Donald Trump: If COVID-19 Kills Another 1.8 Million People in the U.S. We Won’t Even Need a Vaccine

Earlier this week, we learned that Pfizer and Moderna, the two drug manufacturers with the most promising COVID-19 vaccines, declined invitations from the White House to attend Donald Trump’s “vaccine summit.” The companies presumably chose to do so in an effort to avoid their drugs being politicized, or being associated with the Trump administration in any way whatsoever. (A third factor may have been a desire not to contract the coronavirus, which at this point is basically a 50-50 chance for anyone who visits the White House.) And now that the event has concluded, you can probably see where they were coming from!

While another, saner, more humanoid president might have kicked things off by congratulating the nation’s hardworking scientists and offering some words of hope during these extremely scary times, Trump chose to begin by playing a deceptively edited video trashing Anthony Fauci, among others:

The event…was the typical Trumpian mixture of political theatrics, brags, grievances and accolades doled out based on fealty to his preferred narrative…. The gathering opened with a video castigating media pundits, [Joe] Biden, and Fauci for offering more cautious assessments of the vaccine development timeline.

But many of the remarks the video highlighted were misleadingly portrayed. Fauci, for instance, was shown saying a vaccine arrival “could be January, could be later,” a statement that is largely true, especially for the majority of the population. Biden was also shown saying there is “no prospect” for the majority of the public to get a vaccine before the middle of 2021, a timeline that mostly tracks with the tentative rollout schedule.

Later, Trump claimed that before he came on the scene, practically no vaccines had ever been created, telling the group assembled: “Before Operation Warp Speed, the typical timeframe for development and approval, as you know, could be infinity.”

Then, in the midst of his “vaccine summit,” Trump suggested that if enough people die from COVID-19, we won’t need vaccines at all.

To be clear, people contracting a virus is not “a very powerful vaccine,” or any kind of vaccine, period. Also, the estimate for how many people would have to die for the U.S. to achieve herd immunity is approximately 2.13 million, according to The Washington Post. So there’s that.

And hey, it wouldn‘t have been a Trump event in 2020 if it didn’t involve the president of the United States claiming the election was stolen from him and seemingly asking people to help him stage a coup, saying just before he exited the room: “If somebody has the courage, I know who the next administration will be.”

It’s truly a mystery why Pfizer and Moderna wouldn’t want to be part of that.

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Report: Trump is approaching pardons the same way he approaches kissing women he finds attractive

In that he apparently plans to dispense them without getting consent first, even on people who don’t want them. Per Axios:

President Trump isn’t just accepting pardon requests but blindly discussing them “like Christmas gifts” to people who haven’t even asked, sources with direct knowledge of the conversations told Axios…. Trump recently told one adviser he was going to pardon “every person who ever talked to me,” suggesting an even larger pardon blitz to come. As with most Trump conversations, the adviser wasn’t sure how seriously to take the president—although Trump gave no indication he was joking.

The big picture: The president relishes his unilateral authority to issue get-out-of-jail-free cards. Lately, though, he's been soliciting recipients, asking friends and advisers who they think he should pardon. Trump has also interrupted conversations to spontaneously suggest that he add the person he's speaking with to his pardon list, these sources said.

According to Jonathan Swan, “the offers haven’t always been welcome,” with one source apparently feeling awkward because “the president was clearly trying to be helpful but the adviser didn’t believe they had committed any crimes.” Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Nothing to see here, just a data scientist who accused Florida of covering up the extent of the pandemic having her home raided at gunpoint

Well this is terrifying:

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement executed a search warrant Monday morning at the home of data scientist Rebekah Jones, who was fired by the state Department of Health in May. The agency is investigating whether Jones accessed a state government messaging system without authorization to urge employees to speak out about coronavirus deaths, according to an affidavit by an agent working on the case. Jones told CNN that she hadn't improperly accessed any state messaging system and that she lost access to her government computer accounts after she was removed from her position.

About 10 officers with guns drawn showed up to her Tallahassee home around 8:30 a.m., Jones said. A video taken from a camera in her house, which she posted on social media, showed an officer pointing a gun up a stairwell as Jones told him her two children were upstairs. Jones said that the officer was pointing his gun at her 2-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son and her husband, who she said were in the stairwell, although the video doesn’t make that clear. Officers also “pointed a gun six inches from my face” and took all of her computers, her phone and several hard drives and thumb drives, Jones said.

According to CNN, an investigator with Jones’s former department alleged that an unauthorized individual had illegally accessed an emergency management system and sent a text message to government officials last month urging them to speak out about the pandemic. “It’s time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead,” the message said, according to the affidavit. “You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it’s too late.” According to the investigator, the IP address of the message was allegedly connected to Jones’s house. But Jones told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Monday night that she didn’t send the message, saying, “I’m not a hacker” and adding that the language in the message was “not the way I talk.” She noted the message contained errors, notably that it was under by roughly 430 deaths. “I would never round down 430 deaths,” she said.

Jones also told Cuomo she believes the raid on her house was orchestrated by Florida governor and Trump ally Ron DeSantis, who she’s accused of mishandling the public health crisis. “This is what happens when you challenge powerful and corrupt people,” Jones said. “If he thinks this is going to scare me into silence, he’s wrong.” (DeSantis’s spokesperson told CNN that “the governor’s office had no involvement, no knowledge, no nothing, of this investigation.”

The people of Minnesota have a choice to make

And apparently it’s not going to be an easy one:

Elsewhere!

Supreme Court denies Trump allies’ bid to overturn Pa. election results (Washington Post)

Biden lays out plan to combat COVID in first 100 days, including requiring masks on interstate buses, trains (Washington Post)

Andrew Yang calling NYC elected officials to gauge mayoral run (Politico)

He Pretended to Be Trump’s Family. Then Trump Fell for It. (NYT)

Nigella Lawson’s pronunciation of “microwave” drives internet wild (NYP)

Widowed otters move in together after meeting on dating app (NYP)

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