‘A Very Sad Milestone’: Trump Tweets Condolences After U.S. Death Toll Surpasses 100,000
While President Donald Trump largely avoids leading national grieving, he tweeted out a message the day after the country's death toll surpassed 100,000. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden released a video message acknowledging the grim numbers. In other news, Trump extends National Guard deployment in the states after furor over rumors it would abruptly end, and the administration looks to court Africa away from China.
President Donald Trump on Thursday offered his first expression of sympathy in observance of the milestone of 100,000 American coronavirus deaths, tweeting his condolences after drawing criticism for failing to reflect on the human cost of the outbreak in recent days. 鈥淲e have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000,鈥 Trump wrote online. 鈥淭o all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!鈥 (Forgey, 5/28)
The Trump administration is extending the federal deployment of more than 40,000 National Guard troops aiding coronavirus relief efforts in nearly every state and federal territory, reversing plans for an earlier cutoff following bipartisan backlash and pressure from top defense officials. The federal government will now keep funding National Guard troops across the country through mid-August, President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday. (Ollstein, 5/28)
Trump tweeted his decision to lengthen the National Guard's Title 32 orders on Thursday after defense officials said their services would likely be needed further into the summer and politicians complained that some guardsmen would narrowly miss out on educational and retirement benefits under the original June 24 cutoff. (Seyler, 5/28)
The Trump administration has set its sights on Africa as an important front in the fight against the coronavirus 鈥 and against China. In April, President Donald Trump launched a flurry of phone calls to African leaders, promising to send ventilators to help as the coronavirus continued its march across the globe. The outreach came on the heels of a fresh pledge from the State Department to send millions of dollars to several African countries to help combat the pandemic. And earlier this month, the Trump administration said it would donated up to 1,000 ventilators to South Africa, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases on the continent. (McGraw, 5/29)
