motherjones--2020-03-26--The Only Conservatives Who Took COVID-19 Seriously Were the Conspiracy Theorists

On February 25 , the pro-Trump internet provocateur Mike Cernovich wrote a blog post entitled , “ Coronavirus is Trump ’ s Katrina , ” highlighting some of Trump ’ s overly rosy tweets about his administration ’ s response to the epidemic .
Top on his list was the February 24 tweet where Trump said , “ The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA .
… Stock Market starting to look very good to me !
” Then there was the one on February 26 when Trump blamed “ fake news ” for trying to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and panic the markets .
“ USA in great shape !
” Trump crowed .
In his post , Cernovich described Trump and the others who were comparing coronavirus to the flu as being “ moronic and glib.
” He wrote .
“ I wonder if they ’ ve ever had a 104 degree temperature .
The flu is awful , and in the 2018-2019 flu season , 61,200 people died .
Are we prepared for an additional 60,000+ to die from a new strain of flu ?
” He pointed to early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1.5 million to 5 million Americans .
Coronavirus should have been a “ slam dunk ” for Trump , Cernovich wrote , a time for Trump to say , “ This is why we need border security and domestic manufacturing !
” Instead , Cernovich lamented , Democrats had seized the high ground , and it was Elizabeth Warren talking about the need to mitigate supply chain impacts from the outbreak in China while Trump was “ tweeting some Bush / ‘ heckuva job ’ b.s.
” The post represented a rare moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his own most vocal supporters , at a time when the entire GOP establishment , including Fox News , was marching in lockstep with president dismissing any concerns about the virus as mass panic fueled by the liberal media to keep him from being reelected .
Two days before Cernovich was warning that coronavirus was Trump ’ s Katrina , right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh told his 25 million listeners , “ It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump .
Now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the coronavirus…The coronavirus is the common cold , folks.
” Cernovich is a lawyer , filmmaker and blogger who first gained public notice as an agitator in the controversial men ’ s rights movement , where he was known for denying the reality of date rape .
“ Have you guys ever tried ‘ raping ’ a girl without using force ?
” he tweeted in August 2012 .
“ Try it .
It ’ s basically impossible .
Date rape does not exist.
” Along with his blog , he writes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be an “ alpha male , ” including recently , MAGA Mindset : Making YOU and America Great Again .
He supported Trump “ back when everyone said he had a 3 percent ceiling , ” he told me in an interview .
In the midst of the 2016 election , his notoriety skyrocketed after he started referring to Hillary Clinton as “ Sick Hillary ” and implying in Periscope broadcasts , blog posts and on social media that she suffered from a severe neurological disorder .
His hashtag # Hillaryshealth turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a campaign issue .
Later during the campaign , he helped spread the conspiracy theory that claimed Clinton was involved with a pedophile sex cult housed in the basement of a DC pizza place .
A North Carolina man took the conspiracy theory seriously and in December 2016 showed up at the pizza parlor , where he fired an assault weapon in the hopes of rescuing the trapped and victimized children .
Following Trump ’ s victory , Cernovich helped organize the alt-right inaugural “ DeploraBall , ” in which some of Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebrate his election .
And he started co-hosting “ The Alex Jones Show ” on InfoWars , the far-right conspiracy theory site .
Since then , Cernovich ’ s social media presence has exploded with more than half a million followers on Twitter and more than 400,000 on Facebook , many of whom are die hard , Trump-supporting MAGA people .
He ’ s a regular on the conservative and university talk circuit , and last year he released a documentary called , Hoaxed , billed as an “ insider ’ s look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with coronavirus , Cernovich broke with the official White House line .
“ This bootlicking blind loyalty is not helpful for anyone , including Trump , ” Cernovich told me .
I asked him how he went from Pizzagate conspiracy theorist to truth-teller about coronavirus .
He explained that in January , he had been hearing about disruptions in the supply chain from China , where the virus had hit hard .
Friends who worked in E-commerce weren ’ t able to get anything done , and deals were getting delayed .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not going to shut down its economy just because some people had some sniffles.
” That ’ s when he began sounding the alarm , launching his first tweets on the subject on January 24 when only 41 people in the world had died from the disease and the US had just two confirmed cases .
That day , Cernovich tweeted at Trump urging him to add China to his travel ban , as a way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus .
( On January 31 , Trump did just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he tweeted links to stories on the virus from around the globe urging followers to read them .
“ I ’ m not someone who freaks out as we ’ ve seen so many mass hysterias , ” he wrote .
But “ this flu is the real deal.
” He even wrote an advice column on how to prepare for a pandemic without going crazy long before stores were running out of toilet paper .
“ It won ’ t be a ‘ Mad Max ’ scenario , ” he assured his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced to go days without a food resupply…Forget the Rambo fantasies .
Most people don ’ t need an AR-15 .
You need a tactical flashlight.
” And don ’ t fall for the gold scams , he warned .
His followers , though , didn ’ t want to hear it .
“ QUIT THE HYSTERIA .
HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVERS IN A YEAR ?
SCREAM ABOUT THAT , ” wrote one Trump supporter .
Another said , “ All this panic for nothing .
First , its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ second , Spring is coming soon and this virus will be gone.
” As Cernovich continued to criticize Trump ’ s response to the epidemic , the MAGA crowd pummeled him on social media .
Hundreds of people responded to his posts about the virus with angry tweets , using similar language accusing him of fomenting panic .
Cernovich is no stranger to online abuse , but the virus tweets prompted such a surge of so many similar replies that he started to suspect that maybe a pro-Trump super PAC or dark money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ troll him .
After I scrolled through the responses , though , I had to conclude that most of the tweeps hating on Cernovich may just be Fox News viewers parroting people like Sean Hannity , who said on his Feb. 27 show that “ the Democratic extreme radical socialist party ” was “ now sadly politicizing and actually weaponizing an infectious disease , in what is basically just the latest effort to bludgeon President Trump.
” Recent polls show just how far outside of Trumpworld Cernovich has been when it comes to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken on March 13 and 14 showed that 54 percent of Republicans believed the coronavirus had been blown out of proportion , a number that had doubled since February .
Cernovich is not the only voice in the wilderness on the right who ’ s been bashed by Trump supporters for having told the truth about the epidemic early on .
Raheem Kassam is a co-host of the pro-Trump War Room radio show and podcast , with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon .
Last month , he attended CPAC , the largest conservative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an attendee later tested positive for coronavirus and was hospitalized .
When Kassam realized that the sick man had come in contact with a number of high-level public officials at the conference , he started tweeting their names , including Sen. Ted Cruz ( R-Texas ) and Rep. Matt Gaetz ( R-Fla. ) , who only days before had scoffed at the seriousness of the virus by wearing a gas mask on the House floor .
They both self-quarantined .
Trump , Vice President Mike Pence , and almost half of the administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the conference as well , where they spent much of their time downplaying the seriousness of the epidemic .
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that the media was whipping up hysteria over the virus— “ They think this will bring down the president , that ’ s what this is all about , ” —while Pence bragged about all the things Trump was doing to protect American ’ s health .
“ We ’ re ready for anything , ” he told the gathered faithful .
Kassam ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ messaging , as he publicized just how close the virus was coming to the White House itself , and how serious it was .
Instead of acknowledging that Kassam ’ s warnings encouraged people to self-quarantine to help slow the spread of the virus , Matt Schlapp , chairman of the American Conservative Union , which organizes CPAC , ascribed a different motivation .
He accused Kassam of having an ax to grind with CPAC .
“ I ’ m sorry that Raheem was not included on our speaker schedule , ” Schlapp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 .
“ And I ’ m sorry he has a bone to pick with us but using a healthcare moment—where people are worried—to use that to try to stick a stake in my heart was a mistake.
” The mainstream GOP response to the virus in its early days was yet another example of just how much Trump has taken over the party .
The blind , cult-like loyalty among Republican members of Congress left a leadership void that meant that the only meaningful action they took before Trump decided to embrace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was apparently to sell off some stock .
As long as Trump was insisting that the worst thing about the virus was his media coverage , the only people in Trump ’ s orbit sending up emergency flares about the need to combat the virus were people on the fringes like Cernovich .
The conspiracy theorists turned out to be right about coronavirus .
These outliers share something in common beyond a penchant for conspiracy theories and an appreciation for the public health implications of ignoring what would become a pandemic : They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China .
Consider Steve Bannon , who has been broadcasting a pandemic podcast and radio show since January 25 and who likes to refer to the Chinese Communist Party as “ gangsters.
” “ The biggest story in the world is not President Trump ’ s impeachment , but a pandemic coming out of China , ” he said on the first episode .
“ You may not have an interest in the pandemic , but the pandemic has an interest in you.
” ( And then he brought on Jack Posobiec , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about it . )
On Sunday , Bannon went on Fox News and called for a “ full shutdown ” of the country to go ” full hammer on the virus , ” even as Trump was tweeting about sending people back to work .
Or there was Rep. Paul Gosar ( R-Ariz. ) , a hardcore opponent of immigration who once falsely claimed that George Soros had turned his own family over to the Nazis .
He called for a ban on travel from China on Jan. 27 .
“ If # @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggest , ” he tweeted .
“ We need @ CDCgov & @ DHSgov advising Congress and @ POTUS on how a quarantine would be implemented.
” Gosar ended up having to self-quarantine after being exposed at CPAC .
It ’ s not a coincidence that the only Republican senator to publicly criticize Trump ’ s response to the pandemic is also the only Republican who voted to impeach him .
On February 25 , three days before Trump claimed that the virus was going to disappear “ like a miracle , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters that the administration wasn ’ t prepared to deal with the coronavirus .
He warned that the country had failed to stockpile critical medical equipment and protective devices that would be needed as the virus spreads in the US .
He called for Trump to appoint a virus czar to coordinate the work needed to halt a pandemic .
“ I think we should be pulling out all the stops , ” he said .
Trump fans weren ’ t happy with his assessment .
The Gateway Pundit blogger Jim Hoft simply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him a “ NeverTrumper ” and wrote , “ Ugh.
” On March 16 , when Romney became the first member of Congress to propose sending $ 1,000 payments to help Americans ride out the crisis , the only Republican senator to initially endorse the idea was Sen. Tom Cotton ( R-Ark . )
who since January has been parroting conspiracy theories claiming the coronavirus was made in a Chinese bioweapons lab .
The failure of the GOP to acknowledge early the threat of a coronavirus epidemic marks a notable shift in Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preppers ” —the survivalists preparing for the end of the world or coming civil war who ’ ve got the bug-out kits , MREs , and AR-15s in the basement and all their money invested in gold coins—are conservatives .
They have a tendency to freak out about germs , especially those that might be transmitted by foreigners .
( See Trump and Ebola . )
But Trump has upended these dynamics , with his ability to strike fear in any Republican who might go off message by threatening to back primary challengers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
Cernovich , who has close ties to the White House—he ’ s broken news about White House personnel changes—doesn ’ t much worry about such calculations .
On March 11 , he did a Periscope broadcast , where he lamented to his 87,000 subscribers that the country had completely botched the virus response .
“ The lesson here of the coronavirus is we failed the stress test .
We learned our infrastructure can not handle what we face , ” Cernovich continued .
“ We , the United States of America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing .
We still can ’ t get mass testing.
” And he addressed his critics , calling the “ MAGA conservatives ” “ losers ” who watch bad conservative news and don ’ t understand math .
“ Go away , ” he said .
“ If your whole life is Daddy Trump , you ’ re so not needed.
” He told me he ’ d rather be accused of overreacting than ignoring the obvious crisis in the works and turning out to be wrong .
“ I ’ m widely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said , “ and it ’ s up to people widely perceived as Trump supporters to scream at him to do a better job .
”

On February 25, the pro-Trump internet provocateur Mike Cernovich wrote a blog post titled “Coronavirus is Trump’s Katrina,” highlighting some of Trump’s overly rosy tweets about his administration’s response to the epidemic. Top on his list was the February 24 tweet in which Trump said, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” Then there was the one on February 26 when Trump blamed “fake news” for trying to make the coronavirus look as bad as possible and panic the markets. “USA in great shape!” Trump crowed.
In his post, Cernovich described Trump and the others who were comparing the coronavirus to the flu as being “moronic and glib.” He wrote, “I wonder if they’ve ever had a 104 degree temperature. The flu is awful, and in the 2018-2019 flu season, 61,200 people died. Are we prepared for an additional 60,000+ to die from a new strain of flu?” He pointed to early estimates that the coronavirus could kill anywhere from 1.5 million to 5 million Americans. The coronavirus should have been a “slam dunk” for Trump, Cernovich wrote, a time for Trump to say, “This is why we need border security and domestic manufacturing!” Instead, Cernovich lamented, Democrats had seized the high ground, and it was Elizabeth Warren talking about the need to mitigate supply chain impacts from the outbreak in China while Trump was “tweeting some Bush / ‘heckuva job’ b.s.”
Coronavirus was a slam dunk for Trump, “This is why we need border security and domestic manufacturing!” Instead, Democrats are taking the high ground on trade, with Elizabeth Warren (!) talking about domestic manufacturing. pic.twitter.com/nFsmtUjNJk — Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 26, 2020
The post represented a rare moment of criticism of Trump from one of his own most vocal supporters, at a time when the entire GOP establishment, including Fox News, was marching in lockstep with the president dismissing any concerns about the virus as mass panic fueled by the liberal media to keep him from being reelected. Two days before Cernovich was warning that the coronavirus was Trump’s Katrina, right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh told his 25 million listeners, “It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus…The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.”
Cernovich is a lawyer, filmmaker, and blogger who first gained public notice as an agitator in the controversial men’s rights movement, where he was known for denying the reality of date rape. “Have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without using force?” he tweeted in August 2012. “Try it. It’s basically impossible. Date rape does not exist.” Along with his blog, he writes self-help books on such things as how to be an “alpha male,” including recently MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again. He supported Trump “back when everyone said he had a 3 percent ceiling,” he told me in an interview.
In the midst of the 2016 election, his notoriety skyrocketed after he started referring to Hillary Clinton as “Sick Hillary” and implying in Periscope broadcasts, blog posts, and on social media that she suffered from a severe neurological disorder. His hashtag #HillarysHealth turned the candidate’s physical fitness into a campaign issue. Later during the campaign, he helped spread the conspiracy theory that claimed Clinton was involved with a pedophile sex cult housed in the basement of a DC pizza place. A North Carolina man took the conspiracy theory seriously and in December 2016 showed up at the pizza parlor, where he fired an assault weapon in the hopes of rescuing the trapped and victimized children. Following Trump’s victory, Cernovich helped organize the alt-right inaugural “DeploraBall,” in which some of Trump’s most extreme fans gathered to celebrate his election. And he started co-hosting “The Alex Jones Show” on InfoWars, the far-right conspiracy theory site.
Since then, Cernovich’s social media presence has exploded, with more than half a million followers on Twitter and more than 400,000 on Facebook, many of whom are diehard Trump-supporting MAGA people. He’s a regular on the conservative and university talk circuit, and last year he released a documentary called Hoaxed, billed as an “insider’s look” at “fake news.” But with the coronavirus, Cernovich broke with the official White House line. “This bootlicking blind loyalty is not helpful for anyone, including Trump,” Cernovich told me.
I asked him how he went from Pizzagate conspiracy theorist to truth-teller about the coronavirus. He explained that in January, he had been hearing about disruptions in the supply chain from China, where the virus had hit hard. Friends who worked in e-commerce weren’t able to get anything done, and deals were getting delayed. He said he realized then that “China is not going to shut down its economy just because some people had some sniffles.” That’s when he began sounding the alarm, launching his first tweets on the subject on January 24 when only 41 people in the world had died from the disease and the US had just two confirmed cases.
“I’m not someone who freaks out as we’ve seen so many mass hysterias,” he wrote. But “this flu is the real deal.”
That day, Cernovich tweeted at Trump urging him to add China to his travel ban, as a way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. (On January 31, Trump did just that.) The next day, Cernovich tweeted links to stories on the virus from around the globe, urging followers to read them. “I’m not someone who freaks out as we’ve seen so many mass hysterias,” he wrote. But “this flu is the real deal.” He even wrote an advice column on how to prepare for a pandemic without going crazy long before stores were running out of toilet paper. “It won’t be a ‘Mad Max’ scenario,” he assured his fans. “But you may be forced to go days without a food resupply…Forget the Rambo fantasies. Most people don’t need an AR-15. You need a tactical flashlight.” And don’t fall for the gold scams, he warned.
His followers, though, didn’t want to hear it. “QUIT THE HYSTERIA. HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVERS IN A YEAR? SCREAM ABOUT THAT,” wrote one Trump supporter. Another said, “All this panic for nothing. First, its [sic] fake news folks, second, Spring is coming soon and this virus will be gone.” As Cernovich continued to criticize Trump’s response to the epidemic, the MAGA crowd pummeled him on social media. Hundreds of people responded to his posts about the virus with angry tweets, using similar language accusing him of fomenting panic. Cernovich is no stranger to online abuse, but the virus tweets prompted such a surge of so many similar replies that he started to suspect that maybe a pro-Trump super-PAC or dark-money group had launched a bot attack to troll him.
QUIT THE HYSTERIA. HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVERS IN A YEAR? SCREAM ABOUT THAT. — lemel KEEP AMERICA GREAT TEXT TRUMP TO 88022 (@gslemel) March 9, 2020
After I scrolled through the responses, I had to conclude that most of the tweeps hating on Cernovich may just be Fox News viewers parroting people like Sean Hannity, who said on his February 27 show that “the Democratic extreme radical socialist party” was “now sadly politicizing and actually weaponizing an infectious disease, in what is basically just the latest effort to bludgeon President Trump.” Recent polls show just how far outside of Trumpworld Cernovich has been when it comes to covering the epidemic. An NPR poll taken on March 13 and 14 showed that 54 percent of Republicans believed the coronavirus had been blown out of proportion, a number that had doubled since February.
Cernovich is not the only voice in the wilderness on the right who’s been bashed by Trump supporters for having told the truth about the coronavirus early on. Raheem Kassam is a co-host of the pro-Trump War Room radio show and podcast, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Last month, Kassam attended CPAC, the largest conservative political conference in the country, where an attendee later tested positive for the coronavirus and was hospitalized. When Kassam realized that the sick man had come in contact with a number of high-level public officials at the conference, he started tweeting their names, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who only days before had scoffed at the seriousness of the virus by wearing a gas mask on the House floor. They both self-quarantined.
“Go away. If your whole life is Daddy Trump, you’re so not needed.”
Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and almost half of the administration’s coronavirus task force was at the conference as well, where they spent much of their time downplaying the seriousness of the contagion. Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the media was whipping up hysteria over the virus—“They think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about”—while Pence bragged about all the things Trump was doing to protect American’s health. “We’re ready for anything,” he told the gathered faithful.
Kassam’s tweets describing the CPAC outbreak spoiled their messaging, as he publicized just how close the virus was coming to the White House, and how serious it was. Instead of acknowledging that Kassam’s warnings encouraged people to self-quarantine to help slow the spread of the virus, Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC, ascribed a different motivation. He accused Kassam of having an ax to grind with CPAC. “I’m sorry that Raheem was not included on our speaker schedule,” Schlapp said on the podcast Skullduggery on March 10. “And I’m sorry he has a bone to pick with us but using a healthcare moment—where people are worried—to use that to try to stick a stake in my heart was a mistake.”
The mainstream GOP response to the virus in its early days was yet another example of just how much Trump has taken over the party. The blind, cult-like loyalty among Republican members of Congress left a leadership void that meant that the only meaningful action they took before Trump decided to embrace the role of “wartime president” was apparently to sell off some stock. As long as Trump was insisting that the worst thing about the virus was his media coverage, the only people in Trump’s orbit sending up emergency flares about the need to combat the virus were people on the fringes like Cernovich. The conspiracy theorists turned out to be right about the coronavirus.
These outliers share something in common beyond a penchant for conspiracy theories and an appreciation for the public health implications of ignoring what would become a pandemic: They all traffic in a visceral disdain for China. Consider Steve Bannon, who has been broadcasting a pandemic podcast and radio show since January 25 and who likes to refer to the Chinese Communist Party as “gangsters.”
“The biggest story in the world is not President Trump’s impeachment, but a pandemic coming out of China,” he said on the first episode. “You may not have an interest in the pandemic, but the pandemic has an interest in you.” (And then he brought on Jack Posobiec, another Pizzagate conspiracy theorist, to talk about it.) On Sunday, Bannon went on Fox News and called for a “full shutdown” of the country to go “full hammer on the virus,” even as Trump was tweeting about sending people back to work.
Or there was Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), a hardcore opponent of immigration who once falsely claimed that George Soros had turned his own family over to the Nazis. Gosar called for a ban on travel from China on January 27. “If #Coronavirus is as contagious as recent reports suggest,” he tweeted. “We need @CDCgov & @DHSgov advising Congress and @POTUS on how a quarantine would be implemented.” Gosar ended up having to self-quarantine after being exposed at CPAC.
It’s not a coincidence that the only Republican senator to publicly criticize Trump’s response to the pandemic is also the only Republican who voted to impeach him. On February 25, three days before Trump claimed that the virus was going to disappear “like a miracle,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters that the administration wasn’t prepared to deal with the coronavirus. He warned that the country had failed to stockpile critical medical equipment and protective devices that would be needed as the virus spreads in the United States. He called for Trump to appoint a virus czar to coordinate the work needed to halt a pandemic. “I think we should be pulling out all the stops,” he said.
Trump fans weren’t happy with his assessment. The Gateway Pundit blogger Jim Hoft simply posted Rommey’s comments, called him a “NeverTrumper” and wrote, “Ugh.” On March 16, when Romney became the first member of Congress to propose sending $1,000 payments to help Americans ride out the crisis, the only Republican senator to initially endorse the idea was Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who since January has been parroting conspiracy theories claiming the coronavirus was made in a Chinese bioweapons lab.
The failure of the GOP to acknowledge early the threat of a coronavirus epidemic marks a notable shift in Republican politics. After all, most “preppers”—the survivalists preparing for the end of the world or coming civil war who’ve got the bugout kits, MREs, and AR-15s in the basement and all their money invested in gold coins—are conservatives. They have a tendency to freak out about germs, especially those that might be transmitted by foreigners. (See Trump and Ebola.) But Trump has upended these dynamics, with his ability to strike fear in any Republican who might go off message by threatening to back primary challengers or simply focus his Twitter rage on them.
Cernovich, who has close ties to the White House—he’s broken news about White House personnel changes—doesn’t much worry about such calculations. On March 11, he did a Periscope broadcast, lamenting to his 87,000 subscribers that the country had completely botched the virus response. “The lesson here of the coronavirus is we failed the stress test. We learned our infrastructure cannot handle what we face,” Cernovich continued. “We, the United States of America, we still can’t get testing. We still can’t get mass testing.” And he addressed his critics, calling the “MAGA conservatives” “losers” who watch bad conservative news and don’t understand math. “Go away,” he said. “If your whole life is Daddy Trump, you’re so not needed.”
He told me he’d rather be accused of overreacting than ignoring the obvious crisis in the works and turning out to be wrong. “I’m widely perceived as a Trump supporter,” he said, “and it’s up to people widely perceived as Trump supporters to scream at him to do a better job.”


motherjones--2020-03-26--It’s Still Too Painful to Put Clothes On: An ICE Detainee Reports He Was Pepper Sprayed and Sent to

It’s Still Too Painful to Put Clothes On: An ICE Detainee Reports He Was Pepper Sprayed and Sent to Isolation

As Lázaro Siberio-Pérez , a Cuban asylum seeker , tells me about being pepper sprayed yesterday by guards at an immigration detention center , he is wearing only underwear .
His clothes , he says , are too painful to put back on , even now .
They remain doused in the “ spray , ” he says , switching from Spanish to English , and he hasn ’ t yet been issued another set .
Siberio-Pérez is not alone in his pain .
Bryan Cox , an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman , confirms in a statement that seven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Pine Prairie , Louisiana , detention center , a for-profit facility run by the private prison giant GEO Group .
Tuesday ’ s use of force comes as tensions build within ICE detention centers across the country and detainees crammed into facilities fear contracting the coronavirus .
On Monday , about 60 people were pepper sprayed at another GEO Group ICE detention center in Texas after they demanded to be released to protect them from the virus , the San Antonio Express-News reported .
ICE announced on Tuesday that a detainee in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the first confirmed case in its custody .
Homero López , the executive director of ISLA , the legal aid group representing Siberio-Pérez , says the Pine Prairie incident began in the afternoon , when guards asked the seven detainees to leave their shared cell to go outside .
They took it as a sign that something bad was about to happen to them ; Siberio-Pérez says that guards take out small groups like this when they want to do things like transfer people to solitary confinement .
The detainees refused to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cells started to protest when they saw what was happening , López says .
Guards soon arrived wearing riot gear .
Siberio-Pérez says they then hit and pepper sprayed him and his cellmates .
A second Cuban man tells me he couldn ’ t breathe after being pepper sprayed , adding that he felt like he was burning from within .
( Cox says in his statement that the detainees became “ physically combative ” while refusing to go outside , adding that they “ became compliant ” after pepper spray was deployed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Southern Poverty Law Center , confirms she heard about the episode from another Pine Prairie detainee , who called her around 5 p.m. on Tuesday while people were being pepper sprayed .
The man told her he could see about eight guards in riot gear , as well as an assistant warden .
Most or all of the people who suffered from the pepper spray were then moved into isolation cells , which ICE detainees refer to in Spanish as “ holes ” or “ the well.
” Siberio-Pérez says he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supplies—a toothbrush , toothpaste , toilet paper—since being transferred to a two-person cell on Tuesday .
At first he was on his own in the cell ; he says he spent Tuesday night alone and cold , since he couldn ’ t wear his clothes .
( There also aren ’ t sheets on the beds , according to one of the people moved into isolation on Tuesday . )
Guards brought a second person , a Cuban doctor , to join Siberio-Pérez in his cell on Wednesday .
Siberio-Pérez says he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one to three months there , isolated from the detention center ’ s general population .
This is not the Pine Prairie facility ’ s first reported incident involving pepper spray and detainees ; in August , more than 100 people there were pepper sprayed , BuzzFeed News reported at the time .
One of those detainees said in a court declaration that the group had been peacefully protesting ICE ’ s refusal to release them while their cases are pending , a practice that a federal judge later found violates the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ The warden ] began spraying our faces with pepper spray from no more than fifty centimeters away from us , ” the man said in the declaration .
“ He used so many cans of pepper spray , I lost count .
Officers continued to throw gas bombs and fire rubber bullets at us from all sides.
” Here ’ s an except from that man ’ s statement : As the new coronavirus spreads , health experts and immigrant advocates are calling on ICE to release people from detention who don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety .
ICE has refused to do so .
On Wednesday , the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups filed an emergency motion to try to force ICE to identify the people in its custody who are most vulnerable to the new coronavirus so that the agency can come up with a plan to protect them or let them out .
Louisiana , where the Trump administration has concentrated thousands of asylum seekers , is emerging as a new coronavirus hotspot .
Democratic Gov .
John Bel Edwards cited a study on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fastest growing rate of infections out of any state in the US or of any country .
“ There is no reason to believe that we won ’ t be the next Italy , ” he said .
Some of López ’ s clients at Pine Prairie told him they saw people in hazmat suits remove a detainee a few days ago .
One of the dorms at the detention center remains under quarantine , López says , though ICE has declined to tell López if the quarantine is related to the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week , before the latest pepper-spray episode , he replied in general terms .
“ Cohorting , ” he wrote , using ICE ’ s term for quarantines , “ is being done at multiple facilities to preclude the potential spread of COVID-19.
” Siberio-Pérez , who is 28 , says he was a wrestling coach and physical education teacher in Cuba .
He entered the United States to request asylum in April by coming to an official border crossing .
Like another Cuban asylum seeker I spoke to earlier this month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s followed to a kidnapping .
“ This is a kidnapping , ” he says .
“ We are kidnapped by ICE .
”

As Lázaro Siberio-Pérez, a Cuban asylum seeker, tells me about being pepper-sprayed yesterday by guards at an immigration detention center, he is wearing only underwear. His clothes, he says, are too painful to put back on, even now. They remain doused in the “spray,” he says, switching from Spanish to English, and he hasn’t yet been issued another set.
Siberio-Pérez is not alone in his pain. Bryan Cox, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, confirms in a statement that seven people were pepper-sprayed on Tuesday at a Pine Prairie, Louisiana, detention center, a for-profit facility run by the private prison giant GEO Group.
Tuesday’s use of force comes as tensions build within ICE detention centers across the country and detainees crammed into facilities fear contracting the coronavirus. On Monday, about 60 people were pepper-sprayed at another GEO Group ICE detention center in Texas after they demanded to be released to protect them from the virus, the San Antonio Express-News reported. ICE announced on Tuesday that a detainee in New Jersey had tested positive for COVID-19, the first confirmed case in its custody.
Siberio-Pérez says he hasn’t been given any essential supplies—a toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper—since being transferred to isolation. He says he spent Tuesday night alone and cold.
Homero López, the executive director of ISLA, the legal aid group representing Siberio-Pérez, says the Pine Prairie incident began in the afternoon, when guards asked the seven detainees to leave their shared cell to go outside. They took it as a sign that something bad was about to happen to them; Siberio-Pérez says that guards take out small groups like this when they want to do things like transfer people to solitary confinement.
The detainees refused to go outdoors, and people in other cells started to protest when they saw what was happening, López says. Guards soon arrived wearing riot gear. Siberio-Pérez says they then hit and pepper-sprayed him and his cellmates. A second Cuban man tells me he couldn’t breathe after being pepper-sprayed, adding that he felt like he was burning from within. (Cox says in his statement that the detainees became “physically combative” while refusing to go outside, adding that they “became compliant” after pepper spray was deployed.)
Jacyln Cole, a paralegal at the Southern Poverty Law Center, confirms she heard about the episode from another Pine Prairie detainee, who called her around 5 p.m. on Tuesday while people were being pepper-sprayed. The man told her he could see about eight guards in riot gear, as well as an assistant warden.
Most or all of the people who suffered from the pepper spray were then moved into isolation cells, which ICE detainees refer to in Spanish as “holes” or “the well.” Siberio-Pérez says he hasn’t been given any essential supplies—a toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper—since being transferred to a two-person cell on Tuesday. At first he was on his own in the cell; he says he spent Tuesday night alone and cold, since he couldn’t wear his clothes. (There also aren’t sheets on the beds, according to one of the people moved into isolation on Tuesday.) Guards brought a second person, a Cuban doctor, to join Siberio-Pérez in his cell on Wednesday. Siberio-Pérez says he’s been told he’ll spend one to three months there, isolated from the detention center’s general population.
This is not the Pine Prairie facility’s first reported incident involving pepper spray and detainees; in August, more than 100 people there were pepper-sprayed, BuzzFeed News reported at the time. One of those detainees said in a court declaration that the group had been peacefully protesting ICE’s refusal to release them while their cases are pending, a practice that a federal judge later found violates the agency’s own parole policy.
“[The warden] began spraying our faces with pepper spray from no more than fifty centimeters away from us,” the man said in the declaration. “He used so many cans of pepper spray, I lost count. Officers continued to throw gas bombs and fire rubber bullets at us from all sides.” Here’s an except from that man’s statement:
As the new coronavirus spreads, health experts and immigrant advocates are calling on ICE to release people from detention who don’t pose a threat to public safety. ICE has refused to do so. On Wednesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups filed an emergency motion to try to force ICE to identify the people in its custody who are most vulnerable to the new coronavirus so that the agency can come up with a plan to protect them or let them out.
Louisiana, where the Trump administration has concentrated thousands of asylum seekers, is emerging as a new coronavirus hotspot. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards cited a study on Wednesday showing that Louisiana now has the fastest growing rate of infections out of any state in the US or of any country. “There is no reason to believe that we won’t be the next Italy,” he said.
Some of López’s clients at Pine Prairie told him they saw people in hazmat suits remove a detainee a few days ago. One of the dorms at the detention center remains under quarantine, López says, though ICE has declined to tell López if the quarantine is related to the coronavirus. When I asked Cox about it last week, before the latest pepper-spray episode, he replied in general terms. “Cohorting,” he wrote, using ICE’s term for quarantines, “is being done at multiple facilities to preclude the potential spread of COVID-19.”
Siberio-Pérez, who is 28, says he was a wrestling coach and physical education teacher in Cuba. He entered the United States to request asylum in April by coming to an official border crossing. Like another Cuban asylum seeker I spoke to earlier this month, he compares the detention that’s followed to a kidnapping. “This is a kidnapping,” he says. “We are kidnapped by ICE.”


motherjones--2020-04-16--Russia Scandal Figure Who Decried “Ukraine Hoax” Will Aid Trump’s Coronavirus Messaging

As the Department of Health and Human Services battles the coronavirus outbreak , the Trump administration has placed Michael Caputo , a Roger Stone ally who played a part in the Trump-Russia scandal , in charge of the agency ’ s messaging .
A longtime Republican operative who was ousted from a job on Trump ’ s 2016 campaign , Caputo recently worked to boost discredited claims alleging that Ukraine , not Russia , meddled in the 2016 election .
Caputo ’ s hiring reportedly represents an effort by Donald Trump to rein in Health and Human Services Secretary Alex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked to protect his own reputation by casting blame for the administration ’ s bungled response to the pandemic on the president .
But Caputo ’ s hiring also highlights the extent to which Washington has moved past the Russia scandal and Trump ’ s impeachment .
Less than two years ago , Caputo appeared to be in hot water .
In June 2018 , the Washington Post reported that he and Stone had met in 2016 with Henry Oknyansky , a Russian expat living in Florida , who wanted to sell damaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in text messages with Stone the Post obtained , referred to Oknyansky as “ the Russian.
” Though no deal was reached , news of the meeting seemed to contradict claims both Stone and Caputo had made in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in which they each denied any contact with Russians during the 2016 campaign .
“ I spent my time in front of the committee detailing the fact that I had no contact with Russians , that I never heard of anyone with the Trump campaign talking with Russians , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my time in Russia , that I never even spoke to anyone about Russia , that I never heard the word ‘ Russia , ’ and we did not use Russian dressing , ” Caputo told reporters July 2017 after testifying before the panel .
He quickly amended his testimony after the Post story .
Caputo and Stone then responded to the revelations by alleging that Oknyansky was an FBI informant attempting to entrap them , an allegation not supported by any available evidence .
Stone was later convicted of making false statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matters and sentenced to 40 months in prison .
Stone ’ s sentence is delayed while a federal judge reviews his motion for a new trial .
In the interim , Stone has promoted a conspiracy theory that Microsoft founder Bill Gates may have helped create coronavirus as part of a plot to implant microchips in people ’ s heads .
Caputo vocally denounced special counsel Robert Mueller ’ s investigation as unfounded and acted as a steadfast supporter for Stone .
He raised money for Stone ’ s legal defense and was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for turning his back on the the jury in a show of contempt after they convicted Stone .
Caputo was never charged with wrongdoing himself , but Mueller ’ s report does note that he and Oknyansky gave contradicting accounts of their 2016 meeting .
Caputo has lengthy experience in former Soviet states .
From 1995 to 1999 he advised former Russian President Boris Yeltsin .
In 2004 , after he wrote an op-ed attacking Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky , Caputo says he received death threats .
As a result , he says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and moved onto a tugboat off the Florida coast , where he kept a white parrot named August West as company .
Last year , Caputo , along with other figures in Trump ’ s orbit , turned his focus to Ukraine .
He says he travelled there last August to try to bolster the theory that Ukrainians interfered in 2016 election to help Clinton .
He subsequently wrote a book , titled The Ukraine Hoax : How Decades of Corruption in the Former Soviet Republic Led to Trump ’ s Phony Impeachment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims that former Vice President Joe Biden intervened in Ukrainian affairs to help his son , Hunter .
Caputo produced a documentary offering similar allegations that aired in January on the rabidly pro-Trump One America News .
Giuliani starred in a separate OAN series which pushed similar claims based his own trip to Ukraine .
Caputo is a political adviser and lobbyist , with a roster of former clients that includes controversial former New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Somalia ’ s current president .
Through his public relations firm , Zeppelin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Foreign Agents Registration Act to work for a Ukrainian think tank , the Institute for Democracy and Development .
Caputo said he helped arrange meetings for a delegation of 10 to 15 Ukrainian “ campaign professionals ” with members of Congress in early March .
According to the documents Caputo filed , the Ukrainian group was expected to include Iryna Venediktova , an ally of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy , who at the time headed Ukraine ’ s State Bureau of Investigation .
On March 17 , Zelensky appointed Venediktova the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a prosecutor general who had instigated an anti-corruption push .
Venediktova ’ s appointment was part of a larger shake up that anti-corruption activists fear suggests a shift by Zelensky away from reform .
“ It feels that his agenda is being built by either very non-competent forces or very pro-oligarch and pro-Russian forces , ” Daria Kaleniuk , head of Ukraine ’ s Anti-Corruption Action Center , told The Washington Post .
Venediktova ’ s planned involvement with the trip Caputo helped arrange is notable because Trump ’ s impeachment focused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prosecutor general ’ s office announce investigations aimed at helping Trump .
In Trump ’ s infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president , he urged Zelensky to investigate Biden and a bizarre theory that a hacked Democratic National Committee server is secretly held in Ukraine .
Zelensky responded with an assurance that he would soon appoint a prosecutor who would be “ 100 percent my person , my candidate.
” Caputo declined to comment in response to questions about his Ukrainian work , including whether he has had any contact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not join the think tank delegation .
In copious social media posts about the trip , the organization , which did not respond to an inquiry Thursday , does not mention the prosecutor .
The think tank did not respond to an inquiry .
But the group does note that Caputo had a message for the Ukrainians .
In a March 1 meeting , “ he stressed that despite any attempts of unauthorized influence , no one should conduct Ukraine policy instead of [ the country itself ] , ” the think tank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him , neither the EU nor the United States can interfere with Ukraine ’ s internal and foreign policy.
” Caputo seems not to have been intentionally referring to Trump ’ s interference in Ukrainian politics when he said this .
Now he will deploy his messaging expertise for HHS .

As the Department of Health and Human Services battles the coronavirus outbreak, the Trump administration has placed Michael Caputo, a Roger Stone ally who played a part in the Trump-Russia scandal, in charge of the agency’s messaging. A longtime Republican operative who was ousted from a job on Trump’s 2016 campaign, Caputo recently worked to boost discredited claims alleging that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 election.
Caputo’s hiring reportedly represents an effort by Donald Trump to rein in Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who Trump loyalists believe has worked to protect his own reputation by casting blame for the administration’s bungled response to the pandemic on the president. But Caputo’s hiring also highlights the extent to which Washington has moved past the Russia scandal and Trump’s impeachment.
Less than two years ago, Caputo appeared to be in hot water. In June 2018, the Washington Post reported that he and Stone had met in 2016 with Henry Oknyansky, a Russian expat living in Florida, who wanted to sell damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Caputo, in text messages with Stone the Post obtained, referred to Oknyansky as “the Russian.” Though no deal was reached, news of the meeting seemed to contradict claims both Stone and Caputo had made in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. Both men denied any contact with Russians during the 2016 campaign.
“I spent my time in front of the committee detailing the fact that I had no contact with Russians, that I never heard of anyone with the Trump campaign talking with Russians, that I was never asked questions about my time in Russia, that I never even spoke to anyone about Russia, that I never heard the word ‘Russia,’ and we did not use Russian dressing,” Caputo told reporters July 2017 after testifying before the panel. He quickly amended his testimony after the Post story.
Caputo and Stone then responded to the revelations by alleging that Oknyansky was an FBI informant attempting to entrap them, an allegation not supported by any available evidence.
Stone was later convicted of making false statements to the House Intelligence Committee about other matters and sentenced to 40 months in prison. Stone’s sentence is delayed while a federal judge reviews his motion for a new trial. In the interim, Stone has promoted a conspiracy theory that Microsoft founder Bill Gates may have helped create coronavirus as part of a plot to implant microchips in people’s heads.
Caputo vocally denounced special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as unfounded and acted as a steadfast supporter for Stone. He raised money for Stone’s legal defense and was ejected from the courtroom on November 15 for turning his back on the the jury in a show of contempt after they convicted Stone. Caputo was never charged with wrongdoing himself, but Mueller’s report does note that he and Oknyansky gave contradicting accounts of their 2016 meeting.
Caputo has lengthy experience in former Soviet states. From 1995 to 1999 he advised former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. In 2004, after he wrote an op-ed attacking Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, Caputo says he received death threats. As a result, he says he armed himself with a .40-caliber Glock and moved onto a tugboat off the Florida coast, where he kept a white parrot named August West as company.
Last year, Caputo, along with other figures in Trump’s orbit, turned his focus to Ukraine. He says he travelled there last August to try to bolster the theory that Ukrainians interfered in 2016 election to help Clinton. He subsequently wrote a book, titled The Ukraine Hoax: How Decades of Corruption in the Former Soviet Republic Led to Trump’s Phony Impeachment, which pushes discredited allegations, including claims that former Vice President Joe Biden intervened in Ukrainian affairs to help his son, Hunter. Caputo produced a documentary offering similar allegations that aired in January on the rabidly pro-Trump One America News. Giuliani starred in a separate OAN series which pushed similar claims based his own trip to Ukraine.
Caputo is a political adviser and lobbyist, with a roster of former clients that includes controversial former New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Somalia’s current president. Through his public relations firm, Zeppelin Communications, he registered in January under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to work for a Ukrainian think tank, the Institute for Democracy and Development. Caputo said he helped arrange meetings for a delegation of 10 to 15 Ukrainian “campaign professionals” with members of Congress in early March. According to the documents Caputo filed, the Ukrainian group was expected to include Iryna Venediktova, an ally of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who at the time headed Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation.
On March 17, Zelensky appointed Venediktova the new prosecutor-general of Ukraine, replacing Ruslan Ryaboshapka, a prosecutor general who had instigated an anti-corruption push. Venediktova’s appointment was part of a larger shake up that anti-corruption activists fear suggests a shift by Zelensky away from reform. “It feels that his agenda is being built by either very non-competent forces or very pro-oligarch and pro-Russian forces,” Daria Kaleniuk, head of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, told The Washington Post.
Venediktova’s planned involvement with the trip Caputo helped arrange is notable because Trump’s impeachment focused on his efforts to pressure Zelensky to have the prosecutor general’s office announce investigations aimed at helping Trump. In Trump’s infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, he urged Zelensky to investigate Biden and a bizarre theory that a hacked Democratic National Committee server is secretly held in Ukraine. Zelensky responded with an assurance that he would soon appoint a prosecutor who would be “100 percent my person, my candidate.”
Caputo declined to comment in response to questions about his Ukrainian work, including whether he has had any contact with Venediktova. It appears she did not join the think tank delegation. In social media posts about the trip, the organization does not mention the prosecutor. The think tank did not respond to an inquiry.
But the group does note that Caputo had a message for the Ukrainians. In a March 1 meeting, “he stressed that despite any attempts of unauthorized influence, no one should conduct Ukraine policy instead of [the country itself],” the think tank said on Facebook. “According to him, neither the EU nor the United States can interfere with Ukraine’s internal and foreign policy.” Caputo seems not to have been intentionally referring to Trump’s interference in Ukrainian politics when he said this.
Now he will deploy his messaging expertise for HHS.


motherjones--2020-04-16--Ivanka Trump Ditched Her Own Stay at Home Advice to Spend Passover in New Jersey

“ I want to wish everybody a very happy Passover , but this year is going to be different , ” President Donald Trump said in a video message last week to mark the start of the eight days of the Passover holiday .
“ You won ’ t be sitting tightly-knit together in a temple .
You ’ ll be in your homes .
You ’ ll be helping our country , frankly.
” That doesn ’ t seem to apply to Ivanka Trump .
The New York Times reports that the first daughter and her family traveled to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week to celebrate the Jewish holiday , flouting federal recommendations and her own advice to stay home in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus as the death toll continues to rise across the country .
New Jersey has become another state where the number of cases have spiked in recent days .
Trump has remained encamped at her father ’ s Bedminster club , where she continues to offer parenting tips and advice on managing the public health crisis .
The flagrant disregard for the nation ’ s stay-at-home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between the virtuous public persona the first daughter has relentlessly curated and her private conduct ( i.e .
use of private email while engaging in government business ) .
Those attempts , to put it mildly , have often fallen flat .

“I want to wish everybody a very happy Passover, but this year is going to be different,” President Donald Trump said in a video message last week to mark the start of the eight days of the Passover holiday. “You won’t be sitting tightly-knit together in a temple. You’ll be in your homes. You’ll be helping our country, frankly.”
That doesn’t seem to apply to Ivanka Trump. The New York Times reports that the first daughter and her family traveled to Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey last week to celebrate the Jewish holiday, flouting federal recommendations and her own advice to stay home in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus as the death toll continues to rise across the country. New Jersey has become another state where the number of cases have spiked in recent days.
Trump has remained encamped at her father’s Bedminster club, where she continues to offer parenting tips and advice on managing the public health crisis.
As we enter the new week, let’s keep each other safe by following @CDCgov guidance to wear a mask or face covering when out in public. You can find instructions online on how to make your own mask. (I made Arabella’s and she made mine – yes, she stitched USA on it!!) #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/rByFGkvNwG — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 12, 2020
While so much is uncertain in these difficult times, I hope this Easter Sunday you are able to take solace in your faith and family, even if remotely. Join me in praying for protection of those on the frontlines battling COVID-19 & everyone, globally, who is hurting right now.🙏 — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 12, 2020
The flagrant disregard for the nation’s stay-at-home orders once more underscores the vast gulf between the virtuous public persona the first daughter has relentlessly curated and her private conduct (i.e. use of private email while engaging in government business). Those attempts, to put it mildly, have often fallen flat.