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AN ANGRY PRESIDENT Donald Trump came out swinging yesterday against Dr Anthony Fauci, the press and polls that show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden in key battleground states in a disjointed closing message two weeks out from the US election.
On the third day of a western campaign swing, Trump was facing intense pressure to turn around his campaign, hoping for the type of last-minute surge that gave him a come-from-behind victory four years ago.
But his inconsistent message, another rise in virus cases and his attacks on experts like Dr Fauci could undermine his final efforts to appeal to voters outside his most loyal base.
“I’m not running scared,” Trump told reporters before taking off for Tucson, Arizona, for his fifth rally in three days.
“I think I’m running angry. I’m running happy and I’m running very content (because) I’ve done a great job.”
His aggressive travel comes as Trump plays defence in states he won four years ago, though the president insisted he was confident as he executed a packed schedule despite the pandemic.
“We’re going to win,” he told campaign staff on a morning conference call from Las Vegas.
He went on to acknowledge that he “wouldn’t have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago,” referring to the days when he was hospitalised with Covid-19.
But he said he felt better now than at any point in 2016. “We’re in the best shape we’ve ever been,” he said.
Seeking to shore up the morale of his staff amid growing private concerns that he is running out of time to make up lost ground, Trump blasted his government’s own scientific experts as too negative, even as his handling of the pandemic that has killed nearly 220,000 Americans remains a central issue to voters.
“People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” the president said of the government’s top infectious disease expert.
“Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb. But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci’s a disaster.”
At a rally in Prescott, Arizona, Mr Trump assailed Mr Biden for pledging to heed the advice of scientific experts, saying dismissively that his rival “wants to listen to Dr Fauci”.
He later appeared to step back from these comments, calling Fauci a “very nice man”.
The doctor is both respected and popular, and Trump’s rejection of scientific advice on the pandemic has already drawn bipartisan condemnation.
At his rally, Trump also ramped up his attacks on the news media, singling out NBC’s Kristen Welker, the moderator of the next presidential debate, as well as CNN for aggressively covering a pandemic that is now infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day.
Yesterday’s professed confidence in victory stood in contrast to some of Mr Trump’s other public comments in recent days reflecting on the prospect that he could lose.
“Could you imagine if I lose my whole life? What am I going to do?” he asked a rally crowd last week in Macon, Georgia.
“I’m not going to feel so good. Maybe I’ll have to leave the country. I don’t know.”
In Janesville, Wisconsin over the weekend, he said it was not “even conceivable” that he could lose to a man he labelled “the worst candidate” in the “history of presidential politics”.
Trump has also expressed confusion about polling data that shows him trailing or closely matched with Biden in key states, given the crowds of thousands he has been drawing at every stop.
“How the hell can we be tied?” he said at a rally in Carson City, Nevada, where polls actually show Biden is ahead.
“What’s going on? … We get these massive crowds. He gets nobody. And then they say we’re tied. … It doesn’t make sense.”
Late yesterday, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Trump and Biden will each have his microphone cut off in Thursday’s debate while his rival delivers his opening two-minute answer to each of the six debate topics.
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He embraced the scientists when his own health was on the line.
@Martello Mulligan: Was he really sick ????
@brian reid: oh yes! He went into coughing sprees live on air. Looked worse than normal and gave it to his son Barron.
@Paul Furey: There are many illness that make people cough. Someone else could have infected his kid. It doesn’t stack up.
@Paul Furey: Acting lessons would help with that….as for his son there is no hard proof about how he got it
@Shakka1244:
Folks, I know it’s a lot to ask but could you just leave his child out of the comments.
@brian reid: Trumps administration leaks like a sieve, so I doubt they would have been able to keep a secret like a fake COVID infection for long
@Paul Furey: when Paul isn’t have a go at “old white men” he likes to pick on children
@Dave Harris: His doctor was not forthcoming with answers at the press conference…..out of hospital after 4days …back to campaign trail 2 days later…I know Irish people who got Covid…were not in hospital and took 12 days to get over it . …
He must be a miracle man ….
@Paul Furey: All your comments regarding Trump over the past 4 years are full of h-8. First you said he never got covid and was fake news. Now you are saying he gave it to his son. And you say Trump is h8full. Sad!
@brian reid: some people with Covid dont even know they have it. Anyways you better get down to tesco they are running low on tinfoil
@Chris Mc: It is flu season – he might have got flu, got hospitalised and got released. While I have no doubt he got his steroid stack as if he had COVID, it would not be beyond the bounds of his closed clique to catch the seasonal flu, and go through it to a) increase share price of regeneron b) politicize therapeutics without clinical trials.
Normally, I would go with Occam’s (he caught COVID, got over it), but the inconsistency in testing results prior and post his infection, and using it to hide his wife (straight after “f2k xmas”) and legacy daughter (Ivanka and Jared hasn’t been seen since) were trending badly. There is a very large possibility of non-infection altogether.
@brian reid: Not as sick as hell be when the votes are counted!
@brian reid: Yes, he was sick for 10 days. He got Regeneron, a new cocktail of monoclonal antibodies that is not yet approved.
@Michael Flynn: He stacked up, but he is falling in the polls
@brian reid: Wondered the same thing…
I watched the dispatches program last night on how he handled the virus is the US, absolute train wreck and way over his head. Ignored all the advice and warnings from his advisors, CDC etc. .
He hadn’t Covid he was just using it as a T.V. stunt too gain support. He’s like a T.V. evangelist looking for votes instead of money, that’s his only difference, divide and conquer.
@Mick McGuinness: he gave it to his son.
@Mick McGuinness: I don’t think you know what divide and conquer means Mick
@Paul Furey: says who…
@Paul Furey: You would love if he did Paul. I can’t wait to see you whinge and cry if Trump gets another term. You will cry Russia and other conspiracies while calling everyone who disagrees with you a bot. Trump losing won’t really affect most commenters on here but I reckon you will have an actual MELTDOWN if he wins!
Has anyone tried switching him off and on again??
@Adrian O’Donnell: Maybe leave out the “on again” part.
@Adrian O’Donnell: I believe someone is working on him remotely.
@King B: Moscow.
He probably genuinely believes he’s done a great job. He has no concept of just how brutal he is. That’s one of the reasons he’s “running angry”.
Any chance he’d just run the phuk off?
Mr Trump. You’re fired.
Trump is the one term president.
Even Rupert murdoch thinks he hasn’t a chance and fox news have turned on him, the GOP will start going into damage control mode soon in the hope they can save the party from the damage he’s done
I’m not saying this for conflict or too praise him but don’t write him off yet. A week is a long time in politics and he is cable of pulling it back. Biden is not great and one good week for him could win it for him.
@smart cat: Trump’s support may be holding up better than the polling is showing. However, Trump has had a catastrophic last two months (even ignoring the previous 3 and a half years) and it is honestly difficult to remember every scandal over the last 60 days. No president has ever been re-elected on anything approaching the record Trump has, although no president has ever had as warped and die-hard support.
@smart cat: I agree with you. It will be a great few weeks. There is no line trump wont cross. Fascinating
@smart cat: nonsense – not only is Trump going to end as a one term president but the Republicans are likely to take a really bad hit to their seats too – Trump has been a disaster for broader Republican support and they know it – they are clinging to the Supreme Court nominees as their success – which basically is because sitting Justices happen to have died during Trumps term and have nothing to do with accomplishments – his actually accomplishments fit on a stamp – all the Trumptards that are usually here on Journal seemingly have all run for the hills – good riddance to em
@smart cat: I think trump will lose because he can’t control his worst impulses. They broke the Biden laptop story and he doesn’t even give it a chance to see how it might affect undecided voters before he alienates people again, railing against fauci who is still a popular and respected figure on both sides of the spectrum despite what trump claims. Any traction the biden story had has been overshadowed by this rant in the news cycle, especially when fox are the only ones really pushing it. Its the problem when literally everything you say is based on ratings and controversy. Something he might actually want to stick might go missing in the deluge. The fact fauci is subtly goading him to fire him in the media and he is afraid to do it makes him look very weak aswell.
@Evan: Fox has to keep pushing it, they evented it through their sister Murdoch publication. They have nothing else to run with. They cant exactly repeat Trumps rants as its losing votes. It hasn’t sank in yet that its no longer 2016
@smart cat: it was the evangelical Christians that made up his core support in 2016, this time it looks like that support has dropped by as much as 20%, they voted on his anti abortion stance but many now see he doesn’t follow Christian virtues and has caused a lot of division and stirred hate among his followers. Actual Christians can see beyond their faith and realise he is damaging the unity of the country and are willing to vote democrat just to see an end to this bleeding wound in the country.
President of america encouraging people to gather in huge numbers with no masks in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. His actions spread infection and death. He really doesn’t care about his supporters.
The Journal are you actually having a laugh?? A reader commented asking a fair question about why the Journal hasn’t reported on Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden and the possibility of corruption between China and Joe.
Censorship is wrong on either side I’m absolutely shocked at what what I’m seeing in Ireland.. even Newtalks Pat Kenny talks about the election daily and he is yet to have anyone representing Trump on its just one sided each and everyday. The Irish are been brainwashed…
@Keith Richardson: Whatevs
@Keith Richardson: Trump is regarded worldwide as the greatest clown that ever represented USA as their President. He has singlehandedly caused untold damage to the American reputation as a fair and impartial country. Sorry if you are feeling offended but facts are facts.
@Keith Richardson: *being
@Keith Richardson:
Keith, The Journal takes most of it’s US presidential election coverage from American news agencies that are relentlessly hostile to President Trump, today it’s the Press Association, other days it can be A.P..
It’s a copy and paste job, despite the title there is no actual journalism involved.
@Keith Richardson: There’s no evidence to support those claims. The only source is the conspiracy theory group QAnon. In some situations there is only one side and that’s not Trump’s.
@Keith Richardson: biggest inauguration crowd ever period! It started with a lie and will end with a tantrum
@Keith Richardson: Ah Poor Trump supporters. Criticising the media and the Irish people in general.
@Irish big fellow: we need more C L OWNs
So
@Keith Richardson: Your link appears to have missed the bit where Trump also increased the national debt by $3.1 trillion – more than the previous 5 presidents combined. Weird that… Also, do you not find it a bit strange that the worst global crisis in our lifetime, the coronavirus pandemic, isn’t even mentioned?
@Keith Richardson: Pat has a serious case of TDS. He even platformed war-mongers John Bolton & Alastair Campbell to discredit Trump. Bolton’s biggest beef with Trump was that he didn’t bomb Iran! I hope Trump wins and withdraws troops from ME. Liberals can’t wait for Biden to start bombing again. Blows my mind!
@Keith Richardson: Hinter Biden has been investigated and cleared a few times now. It is any excuse stuff that the trumpettes come up with now
@Keith Richardson: In case you don’t understand what the responsibilities of news and the difference with censorship is, all news sources have to have a trail to a viable source, and if the news is obvious coming from a massively discredited source (8chan/4chan), then the news has an obligation to not advertise it.
As an example, the same source put forward that the global child trafficking industry was run from a wardrobe in a small US restaurant was repeated by people like you, and innocent people got shot. This is an example of unsubstantiated gossip, backed by completely ridiculous scenarios (blind IT shop owner obtained an unencrypted hard drive and somehow managed to identify an easily disproven source, that meets *exactly* with rumours that only came from a certain presidents head). It’s responsible to shut down any discussion on this, unless you (like the Irish journalist on CNN) are actually reporting on how this type of nonsense gets out there.
If you think this is valid, and it justifies other bizarre thoughts, please talk to professional people.
@Keith Richardson: you know dam well that laptop stuff is bull k-rap mate.
@PeterC: and despite promising to bring back manufacturers they are down hundreds of thousands in his 3.5 years. Anybody sticking up for trump is beyond help.
@Teddy Bear: sorry if this hurts your feeling but the facts say different over half million up in the 3.5 years… if you bothered to read through the hundreds on records he’s breaking ud already know this but tbh I’m not surprised
All of a sudden Republican politicians distancing themselves from trump because they think he will lose. Yet if he wins they’ll be swarming around him again to gain favour from him.
The hypocrisy in American politics is astounding on both sides.
The hundreds of millions being spent on campaigning makes the ff tent at galway races look like pocket money.
@Irish Sean: Ted Cruz’s wife might actually get her husband to stand up for her this time.
Aren’t we great we can joke and criticise Trump, but he won the election, unlike the worst taoiseach in history we have have in Martin a ditherer! , as for the expert medical advisers we have , Dr holohan told us in April that mask wearing was of little us, Now it compulsory, he also said that temperature checks at airports was a waste of time, even though lots of other countries were using this widely, its amazing the people who pushed for the highest lockdown will have no change to their salaries on Thursday morning!!
@Liam O Connor: Wow….. nothing like a good aul rant to kick start the day.
@Liam O Connor:
You obviously don’t understand the way our voting system works. It is up to political parties to put together a coalition if no one has an overall majority. Just because you don’t like him or voted for him doesn’t mean he’s unelected. I didn’t vote for him or his party either but that is the way or democracy works.
As for our medical experts changing opinions. They are not the only ones worldwide to have done so. Their understanding of the virus has changed since feb/mar. Testing has evolved.
@Liam O Connor: You can’t bate a good auld conspiracy theory… everyone IS out to get us… don’t trust ANYTHING that you are told by the “authorities”. Look sure aren’t they even changing their minds (as new facts become available). I didn’t vote for him so he has no legitimacy when it come to governing MY country.
We you take a minute to listen to yourself… I’m embarrassed for you.
@Damo: yawn!!
He is done and if Biden has any bottle he will crucify him for his flagrant disregard for the emoluments clause and tax dodging when he is out of office.
Saying he’s more popular coz his rallies have big crowds really hammers home how much he doesn’t understand the virus even tho he had it himself
He’s angry he’s going to lose & of course it’s everyone’s fault but HIS!
I hope i have as much energy when i am his age.
If he doesn’t win his response is “maybe I’ll have to leave the country.” What a patriot! He loves his country so much that he will go off in a strop if he doesn’t get his own way
@Sara Davis: I am confused. What makes him think any other country would have him! Maybe Russia. Please tell me that it’s not Ireland!
Where’s joe! He has gone into hiding until Thursday ! Doesn’t want to answer any q’s around hunters dealings ! Funny how his wealth boomed since leaving office !
Don’t see any article on the journal around this , I wonder why or maybe it’s because left leaning tec companies n media are suppressing this story !
His record on trying to deliver on his promises in the last election are better than most past presidents. The Covid 19 virus has been worst in the states where there are Democratic governors dealing with it.
@Tom Mullally: What are you tom, a bot or a troll. Either way you comment is wrong.
@Tom Mullally: examples please Mr Mullally, proper, tangible examples please.
@Tom Mullally: go get some fresh air.
@Tom Mullally: 3 miles of chicken wire Mexico didn’t pay for, Hilary still a free woman, and no viable replacement for obamacare etc etc. Just because he says he delivered on things over and over and over again doesn’t mean he has.
@Tom Mullally: I see him in that famous scene in Hitlers bunker when Soviet forces are at the gates of Berlin and Trump is banging on the table with all his mice General getting a mouthful. I’m watching Giuliani quaking in his boots, plotting in his head and getting ready to defect at the first opportunity. Who’s fault was it again?
@Marcus Massey: California and New York have Democratic governors and large numbers of deaths. He has appointed hundreds of judges who are not supporters of the liberal agenda. He continues to build the wall. He has been removing funding for abortion providers. You may not agree with these and other promises but he is trying to keep them
He’s absolutely nuts
watch the BCC “the Trump show”. entertaining
I will be singing in the rain when he loses , hopefully.
Ah sure he always blames the other
If the true Trump is not exposed when his mike is cut at the next debate then he may very well win. It was Hillary’s mails and servers and the FBI that help swing votes to him. Even if it is a smoke screen this time, the hint of a hard drive with emails .. it is enough for the people in the US to find Biden as guilty as Clinton and swing some states.
However Trump has done on the US stage his record on the world stage si actually not that bad. Friends with the leader of North Korea, first name terms with Putin, withdraw troops from some hot spots, leave the Syrians (with Russian backing) to sort out Syria. While the rhetoric may be bellicose the reality is that the USA army has been a lot quieter under Trump than many before him and a lot quieter than Hillary had proposed in Syria.
Trump is not a diplomat and politicians worldwide have become so “diplomatic” that the truth is often hidden, Trump is a business man and in a position to bully others or be seen to bully others and sometimes he says what people are thinking and when he does he gets their support versus the diplomat who tries to take both sides and in doing so wins neither. A great many people in the USA agree with most of the things he has done, so it will be interesting to see whether the big blot of corona virus response in the USA is enough to sway the inward looking “wall” supporters back into camp. All he has to do is show that China was responsible for the pandemic and he could be home and dry.
Trying to get an objective assessment can be hard as so many try to portray their pro or anti Trump position and allow this to cloud objectiveness.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: Nearly the only sensible, reasonable comment on the entire thread.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: Thank you
Where’s the light relief story about Jeffrey toobin from c n n doing a little work on himself during a Zoom meeting with New Yorker execs with the camera on him?!
From the very beginning of the news that Trump had caught Covid. I did not believe it and I said it to anyone who would listen.,It was a real Trump stunt so blatant that even his doctors seemed to frightened but to play along with it . I certainly don’t know what he had but it definitely was not Covid 19., Three days in hospital and he is fine!! No way Jose.
It’s the same headline when he ran against Hillary, he could still win.
I think they will need XXX to get him out of the White House
dead man walking
have your say