Trump’s planned West Point photo op

He’s bringing the cadets back and risking their health just so he can get a photo op. Sad!

The Army will proceed with this year's West Point graduation ceremony amid the coronavirus pandemic https://t.co/K5Z2ymEoX3 pic.twitter.com/kODRKGzSik
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 26, 2020

To accommodate Trump’s sudden decision to speak at West Point, cadets will be called back, tested off campus, then isolated for 14 days in rooms with masks. They’ll eat in segregated groups. No decision on whether family members may attend. https://t.co/64YyFn5TaZ
— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) April 25, 2020

OPINION | Stand down, Mr. President: West Point should not bring graduating cadets back for a Trump commencement address.

Like any addict, Trump is unconcerned about the damage he could cause to those around him.https://t.co/uXLFgj0cun
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) April 25, 2020

Is West Point really going to ask 1000 cadets to leave their homes, fly back to campus in order to salute POTUS at graduation? And he wants no social distancing? Please! @cnn
— David Gergen (@David_Gergen) April 25, 2020

"He’s the commander in chief, that’s his call… But everyone is leery about bringing 1,000 cadets into the New York metropolitan area for a ceremony. It’s definitely a risk."

— @SueFulton, Former Chair of West Point's Board of Visitorshttps://t.co/oBVxQmfj9e
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) April 25, 2020

Just the normal day with the commander in chief forcing West Point cadets to risk their lives so he can have a cool photo op… https://t.co/Xg4nM8IxQP
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 27, 2020

Right-Wing attacks on Bill Gates

These folks don’t believe in science.

The current campaign to preemptively sow distrust in a possible future COVID-19 vaccine by tying it to suspicion of Bill Gates' philanthropic motives is going to be a bigger problem in a year or two. https://t.co/PpcusECLB5
— Travis View (@travis_view) May 4, 2020

This is the exact nightmare scenario disinfo scholars, researchers, reporters, etc worried about.

Bad info has gone international despite every fact checker in the world being on the same story. Issue isn’t lack of good info, it’s lack of good social media infrastructure. https://t.co/kAJeHDhV4o
— Jane Lytvynenko 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ (@JaneLytv) May 10, 2020

"Where are the billionaire tech innovators when we need them?" asks Clive Irving.

Adding, "Trump has no concept of what a wartime grand strategy looks like. He can never see beyond the daily news cycle." https://t.co/XiXOwuQvvY
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 26, 2020

2015: "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down," Trump told Alex Jones during an appearance on the https://t.co/8IT7mIDMjk proprietor's show. Jones shared the love, telling Trump that "my audience, 90% of them, they support you."

TODAY: https://t.co/9WTyWZdo5r
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) April 26, 2020

Alex Jones leads protesters in a chant of "Arrest Bill Gates" at a protest in Austin, Texas today. pic.twitter.com/FtAR199Wl2
— Travis View (@travis_view) April 26, 2020

https://t.co/2ouVlhTgpV
— Ben Wieder (@benbwieder) April 26, 2020

5) The warnings came almost monthly. Among others, Bill Gates warned @VP Pence and other US officials at the Munich Security Conference in 2017. Then Bill Gates met with Trump personally in March 2018 to warn him of the pandemic threat….
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) April 17, 2020

Bill Gates is now the leading target for coronavirus falsehoods, says report https://t.co/SPYfduHleE pic.twitter.com/9v61ujUzK0
— The Verge (@verge) April 17, 2020

Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, has now become the star of an explosion of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak https://t.co/1oKaG9bU2G
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 17, 2020

Trump attacks reporters who got the “Noble” prize

It’s Nobel and they got Pulitzers, not Nobels. These are pathetic tweets from Trump. Of course, the reporters were right about Russian interference, too. Even a Senate panel led by a Republican confirmed it.

The word Pulitzer is trending on Twitter in the U.S. because the president confused the Nobel Prizes with the Pulitzer Prizes. The word Noble is also trending, because he misspelled Nobel.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 26, 2020

I don't know of anyone who has won a Noble, or a Nobel, prize for their journalism in the Trump administration. https://t.co/Xpan76Tqd9
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) April 26, 2020

Those reporters are indeed noble. You are ignoble. You are also ignorant. You refer to the wrong prize, and have misspelled it, to boot.

You’re so far in over your head you can’t even see the surface. https://t.co/1lkcL1tnoM
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 26, 2020

When did they start awarding the “Noble” Prize in Journalism? Would love to see the list of winners. https://t.co/m2aXQFthpC
— Julian Zelizer (@julianzelizer) April 26, 2020

54,000 dead, and he went on a misspelled rant about "Noble Prizes." https://t.co/vQpNm96mmJ
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 26, 2020

More than 2,000 Americans died yesterday due to a pandemic the president was totally unprepared for. He’s melting down on Twitter and trying to crowdsource frivolous lawsuits. pic.twitter.com/7PHvzjsC6w
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/RonCharles/status/1254486881074642955?s=20

Separate from his rant about reporters getting Pulitzers for Russia-Trump coverage, the president has strongly suggested that he is being mistreated because he has not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. These two complaints seem to have gotten mixed up in his mind today. https://t.co/PrgcqQEFoO
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 26, 2020

It's just another Sunday, but the President doesn't know the difference between a Pulitzer and a Nobel, and he can't spell "Nobel." https://t.co/yNMnoD2eMW
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 26, 2020

.@realDonaldTrump, it seems that it really, really bothers you that your predecessor won a prize that you can’t even spell. https://t.co/2JIvLnfubB
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 26, 2020

Does anybody get the meaning of what a so-called Noble (not Nobel) Prize is, especially as it pertains to Reporters and Journalists? Noble is defined as, “having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.” Does sarcasm ever work?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

Once again, Trump screws up, claims it was sarcasm and blames the media.

Trump is still doing his Nobel Prize nomination thing even though they awarded it to someone else on Friday
— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) October 12, 2020

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1315810513876586496?s=20

Trump: "I've been — I guess, three or four, maybe now: Nobel Peace Prizes. Can you believe it? Four. Three."

He's received nominations, not the prize itself.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 12, 2020

Trump tells his story about he how and Melania recently watched the evening news expecting to see coverage of his Nobel nominations, but were dismayed that the news was covering a hurricane in Florida and flooding in Iowa instead. This is supposed to make the media look bad. pic.twitter.com/62gzutni0D
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020

Professional medal guy here. I’ve actually catalogued/authenticated a Nobel Peace Prize before (it brought over a million bucks at auction).

That’s not even a Nobel Peace Prize. The medal depicted is awarded for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature.

Idiot. https://t.co/hcQMbkypGG
— John Kraljevich (@JohnSpiroSpero) December 29, 2020

Trump’s bad advice on disienfectants prompts calls and Internet searches

People listen when the president talks.

Call surge to NYC Poison Control larger than thought after Trump comments https://t.co/j3VC72tpAx
— Muckmaker™ (@RealMuckmaker) May 3, 2020

In case you're wondering how today's briefing is going: pic.twitter.com/aXqHPL2ZsC
— Vicky Ward (@VickyPJWard) April 27, 2020

BREAKING: President Trump said he claims no responsibility for the spike in calls to poison control centers after he suggested last week that ingesting disinfectants could be used as a coronavirus cure https://t.co/yTfftPRUlI
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 27, 2020

Trump never accepts responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

all hail the dimwit-in-chief https://t.co/uPwftSfilX
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 25, 2020

This is insane, but that's the power of the presidency and it was foreseeable! Trump's lunacy about disinfectants poisoned these people—as did the cover job by the Surgeon General and the White House spokesperson who said only to check with a doctor first. This is on their heads! https://t.co/cKJ8B9x6He
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 25, 2020

As disinformation about bleaches spreads around in Nigeria, doctors have warned that adhering to Trump's suggestions would be extremely dangerous. Taken internally, the stuff is poison, pure and simple. The outcome could be fatal.https://t.co/W6TBVajJIR
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) April 25, 2020

“Inject with disinfectant” is a breakout search, Worldwide and “sunlight disinfectant” spiked +3,100% past day UShttps://t.co/QMzhzcUvqQ
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) April 24, 2020

Gov. Larry Hogan Sunday morning said Maryland's emergency health hotline that was set up to field questions about the coronavirus pandemic had received "hundreds" of inquiries about the safety of ingesting cleaning products to kill the virus. https://t.co/akZOCJxBqj
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) April 26, 2020

Maryland and Michigan experience surge in poison control calls after Trump's disinfectant comments https://t.co/R9R4vTTAiR pic.twitter.com/mwBq8B1jTF
— The Hill (@thehill) April 26, 2020

Maryland warns against ingesting disinfectants after calls to hotlinehttps://t.co/e7baTZVL7X
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 24, 2020

Trump China story was incorrect

see my prior post

There are still plenty of conflicts of interest

This got 13.5K RTs, but the story appears to be incorrect information because the headline was changed removing "the loan is due soon" to reflect the story now noting the loan was sold by Bank of China in 2012. https://t.co/r9UC3E70bW
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) April 25, 2020

“Chinese state-owned companies are constructing two luxury Trump developments in United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. Trump and Ivanka Trump have been awarded trademarks by China’s government. And Jared Kushner has courted Chinese investors in at least one other real estate deal.”
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) April 24, 2020

Trump administration attack on the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA)

The Trump administration tried to punish CNN. They do not determine the seating.

I with the WHCA would be more active in defending their rights. They have leverage. Trump needs the media to cover him just as the media needs his words to report the news.

They should tell Trump:

1) No more attacks on media members

2) No more lies. They could give him a list of lies he has told over and over such as China is paying the tariffs or he implemented Veterans Choice.

3) The TV networks will give the Democrats equal time to any part of his briefing that is political and is carried by a particular network.

By continuing to show up only to be abused by Trump, the media is implying his behavior is normal and acceptable. It isn’t

The White House tried to move a CNN reporter to the back of the press room, but she refused. Then Trump walked out. Something I wrote: https://t.co/KwwhXGRZPR
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) April 25, 2020

This White House targets reporters for doing their jobs all the time, but it’s hard to think of a reporter who’s been less willing to bite & allow herself to become part of the drama than Kaitlan. Trump throws a tantrum at her & she doesn’t blink—she just asks the next question. https://t.co/vf2JJBfMRR
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) April 25, 2020

Oh wow: per @jonkarl, “The Secret Service tells the WHCA they were not involved whatsoever in this effort by the WH to change seating assignments” despite a White House official telling today’s pooler he needed to switch seats with CNN and that the Secret Service was involved
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) April 24, 2020

WHCA president @JonKarl will join me on Sunday's @ReliableSources https://t.co/obvrU4uQR1
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 24, 2020

White House staff just came into the briefing room and informed the print pooler that they want them to swap seats w CNN. That would move CNN to the back row from the front. @whca made these seat assignments not staff
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) April 24, 2020

Coronavirus stats 4/24/20

Technically, the United States has one-quarter of the world's deaths from covid-19 despite 4% of the world's population. But any glance at the numbers indicates that China, Russia and Brazil are suppressing/undercounting their actual death tolls. So not a reliable statistic.
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 25, 2020

Should we trust those conclusions?
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) April 24, 2020

1 in 57 people in New York City have tested positive for coronavirus, 1 in 221 people in New York City have been hospitalized for coronavirus, and 1 in 530 people in New York City have died from coronavirus, according to data from the city and the US Census Bureau.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) April 24, 2020

Trump’s attack on the Post Office

Raising rates is a poor idea when so many people are suffering economically. Trump is just mad at Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon.com who also owns the Washington Post. In the past, presidents haven’t meddled in post office rates but everything is political to Trump.

Killing USPS would also eliminate mail-in voting which Trump opposes. Republicans want to make it harder to vote to preserve their power. They also want to privatize it but don’t understand or care that businesses would not want to take on money-losing routes.

Trump wants to quadruple package delivery prices when it’s basically the only way people can buy things. It’s as insane and petty as it sounds and is essentially a massive tax hike on everybody.

"The Post office should raise the price [of package delivery] four times.” https://t.co/mukXxbAqgZ
— Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) April 24, 2020

“The postal service is a joke,” Trump says
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 24, 2020

Trump's new attack on the post office is deeply perverse. It will probably hurt most in rural areas that supported him, where people rely on it most. And his motive, as always, has nothing to do with the public interest.

New from @paulwaldman1 and me:https://t.co/CdVNLj8A4N
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) April 24, 2020

Trump may think the Post Office is a “joke” but receiving lifesaving medicines in the mail is no laughing matter to America’s patients. #SaveTheUSPS #VoteHimAway

pic.twitter.com/nQ4glawy6a
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) April 24, 2020

"If they don't raise the price [of their services], I'm not signing anything" — barely two hours ago Trump said he was willing to let the Post Office fail https://t.co/FQbYdgNQ20
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 24, 2020

Strange that Trump didn’t have such hatred for the Post Office before mail-in voting emerged as the one option that could ensure a free and fair election this November 🤔 https://t.co/8W56M3aRbO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 24, 2020

Trump has long tried to thwart Amazon. The coronavirus gives him another opportunity. https://t.co/UMERNHr1TI
— Slate (@Slate) April 24, 2020

Trump owes money to China

This is a conflict of interest that is affecting US foreign policy.

THREAD

The news that Trump is in deep debt to a state-owned bank in China — a bill that comes due during the next president’s term — sheds some light on a seeming puzzle: why does Trump keep praising China's leader as the COVID-19 pandemic gets worse?https://t.co/pUwy5TFrHh
— Jeffrey Prescott (@jeffreyprescott) April 24, 2020

Coronavirus poll update 4/24

Americans are largely unimpressed with Pres. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. @FiveThirtyEight crunches the numbers: https://t.co/IHS5VpB1Lg
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 24, 2020

NEW @AP poll: Just 28% of Americans say they’re regularly looking to President Donald Trump for information about the coronavirus pandemic and only 23% say they have high levels of trust in what the president is telling the public.https://t.co/DLhAEuMOCw
— Julie Pace (@jpaceDC) April 23, 2020

This is quite a testament to @realDonaldTrump’s failure of leadership. If he got this kind of score in any virtually other management job, he’d immediately be sacked. https://t.co/LAkUQ6sqHL
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 23, 2020

New @AP poll on social distancing mandates > pic.twitter.com/0GayilV64C
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) April 22, 2020

Morning Consult poll:

Only 14% say Americans should stop social distancing to stimulate the economy even if it means increasing the spread of the virus.

76% say Americans should continue to social distance for as long as necessary, even if it means continued economic damage.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 22, 2020

Fifty-eight percent say they are more worried about stopping the virus' spread, while 32 percent are more concerned with the economic fallout, a new NBC News/WSJ poll shows.https://t.co/jcJQ6THvWk
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 22, 2020