Former Pence Aid Endorses Biden, Says Trump Cared More About Re-election Than Stopping Coronavirus
18 September
Politics
In an ad released by Republican Voters Against Trump, former coronavirus task force member Olivia Troye roasted the president for his response. Republican Voters Against Trump / YouTube
Yet another former Trump administration staffer has come out with an endorsement for former Vice President Joe Biden, this time in response to President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>In an ad released by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) Thursday, a former homeland security advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as his top aide on the White House coronavirus task force, accused the president of caring more about his chances of reelection than the pandemic.</p><p>"Towards the middle of February, we knew it wasn't a matter of if Covid would become a big pandemic here, it was a matter of when," the aide, Olivia Troye, said in the video, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/politics/former-pence-aide-coronvirus-task-force-slams-trump/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. "But the President didn't want to hear that, because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year, and how was this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success?"</p>
<div id="af97a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="998a352f5cc7ff389416d2b3276d97c9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306685541220524046" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEW AD: @OliviaTroye was @VP's lead staffer on COVID-19. She put her heart & soul into the job.
After a while she… https://t.co/Erfsf9W6cY</div> — Republican Voters Against Trump (@Republican Voters Against Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/statuses/1306685541220524046">1600373084.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Troye also said she witnessed Trump dismiss the severity of the new disease.</p><p>"It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax, saying that everything's OK when we know that it's not," Troye said. "The truth is, he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself."</p><p>Troye's video comes about a week after the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-coronavirus-woodward-tapes-2647565763.html" target="_self">release of tapes</a> in which Trump acknowledged to journalist Bob Woodward that he did in fact understand the severity of the virus, but downplayed the risks to the public in order to prevent panic. The disease has now sickened more than 6.6 million Americans and killed almost 200,000, according to Friday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>.<br></p>
<p>In another shocking revelation, Troye recalled an extremely callous remark Trump had made about the new disease.</p><p>"Maybe this Covid thing's a good thing," Troye claimed the president said during a meeting. "I don't like shaking hands with people. I don't have to shake hands with these disgusting people."</p><p>Troye continued by reflecting that "those disgusting people" were the same people who supported the president and who he claimed to care about, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olivia-troye-pence-advisor-endorses-biden-coronavirus-task-force/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>.</p><p>"If the president had taken this virus seriously, or if he had actually made an effort to tell how serious it was, he would have slowed the virus spread, he would have saved lives," Troye said.</p>
<p>The White House responded by saying that Troye, who left the administration in late July, was merely lashing out at her former employers.</p><p>"I haven't read her comments in any detail, but it reads to me like one more disgruntled employee who's left the White House and now has decided to play politics during an election year," Pence told reporters, as CNN reported. "I think my staff has indicated that she made no comments like that when she was serving on our team here at the White House coronavirus task force."</p><p>White House spokesperson Judd Deere said that Troye never attended private meetings with the president and that her statements were inaccurate, as CBS News reported. And White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1306747024210001922" target="_blank">tweeted</a> a letter Troye sent to the coronavirus task force upon her departure in which she praised its members for their efforts.</p>
<div id="2a391" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ec3a912ad5dfd294d10417281f42254"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306747024210001922" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Interesting departure letter from a disgruntled former detailee who typically sat in the overflow room of task forc… https://t.co/wWBvf1Vusx</div> — Kayleigh McEnany (@Kayleigh McEnany)<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/statuses/1306747024210001922">1600387743.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>However, POLITICO pointed out that the letter was addressed to the task force and did not mention Trump, while Troye's video criticized Trump specifically. In the ad, Troye maintained that serving on the task force was the "honor of a lifetime," but she felt her efforts were undermined by Trump's decisions.</p><p>"I put my heart and soul into this role every single day," she said in the ad, as POLITICO reported. "But at some points I would come home at night, I would look myself in the mirror and say, are you really making a difference? Because no matter how hard you work or what you do, the president is going to do something detrimental to keeping Americans safe."</p><p>Fellow task force member and top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that Troye was a "good person" and "important to the team," as CBS News reported.</p>
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Moderna, Pfizer Release Study Designs as Vaccine Distrust Grows Among Americans
18 September
Health + Wellness
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld has his arm disinfected by Dr. Chao Wang during a Moderna clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine at Meridian Clinical Research in Rockville, Maryland on July 27, 2020. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The secretive blueprints for two of the leading vaccine candidates for the coronavirus were released Thursday. Pfizer and Moderna became the first two companies among the nine leading vaccine candidates to share their study designs, hoping that the disclosures will create trust and clarity for the public, as The New York Times reported.
<p>The details that the two companies shared are usually kept secret until after a study is complete, yet the companies decided to publish the size of their trials, the selection criteria for patients, and the adverse reactions that would cause the trials to stop prematurely. The Moderna trial will include 30,000 participants, while the Pfizer trial will have 44,000 participants, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The information released shows that the two companies and their executives still do not know if the vaccines are safe and effective. Furthermore, the disclosure shows that the ambitious time frame that President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> touts to have a vaccine available in a few weeks is all but impossible, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/17/vaccine-companies-reveal-their-study-designs-even-trump-sows-confusion/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Trump's frequent comments about the availability of a vaccine to the general population by election day contradict the word of scientists, health officials and the companies manufacturing and testing the vaccine candidates. That mixed-messaging has sown confusion with the public and created the appearance that a vaccine candidate will be rushed to market prior to proving its safety and efficacy, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>"We need trust as much as we need efficacy," said Andrew Pavia, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, to The Washington Post. "We can't afford to do anything that reduces the trust. It's not just the trust of the public. Experts in the field have to see enough of the data to feel comfortable to recommend it."</p><p>New poll number show that trust is eroding. Data released Thursday by the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/09/17/u-s-public-now-divided-over-whether-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/" target="_blank">Pew Research Center</a> show that the number of Americans who are willing to get a vaccine for the coronavirus has dropped precipitously since the beginning of the pandemic.</p><p>According to the new poll, about 51 percent of the population is likely to get the vaccine, while 49 percent said they are unwilling or unlikely to get it. Only 21 percent said they would definitely get the vaccine.</p>
<p>The percentage of people who were likely to get the vaccine is down from 72 percent in May, marking a 21 percent drop over the summer. The thorniest issue for study participants was their growing concern that a vaccine was being developed too fast and it would be widely distributed before it was proven to be safe and effective.</p><p>"Over the past month alone — a period in which President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised a vaccine will be delivered by the end of 2020 and possibly before the Nov. 3 election — the share of adults who say they would get vaccinated has fallen 8 points after public opinion on the matter generally remained steady over the summer," the researchers wrote, as <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/516952-americans-willingness-to-take-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>That growing unease about a vaccine is what prompted the nine companies with the leading vaccine candidates to take the unusual step of banding together to pledge that a vaccine would not be released prematurely, according to The Hill. For a vaccine to be effective, confidence has to grow so enough people will receive the vaccine to raise immunity levels high enough to stop transmission of the virus.</p><p>As for a realistic timeframe, Thursday's disclosures by Moderna and Pfizer showed that there would not be a vaccine from either company by election day. Moderna's estimated timetable showed it would not likely know if its candidate works until 2021. Pfizer did not release an estimated timetable in its disclosure, according to The New York Times.</p>
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Patagonia's current logo. Ajay Suresh / CC BY 2.0
Eco-friendly outdoor brand Patagonia has a colorful and timely message stitched into the tags of its latest line of shorts. "VOTE THE A**HOLES," it reads.
<div id="9552f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b2fa13e0488f5bc698dfdbb0b7393780"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1304825415010320391" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">PATAGONIA’s New Tag! https://t.co/llY71SwsQG</div> — Outlander Magazine (@Outlander Magazine)<a href="https://twitter.com/StreetFashion01/statuses/1304825415010320391">1599929596.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The new tags are already a hit online. They became a trending topic on Twitter after a photo of the message went viral, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/business/patagonia-voting-tags/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN Business reported</a> Tuesday. Company spokesperson Tessa Byars confirmed to <a href="https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/09/16/patagonia-gets-political-with-labels-saying-vote-the-a-holes-out7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Euronews Living</a> that the tags were genuine, and that "a**holes" in this case meant <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" target="_self">climate deniers</a> specifically.<br></p><p>"It refers to politicians from any part who deny or disregard the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crises</a> and ignore science, not because they aren't aware of it, but because their pockets are lined with money from oil and gas interests," Byars said.</p>
<p>Patagonia is no stranger to taking a stand on environmental issues. Spokesperson Corley Kenna told CNN that CEO Yvon Chouinard has been saying "vote the a**holes out" for years when talking about climate-denying politicians. The company also sued President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> for his decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-shrinking-bears-ears-2515965614.html" target="_self">shrink</a> Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-monuments" target="_self">national monuments</a> in Utah and even <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/patagonia-ceo-politics-2613614515.html" target="_self">endorsed</a> two Senate candidates in 2018 because of their support for protecting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a>. It also decided to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/patagonia-donates-10-million-2621774314.html" target="_self">give away</a> its $10 million windfall from the Trump tax cut to conservation groups.<br></p><p>The company's latest political message is sewn into its 2020 Men's and Women's Road to Regenerative Organic Stand-up Shorts collection, according to Euronews Living.</p><p>"[W]e have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we've been making those shorts," Byars told Euronews Living.</p><p>The company first started making the shorts in 1973, CNN said.</p>
<p>But Patagonia is doing more to encourage voting than just sharing a cheeky message with customers, the company's director of copy Brad Wieners explained on <a href="https://twitter.com/BradWieners/status/1304818097807790081?s=20" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. The company has worked with BallotReady to design a <a href="https://www.patagonia.com/elections/" target="_blank">widget on their website</a> that helps people make a voting plan for November.</p><p>"We need to elect climate leaders," the website reads. "The 2020 US Senate races will have a significant, long-lasting impact on the strength of our nation's climate policies and the existence of our wild places."</p><p>The website also features a map where the company recommends certain candidates, such as Barbara Bollier in Kansas for her support of renewable energy and Steve Bullock in Montana for his defense of public lands.</p><p>On Election Day 2020, Patagonia will repeat its practice from 2016 and 2018 and close its stores, headquarters and distribution center to encourage voting, CNN reported.</p>
<p>But the company is going farther this year. For the first time, it will also give employees up to four days off to train and work as poll workers to address the national shortage, Patagonia told EcoWatch in an email. It is also providing information on state voting policies in its retail stores.</p><p>"Patagonia is doing our part to ensure this November's elections are accessible for all eligible voters," Patagonia general counsel Hilary Dessouky said in the email. "Already this election has been marred by misinformation about voting, roadblocks to accessible voting and threats to cut essential voting services like the US Postal Service, which allow people to vote safely and securely. Patagonia is prioritizing time off to vote, and we encourage others to vote, serve as poll workers and share localized information to help make sure all voices are heard this November."</p>
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Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC and Trump participate in the daily briefing of the coronavirus task force at the White House on April 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before the Senate health panel Wednesday and discussed a realistic timeline for a vaccine. While he said an initial vaccine for the novel coronavirus may be ready by November or December, the first batch will have an extremely limited supply that will go to the most vulnerable populations, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>Redfield then said that widespread distribution of the vaccine would happen gradually, with those least at risk likely not receiving the vaccine until the summer of 2021. For it to be "fully available to the American public, so we begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life," he said, as The Washington Post reported. "I think we are probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021."</p><p>In his testimony, Redfield also acknowledged that a vaccine is not 100 percent effective and works best when most people in a population have it. In contrast to the vaccine, he said, a mask is a reliable and scientifically proven tool to stop the spread of the virus.</p>
<p>"I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70 percent," he said to lawmakers, as CNN reported. "And if I don't get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will."</p><p>He added that the American public has not yet adapted to the widespread use of masks that could stop the transmission of the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p>The remarks under oath from Redfield clashed with President Trump's insistence that a vaccine will be ready in a few weeks. Redfield's championing of mask-wearing also contrasted with Trump's reluctance to wear one in public.</p>
<p>In a press conference Wednesday, Trump publicly undermined Redfield's testimony, continuing to say that a vaccine will be ready shortly, and expressing skepticism about the efficacy of masks, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/world/covid-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>In response to Redfield's testimony about a timeline for a vaccine, Trump said, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/16/cdc-director-coronavirus-vaccine-late-2021-trump" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, "I think he made a mistake with that statement. When he said it, I believe he was confused. I'm just telling you we're ready to go."</p><p>Trump then added that a vaccine would go "to the general public immediately," and "under no circumstance will it be as late as the doctor said," as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>On the point of masks, Trump cast doubt on Redfield's testimony, saying that Redfield made a mistake and that he was confused by the question.</p><p>"Maybe he misunderstood it," Trump said, as CNN reported. He then added, "As far as the masks are concerned, I hope that the vaccine is going to be a lot more beneficial than the masks."</p><p>He also expressed doubt that they were effective.</p><p>"Masks have problems too ... A lot of people did not like the concept of mask initially, Dr. Fauci didn't like it initially," Trump said, as The Guardian reported. However, he did not add that Dr. Fauci later clarified his comments that he did not want to see panic that would create a run on N95 masks and leave a shortage for health care workers.</p>
<p>After Trump publicly rebuked the head of the world's preeminent health agency, Redfield released a statement that reiterated the importance of a vaccine and masks, but did not address the idea that he was mistaken.</p><p>"A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life. The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds," he said in the statement, as CNN reported.</p>
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Trump Denies Climate Science in California, Biden Labels Him a 'Climate Arsonist'
15 September
Politics
Trump meets with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials in McClellan Park, California on Sept. 14, 2020. CBC News: The National / YouTube
The climate crisis has wedged its way into the presidential campaign as President Trump, who has barely mentioned the fires raging on the West Coast, visited California on Monday. When pressed on global warming, Trump told a briefing, "I don't think science knows, actually."
<p>In the meantime, former Vice President Joe Biden, who has campaigned while observing social distancing, called the president a "climate arsonist" from a museum in his home state Delaware, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/politics/trump-biden-climate-change-fires.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Trump has claimed that the fires were caused by California's mismanagement of forests, even though most of the fires have started and burned on federally owned lands, not state forests.</p><p>On the way to Monday's briefing near Sacramento with California Governor Gavin Newsom and other top Democratic officials, Trump once again blamed forest mismanagement as the issue.</p><p>"When trees fall down after a short period of time, they become very dry — really like a matchstick," Trump said, as The New York Times reported. "And they can explode. Also leaves. When you have dried leaves on the ground, it's just fuel for the fires."</p>
<p>Then he had this exchange during the briefing, as <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/516380-as-wildfires-rage-trump-and-biden-diverge-on-climate" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>Newsom: "We obviously feel very strongly the hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting dryer. Something has happened to the plumbing of the world and we come from a perspective, humbly, where we submit the science in and observed evidence is self-evident that climate change is real and that is exacerbating this."</p><p>Trump: "Absolutely."</p><p>Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, then warned against putting one's "head in the sand" by ignoring what the data and the science say is happening due the climate crisis.</p><p>Trump: "It'll start getting cooler, you just watch."</p><p>Crowfoot: "I wish science agreed with you,"</p><p>Trump: "I don't think science knows, actually."</p>
<p>Trump did not explain his thoughts or pontificate further on what science does and doesn't know, For millions of Americans, the effects of the climate crisis are difficult to ignore. Another hurricane is headed for the Gulf Coast, which is still recovering from Hurricane Laura a couple of weeks ago. The Southwest saw a record stretch of triple-digit temperature days. On the West Coast, the raging fires have consumed millions of acres and have made the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/west-coast-wildfires-air-pollution-2647637806.html" target="_self">air hazardous to breathe</a> in several cities.</p>
<p>From Delaware, Biden gave a speech where he spoke of his own proposed climate crisis policies and called Trump a "climate arsonist." Biden drew a connection between Trump's handling of climate-crisis issues and his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial tension roiling through the country, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/devastating-wildfires-out-west-inject-climate-change-into-the-presidential-campaign/2020/09/14/5418cd62-f694-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>"If we have four more years of Trump's climate denial, how many suburbs will be burned in wildfires?" Biden asked, as The New York Time reported. "How many suburban neighborhoods will have been flooded out? How many suburbs will have been blown away in superstorms? If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze?"</p><p>"Donald Trump's climate denial may not have caused these fires and record floods and record hurricanes," Biden said, according to The Washington Post. "But if he gets a second term, these hellish events will continue to become more common, more devastating and more deadly."</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b4ba38ee55b4eac2739d8cfe6cd3b95c"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eGtCnuqZnhw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
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Tapes Show Trump Knew Coronavirus Was Deadly While Downplaying the Risk in Public
10 September
Politics
Trump departs from a Senate Republicans luncheon on Capitol Hill on March 10, 2020. Caroline Brehman / CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
President Trump admitted to downplaying the risk of the coronavirus after tapes were released of him acknowledging the dangers to journalist Bob Woodward. The tapes from February and March for Woodward's new book "Rage" show that the president's private conversations stood in stark contrast to what he was telling the public, as The New York Times reported.
<p>The released tapes fueled outrage as they show a president clearly aware that the virus was extremely dangerous, but intentionally downplaying its risk and holding gatherings where people stood in close proximity to each other. Now that the virus has killed nearly 190,000 Americans and nearly 900,000 people worldwide, critics are questioning why Trump deceived the public about the virus' spread.</p>
<p>As The Washington Post reported, in a tape from a phone call on Feb. 7, Trump said, "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus."</p><p>For emphasis, he added, "This is deadly stuff."</p><p>Trump then held several interviews with the news media where he said the U.S. had the virus under control. On a March 19 call with Woodward, Trump admitted to downplaying the virus as well.</p><p>"I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down," Trump said on tape, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/09/trump-coronavirus-deadly-downplayed-risk-410796" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> reported. "Because I don't want to create a panic."</p>
<p>Trump was asked Wednesday about his decision and was reminded that the virus' death toll is near 200,000 in the U.S.</p><p>"Well, I think if you said 'in order to reduce panic,' perhaps that's so," Trump said, as <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trump-explains-why-he-downplayed-coronavirus-risks-to-the-american-public-204606336.html" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a> reported. "The fact is I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country, and I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic, and certainly I'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We want to show confidence. We want to show strength."</p>
<p>Democrats swiftly noted that other world leaders were less concerned about being a cheerleader and took decisive, preemptive actions to reduce the risk of transmission.</p><p>"He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American people. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months," Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said in front of the United Auto Workers training facility in Michigan Wednesday, as The Washington Post reported.</p>
<p>The timeline of Trump's actions shows a pattern of deception well after he knew the virus was airborne and far more deadly than the flu. And yet, weeks after admitting that to Woodward, Trump said to reporters at the end of February, "It's a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner."</p><p>And then on Feb. 28, at a rally in South Carolina, Trump dismissed the virus as the Democrats' "new hoax."</p><p>Even though Trump tells Woodward on the tapes that he intentionally played down the virus because he didn't want to create a panic, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, told reporters with a straight face Wednesday that the president had not deceived the American public at all about the coronavirus.</p>
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'Greenhouse Gaslighting': Trump Declares Himself the #1 Environmental President
09 September
Politics
Trump exits from the stage after speaking at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse on Sept. 8, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
President Trump told a crowd in Jupiter, Florida Tuesday that he is an environmental president, claiming that "it's true: number one since Teddy Roosevelt. Who would have thought Trump is the great environmentalist?" according to the White House transcript of the speech. He added, "And I am. I am. I believe strongly in it."
<p>The dubious claim was made as he vowed to sign a 10-year moratorium on offshore oil and gas <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling" target="_self">drilling</a> off the Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina coast. Essentially, he is signing a moratorium that is already in place that his own administration proposed lifting, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/us/politics/trump-drilling-environment-florida.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The New York Times also noted how dubious the claim Trump made is when he called himself a great environmentalist after he has abandoned the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>, rolled back clean air and clean water initiatives, lowered emissions standards on vehicles, allowed toxic pollution to spew into the atmosphere, and warmly embraced a toxic pesticide known to cause brain damage in children.</p>
<p>When he signed the measure Tuesday at the campaign stop near the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, he said, "This protects your beautiful gulf and your beautiful ocean, and it will for a long time to come," as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-claims-environmental-progress-weakened-rules-72878809" target="_blank">ABC News</a> reported. And yet, at no time during the speech did he note that he tried to expand offshore drilling coast-to-coast, but only dialed it back after then Florida Governor Rick Scott asked the President not to lift the moratorium for his state.</p><p>In the speech, Trump tried to cast himself as a great protector of the environment in a state that is crucial to his reelection. While he and Joe Biden are in a statistical dead heat in Florida, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> is an issue that weighs on the minds of both Republicans and Democrats in the state. Florida, which is mostly at sea level, is often battered by hurricanes, susceptible to heat waves, and vulnerable to rising oceans, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>Trying to claim the mantle of environmentalism, Trump said, "My administration is proving every day that we can improve our environment while creating millions of high-paying jobs. This is a really sharp contrast to the extreme, radical left that you've had to deal with." Without citing any evidence, he added, "Joe Biden's plan would destroy America's middle class while giving a free pass to the world's worst foreign polluters like China, Russia, India, and many others. They don't have to clean up their lands, but we have to clean up ours. The left's agenda isn't about protecting the environment, it's about punishing America."</p><p>Trump also failed to mention his recent consideration of opening up the Gulf of Mexico to expanded drilling, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/10/interior-drilling-florida-waters-november-election-310595" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> reported. Nor did he mention that signing a moratorium for oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic Coast is purely theater since any declaration would have to go through Congress, which is extremely unlikely to take up the issue prior to Election Day, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-09-08/trump-recasting-a-dubious-record-declares-himself-the-great-environmentalist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>Trump's bizarre claims of environmentalism after a track record of reducing protections stunned environmentalists who often see Trump as the president with one of the worst environmental legacies in history.</p><p>"He's ignoring science, he's ignoring experts and now he's even ignoring his own record," said Pete Maysmith, a senior vice president for the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit group, to the Los Angeles Times. "Florida is ground zero for climate change with extreme weather and hurricanes in particular. Donald Trump has attempted to roll back over 100 environmental protections, including dozens related to climate change and clean water. He's an environmental disaster and Florida's paying the price."</p><p>The Sierra Club zeroed in what Trump has done to the environment in Florida.</p><p>"Failing to adequately fund Everglades restoration, attempting to sell off our waters to corporate polluters and rolling back more than 100 environmental protections doesn't make you anything other than the worst president ever for the environment and climate," said Ariel Hayes, the political director of the Sierra Club, as The New York Times reported. "Voters in Florida and across the country have watched Trump achieve this status for nearly four years, and no amount of greenhouse gaslighting will change that."</p>
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The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, Cheshire on July 21, 2020. PAUL ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
One of the leading candidates for a COVID-19 vaccine has been stopped after a study participant had a serious adverse reaction that is suspected to have been caused by the vaccine, as STAT News reported. The vaccine from the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford was in the late stages of a phase 3 trial, meaning it was being tested for safety at several sites around the country and in Europe.
<p><br/></p>
<p>After a study participant in the United Kingdom fell ill, AstraZeneca said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaDRobbins/status/1303452507641839616" target="_blank">statement</a> that it would review safety and efficacy data. Then the company released a <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaDRobbins/status/1303491310968479745" target="_blank">second statement</a>, saying it initiated the pause even though the study participant is expected to make a full recovery, according to STAT News.</p><p>Despite the pause, adverse reactions are very common in clinical trials as is pausing for a safety and efficacy review. It also does not mean the vaccine candidate is a failure. However, it does make it increasingly unlikely that the vaccine will be approved and ready for distribution by Election Day, as President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> has often said a vaccine would be.</p>
<p>In a statement, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/health/coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccine-safety.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>, AstraZeneca described the pause as a "routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials."</p><p>AstraZeneca was not clear about how long the pause in the vaccine trial will last. The late-stage vaccine trial so far has included 17,000 people in Europe, the U.S., Brazil and South Africa, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/09/the-oxford-university-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-trial-has-been-paused-should-we-be-worried" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. Phase 3 trials include a large number of study participants for exactly this reason; only by testing a large number of people do rare side-effects emerge.</p><p>"This is the whole point of doing these Phase 2, Phase 3 trials," said Dr. Phyllis Tien, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco, as The New York Times reported. "We need to assess safety, and we won't know the efficacy part until much later. I think halting the trial until the safety board can figure out whether or not this was directly related to the vaccine is a good idea."</p>
<p>While the exact condition that the study participant suffered has not been released, The New York Times is reporting that sources are saying the person received a diagnosis of transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections. It's unclear if the diagnosis is directly related to the vaccine candidate or not.</p><p>Robert Booy, a University of Sydney professor of vaccinology, told The Guardian that if the sickness is unrelated to the vaccine candidate then the trial might be paused for just one week, but it may extend to one month. He said that the pause "is more likely the product of being super careful" rather than a problem with the vaccine.</p><p>"This could have just been a high fever and it turns out they've got appendicitis," he said. "My bet would be that they find something in this participant that is not causal [from the vaccine]. It'll take them about one to two weeks to ascertain this, and then they will probably restart the trial in a month."</p>
<p>AstraZeneca said in a statement that it was "working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline," and did not waver from its commitment "to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials," as The New York Times reported.</p><p>AstraZeneca was one of nine companies that signed a pledge Tuesday to assure the public that a vaccine would not be rushed due to politics. In a rare move, nine companies working on a vaccine made a joint pledge to "stand with <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>" and insisted that they would not be rolled out prematurely without proving beyond a doubt that they are safe and effective, according to The New York Times.</p>
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Trump takes questions after delivering remarks during a news conference at the North Portico at the White House on Sept. 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
After President Donald Trump on Monday suggested a COVID-19 vaccine could be fully developed and put to market "before a very special day" — apparently referring to the Nov. 3 presidential election — Sen. Bernie Sanders warned that Trump's ongoing politicization of the vaccine process threatens to undermine public trust and safety.
<p>"I think you got a president who's losing it, and I think most people are sick and tired of the ranting and the ravings of Donald Trump," the Vermont senator said in an appearance on CNN late Monday. "Look, everybody wants a vaccine, but we want to make sure that that vaccine is safe. We don't want to see that vaccine put on the market for political reasons."</p><p>Sanders went on to urge doctors, scientists, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/01/wolf-saying-hell-guard-henhouse-big-pharma-ceo-insists-industry-can-police-itself" target="_blank">pharmaceutical companies</a> to "do the right thing and get it onto the market, get it into people's arms when it is ready, not when it suits the political purposes of this increasingly irrational president."</p><p>"Let's not politicize this thing. We have developed vaccines for decade after decade after decade. We have to give the resources to the doctors and the scientists to do their work," Sanders said. "We've got to make sure that vaccine undergoes the clinical trials that [are] necessary to make sure that it is safe."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Let's not politicize this thing,” Sen. Bernie Sanders says about the coronavirus vaccine. “We have developed vaccines for decade after decade after decade. We have to give the resources to the doctors and the scientists to do their work." <a href="https://t.co/GqSF5xfRbd">https://t.co/GqSF5xfRbd</a> <a href="https://t.co/jwJVMQo12i">pic.twitter.com/jwJVMQo12i</a></p>— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSitRoom/status/1303114086083964928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The Vermont senator's remarks came hours after Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1303040452577374208" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">claimed</a> during a Labor Day press conference Monday that "we're going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special day."</p><p>Asked whether he's pushing for speedy approval of a coronavirus vaccine for political gain, Trump said: "No, I'm saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. With me, it's the faster the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically but I'm saying it in terms of this is what we need."</p><p>"Now," Trump continued, "do benefits inure if you're able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess maybe they do."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"The faster, the better" -- Trump on a coronavirus vaccine <a href="https://t.co/Lc83qixbp3">pic.twitter.com/Lc83qixbp3</a></p>— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1303033886163849217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Federal officials have repeatedly cast doubt on the president's suggested timeline, saying there's little chance that a sufficiently tested vaccine will be ready ahead of the November election.</p><p>"I don't know any scientist involved in this effort who thinks we will be getting shots into arms any time before Election Day," one anonymous federal official familiar with Operation Warp Speed <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/07/health/trump-vaccine-timeline/index.html" target="_blank">told</a> CNN Monday, echoing the public statements of other officials involved with the vaccine development effort.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/08/people-are-sick-and-tired-ranting-and-ravings-sanders-rips-trump-effort-rush-covid?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Director of the Centers for Disease Control Robert Redfield arrives for Trump's speech on vaccine development on May 15, 2020 in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
The appearance that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is taking orders from political leaders grew stronger this week as the organization told states to prepare facilities for a coronavirus vaccine before November's general election. The issue raised alarm for health experts who worry that a vaccine will be rolled out before its safety and efficacy are well established, according to The New York Times.
<p>The letter, written by Director of the CDC Dr. Robert Redfield, is dated August 27 — the same day that President Trump gave his speech at the Republican National Convention claiming that a vaccine would be available before the end of the year. The letter says that the CDC had entered a contract with McKesson Corp. to distribute hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to state and local health departments nationwide in less than two months, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cdc-tells-states-prepare-large-scale-distribution-covid-19-vaccine-n1239149" target="_blank">NBC News</a>.</p><p>The New York Times obtained a <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/phase-1-vaccination-planning-scenarios-8-27/e0b519d686f4dda5/full.pdf" target="_blank">planning document</a> that the CDC sent out. It described an evolving vaccine landscape, but touted the promise of two different vaccine candidates, and laid out a scenario where 2 million doses could be distributed before November and another 10 to 20 million doses distributed by the end of that month.</p>
<p>Both vaccine candidates would require two injections taken a couple of weeks apart and it identified at-risk populations and frontline workers as the people to receive the vaccine first.</p><p>"These scenarios are designed to support jurisdictional, federal, and partner planning, but they are still considered hypothetical," one document reads, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/health/cdc-covid-19-vaccine-distribution/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>In the documents, Redfield asks governors to expedite applications for the vaccine distribution facilities that McKesson would run, according to NBC News.</p><p>"If necessary," Redfield wrote, the agency "asks you to consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities from being fully operational by November 1, 2020," as NBC News reported.</p>
<p>Public health officials worry that the Trump administration is looking to roll out a vaccine prematurely, or at least to hype one, before the election as a way to score political points, as The New York Times noted. There are Herculean logistical challenges involved in distributing and storing a vaccine in sub-zero temperatures to a messy and disjointed healthcare system.</p><p>"This timeline of the initial deployment at the end of October is deeply worrisome for the politicization of public health and the potential safety ramifications," said Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist based in Arizona, to The New York Times. "It's hard not to see this as a push for a pre-election vaccine."</p>
<p>Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins, however, told CNN that he doesn't see it as a premature rush to distribute a vaccine. He said it's proper planning should one of the two vaccine candidates tested show fast, clear evidence that it is protecting people.</p><p>"Now, keep in mind that the likelihood of that is pretty low," Collins told CNN. "This is like the Boy Scout motto, 'Be Prepared.'"</p><p>"Even if it's very low likelihood, if everything happened to come together really beautifully and we had an answer by then and we knew we had a vaccine that was safe and effective, wouldn't you want people to be ready to figure out how to do the distribution? That's all that CDC is saying," he added.</p><p>Medical experts did appreciate that the CDC earmarked the first vaccines for healthcare workers, essential workers and people who work in national security, according to The New York Times. The guidelines also said early vaccines should go to older people, indigenous people, minority groups and to prison populations — all communities that have been most affected by the novel coronavirus.</p><p>That specific direction is beneficial for public health, "so it doesn't just all wind up in high-income, affluent suburbs," said Dr. Cedric Dark, an emergency medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, to The New York Times.</p>
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Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar look on as FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn addresses the media during a press conference at the White House on Aug. 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Pete Marovich / Getty Images
In a news conference on Sunday, President Trump alongside Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Alex Azar, the secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS), touted the efficacy of blood plasma in treating COVID-19 as they announced its approval for a treatment.
<p>And yet, the data they cited was misrepresented and built on a shaky foundation, forcing Hahn to walk back his assertion that it was an effective treatment, a rare about-face for an agency that is supposed to be an anchor of non-partisan public trust, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-24/fda-trump-officials-misrepresent-key-statistic-on-covid-therapy" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>.</p><p>In fact, just days before the FDA approved the treatment, a group of top health officials that included Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins said the emerging data on blood plasma treatments was too weak to justify its approval. Yet President Trump, who had also accused the FDA as being part of the "deep state" that was delaying treatments until after the election, touted blood plasma treatment as reducing deaths by 35 percent.</p>
<p>The problem is, nobody knows where that number came from. As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/health/fda-blood-plasma.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported, it was not found in the FDA's official authorization letter, nor a 17-page memo written by FDA scientists, nor in the Mayo Clinic analysis cited by the administration.</p><p>"For the first time ever, I feel like official people in communications and people at the FDA grossly misrepresented data about a therapy," said Dr. Walid Gellad, who leads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh, to The New York Times.</p>
<p>In an interview with new agencies, one of the Mayo Clinic study's main authors, Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, expressed confusion. "Do I know where the 35 percent comes from? No," he said, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>"That was not the way that I would have worded it," he added, as Bloomberg reported. "I hope they will issue a clarification."</p>
<p>"You need to correct the 35 lives saved per 100 sick with COVID-19 so people understand that was absolutely wrong, Steve," wrote Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, on Twitter, as Bloomberg reported. "That there is no evidence to support that. That there is no evidence at this juncture to support *any* survival benefit."</p><p>As the criticism of the 35 percent number piled up, Hahn listened. He acknowledged its validity last night in a tweet.</p><p>"I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma," Hahn wrote. "The criticism is entirely justified. What I should have said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction not an absolute risk reduction."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified. What I should have said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction not an absolute risk reduction.</p>— Dr. Stephen M. Hahn (@SteveFDA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveFDA/status/1298071620414824452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The treatment in question, convalescent blood plasma therapy, uses antibody-rich plasma from people who have recovered from the disease to help ramp up the immunity of sick people so they can develop their own antibodies. However, there are few randomized controlled trials to demonstrate its efficacy, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/23/fda-under-pressure-from-trump-expected-to-authorize-blood-plasma-as-covid-19-treatment/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>.</p><p>"Investigators have had challenges enrolling patients to begin with, and this announcement will make it even harder, if not impossible," said Dr. Howard Koh, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who was assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services in the administration of President Barack Obama, to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/why-did-fda-authorize-convalescent-plasma-potential-treatment-covid-19-n1237848" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. "It's a disservice, actually."</p><p>According to Bloomberg, the data simply shows that a higher dose of blood plasma is more effective than a lower dose. While there are promising results, the extensive research has not yet shown that blood plasma therapy is far superior to a placebo.</p><p>"Until we have a randomized controlled trial, we don't know definitively," Casadevall said.</p>
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Trump Wanted to Withhold Wildfire Aid to California Over Political Differences, Former DHS Official Says
18 August
Politics
Trump and Paradise Mayor Jody Jones view damage from the Camp Fire in Paradise, California on Nov. 17, 2018. SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump wanted to cut off wildfire relief money to California because the state did not support his political goals, a former administration staffer has claimed.
<p>In a scathing campaign ad released Monday by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Miles Taylor said that his experience had showed him that the president wanted to "exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda."</p><p>In one example, Taylor cited a phone call Trump made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).</p><p>"He told FEMA to cut off the money and to no longer give individual assistance to California," Taylor said. "He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses had burned down from a wildfire because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn't support him and that politically it wasn't a base for him."</p>
<div id="6bf8a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e65d0bb81b3536a01b11b1e10e42798"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1295428131503964162" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Revelations by Trump's former DHS chief.
POTUS
- Tried to stop CA fire victim relief funding b/c blue state
- Want… https://t.co/Qvggd5iqjC</div> — Republican Voters Against Trump (@Republican Voters Against Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/statuses/1295428131503964162">1597689109.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Taylor does not say when Trump made the alleged call, the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Rageful-Trump-wanted-to-cut-off-California-15490529.php" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle pointed out</a>.</p><p>However, Trump did publicly clash with California over wildfire aid two months after the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/camp-fire" target="_self">Camp Fire</a> killed 84 people and devastated the town of Paradise.</p><p>In January 2019, he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-wildfire-funding-fema-2625553888.html" target="_self">said</a> he had ordered FEMA not to give any more money to the state, but said the reason was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forest" target="_self">forest</a> management policies, not politics.</p><p>"Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen," the president tweeted at the time. "Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!"</p>
<div id="8ee70" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="65c68dadcb57f6f53593f64d71263b3b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1083022011574747137" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would… https://t.co/l5Jyjb8lEs</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1083022011574747137">1547047543.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The tweet was widely criticized by California firefighters and politicians at the time for making such a threat following a major tragedy. Trump's focus on forest management was also seen as a way to downplay the role of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> in fueling more extreme fires.</p><p>"Californians endured the deadliest wildfire in our state's history last year. We should work together to mitigate these fires by combating climate change, not play politics by threatening to withhold money from survivors of a deadly natural disaster," California Senator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/kamala-harris" target="_self">Kamala Harris</a>, who is now <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a>'s <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/kamala-harris-environmental-legacy-biden-2646958079.html" target="_self">running mate</a> in his bid to unseat Trump in November, tweeted at the time.</p>
<div id="9f935" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="48ac78198bfc72a939cf49db480ca15b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1083022784895303680" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Californians endured the deadliest wildfire in our state’s history last year. We should work together to mitigate t… https://t.co/ni9zzpaqte</div> — Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris)<a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/statuses/1083022784895303680">1547047728.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump critics also pointed out that more than half of forested land in California is controlled by the federal government, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. However, despite Trump's threat, the aid was never actually withheld.</p><p>The White House responded to Taylor's video by saying he had never raised any complaints while working for DHS from 2017 to 2019.</p><p>"This individual is another creature of the D.C. Swamp who never understood the importance of the President's agenda or why the American people elected him and clearly just wants to cash-in," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a statement to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/17/trump-california-wildfire-money-397340?fbclid=IwAR2hOyquSnLgw_OUW3ZHX7OR6KJGjPzJTsKnSu1j1DtVGnhS92Rd-u2lKQo" target="_blank">POLITICO</a>.</p><p>In the video, Taylor also endorsed Biden in the November election, becoming one of the highest ranking former administration officials to do so, <a href="https://abc7.com/president-donald-trump-cal-fire-california-wildfires-federal-funding/6374757/" target="_blank">ABC 7 reported</a>.</p>
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Trump arrives for a news conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 12, 2020. NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration continued its war on appliance efficiency Wednesday with a proposal to increase the water that can flow from showerheads.
<p>The latest Department of Energy (DOE) plan follows its rollbacks on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-energy-efficient-light-bulbs-2640205488.html" target="_self">lightbulb</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/energy-efficient-dishwashers-2641355611.html" target="_self">dishwasher</a> standards, as well as President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>'s <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/water-efficient-toilets-trump-2641555142.html" target="_self">repeated complaints</a> about water-saving appliances. But consumer advocates say the changes are unnecessary, and would harm both the environment and American pocketbooks.</p><p>"Frankly it's silly," <a href="https://appliance-standards.org/" target="_blank">Appliance Standards Awareness Project</a> Executive Director Andrew deLaski told <a href="https://apnews.com/083ef5555ef82c015e2f37f1822c0d78" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>. "The country faces serious problems. We've got a pandemic, serious long-term <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">drought</a> throughout much of the West. We've got global <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a>. Showerheads aren't one of our problems."</p>
<p>The rollback targets a 1992 law mandating that showerheads can't release more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. The law does not allow the DOE to set less rigorous standards, but the Trump administration has found a way around that, deLaski explained in a <a href="https://www.aceee.org/blog-post/2020/08/trumps-showerhead-plan-here-many-models-already-deliver-dense-soak" target="_blank">blog post</a>:</p><blockquote>The trick DOE is floating here is to try to dodge the law by reinterpreting what the word "showerhead" means.<br><em><br></em>The proposal, if finalized, would allow manufacturers to make giant showerheads with several nozzles within them. DOE proposes to accomplish this through a change in the test procedure that would characterize each of those separate nozzles as a showerhead. The full device could have as many 2.5 gallon-per-minute showerheads as the manufacturer wants. Get it?</blockquote>
<p>The DOE proposal reverses an Obama-administration decision that the 2.5 gallon-per-minute rule should apply to the entire showerhead device, even if it had multiple nozzles, The Associated Press explained.</p><p>The proposed regulation follows Trump's repeated complaints about efficient appliances. Most recently, he targeted showerheads specifically in a July 16 speech on the South Lawn of the White House.</p><p>"So showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn't come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn't come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don't know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect," <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-rolling-back-regulations-help-americans/" target="_blank">Trump said</a>.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c661edc2b5846724279941fbd20b8877"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7dVifY0PgKc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>The remarks built on Trump's repeated complaints about water-saving bathroom fixtures. Late last year, he claimed Americans had to flush toilets "10 times, 15 times," <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/showerhead-standards-trump-hair-department-of-energy/index.html" target="_blank">CNN pointed out</a>.</p><p>In justifying the change, Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said it would allow "Americans — not Washington bureaucrats — to choose what kind of showerheads they have in their homes."</p><p>But consumer advocates said U.S. customers could already take satisfying showers using devices that meet current standards.</p><p>"There is absolutely no need to change current showerhead standards," <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm" target="_blank">Consumer Reports</a> vice president of advocacy David Friedman said in a statement reported by CNN. "Thanks to the standards, consumers have access to showerheads that not only score well on CR tests and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, but also save consumers money by reducing energy and water consumption."</p>
<p>DeLaski told The Associated Press that the proposed devices would end up "literally probably washing you out of the bathroom."</p><p>The proposed changes would also worsen the impacts and causes of the climate crisis, deLaski explained in his blog post.</p><p>He pointed to an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/314.full" target="_blank">April study</a>, which found that much of the western U.S. is experiencing the first "megadrought" caused by global heating. And he noted that more water intensive showers would also mean more greenhouse gas emissions burned to heat that water.</p><p>"The new multi-nozzle showerheads would not only needlessly waste water, exacerbating shortages caused by drought, but also boost the carbon pollution that has made long-term droughts worse," he wrote. "No one benefits from this gimmick."</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-water-trump/trump-hair-rinsing-complaints-prompt-us-to-ease-shower-standards-idUSKCN2582Y1" target="_blank">Reuters pointed out</a> that the proposal may never come to anything. Trump faces reelection in November, and is currently behind in the polls. And if the regulation is finalized, it could be challenged in court.</p>
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