Trump's loss of focus on virus threat was catching

Time squandered

As coronavirus cases spread around the country, there's been one constant: President Donald Trump's self-congratulation for how he's handled the crisis that he declared "very much under control in the USA" in a tweet two weeks ago.

Among the decisive actions he touts is the travel restrictions announced in late January that were aimed at China, and some officials and experts believed it was true that move could have bought more time to mobilize a response and educate the public on the prevention of COVID-19. Unfortunately, that time was squandered, according to a Washington Post story based on interviews with 16 current and former administration officials, state health officials and outside experts.

Trump and many of his aides were initially skeptical of just how serious the coronavirus threat was, while the president often seemed uninterested so long as the virus was abroad. When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar went to the White House in late January to brief Trump on the coronavirus situation, the president wanted to talk about vaping issues.

Promises made in mid-February about testing and surveillance getting underway didn't come to pass, and a Trump claim when he visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday — “Anybody that needs a test, gets a test" — isn't true. The testing failures delayed officials’ abilities to detect the virus’s spread. Some cases went undetected because only those with recent travel to China or those who had come into contact with a confirmed infection were tested. In the meantime, empty assurances may be to blame for a lack of urgency in getting hospitals and state and local health departments to gear up.

But in late February, when some federal health officials began to speak candidly about the threat and expected disruption, Trump was angry. He kept making faulty assurances, such as his claim at a Feb. 26 news conference that within the United States, the number of cases was “going to be down to close to zero.”

On the CDC visit, there was no hiding that Trump's interest is about more than protecting the public's health. An overarching priority is protecting his reputation, and manipulating facts and situations, if necessary, to do so.

As officials wrestled with the question of whether passengers of a cruise ship with 21 confirmed coronavirus cases would be allowed ashore for medical attention, Trump fretted about whether they would be counted in the U.S. tally, evidently because he thought it would make him look bad. “I would rather because I like the numbers being where they are,” he said. “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault."

Warnings expanded

Elderly individuals and those with underlying health conditions “need to think twice” about getting on a plane and ought to stay away from cruise ships, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the top federal health officials coordinating the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus.

Fauci’s warning, during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” came a day after The Associated Press reported that the White House overruled health officials who wanted to issue an advisory urging the elderly and chronically ill Americans to avoid flying on commercial airlines.

Fauci said that as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase, Americans “need to seriously look at anything that's a large gathering.”

Trump, on Twitter, said all is working well. “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus,” he tweeted Sunday. “We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!” For more, see Newsday's story by Laura Figueroa Hernandez.

The crowds keep coming

None of the remaining candidates — not Trump, nor Joe Biden nor Bernie Sanders — is scaling back plans to keep holding big campaign rallies despite concerns that crowds could become breeding grounds for coronavirus. Or at least not yet.

“Obviously what is most important to us is to protect the health of the American people,” Sanders said Sunday as he appeared in a series of TV interviews. “And what I will tell you, we are talking to public health officials all over this country.” The potential risk isn't just to rallygoers — it's also to the three candidates, all in their 70s, a more vulnerable age group.

At a Trump rally last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, the virus threat didn’t deter enthusiastic fans who reached into buckets of chicken fingers passed from person to person and dug their hands into shared vats of popcorn while they awaited the president’s arrival, The Associated Press reported.

But coronavirus contagion concern led the AFL-CIO on Saturday to cancel an Orlando, Florida, forum with Sanders and Biden that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Janison: Judge sees low Barr

Former special counsel Robert Mueller's report was not the total exoneration Trump claimed, and now a federal judge in Washington is on record doubting the honesty of the benign spin put on it by Attorney General William Barr.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, a Republican appointee, wants to see the material that was redacted from the report before he decides how to rule on a suit demanding full disclosure. As Newsday's Dan Janison writes, Walton accused Barr of presenting a "distorted" and "misleading" account.

Walton noted Barr's summary "failed to indicate" that Mueller found multiple contacts or links between Trump campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government. The judge suggests that Barr set out "to create a one-sided narrative" about the report in Trump's favor.

Some information was blacked out based on purported security concerns and potential harm to ongoing investigations. Are those concerns still valid a year later? This may be one question for Walton to consider when he reads the hidden material he ordered up — and decides whether it should remain buried.

This day in endorsements

California's Sen. Kamala Harris on Sunday became the latest former Democratic rival to endorse Biden.

Early in the campaign, Harris sharply attacked Biden's past stance on busing for school integration and his positive memories of working together with segregationist senators. Harris, in a video posted Sunday, spoke of civil rights battles and said, "I believe in Joe. I really believe in him, and I have known him for a long time.”

Harris joined a long list of ex-2020 candidates now in Biden's camp: Mike Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Deval Patrick, John Delaney, Tim Ryan and Seth Moulton. Only Bill de Blasio and Marianne Williamson have lined up behind Sanders after their bids ended.

But Sanders won the endorsement of a 1980s contender, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. "A people far behind cannot catch up choosing the most moderate path," Jackson said. "The most progressive social and economic path gives us the best chance to catch up and Senator Bernie Sanders represents the most progressive path."

Table set for two

For the first time in the 2020 campaign season, Democrats will be down to just two competitive candidates on a big primary night. Six states are voting.

Michigan will be the main prize on Tuesday, with 174 delegates in play. Washington state will be close behind with 108 delegates. Idaho, Missouri and Mississippi primaries and North Dakota's caucus round out the lineup.

Biden is almost 100 delegates ahead after Super Tuesday, according to Newsday's delegate tracker. Newsday's Tom Brune details five things to watch for that will determine whether Biden has another strong night boosting his bid for the nomination or Sanders stages a comeback.

Making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows to hit Biden's record on trade, war and Wall Street bailouts, Sanders was asked whether he would try to stay in the race if it was clear he was not headed for a plurality of votes. He replied: "Look, we will fight for every vote that we can, as we’re — as we try to win this election. I’m not a masochist who wants to stay in the race that can't be won. But right now, that's a little bit premature." For more, see Newsday's story by Scott Eidler.

What else is happening:

• Trump refuses to attend the annual bipartisan St. Patrick's Day luncheon with House and Senate lawmakers because, as is tradition, it is being hosted by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. A Trump spokesman said the president won't go because "the speaker has chosen to tear this nation apart with her actions and her rhetoric." Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, attributed Trump's decision to "petty, partisan politics."
• The worst crisis of Trump's presidency, of course, won't distract him from taking cheap shots at his critics. Reacting to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's rather plain statement that the federal government is sending "mixed messages," the commander-in-chief called the governor's brother "Fredo."
• Hillary Clinton said in a CNN interview that the Trump's administration is "far worse" than she predicted in 2016. "When he was elected, I did hold out hope that despite all of the rhetoric, the bombast and everything we heard in the campaign, that the job has a way of encouraging people to grow into it, to accept the awesome responsibilities that one has," she said. See Eidler's story for Newsday.
• Backers of Trump, the president himself and some fans of Sanders, too, are circulating claims on social media that the gaffe-prone Biden, 77, is in cognitive decline. Joining the pile-on and accusing Biden of showing "obvious signs of dementia" was Rudy Giuliani, the serial butt-dialer who showed up for a magazine interview a few months ago with his pants zipper down.
• Sanders wants to stand up at the next debate on March 15 — and his campaign is accusing Biden of wanting to sit down, Politico reports. Biden’s camp denied that it was pressing for a sit-down debate. The town-hall format for the CNN faceoff would have the candidates seated, instead of standing at lecterns, and take multiple questions from the audience.
• Sanders in private is even more intense than the crotchety persona the public sees, and can be brusque and insensitive with those around him, according to a personality profile from The New York Times. Among his quirks: He demands his hotel room temperature be kept down to 60 degrees.
• Politico has a list of "55 Things You Need to Know About Joe Biden." You don't really need to know them, but here are a few of the more obscure: As a young public defender in Delaware, he represented a 25-year-old fisherman who stole a prizewinning Holstein cow. He met his wife, Jill, on a blind date arranged by his brother. He owns a 1967 Corvette Stingray that was a gift from his father, who worked at a car dealership.