbs toward 200,000 to put all the blame on Trump. He did, after all, make bad decision after bad decision in the crucial early weeks of the outbreak, from ignoring intelligence community warnings to downplaying the threat to avoiding taking steps that would anger China’s dictator and endanger the all-important trade agreement he believed he needed in order to win a second term. He even called concerns about the pandemic “a hoax” at one of his campaign rallies, sending a signal to his voting base that public health officials have had an impossible time countering ever since.
That mishandling of the disease, in turn, wrecked the strong economy that for three years Trump had been claiming as his own. In truth, he had inherited it from Obama, with employment and gross domestic product numbers largely similar to those under his predecessor’s second term. The resulting crisis is rivaling the Great Depression in job losses. With a competent response to the pandemic, much of the related economic catastrophe might have been avoided, as well.
And yet, again, Trump did not anoint himself president. That was the work of those 63 million Americans who walked into their polling places and decided to put a cartoonishly unserious person into the most serious job in the country.
There were a number of factors that led to this. Putin decided that the best way to weaken America in 2016 was by hurting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and boosting a “reality” game show host in the Republican contests. How could he know that the then-162-year-old party that once prided itself on its hard-headed realism would fail to do all in its power to stop him?
Advertisement
FBI Director James Comey, for what he thought was the good of his institution, decided in late October to reopen an investigation into Clinton’s misuse of a private email server. How was he to know that state polling was off and that Clinton’s expected easy win was a chimera, and that his two letters to Congress would put the election on a knife’s edge?
In retrospect, it seems quaint — adorable, almost — how much time and energy and hand-wringing went into investigating Clinton’s emails, given the loud and proud corruption Trump has carried out these past three years: the funneling of millions of both campaign as well as taxpayer dollars into his own cash registers, the installation of his own daughter and son-in-law into White House positions, the use of his office and his attorney general to squash investigations into himself and his companies, the attempted extortion of a foreign leader into hurting the political rival he feared most, the begging of a dictator for a favorable trade deal to help him win reelection, the open use of his office and White House staff to stage de facto campaign rallies, and on and on and on and on.
That he would behave this way was not surprising in the least. He had lived his entire adult life in this manner, and the evidence was right out in the open, from his business dealings with the mob to the way he treated his “charity” as a personal slush fund, using it for everything from buying a $12,000 football helmet autographed by Tim Tebow to paying his son’s $7 Boy Scout dues. Sixty-three million Americans knew this, or actively chose not to know this, and decided they were fine with it.
One such voter, in fact, worked with Trump for years and knew full well about his dishonesty and treachery. He told me he didn’t care. That the system needed shaking up, and that he wanted Trump to go in and be a bull in a china shop and smash things.
That person is now a senior official in the administration.
Advertisement
President Donald Trump participates in a tour of a Honeywell International plant that manufactures personal protective equipment on May 5, 2020, in Phoenix. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Trump’s handling of the pandemic, also, was entirely predictable.
For starters, he only occasionally takes intelligence briefings. Both George W. Bush and Obama began their days with one. Trump spends the first several hours of his day watching television and tweeting about what he has just seen. In 2020, he has been taking between just one and two briefings each week.
Meaning that when the experts were trying to tell him that something bad was happening in China and that we needed to prepare, Trump could not be bothered to listen. His top health officials were getting alarming news over the New Year’s holiday about a pneumonia-like outbreak in Wuhan. Trump was golfing. When his health and human services secretary finally got him on the phone nearly three weeks later to talk about the virus, Trump yelled at him instead about a backlash to vaping regulations that was going to hurt Trump with vapers.
Indeed, Trump’s singular focus was then, and remains today, his own reelection. Nothing else matters, and that is now why well over a hundred thousand people in America killed by the coronavirus would still be alive if just about any other adult human being had been president instead of Trump.
In January, winning a second term meant getting his “trade deal” with China signed. Not a harsh word could be spoken about the country or its dictator. Never mind that it wasn’t really a free trade agreement, just a partial unwinding of the trade war he had started. For Trump, it was everything. He repeatedly praised China and Xi Jinping for their “transparency” about the virus when the opposite was true.
Advertisement
In February, trade deal signed, Trump saw increasing concerns about the virus as a direct assault on his reelection bid. He refused to take the pandemic seriously, even as it ravaged Italy and Iran. When a top CDC official warned that people’s lives were about to change dramatically, Trump was enraged because of the stock market sell-off this triggered. He told Americans via Twitter that thousands die from the flu every year and encouraged them to buy stocks. From the White House briefing room, he claimed he had done a fantastic job and that the 15 diagnosed cases to date would soon drop to zero. At one of his rallies, he even claimed that the virus had become his critics’ latest “hoax” and lumped it into the category that included his acceptance of Russian help to win the 2016 election (which was, by the way, true; he had, in fact, done that) and his impeachment over his extortion of Ukraine for help to win the 2020 election (which was also true; he actually did that as well).
After seeming to take the threat seriously for a couple of weeks in the second half of March, Trump quickly grew bored of it and began demanding that states “reopen” their economies so he could go back to the campaign strategy that he had been planning: that is, taking credit for the economy Obama had left him.
Numerous times, Trump repeated in remarks what he had tweeted on March 22, in all capitals: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”
Indeed, just reading back through his various statements through the course of the pandemic is an exercise in shock and awe. “The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.” “This is a flu. This is like a flu.” “I think that we’re doing a great job.” “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” “Just stay calm. It will go away.” “Slow the testing down, please.”
Advertisement
And, of course, the statement that could easily wind up the epitaph of his presidency: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
If evil scientists had conspired to concoct a worse president for our country in a time of crisis, they would have been hard-pressed to outdo Trump. His ignorance, mendacity and stubbornness are a toxic mix in the best of times. Many of the adults in both parties assumed that eventually, when it was finally over, his most egregious messes in the area of trade policy, the NATO alliance, climate change and the environment could, with some work, be cleaned up.
The same cannot be said for all the Americans who will have died unnecessarily because one of the worst human beings in public life — a man who has shown time and time again that his lack of humanity is matched only by his open corruption — happened to become our president.
Perhaps something good can come of this, in the end. Maybe this hard lesson will bring back the idea that the presidency is not a game. That the judgment and the maturity and the smarts of the person behind that desk matter — and not in the way that most people think.
Advertisement
There is a segment of the population that insists a president be “relatable,” to be someone they’d want to have a beer with. Others demand that a candidate match up completely with their preferred vision of the future, of the policies they want to see enacted, and failing such a person’s presence on the ballot, they will not vote at all. Still others — disproportionately, younger voters — believe they have a fundamental right to demand that a candidate inspire them, and failing such inspiration, they also will not bother voting.
Maybe, perhaps, the election of a shameless, cheerfully corrupt con man whose selfishness and ignorance led to the sickness and death of so many of their fellow Americans will help these people grow the hell up.
“Trump did not anoint himself president. That was the work of those 63 million Americans who walked into their polling places and decided to put a cartoonishly unserious person into the most serious job in the country.”
We don’t choose a heart surgeon or a tax accountant or an airline pilot using those criteria, and their jobs are not nearly as critical for the common good as the presidency of the United States. Sure, it would be nice for a president to be interesting and down-to-earth enough to seem relatable — but that’s not nearly as important as competence. There’s nothing wrong with supporting a candidate who shares your ideas and ideals. But making big changes takes time, and, in a crisis, an ideologue can be the worst personality to have in charge. You need someone willing to understand the world as it is, not insist on seeing the world as they feel it ought to be.
As for inspiration — we do not pick the surgeon who is funnier or the accountant who spins out the most engaging anecdotes. Why do we conflate those traits with leadership?
Advertisement
This is not new, by the way. People did not vote for John F. Kennedy because they believed he would bring thoughtful wisdom to the Oval Office. Ronald Reagan’s people learned from that and made his entire campaign — indeed, much of his presidency — a movie production. George H.W. Bush had, hands down, the most relevant experience of any president, and had governed with a low-key self-assuredness. Bill Clinton beat him by seeming more empathetic.
In all three of those cases, though, the winning candidate exhibited an interest in a serious approach to the job during his campaign, and all three wound up demonstrating that in office. In contrast, Trump during his campaign showed he had little knowledge of how the world worked and made it clear he had no interest in learning. His view was that it was all easy and that any idiot could do it. Well, clearly, he was wrong.
Forget all the insane promises he made that were not possibly deliverable. The only real promise that the biggest slice of his base wanted was to make America like it was in the 1950s, which even they knew was not possible. They didn’t care. They liked that he was willing to promise it to them and that he was willing to smash things and make “the establishment” mad.
It is true that Trump did not even receive a plurality of the votes cast, and almost certainly would not have won without the combination of both Russian help and the Comey letters reopening and then reclosing his Clinton investigation in the campaign’s final days. Yet the fact remains that 46% of Americans casting ballots in the 2016 election did so for someone who was not remotely qualified for the job. This, nearly four years later, remains astounding.
A significant percentage of them were perhaps not the most informed or sophisticated of voters and believed Trump really was the savvy and smart businessman he played on television. But what about the rest? They could see what he was all about but voted for him anyway. What does that say about their view of the importance of the job?
Advertisement
Maybe the coronavirus pandemic can impart the lesson that, first and foremost, the person elected to the Oval Office has to be capable of handling the really bad things, the things you did not or even could not anticipate. Airlines don’t pay pilots $200,000 a year to set planes down on clear sunny days with little wind. They get paid well for their years of experience, for all the training they’ve had and the training they continue to undergo for the day the hydraulics fail and they lose an engine to a bird strike on final approach during a thunderstorm, with a bad crosswind. On a related note, nobody asks as they climb aboard whether the pilot is someone they’d like to have a beer with later, or what her views are on “Medicare for All.”
Leadership matters, as has now been made abundantly clear.
There was a terrific skit by “Saturday Night Live” in the late 1980s that portrayed Ronald Reagan as a doddering, increasingly detached granddad smiling and mouthing meaningless clichés to the news cameras as they demanded answers about the Iran-Contra scandal … and then, behind closed doors, transforming into a cunning mastermind who had personally directed every detail.
This, roughly, was how Trump’s defenders in the Republican Party portrayed him during the 2016 election after they were stuck with him as their nominee. It was all an act, they promised. The unhinged rants, the constant tweeting, the outlandish lies — it was all performance art, they claimed, to appeal to a segment of the population that has long been disaffected with traditional Republican politics. Behind closed doors, they promised, he was a different person. A thoughtful and reasonable grown-up who sought divergent viewpoints before making decisions. This would be revealed in the off chance that he somehow won the election, particularly as the weight of the office burdened his shoulders.
These claims, obviously, were lies — or, in the case of those who did not really know Trump very well, wishful thinking.
Advertisement
There is no doubt that Trump can, on occasion, behave like a grown-up. But as insider account after insider account confirms the evidence of our own eyes and ears, it is this occasional grown-up behavior that is the act, the performance art.
The real Trump is the one who bellows angrily at his critics and opponents, the one who posts absurd conspiracy theories on Twitter, who manically calls his safe circle of fawning sycophants for advice, who openly admires authoritarians around the world while attacking and insulting democratically elected leaders, who refuses to take responsibility for any of his failings and who is willing to do anything — extorting a foreign country, begging China’s dictator, egging on open racists, delegitimizing our own coming election — to hold on to power.
The burdens of office have not weighed down on him a single bit. Compare photos of Bill Clinton, either of the Bushes or Obama before they took office and four years in. Note the graying hair, the worry wrinkles and weariness. Now, look at Trump before and today. More bloat, perhaps, but a face otherwise unchanged.
He is now, and for decades has been, a middle school bully with the impulse control of a toddler. The only thing Donald J. Trump cared about before he took office was Donald J. Trump. That has not changed in these three and a half years.
Advertisement
What’s remarkably missing in my multi-year exploration of Trump’s universe is a full-throated, or frankly, even half-hearted defense of any sort of basic, human decency in him. People defend his “economic” nationalism. They shrug and point out the judges he has appointed and the regulations he has rolled back. Others point to the tax cut and how he has helped their personal bank accounts. One White House aide told me that no other Republican elected in 2016 would have produced as many conservative policies as Trump has.
Not one bothers to sell the idea that he is misunderstood and is, at heart, a good human being. Not one.
This view is not restricted to those who work with him. Over the past four years, I have done countless interviews with Republican supporters who, after rattling off judges and tax cuts and deregulation, nevertheless concede in the end that they wish he would keep his mouth shut more and tweet less or even not at all. Which is about as open an admission of what they think of him as a person as is possible.
His off-the-cuff remarks and his tweets — not the prepared speeches people write for him to read — are the most honest reflection of his true self. When his supporters say they wish he would hide that truth, it is because they understand precisely what kind of human being he is and how that is perceived by normal people with basic standards of conduct.
Advertisement
Amazingly, that so often gets glossed over in all the talk about him. Sixty-three million Americans, and the quirks of the Electoral College, put into the most powerful office in the world a truly despicable person. Trump does not treat people well. He would cheat you as soon as look at you. He is spiteful and mean while also venal and ignorant. And none of this was hidden from view. Not a single bit of it. Yet people voted for him anyway.
That says a lot about us. None of it good.
. Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/HuffPost; Photos: Getty
Democracy is not easy.
If there’s one lesson that needs to be learned from the Trump years, it is that one. Democracy is not easy, because for many, many people on this planet and in this country, freedom is not easy. For folks who more or less have it together, that may be hard to understand.
While those who live and work in the world of ideas have the time and the inclination to ponder grand concepts and endless possibilities, a great many of our brothers and sisters struggle just to get through each day. As in, literally wonder how they will manage to make it until bedtime. Whether it’s anxiety or depression or the drugs and the alcohol with which they are often intertwined, so, so many people just want someone to tell them what to do and to take care of them.
Advertisement
It’s no wonder that religions with strict rules on how to live one’s life hold such appeal and are growing so rapidly. The more rules, the better.
This is the key to “populists,” who understand that a substantial number of people are perfectly fine with a strong leader who promises order in a universe that appears not to have any. In his 2016 run, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum understood this even as most in his party did not. The vast majority of people are not entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own businesses. Most people just want a steady job that will be there next year and in five years and in 20 years so they can buy a house and raise children and do all the things they’re supposed to do the way their parents did.
Small wonder that a craven demagogue like Trump could take advantage of those insecurities and tell those people exactly what they wanted to hear.
This has always been the inherent danger in the American experiment: Self-governance requires active engagement by the citizenry. Because things rarely work out as planned, the drafters of the Constitution came up with federalism and checks and balances. On top of all that, this country has been blessed by its massive size and its attendant bureaucracy. It’s hard to institute large-scale change of any kind, in any direction. People demanding action on the climate can attest to this. People pushing for universal health care can attest to this —indeed, have been attesting to this, for decades.
Despite this, the fact remains that breaking things is easier than fixing them, as Trump has repeatedly demonstrated. With a 30% plurality of the populace interested in maintaining its cultural supremacy solidly behind him and a large enough slice of the Republican establishment willing to accept a Faustian bargain for the sake of its own agenda, he has gotten away with it.
Advertisement
We can already see what this has done to our country after three and a half years. What happens if that three and a half becomes eight?


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-05--Fox Reporter Snaps Back As Trump Demands Her Firing For Confirming War Dead Story

A Fox News reporter staunchly defended her work Saturday after President Donald Trump demanded she be fired for confirming parts of The Atlantic ’ s bombshell story revealing the president ’ s insults about military service members .
“ I can tell you that my sources are unimpeachable , ” Fox News ’ national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin said on-air ( in the video above ) .
“ I feel very confident with what we have reported at Fox.
” She didn ’ t confirm “ every line ” of the report , but did confirm “ most of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ article ... so I feel very confident in my reporting , ” Griffin said .
She also discovered as part of her reporting that Trump had once said that including “ wounded guys ” would not be a “ good look ” at a July 4th parade honoring the military , according to a source .
The Atlantic article cited multiple accounts of shocking incidents when Trump denigrated military service members , including referring to fallen war heroes as “ losers ” and “ suckers.
” It also revealed details of the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of America ’ s war dead at Aisne-Marne Cemetery while he was in France in 2018 .
Trump has denied everything .
Griffin said she wasn ’ t able to confirm the “ suckers ” and “ losers ” portion of the Atlantic report about dead military heroes .
But a source did confirm that Trump once said that anyone who served in the Vietnam War was a “ sucker.
” While reporters at other news operations confirmed the Atlantic report , Trump singled out Griffin because a hit from Fox , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is particularly damaging for him .
Trump cited a Breitbart article pointing out that Griffin had failed to confirm the “ most salacious ” ( “ suckers ” and “ losers ” ) details of the Atlantic story , written by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg , whom Trump called a “ slimeball.
” The president also declared that Fox News was “ gone.
” Jennifer Griffin of Fox News Did Not Confirm ‘ Most Salacious ‘ Part of Atlantic Story https : //t.co/rUpbSWhHac via @ BreitbartNews All refuted by many witnesses .
Jennifer Griffin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting .
Never even called us for comment .
@ FoxNews is gone !
— Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) September 5 , 2020 Fox News was confused about where it stood on the story Friday .
News hosts bashed the story before it was confirmed ( by Griffin ) , then it was bashed again , then reconfirmed .
News hosts also attacked the use of anonymous sources by The Atlantic , but then used anonymous sources to attack — and confirm — the story .
At least seven of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican congressman — supported her after the president ’ s tweet and after being bashed by Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway for using anonymous sources .
I 'll forever stand by @ JenGriffinFNC .
Very accomplished journalist and distinguished colleague , who is always very careful with reporting stories like this .
Also stand by our fine polling unit , which the president has targeted numerous times .
These attacks are unwarranted .
https : //t.co/OuoNiemrpF — Rocco Aloe ( @ Rocco_FNC ) September 5 , 2020 Twitter critics are calling on two retired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James Mattis and ex-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly — to speak out about the Atlantic article .
I want to our cemeteries as supreme Allied Commander of NATO sacred shrines to those who have given everything .
The phrase : “ shocking if true ” is getting worn out .
Lack of denial from my friends Generals Kelly and Mattis suggest the shock is well placed .
https : //t.co/WaYJNejOQd — stavridisj ( @ stavridisj ) September 4 , 2020

A Fox News reporter staunchly defended her work Saturday after President Donald Trump demanded she be fired for confirming parts of The Atlantic’s bombshell story revealing the president’s insults about military service members.
“I can tell you that my sources are unimpeachable,” Fox News’ national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin said on-air (in the video above). “I feel very confident with what we have reported at Fox.”
Advertisement
She didn’t confirm “every line” of the report, but did confirm “most of the descriptions and the quotes in that Atlantic article ... so I feel very confident in my reporting,” Griffin said. She also discovered as part of her reporting that Trump had once said that including “wounded guys” would not be a “good look” at a Fourth of July parade honoring the military, according to a source.
The Atlantic article cited multiple accounts of shocking incidents when Trump denigrated military service members, including referring to fallen war heroes as “losers” and “suckers.” It also revealed details of the president’s refusal to visit the graves of America’s war dead at Aisne-Marne Cemetery while he was in France in 2018. Trump has denied everything.
Griffin said she wasn’t able to confirm the “suckers” and “losers” portion of the Atlantic report about dead military heroes. But a source did confirm that Trump once said that anyone who served in the Vietnam War was a “sucker.”
While reporters at other news operations confirmed the Atlantic report, Trump singled out Griffin because a hit from Fox News, which is usually supportive of the president, is particularly damaging for him.
Advertisement
Trump cited a Breitbart article pointing out that Griffin had failed to confirm the “most salacious” (“suckers” and “losers”) details of the Atlantic story, written by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Trump called a “slimeball.” The president also declared that Fox News was “gone.”
Jennifer Griffin of Fox News Did Not Confirm ‘Most Salacious‘ Part of Atlantic Story https://t.co/rUpbSWhHac via @BreitbartNews All refuted by many witnesses. Jennifer Griffin should be fired for this kind of reporting. Never even called us for comment. @FoxNews is gone! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2020
Fox News was confused about where it stood on the story Friday. News hosts bashed the story before it was confirmed (by Griffin), then it was bashed again, then reconfirmed. News hosts also attacked the use of anonymous sources by The Atlantic, but then used anonymous sources to attack — and confirm — the story.
At least seven of Griffin’s colleagues — and a Republican congressman — supported her after the president’s tweet and after being bashed by Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway for using anonymous sources.
Jennifer @JenGriffinFNC is a great reporter and a total class act. https://t.co/se0k6I2oLa — Bret Baier (@BretBaier) September 5, 2020
Advertisement
Jennifer Griffin is the kind of reporter we all strive to be like. She’s courageous, smart, ethical, fair and a class act. She’s earned the trust of viewers throughout a distinguished career and is credibile. https://t.co/yVkXMFqXPx — Bryan Llenas (@BryanLlenas) September 5, 2020
I'll forever stand by @JenGriffinFNC. Very accomplished journalist and distinguished colleague, who is always very careful with reporting stories like this. Also stand by our fine polling unit, which the president has targeted numerous times. These attacks are unwarranted. https://t.co/OuoNiemrpF — Rocco Aloe (@Rocco_FNC) September 5, 2020
Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger also spoke up for Griffin on Saturday, calling her “fair and unafraid.”
She’s one of my favorite reporters. Fair and unafraid. https://t.co/dfieE7HqL4 — Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) September 5, 2020
Twitter critics are calling on two retired Marine Corps generals — former Defense Secretary James Mattis and ex-White House chief of staff John Kelly — to speak out about the Atlantic article.
Advertisement
Former NATO supreme commander and Navy Admiral James Stavridis tweeted Friday that the men’s “lack of denial” speaks volumes.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-05--Trump Idolizes Putin Because He Can Run Russia Like Own Firm, Cohen Claims In Book

Trump dreamed of a 120-story Trump Tower Moscow , and planned to give the penthouse apartment to Putin for free @ @ @ @ @ a way to suck up ” to the Russian leader , Cohen writes .
Cohen @ @ @ @ @ deal even after Trump declared that he was running for president , he writes .
@ @ @ @ @ daughter Ivanka Trump , now a senior White House adviser , chose the decorator finishes @ @ @ @ @ The whole idea of patriotism and treason became irrelevant in his mind , ” Cohen @ @ @ @ @ using the campaign to make money for himself : Of course he was.
” Despite @ @ @ @ @ with Putin , Cohen contends that it was an “ insidious ” and effective “ @ @ @ @ @ supporters in America that helped him finally win the White House .

Trump dreamed of a 120-story Trump Tower Moscow, and planned to give the penthouse apartment to Putin for free, in part “as a way to suck up” to the Russian leader, Cohen writes.
Cohen worked to nail down the deal even after Trump declared that he was running for president, he writes. He also claimed that first daughter Ivanka Trump, now a senior White House adviser, chose the decorator finishes for the tower.
“The whole idea of patriotism and treason became irrelevant in his mind,” Cohen writes. “Trump was using the campaign to make money for himself: Of course he was.”
Despite Trump’s currying favor with Putin, Cohen contends that it was an “insidious” and effective “disinformation campaign” from his supporters in America that helped him finally win the White House.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-06--California Wildfire Traps Campers In National Forest

SHAVER LAKE , Calif. ( AP ) — Three fast-spreading California wildfires sent people fleeing Saturday , with one trapping campers at a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest , as a brutal heat wave pushed temperatures into triple digits in many parts of state .
The wildfire burning near Shaver Lake exploded to 56 square miles ( 145 square kilometers ) , jumped a river and compromised the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground , national forest spokesman Dan Tune said .
At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles ( 467 kilometers ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the city 's San Fernando Valley reached 117 degrees ( 47 degrees Celsius ) .
The Fresno Fire Department tweeted late Saturday night that 63 people were rescued from the campground by military helicopters and that two of them were severely injured , 10 were moderately injured and 51 others had minor or no injuries .
The Madera County Sheriff 's Department said in a tweet earlier Saturday that about 150 people were at the campground 's boat launch , and 10 of them were injured .
“ All are safe at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Tune said the campers were told to shelter in place until fire crews , aided by water-dropping aircraft , could gain access to the site .
Tune said he didn ’ t know how close the fire was burning to the campsite .
The lake 35 miles ( 56 kilometers ) northeast of Fresno is surrounded by thick pine forests and is a popular destination for boating and fishing .
Bone-dry conditions and the hot weather fueled the flames .
The fire broke out Friday evening .
Crews worked through the night @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evacuation orders for lakeside communities and urged people seeking relief from the Labor Day weekend heat to stay away from the popular lake .
“ Adjust your Labor Day weekend plans .
Access to Shaver Lake is completely closed to the public due to the # CreekFire , ” the Fresno County sheriff 's office tweeted after announcing evacuation orders for campsites and communities by the lake .
In Southern California , a fire in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oak Glen , Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls .
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection , also known as Cal Fire , said the fire scorched at least 1.5 square miles ( 3.9 square kilometers ) and was burning at a “ moderate to dangerous ” rate of spread .
In eastern San Diego County , fire officials warned a fire near Alpine was burning at a “ dangerous rate of speed ” after spreading to 400 acres ( 0.6 square miles ) within an hour .
A small community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Forest was ordered to evacuate .
Cal Fire said nearly 12,500 firefighters were battling 22 major fires in the state .
Despite the heat , firefighters were able to contain two major fires in coastal Monterey County .
California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15 , many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes .
The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres ( 2,343 square miles ) .
There have been eight fire deaths and nearly 3,300 structures destroyed .
Pacific Gas & Electric , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ customers Saturday that it might cut power starting Tuesday because of expected high winds and heat that could create even greater fire danger .
Some of the state 's largest and deadliest fires in recent years have been sparked by downed power lines and other utility equipment .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Three fast-spreading California wildfires sent people fleeing Saturday, with one trapping campers at a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest, as a brutal heat wave pushed temperatures into triple digits in many parts of state.
The wildfire burning near Shaver Lake exploded to 56 square miles (145 square kilometers), jumped a river and compromised the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles (467 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, where temperatures in the city's San Fernando Valley reached 117 degrees (47 degrees Celsius).
Advertisement
The Fresno Fire Department tweeted late Saturday night that 63 people were rescued from the campground by military helicopters and that two of them were severely injured, 10 were moderately injured and 51 others had minor or no injuries.
“Aircraft are returning to continue rescue operations,” the agency wrote. “Unknown how many more.”
The Madera County Sheriff's Department said in a tweet earlier Saturday that about 150 people were at the campground's boat launch, and 10 of them were injured. “All are safe at this time," the department tweeted.
Officers also were evacuating Beasore Meadows, a large ranch in the Sierra National Forest, on Saturday night, the department tweeted.
Agencies were coordinating an aircraft rescue for crews to safely evacuate them, The Fresno Bee reported.
Advertisement
Tune said the campers were told to shelter in place until fire crews, aided by water-dropping aircraft, could gain access to the site. Tune said he didn’t know how close the fire was burning to the campsite.
“All our resources are working to make that escape route nice and safe for them,” he said.
The lake 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Fresno is surrounded by thick pine forests and is a popular destination for boating and fishing. Bone-dry conditions and the hot weather fueled the flames.
“Once the fire gets going, it creates its own weather, adding wind to increase the spread,” Tune said.
The fire broke out Friday evening. Crews worked through the night, but by Saturday morning authorities issued evacuation orders for lakeside communities and urged people seeking relief from the Labor Day weekend heat to stay away from the popular lake.
“Adjust your Labor Day weekend plans. Access to Shaver Lake is completely closed to the public due to the #CreekFire,” the Fresno County sheriff's office tweeted after announcing evacuation orders for campsites and communities by the lake.
Advertisement
The California Highway Patrol shut State Route 168 to only allow access for emergency responders and evacuees.
In Southern California, a fire in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of 54,000 along with several communities, including Oak Glen, Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, said the fire scorched at least 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers) and was burning at a “moderate to dangerous” rate of spread.
A portion of the San Gorgonio Wilderness was closed, and hikers were urged to leave.
In eastern San Diego County, fire officials warned a fire near Alpine was burning at a “dangerous rate of speed” after spreading to 400 acres (0.6 square miles) within an hour. A small community south of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest was ordered to evacuate.
Cal Fire said nearly 12,500 firefighters were battling 22 major fires in the state. Despite the heat, firefighters were able to contain two major fires in coastal Monterey County.
California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes. The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres (2,343 square miles). There have been eight fire deaths and nearly 3,300 structures destroyed.
Advertisement
The heat wave was expected to spread triple-digit temperatures over much of California through Monday. Officials urged people to conserve electricity to ease the strain on the state’s power grid.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-07--COVID 'Fatigue' Threatens To Boost Cases, Warns Former FDA Head

Americans getting sick and tired of living quieter , more careful lives to stop the spread of COVID-19 threaten to spark a dangerous surge in cases , the former head of the Food and Drug Administration warned Sunday .
But they ’ d better be prepared for a long haul of precautions because chances are “ extremely low ” that a vaccine will be ready for general use this year , former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on CBS ’ “ Face the Nation.
” “ I think we need to think of that [ a vaccine ] as largely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ And if we do have a vaccine available in 2020 , it ’ s likely to be used in a much more targeted fashion.
” And disturbingly , cases are still about where they were at the beginning of the summer just ahead of a “ more difficult season , ” he warned .
“ If you look at where we are heading into Labor Day , relative to where we were heading into Memorial Day , we have an equivalent amount , if not more infection ” now , Gottlieb @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heading into a more difficult season .
We ’ re heading into the fall and the winter when we would expect a respiratory pathogen like a coronavirus to start spreading more aggressively than it would in the summertime .
” “ People are exhausted , ” he added .
“ People have been social distancing and wearing masks and staying home for a long period of time right now.
” People ’ s “ willingness to comply with the simple things that we know can reduce spread is going to start to fray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s another challenge — trying to keep up our vigilance at a time when we know that this can spread more aggressively.
” The U.S. has tallied more than 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and very close to 189,000 deaths .

Americans getting sick and tired of living quieter, more careful lives to stop the spread of COVID-19 threaten to spark a dangerous surge in cases, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration warned Sunday.
But they’d better be prepared for a long haul of precautions because chances are “extremely low” that a vaccine will be ready for general use this year, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Advertisement
“I think we need to think of that [a vaccine] as largely a 2021 event,” he said. “And if we do have a vaccine available in 2020, it’s likely to be used in a much more targeted fashion.”
And disturbingly, cases are still about where they were at the beginning of the summer just ahead of a “more difficult season,” he warned.
“If you look at where we are heading into Labor Day, relative to where we were heading into Memorial Day, we have an equivalent amount, if not more infection” now, Gottlieb said. “And we’re heading into a more difficult season. We’re heading into the fall and the winter when we would expect a respiratory pathogen like a coronavirus to start spreading more aggressively than it would in the summertime. ”
“People are exhausted,” he added. “People have been social distancing and wearing masks and staying home for a long period of time right now.”
Advertisement
People’s “willingness to comply with the simple things that we know can reduce spread is going to start to fray,” Gottlieb warned. “And that’s another challenge — trying to keep up our vigilance at a time when we know that this can spread more aggressively.”
The U.S. has tallied more than 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and very close to 189,000 deaths.
Check out Gottlieb’s interview in the clip up top.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-07--CNN Doctor Has Grim Reality Check On COVID-19 Vaccination Timeline

President Donald Trump has made a number of optimistic claims about a potential coronavirus vaccine , even suggesting that one might be approved before the Nov. 3 election .
But CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said on Sunday that not only is the president ’ s timeline unrealistic , but that vaccinating much of America could take years .
“ No vaccine will be distributed for Election Day , ” he warned , saying that even if a safe and effective shot is approved by then , distributing it would come with supply chain and logistical challenges .
Then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a specific priority order , with frontline health care workers and those in nursing homes getting it first .
“ There ’ s an elaborate plan that ’ s going to go into this , ” he said .
“ So it ’ s going to take a while to actually get the vaccine into people and vaccination will take probably two years.
” “ There is an elaborate plan that will go into this .
It will take awhile to get the vaccine into people and vaccination will take probably two years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ JReinerMD on a coronavirus vaccine timeline in the US .
pic.twitter.com/HpdX3vLkgr — Ana Cabrera ( @ AnaCabrera ) September 6 , 2020 Trump last month said he was “ optimistic ” that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the election , but has also suggested the end of the year as a potential target date .
The CDC has also urged states to be prepared to distribute a possible vaccine by the end of October .
Moncef Slaoui , chief adviser to the administration ’ s vaccine effort , called that timeline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an interview with NPR , but said it ’ s best to be prepared just in case .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
President Donald Trump has made a number of optimistic claims about a potential coronavirus vaccine, even suggesting that one might be approved before the Nov. 3 election.
But CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said on Sunday that not only is the president’s timeline unrealistic, but that vaccinating much of America could take years.
Advertisement
“No vaccine will be distributed for Election Day,” he warned, saying that even if a safe and effective shot is approved by then, distributing it would come with supply chain and logistical challenges.
Then, the vaccine will be given in a specific priority order, with frontline health care workers and those in nursing homes getting it first.
“There’s an elaborate plan that’s going to go into this,” he said. “So it’s going to take a while to actually get the vaccine into people and vaccination will take probably two years.”
“There is an elaborate plan that will go into this. It will take awhile to get the vaccine into people and vaccination will take probably two years to vaccinate the country.” --@JReinerMD on a coronavirus vaccine timeline in the US. pic.twitter.com/HpdX3vLkgr — Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) September 6, 2020
Advertisement
Trump last month said he was “optimistic” that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the election, but has also suggested the end of the year as a potential target date.
The CDC has also urged states to be prepared to distribute a possible vaccine by the end of October.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-06--Wildfires, Excessive Heat And Potential Blackouts Threaten California

SHAVER LAKE , Calif. ( AP ) — Rescuers in military helicopters airlifted 207 people to safety after an explosive wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California ’ s Sierra National Forest , one of dozens of fires burning Sunday amid record-breaking temperatures that strained the state ’ s electrical grid and could lead to planned power outages .
The California Office of Emergency Services said Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters were used for the rescues that began late Saturday and continued overnight .
At least two people were severely injured and 10 more suffered moderate injuries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind , the Madera County Sheriff ’ s Office said .
A photo tweeted by the California National Guard showed at least 20 evacuees crammed inside one helicopter , crouched on the floor clutching their belongings .
In another photo taken on the ground from a helicopter cockpit , the densely wooded hills surrounding the aircraft were in flames .
“ A backpacking trip cut short by unforeseen thunder , ash rain , and having to drive through literal fire to evacuate # SierraNationalForest in time , ” Park tweeted .
“ Grateful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down ... wish we got her name.
” The wildfire , named the Creek Fire , started Friday and by Saturday afternoon exploded in size , jumped the San Joaquin River and cut off the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground , national forest spokesman Dan Tune said .
At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles ( 467 kilometers ) north of Los Angeles .
The heat wave was expected to spread triple-digit temperatures over much of California through Monday .
Temperatures in the San Fernando Valley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 46 Celsius ) for the second day in a row , forecasters said .
The exceptionally high temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year and transmission losses due to wildfires have cut into supplies .
Eric Schmitt of the California Independent System Operator that manages the state ’ s power grid said up to 3 million customers could lose power for up to four hours Sunday evening .
He said where those outages occur are up to local utilities .
The Creek Fire forced the closure of a 915-megawatt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wildfire in Southern California nicked out transmission lines carrying hundreds of additional kilowatts .
“ I think it ’ s fair to say that without significant conservation and help from customers today we ’ ll have to have some rolling outages , ” Cal ISO Vice President Eric Schmitt said .
Pacific Gas & Electric , the state ’ s largest utility , warned customers that it might cut power starting Tuesday because of expected high winds and heat that could create even greater fire danger .
Some of the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been sparked by downed power lines and other utility equipment .
Ashley Wagner was among those rescued , along with two relatives and a friend .
They were trapped in Logan ’ s Meadow behind Wagner ’ s Store , a 63-year-old business run by her aunt that was destroyed .
In Southern California , crews scrambled to douse several fires that popped up .
The largest was a blaze in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles that prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of 54,000 along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department of Forestry and Fire Protection , known as Cal Fire , said the fire scorched at least 4.2 square miles ( 11 square kilometers ) of brush and trees .
“ If that sweeps around , it comes into my back door , ” he told KABC-TV on Saturday .
“ And the problem with that is there ’ s no easy access for fire personnel.
” In eastern San Diego County , the Valley Fire broke out Saturday afternoon and fire officials warned the blaze was burning at a “ dangerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it had destroyed at least 10 structures after burning 6.25 square miles ( 16 square kilometers ) and prompting evacuations near the remote community of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest .
At least two of the lost structures were homes , ABC10 News in San Diego reported .
There was no containment of the fire .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Rescuers in military helicopters airlifted 207 people to safety after an explosive wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California’s Sierra National Forest, one of dozens of fires burning Sunday amid record-breaking temperatures that strained the state’s electrical grid and could lead to planned power outages.
The California Office of Emergency Services said Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters were used for the rescues that began late Saturday and continued overnight. At least two people were severely injured and 10 more suffered moderate injuries. Two campers refused rescue and stayed behind, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office said.
Advertisement
A photo tweeted by the California National Guard showed at least 20 evacuees crammed inside one helicopter, crouched on the floor clutching their belongings. In another photo taken on the ground from a helicopter cockpit, the densely wooded hills surrounding the aircraft were in flames.
Others made a white-knuckle drive to safety, Juliana Park recorded video of flames on both sides of her car as she and others fled down a mountain road.
“A backpacking trip cut short by unforeseen thunder, ash rain, and having to drive through literal fire to evacuate #SierraNationalForest in time,” Park tweeted. “Grateful to the SNF ranger who led us down ... wish we got her name.”
The wildfire, named the Creek Fire, started Friday and by Saturday afternoon exploded in size, jumped the San Joaquin River and cut off the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles (467 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.
Advertisement
The fire had charred more than 71 square miles (184 square kilometers) of timber with no containment. Temperatures in the area topped 100 degrees (38 Celsius).
The heat wave was expected to spread triple-digit temperatures over much of California through Monday. Temperatures in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles reached 116 degrees (46 Celsius) for the second day in a row, forecasters said.
The exceptionally high temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year and transmission losses due to wildfires have cut into supplies. Eric Schmitt of the California Independent System Operator that manages the state’s power grid said up to 3 million customers could lose power for up to four hours Sunday evening.
He said where those outages occur are up to local utilities. The Creek Fire forced the closure of a 915-megawatt hydropower station in Madera County and a wildfire in Southern California nicked out transmission lines carrying hundreds of additional kilowatts.
Cal ISO was projecting a 4,000-megawatt shortfall and urged people to conserve electricity by not using appliances and keeping air conditioners at 78 degrees (25.5 Celsius) or above.
Advertisement
“I think it’s fair to say that without significant conservation and help from customers today we’ll have to have some rolling outages,” Cal ISO Vice President Eric Schmitt said.
Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility, warned customers that it might cut power starting Tuesday because of expected high winds and heat that could create even greater fire danger. Some of the state’s largest and deadliest fires in recent years have been sparked by downed power lines and other utility equipment.
The Mammoth Pool Reservoir is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Fresno. It’s surrounded by thick pine forests and is a popular destination for boating and fishing.
Bone-dry conditions and the hot weather fueled the flames once the fire started and it grew seven-fold to 55 square miles (142 square kilometers) within a few hours Saturday afternoon.
“Once the fire gets going, it creates its own weather, adding wind to increase the spread,” Tune said.
Advertisement
Lindsey Abbott and her family were guided to safety by a stranger they followed down from their campsite near Whisky Falls.
“It was so hot, you could feel the flames going through the window,” she told ABC30 in Fresno.
Ashley Wagner was among those rescued, along with two relatives and a friend. They were trapped in Logan’s Meadow behind Wagner’s Store, a 63-year-old business run by her aunt that was destroyed.
“My family’s history just went up in flames,” Wagner told the station.
In Southern California, crews scrambled to douse several fires that popped up. The largest was a blaze in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles that prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of 54,000 along with several mountain communities. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said the fire scorched at least 4.2 square miles (11 square kilometers) of brush and trees.
Bob Fonzi nervously watched the fire race across ridges near his remote home on a winding road.
“If that sweeps around, it comes into my back door,” he told KABC-TV on Saturday. “And the problem with that is there’s no easy access for fire personnel.”
The blaze was just 5% contained Sunday morning.
In eastern San Diego County, the Valley Fire broke out Saturday afternoon and fire officials warned the blaze was burning at a “dangerous rate of speed.” By Sunday morning it had destroyed at least 10 structures after burning 6.25 square miles (16 square kilometers) and prompting evacuations near the remote community of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest. At least two of the lost structures were homes, ABC10 News in San Diego reported. There was no containment of the fire.
Advertisement
Cal Fire said nearly 12,500 firefighters were battling 22 major fires in the state. Despite the heat, firefighters were able to contain two major fires in coastal Monterey County.
California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes. The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres (2,343 square miles). There have been eight fire deaths and nearly 3,300 structures destroyed.
___


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-06--Maine Wedding Linked To More Than 140 COVID-19 Cases, 3 Deaths: State CDC

An indoor wedding and reception in Maine last month resulted in at least 147 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state , including three deaths , state health officials said .
The growing outbreak came after about 65 guests attended the Aug. 7 wedding in Millinocket , Maine .
Just 10 days later , two dozen people directly associated with the event tested positive for the virus , the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said .
As of Sunday , additional confirmed cases linked to the wedding included 19 at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wedding guest ’ s household worked , Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long told HuffPost .
The nursing home is about 100 miles southwest of the Big Moose Inn , where the wedding reception took place .
A jail staff member attended both the wedding and reception and was one of the first people at the jail to test positive for the virus , Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah told a news conference Thursday .
Inmates made up the majority of those infected with the virus at the jail , followed by staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The three people who died from the virus did not attend the wedding or reception , Long said .
The state CDC continued to investigate whether an outbreak at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford , Maine , was also connected to the Millinocket event .
The church ’ s pastor , Todd Bell , officiated the wedding at a Millinocket church and reportedly admitted to his congregation last week that he was at the wedding .
“ I went to the wedding .
I officiated the wedding .
It was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to News Center Maine .
“ Six families from our church went there .
We never expected to get COVID .
Nobody expected to experience the things that happened because you went to a beautiful thing like that.
” The Big Moose Inn acknowledged in a statement that it made mistakes and received a citation from the state for “ some infractions ” related to the Aug. 7 event , including allowing more than 50 people in one room at a time .
“ Our interpretation was that we could take a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and split them between two rooms as long as it didn ’ t exceed our total capacity or a specific room ’ s capacity , ” the inn said .
Instead , the hotel said guests exceeded the capacity by gathering in one of two rooms provided to them .
“ While we can not be sure the virus was fully spread at our facility , we know that there are things that we can be doing better .
We have given the Maine CDC our word , and we are giving our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we will do ― and are doing ― better , ” the inn said .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
An indoor wedding and reception in Maine last month resulted in at least 147 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state, including three deaths, state health officials said.
The growing outbreak came after about 65 guests attended the Aug. 7 wedding in Millinocket, Maine. Just 10 days later, two dozen people directly associated with the event tested positive for the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Advertisement
As of Sunday, additional confirmed cases linked to the wedding included 19 at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine, where a member of a wedding guest’s household worked, Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long told HuffPost. The nursing home is about 100 miles southwest of the Big Moose Inn, where the wedding reception took place.
The event was also linked to a 72-case outbreak at the York County Jail, southwest of Portland, Maine, Long said.
Health officials said they linked 147 cases of COVID-19, including three deaths, to a wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, Maine, on Aug. 7. CBS Boston
A jail staff member attended both the wedding and reception and was one of the first people at the jail to test positive for the virus, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah told a news conference Thursday. Inmates made up the majority of those infected with the virus at the jail, followed by staff members and their families, Shah said.
Advertisement
The three people who died from the virus did not attend the wedding or reception, Long said.
The state CDC continued to investigate whether an outbreak at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine, was also connected to the Millinocket event. The church’s pastor, Todd Bell, officiated the wedding at a Millinocket church and reportedly admitted to his congregation last week that he was at the wedding.
“I went to the wedding. I officiated the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding,” Bell said, according to News Center Maine. “Six families from our church went there. We never expected to get COVID. Nobody expected to experience the things that happened because you went to a beautiful thing like that.”
The Big Moose Inn acknowledged in a statement that it made mistakes and received a citation from the state for “some infractions” related to the Aug. 7 event, including allowing more than 50 people in one room at a time.
“Our interpretation was that we could take a wedding party of more than 50 persons and split them between two rooms as long as it didn’t exceed our total capacity or a specific room’s capacity,” the inn said. Instead, the hotel said guests exceeded the capacity by gathering in one of two rooms provided to them.
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpost--2020-09-06--Kamala Harris Says She Would Trust Scientists ― Not Trump ― On Coronavirus Vaccine

Trump said last month that the U.S. would have a vaccine by the end of the year , or even “ substantially before ” then .
Harris was asked whether she would trust such a vaccine during an interview that aired Sunday on CNN ’ s “ State of the Union.
” “ I think that we have learned since this pandemic started ― but really before that ― that there ’ s very little that we can trust that comes out of Donald Trump ’ s mouth , ” Harris said .
Trump ’ s promise of a vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats and some medical professionals who worry the administration is dangerously speeding up the normal timeline for developing and testing a vaccine in an effort to win over voters .
“ They will be sidelined , ” she said .
“ Because [ Trump ’ s ] looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days and he ’ s grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he ’ s been a leader on this issue when he has not.
” “ I think that ’ s going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .
“ I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump .
And it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he ’ s talking about .
I will not take his word for it .
He wants us to inject bleach.
” Harris , whom Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden named as his running mate last month , said she trusts Dr. Anthony Fauci , the top infectious disease expert on the White House ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she would feel more comfortable about a potential vaccine if he approved it .
“ I would assume ― and I ’ m pretty sure it ’ s going to be the case ― that a vaccine would not be approved for the American public unless it was indeed both safe and effective , ” Fauci said .
“ If that ’ s the case ...
I would not hesitate for a moment to take the vaccine myself and recommend it for my family.
” “ Joe Biden and I have a plan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ Donald Trump does not .
...
There has to be an overall plan that thinks about those who ― and will administer vaccines to those who ― have been hardest hit , who are most vulnerable and most at need.
” Outbreaks among children have popped up in parts of the country in recent weeks as some schools have reopened for in-person instruction .
Though children are far less likely to develop serious COVID-19 symptoms compared with older adults , studies have shown that children between the ages of 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ others at least as well as adults do .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), the Democratic nominee for vice president, said she wouldn’t trust President Donald Trump’s word alone on the efficacy and safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine.
Trump said last month that the U.S. would have a vaccine by the end of the year, or even “substantially before” then. Harris was asked whether she would trust such a vaccine during an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Advertisement
“I think that we have learned since this pandemic started ― but really before that ― that there’s very little that we can trust that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth,” Harris said.
She added: “No, I would not trust his word. I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump.”
Trump’s promise of a vaccine within the next few months has startled Democrats and some medical professionals who worry the administration is dangerously speeding up the normal timeline for developing and testing a vaccine in an effort to win over voters.
Harris told CNN that she believes public health experts could be “muzzled” and that their opinions on a potential vaccine could be “suppressed.”
Advertisement
“They will be sidelined,” she said. “Because [Trump’s] looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days and he’s grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he’s been a leader on this issue when he has not.”
"There is very little we can trust that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth… so, no, I would not trust his word," says Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, when asked by CNN's Dana Bash whether she'd trust a vaccine coming out of the Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/u250E1SFZF — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) September 6, 2020
Asked if she would get the vaccine if it’s approved and distributed before the election, Harris wouldn’t say.
“I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us,” she said. “I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump. And it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about. I will not take his word for it. He wants us to inject bleach.”
Harris, whom Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden named as his running mate last month, said she trusts Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the White House’s coronavirus task force. She suggested she would feel more comfortable about a potential vaccine if he approved it.
Advertisement
Fauci told CNN on Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration has vowed to base any decisions about a potential vaccine on data from clinical trials.
“I would assume ― and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the case ― that a vaccine would not be approved for the American public unless it was indeed both safe and effective,” Fauci said. “If that’s the case ... I would not hesitate for a moment to take the vaccine myself and recommend it for my family.”
During her interview with CNN, Harris stressed the importance of a national plan for administering vaccinations once a vaccine has been developed and approved by public health officials.
“Joe Biden and I have a plan ― a national plan,” she said. “Donald Trump does not. ... There has to be an overall plan that thinks about those who ― and will administer vaccines to those who ― have been hardest hit, who are most vulnerable and most at need.”
Harris said a potential Biden administration would “listen to the public health experts” to determine whether all 50 states should require students to get a coronavirus vaccination before entering public school.
Advertisement
Outbreaks among children have popped up in parts of the country in recent weeks as some schools have reopened for in-person instruction. Though children are far less likely to develop serious COVID-19 symptoms compared with older adults, studies have shown that children between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus to others at least as well as adults do.