President Donald Trump is “furious” the DOW plunged nearly 2000 points during the past two days over coronavirus fears, wiping out all of 2020’s gains as the November reelection approaches. The President watched the markets from India, and grew even more “unhappy” with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar after a top CDC official warned the coronavirus would spread across the country.
“White House officials’ efforts to contain the economic fallout from the coronavirus have created new political hazards, as they publicly downplay the threat while other federal officials with a background in health and diseases are warning of more severe consequences for inaction,” the Washington Post reports. “The administration also risks creating new health hazards, should the pressure to assure investors of economic stability undercut its public health message about the mounting threat.”
There appears to be no concern from the President for the health of the 327.2 million people living in the U.S., rather, all eyes inside his White House are focused on public perception, especially over the market drop.
Despite the CDC’s Nancy Messonnier alerting Americans today that it’s “not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses,” Trump White House spokesman Judd Deere said that “what we are seeing today is a political effort by the Left and some in the media to distract and disturb the American people with fearful rhetoric and palace intrigue.”
“The United States economy is the strongest in the world thanks to the leadership and policies of President Trump. The virus remains low risk domestically because of the containment actions taken by this Administration since the first of the year.”
The Trump administration has spent the past 18 months creating a list of officials it believes should be purged for not parroting Trump’s every lie.
It seems likely that list may have grown today.