Republican governors have been holding secret conference calls to complain about Trump's chaotic coronavirus response, report says
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Politics
Republican governors have been holding secret conference calls to complain about Trump's chaotic coronavirus response, report says
President Donald Trump, flanked by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Hart Senate Office building on May 19, 2020.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
-
Some Republican governors have been holding regular conference calls to complain about President Trump and swap ideas on how to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, reported The New York Times.
-
In recent months a number of Republican lawmakers have broken with the president to back measures to restrict the coronavirus as it spreads through GOP heartlands.
-
Trump has continued to downplay the significance of rising infection rates across the country, and has refused to unequivocally back simple preventative measures such as mask wearing.
A group of Republican governors have been taking part in secret conference calls where they share advice on how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak sweeping through their states, and vent about President Donald Trump's erratic response to the crisis, The New York Times reported.
The GOP governors have for months held the calls, "usually at night and without staff present," The Times reported, citing two party strategists familiar with the conversations.
The calls are described in the report as "a sort of safe space where the governors can ask their counterparts for advice, discuss best practices and, if the mood strikes them, vent about the administration and the president's erratic leadership."
In recent weeks, cracks have started to appear among Republican governors in their support for Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis, as the rate of infections continues to climb in historically Republican states in the south and west.
Some GOP lawmakers have even publicly broken with the president to unequivocally back mask-wearing and other measures to control the spread of the virus. They include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky , one of the president's biggest supporters.
Trump has expressed support for wearing masks, but refused to wear one in public for months. In an interview with Fox News Sunday , he said he would not order Americans to wear masks.
Lindsey Graham, the influential Republican senator from South Carolina, is among those who have expressed support for Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, after the White House sought to undermine him by circulating a list of what it said were mistakes he had made to reporters.
The White House has since backed away from the attacks on Fauci.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Tags
Who is online
103 visitors
Not to worry... Trump just announced he is going to resume his White House coronavirus briefings...
So if they're "secret" conference calls, how do you know . . .
Ya know what? Nevermind. Trying to employ common sense with these things is like shouting into the wind. People are going to believe what they want to believe.
Thanks to the Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans - "secret" no longer means what it used to mean. Heck - maybe it never meant that.
Maybe the Republican governors are starting to get worried that the governance of their states may well end up in Democratic hands after this coming election, if they are seen to be in lockstep with their faulty leader.