You've read 7 articles this month

TPM is funded overwhelmingly by readers’ membership fees. More than 91% of our revenue is derived from memberships and reader contributions. The rest comes from advertising. As a fully independent organization, TPM has no corporate overlords. TPM is not beholden to or controlled by any outside interests. TPM was founded by a journalist and to this day its “business” side is staffed with former journalists whose primary mission is to create a sustainable environment for our reporters and editors to do great work.

Want better media? Support a better media company

  • Reader-funded
  • Unionized
  • Mission-driven

Report: Trump Advisers Prep To Shield POTUS If Economy Reopening Results In More Deaths

President Donald Trump arrives back at the White House on March 28, 2020. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump’s advisers are reportedly gearing up to spread the blame if the President’s plan to jumpstart the economy by May 1 amid the COVID-19 pandemic crashes and burns and results in the loss of additional American lives.

The Washington Post reported that while the White House is frantically piecing together a strategy to reopen businesses at the end of the month, it also hopes to shield Trump from the political consequences of the outbreak and his sluggish response to it. Staffers are reportedly aware of the risks of lifting social distancing guidelines so soon, and Trump himself knows that suddenly forcing the economy to open up again spells danger.

“Even he realizes that’s a bad idea,” an unnamed former official told the Post.

Therefore, Trump’s advisers have been reportedly attempting to sell the plan, which has not been fully formed, to business leaders, economists and other high profile figures, with the hope that Trump won’t be held solely responsible if the reopening backfires.

Despite health officials’ warnings against encouraging people to go back to work at this stage of the outbreak, Trump has been desperate to restore the economy to its pre-outbreak state as soon as possible. He’s even gone as far as to falsely claim he has the “total authority” to force governors to allow businesses to reopen.

Trump backed away from that claim on Tuesday night, but still insisted that some states can reopen “almost immediately.”

Latest News
185
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Actual news report or The Onion Strikes Again? You decide…

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (‘R’) on Tuesday defended the decision to label World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and other professional sports as “essential services” amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying that people were “starved for content.” “People are chomping at the bit,”

  2. Who could have possibly predicted…

  3. Avatar for tsp tsp says:

    “Do it! Go back to work. Go shopping. Go to the football game. I recomend you do these things in my name. But if you die, it’s not my fault.”

  4. Not the Onion

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

179 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajm Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for maxwellsdemon Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for thepsyker Avatar for irasdad Avatar for inversion Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for pb Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for topchap Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for maximus Avatar for carolson Avatar for bcgister Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher & Digital Producer:
Senior Developer:
Senior Designer: