Where’s Trump? President Recedes From View As Biden Seizes Spotlight Amid Worsening Pandemic

Topline

As coronavirus cases skyrocket and the economic situation remains dire for many Americans, President Trump is all but absent from critical discussions of public health and coronavirus relief – with President-Elect Joe Biden filling the void of leadership as he transitions into government.

Key Facts

As predicted by public health experts, the U.S. is entering a dark winter on coronavirus: the country hit a record 100,667 hospitalizations and 2,879 deaths on Thursday – devastating figures that Trump has yet to weigh in on.

Public health officials have increasingly been taking to the media to issue warnings and update the public on vaccines amid Trump’s silence, with Biden also putting out a plan on mask-wearing and warning Americans not to travel for the holidays.

In Congress, a debate rages over stimulus proposals, with Republican senators signaling support for a bipartisan $908 billion plan backed by Democratic leadership but opposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who favors his own $500 billion plan.

Asked about stimulus during a rare public appearance on Thursday to award college football coach Lou Holtz with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, Trump suggested he would sign a stimulus bill that comes to his desk – though he later clarified through a spokesperson that he was specifically expressing support for McConnell’s plan.

Biden, by contrast, endorsed the plan during a lengthy roundtable with business-owners impacted by the pandemic on Wednesday, but said it would only be a “down-payment” and that much more stimulus is needed – a sentiment reiterated in a statement on Friday.

Key Background

Throughout the pandemic, Trump has avoided candor on the virus, opting instead – by his own admission – to play down its severity and reassure the public that it would soon “disappear.” Throughout the last stretch of the campaign, Trump repeated the line that the U.S. was “rounding the turn” on the pandemic, even as cases rose precipitously and largely defined the final days of the election.

Crucial Quote

“All they want to do, you turn and then there’s, ‘Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid. We’d like to talk about Covid,’” Trump said of the media during a campaign rally on Nov. 1.  After the election, he said, “you won’t hear too much about it,” to raucous chants of “fire Fauci!” from the crowd.

Surprising Fact

Even after the election, though he has largely remained silent on the virus, Trump has continued to throw caution to the wind when it comes to virus precautions. Most recently, he spoke to a maskless, tightly -packed crowd of supporters during the White House Christmas Party at which he hinted at another run for the presidency in 2024.

What To Watch For

Biden has signaled his handling of the pandemic will be diametrically opposite to Trump’s. Whereas Trump often feuded both publicly and privately with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, Biden said Thursday that he asked Fauci to be his “chief medical adviser” – an offer Fauci said he accepted.

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