Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

World Press Freedom Day, 2024

How Trump convinces Republicans to adopt extreme views

Campuses are grappling with the Gaza war. So are our columnists.

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

I learned to heal my sadness by cradling dying chickens 

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America. 

Why the Solomon Islands election matters to China and the U.S.

Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ like China, Russia, at campaign event

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Taxes are inevitable. Paying to prepare them doesn’t have to be.

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

Local sports networks go dark mid-game amid dispute with Comcast 

The 6 best things to do with kids in the D.C. area this weekend 

The 33 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week

Trevor Williams’s escape act helps Nationals blank Rangers 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

You asked: Do I need a passport for my cruise?

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

Miss Manners: Offering my bedroom to guests

Ask Amy: My wife’s sister confessed her feelings for me

Carolyn Hax: Will request for a postnup offend much younger wife?

This masterpiece ‘Birth of Venus’ probably isn’t of Venus at all

The beginner’s illustrated guide to watching an F1 race

NASA moon capsule suffered extensive damage during 2022 test flight

Russian state media ramping up English, Spanish presence on TikTok, study finds

Apple is behind in AI and killed its self-driving car project. What’s next?

Trump

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

A comment President Trump made during his visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday brought into focus a unifying theory of his administration’s fumbling response to the growing spread of the coronavirus.

He was asked if passengers on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/dozens-of-passengers-on-a-stranded-cruise-ship-are-infected-by-coronavirus-that-number-could-soon-grow/2020/03/06/17cf1974-5fdb-11ea-b014-4fafa866bb81_story.html" target=_blank>a cruise ship</a> anchored near San Francisco, some of whom have been exposed to the virus, should be brought ashore.

“From my standpoint, I want to rely on people. I have great experts, including our vice president who is working 24 hours a day on this stuff. They would like to have the people come off,” he said, wearing a baseball cap promoting his reelection campaign. “I’d rather have the people stay, but I’d go with them. I told them to make the final decision.” 

“I would rather because I like the numbers being where they are,” Trump continued. “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault. And it wasn't the fault of the people on the ship either, okay? It wasn't their fault either and they're mostly Americans. So, I can live either way with it. I'd rather have them stay on, personally.” 

Trump can live with patients with coronavirus staying on a cruise ship with uninfected passengers. Whether those patients or future patients can live with that decision is entirely the point.

It was the sort of admission that someone makes when they may not even be aware that they’re admitting to something. In this case that admission was straightforward: Trump is as — or more — concerned about the political fallout of the growing number of coronavirus cases in the United States as he is about how those cases should be handled.

His preoccupation with that number, how many cases of coronavirus there are in the country, has been apparent since his first news conference on the subject on Feb. 26. Then, too, he focused on a number that was demonstrably too low: 15 cases. He explained why:

“The level that we’ve had in our country is very low, and those people are getting better, or we think that in almost all cases they’re better, or getting,” he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-conference/" target=_blank>said</a> then. “We have a total of 15. We took in some from Japan — you heard about that — because they’re American citizens, and they’re in quarantine. And they’re getting better too.” 

Those patients “from Japan” were passengers aboard another cruise ship, the Diamond Princess. Nearly 700 people contracted the virus while it was quarantined, and six passengers died.

“But we felt we had an obligation to do that,” he continued. “It could have been as many as 42. And we found that we were — it was just an obligation we felt that we had. We could have left them, and that would have been very bad — very bad, I think — of American people. And they’re recovering.” 

Trump has repeatedly downplayed the spread of the disease. On Thursday, he boasted on Twitter that there were “only 129 cases” in the country — again highlighting the number brought to the United States from the Diamond Princess.

By the end of the day, another 20 cases were announced.

The spread of the virus in the United States was predicted by experts from outside and inside the government. Last month, Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, predicted that the virus would spread beyond those cases linked to international travel — referred to as “community spread” — and that “disruption to everyday life might be severe." 

Trump was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/trump-is-reportedly-furious-with-the-plunging-stock-market-due-to-coronavirus-fears.html" target="_blank">reportedly</a> angry about her comments and, more specifically, the effect it had on the markets. The day prior, Trump had <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1232058127740174339" target="_blank">tweeted</a> that the virus was “very much under control in the USA” and that the markets were “starting to look very good” to him.

Two days later, news of the first case of community-transmitted coronavirus emerged. The story broke during that news conference on Feb. 26, but no one from the administration addressed it.

What’s particularly alarming about Trump’s focus on the numbers is that it seems as if it might offer an explanation for the government’s slow rollout of testing systems. The United States has only completed <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-have-been-tested-coronavirus/607597/" target=_blank>a couple thousand</a> tests for the virus, according to reporting from the Atlantic. In South Korea, nearly 67,000 people were tested in the first week after community spread was discovered.

What went wrong with the coronavirus tests

The U.S.'s testing was hobbled by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/25/cdc-coronavirus-test/" target=_blank>a faulty test</a> produced by the CDC, something that has apparently been corrected. But it’s hard to uncouple that delay and the slow testing from Trump’s obvious desire to keep numbers low. Sure, there are only a few hundred known cases in the United States, but the key word there is “known.” Experts think the virus has been in the wild in Washington <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-may-have-spread-undetected-for-weeks-in-washington-state/2020/03/01/0f292336-5bcc-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html" target=_blank>for weeks</a> — meaning many cases that haven’t yet been detected there alone.

If you don't test for the illness, you can't know how many people have it. And if you don't know how many people have it, the low numbers you tout on Twitter are obviously incomplete.

Again, though, the most striking thing about Trump’s comments Friday were their callousness.

Some passengers on the Grand Princess, the ship near San Francisco that is part of the same cruise line as the Diamond Princess, only learned about the coronavirus case onboard <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/health/california-coronavirus-friday/index.html" target=_blank>during news coverage</a> of a news briefing held by Pence. The message they and their families hear now is that the president of the United States would like them to remain there, confined to the ship as the passengers on the Diamond Princess were, possibly with the same fate. And why? So that the number of cases in the U.S. doesn’t increase.

Consider why such an increase would be bad. It's not that bringing the passengers ashore would infect them or, if handled properly, that they'd infect other people. Trump's concern is just that numeric increase, a concern that has no other apparent root besides his insistence that his administration is keeping that particular number low. Efforts to remove the passengers are facing friction from the president primarily because of that political concern.

Again, a stunning admission from Trump. But also a hopelessly shortsighted one. The number of coronavirus cases in the United States will almost certainly soon be high enough that another few hundred is incidental. As Messonnier warned, the virus is becoming increasingly pervasive; worries about there being 300 or 500 cases will become increasingly trivial. The political benefit of keeping the number low in the moment, to whatever extent there is any political benefit, is fleeting.

Meanwhile, those passengers and their families wait to see how important their lives are to their government.

The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America

Ohio State University

Philip Bump is a Post columnist based in New York. He writes the newsletter <a href="https://wapo.st/3m3QTiy">How To Read This Chart</a> and is the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/696653/the-aftermath-by-philip-bump/">The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America</a>.

Philip Bump

washpost

the-washington-post

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Politics

iptc-media/health

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease

iptc-media/science_and_technology

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/health/health_treatment/preventative_medicine

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/transport

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/virus_disease

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/epidemic

iptc-media/politics/political_process

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/transport/waterway_and_maritime_transport

iptc-media/health/health_treatment

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/illness

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/virus_disease/retrovirus

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021 - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Asian Content_legacyaux_8xg

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Flu, Sickness & Virus Content

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Coronavirus Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

advertising/B2_Congressional Elections_legacyaux_r48

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Corporate Responsibility_legacyaux_FTM

advertising/B2_Culture and Tradition_legacyaux_kfx

client-blocklists/Client List: IBM KWs ALTERNATE Watson - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Citrix Mindfulness

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

advertising/B2_Health and Beauty_legacyaux_3fv

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ CLIENT LIST: AT&T KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Verizon KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Facebook KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Capital Concerts KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: PMI KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Aetna KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: IBM KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6