‘The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors…’
Donald Trump, with members of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force/AP Photo
(Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed course on plans to wind down his coronavirus task force, as he advocates for reopening the country’s economy.
Democrats criticized Trump’s reopening strategy Wednesday, saying more federal support for testing and contact tracing is needed. While the daily number of new deaths in the New York area has declined markedly in recent weeks, deaths have essentially plateaued in the rest of the U.S.
One day after the administration suggested that its work would be done around Memorial Day, Trump said the White House task force of experts and senior government officials would continue after all, indefinitely, with its focus shifting toward rebooting the economy and the development of a vaccine.
“I thought we could wind it down sooner,” Trump said, adding, “I had no idea how popular the task force is.”
Trump said Tuesday he would still seek their counsel, regardless of the fate of the task force.
“It is appreciated by the public,” he said of the task force.
Trump said membership in the group would change as the nature of the crisis evolves.
In the Wednesday tweets Trump said “the Task Force will continue on indefinitely.” He added that the White House “may add or subtract people to it, as appropriate. The Task Force will also be very focused on Vaccines & Therapeutics.”
Trump made himself Exhibit A for reopening the country with his Tuesday visit to an Arizona face mask factory, using the trip to demonstrate his determination to see an easing of stay-at-home orders.
“The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. We have to open,” Trump declared as he left Washington on a trip that was more about the journey than the destination.
In Arizona, Trump acknowledged the human cost of returning to normalcy.
“I’m not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon,” he said.
In an interview Wednesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump’s approach. “Death is not an economic motivator, stimulus,” she said. “So why are we going down that path?”
“Everyone’s eager to get out,” she added. “To unlock the lockdown is to test, trace, treat as well as isolate social distancing.”
Trump was asked on Tuesday about his statements in February playing down the threat of the virus. In an interview with ABC, he asserted that medical experts also had underestimated the risk.
He added, “I want to be optimistic. I don’t want to be Mr. Doom and Gloom. It’s a very bad subject. I’m not looking to tell the American people when nobody really knows what is happening yet, ‘Oh this is going to be so tragic.’”
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
