The Dictatorship
Amid growing concerns about hantavirus, Trump haunted by repeated misjudgments
Last Thursday, during a presidential field trip to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a reporter asked Donald Trump whether he had received a hantavirus briefing. He acknowledged that he had. Asked what he’d learned, the president said he and his team “hope” the matter is under control.
When a reporter quickly followed up, “Should Americans be concerned it’s going to spread?” Trump replied“I hope not.”
The exchange didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Nevertheless, a day later, during another White House Q&A, he added that “very good people” have looked into the threat and concluded that hantavirus transmission is difficult. “We hope that’s true,” Trump said.
For those with PTSD from the Republican’s failure to respond responsibly to the Covid-19 crisis six years ago, his unscripted comments were hardly reassuring. But more important than what Trump has said is what he has done. The Associated Press reported:
No quick dispatching of disease investigators. No televised news conference to inform the public. No timely health alerts to doctors.
In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.
While the United States has traditionally taken a leadership role in response to issues like these, the AP report added, “It has been health experts in other countries … who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week.”
Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University, told the AP, “The CDC is not even a player. I’ve never seen that before.”
In hindsight, perhaps uprooting and destabilizing the nation’s public health infrastructure wasn’t such a good idea.
Indeed, there is no real mystery here. As Tara C. Smith, a professor of epidemiology at Kent State University’s School of Public Health, explained in a piece for MS NOW:
Scientific expertise in virology, epidemiology, diagnostics, environmental sampling and basic medicine are critical to the response. Unfortunately, funding for our key scientific agencies has been slashed and thousands of scientists have been fired by Trump and his health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Other weaknesses in our federal agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention having no permanent director, and the interim head, Jay Bhattacharya, being busy running the National Institutes of Health. Media reports citing CDC employees say the agency is “flying blind” and work has “slowed to a crawl.” Many NIH and National Science Foundation grants that have been cut focused on topics of infectious disease, vaccinology and pandemic preparedness, reducing our knowledge and readiness for the next pandemic.
Trump’s decision to abandon the World Health Organization hasn’t exactly helpedeither.
A related report from The New York Times added, “To some public health experts, the alarming thing about this situation is not the hantavirus, which they note spreads among people rarely, and only with close contact over a period of time rather than casual interactions. It is that the administration’s sluggish response and lack of communication suggest the United States is ill prepared for a larger health crisis, such as another pandemic.”
As the week got underway, a reporter asked the president, “What do you say to infectious disease experts who are worried the country isn’t prepared to deal with something like hantavirus because of all the HHS funding and staffing cuts?” Trump, predictably unaware of events unfolding around himpassed the question onto Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which has nothing to do with infectious diseases or federal responses to public health threats.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote to Kennedy and Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend, demanding information on the number of full-time CDC staff working on the hantavirus response, current staffing at the Port Health Stations and Vessel Sanitation Program, the administration’s communication channels with the World Health Organization, the plan to protect the American public including any traveler screening protocols, and the coordination between CDC and state and local health departments receiving Americans returning from the ship.
In a press statement, the New York Democrat added that it was just a year ago when the Department of Health and Human Services fired every full-time employee at the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, and three of the CDC’s 20 Port Health Stations have no staff at allhalf have no officer in charge, and the remainder rely on temporary workers.
“Public health under this administration is a sinking ship, and Trump keeps firing the crew,” Schumer concluded. “The very CDC inspectors and port health workers we need to track this virus, the people whose entire job is to keep deadly diseases off cruise ships and out of our country, Donald Trump fired them. This White House will tell you the risk to Americans is low. How do they know? They have made it impossible to find out. That is not reassurance. That is incompetence.”
Kennedy and Rubio have not yet responded to the Democratic leader’s request for information. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Over the course of June, Donald Trump spent nearly every day focusing attention on assorted construction and beautification projects, emphasizing the unavoidable conclusion that the president takes his renovation crusade very seriously.
His allies aren’t necessarily pleased. The Hill recently reported that Republican officials, worried about the midterm elections and maintaining partisan control, have been “thrown off-balance” by, among other things, Trump’s focus on “pet projects” instead of more meaningful national priorities.
The list of projects keeps growing nevertheless. It includes (but is by no means limited to) the ballroomthe Reflecting Poolthe “triumphal arch,” the fountainsthe horse statuesthe “Trump Promenade,” the “statue garden” and the dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.
But let’s also not forget the helipad.
A couple of months ago, The Washington PostThe Wall Street Journal and The New York Times separately published similar reports about Trump hoping to build a permanent helicopter landing site on the White House grounds. Evidently, those plans have now advanced to the construction stage. The Post reported this week:
President Donald Trump has begun construction on a new White House helipad, his latest change to the historic grounds, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the project publicly.
Construction crews worked into the night Monday on the White House’s South Lawn, with the project blocked off by a large fence.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the project hasn’t yet been formally announced by the White House, even as construction is apparently underway.
It’s not yet clear how much the project will cost, who will pick the tab and whether this has joined the growing list of no-bid contracts.
Unlike some of the president’s other priorities, there is a legitimate issue here — the latest generation of helicopters really do damage the White House lawn — although this doesn’t answer the other lingering questions or explain why Team Trump hasn’t acknowledged the existence of the project.
What’s more, this almost certainly won’t be the last of the Republican’s projects.
Earlier this week, the president used his social media platform to promote an artificial intelligence-generated image of a gold eagle affixed to the White House exterior. Trump added in his online image, “A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!”
The text (which erroneously said the White House is celebrating its semiquincentennial) suggested the president intends to add this gaudy addition to his ambitious renovation agenda.
Recent polling has found two-thirds of Americans are convinced their unpopular president simply has the wrong priorities. Trump could take steps to change their mind, but he apparently doesn’t want to.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
The Dictatorship
Hegseth blasts protesters at ceremony for D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force: ‘Ingrates’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday derided protesters at an event in Washington, D.C., tied to the America 250 celebrationscalling the demonstrators “ingrates” who are “blinded by ideology.”
The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force event in Meridian Hill Park was set to begin at 9 a.m. ET but did not start until roughly 30 minutes later, as members of the National Guard waited for Hegseth’s arrival amid a brutal heat wave. Protesters shouted during his brief address, in which he said he was to blame for the delay and praised the troops for their service.
“In fact, this background noise this morning is perfect,” Hegseth said about the protesters, with White House adviser Stephen Miller and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche standing behind him.
“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them,” Hegseth said. “That there’s nothing ideological about this group, there’s nothing political about this exercise.”
Some protesters could be heard shouting “Shame!” and “Guard, go home!”
Pete Hegseth: “This background noise is perfect. It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude, of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them.” pic.twitter.com/aWt5ciuRG3
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)”https://x.com/atrupar/status/2072679604184109222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 2, 2026
National Guard troops have been deployed to assist with America 250 celebrations in the capital, though some Democratic governors have warned against their guard members being utilized for a larger federal joint task force to tackle what the Trump administration has called“rampant crime” in Washington.
Many Washington residents are not thrilled with the National Guard’s presence. The controversial America 250 festivities have also sparked criticism from Democrats who accuse President Donald Trump of putting himself at the center of the celebrations.
At the Thursday ceremony, Hegseth suggested the protesters were not from Washington.
“These ingrates will fade away; they’ll go back to wherever they came from,” he said, before asserting that National Guard troops have brought the crime rate down in the capital — a claim that at least one study has found to be inaccurate.
“The crime rate here has dropped in staggering amounts, and the media won’t want to admit it because, of course, they’d have to give credit to President Trump, and then they’d have to give credit to the Department of War or to Stephen Miller,” Hegseth said. “But courageous men like President Trump and Stephen, who said enough is enough, are the reason why this city is a safe and beautiful place.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Stephanie Ruhle said she was left “almost speechless” after the release of Donald Trump’s new financial disclosureswhich reported he raked in more than $2 billion since returning to the White House. “Man, it looks good to be president,” the “Money, Power, Politics” host said Wednesday.
According to the 927-page document released Tuesday, Trump’s income has only increased since retaking the White House. The president reported almost $575 million in real estate and golf-related income and another $68.6 million in royalties and licensing fees.
But, as Ruhle pointed out, $1.4 billion of Trump’s 2025 total comes directly from one industry: crypto.
Despite having called that industry a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen” in 2021, Trump has in recent years appeared to have a change of heart about digital currency.
“That was just five years ago, but now he is a major crypto industry operator and essentially its top policy maker,” the MS NOW host said. “Remember, he is the one who appointed regulators that changed the rules to hugely benefit the crypto industry, and since he came back to office, he has either completely dropped or settled a whole lot of cases with crypto companies.”
As Trump rakes in more cash, Ruhle said the American people are not experiencing the same kind of prosperity, in part because of the administration’s policies. “[They] are suffering, whether it’s because of tariffs, whether it’s because of inflation, whether it’s because of increased costs, because of the war in Iran,” she said.
While Ruhle noted the president has said he does not choose his investments and has said they are in a “blind account,” she said the American people should not ignore how much Trump has profited since returning to the White House.
“Here’s what you need to know: All of this would be a major conflict of interest — a huge scandal — if it were any other presidency,” she argued.
You can watch Ruhle’s full breakdown in the clip below.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
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