You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

U.S. Nears 100,000 Deaths from COVID-19 as Trump Shuns Face Masks, Goes After Democrats on Twitter

HeadlineMay 26, 2020

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus outbreak is fast approaching 100,000. As lockdowns ease across the United States and other countries around the world, the World Health Organization is warning of a second peak of coronavirus cases. The WHO urged countries to step up testing and tracking. Across the globe, the pandemic has killed over 345,000, but that is believed to be an undercount. The New York Times marked the staggering U.S. death toll by dedicating its entire front page on Sunday to some of the names of Americans who died from the virus.

President Trump spent parts of the Memorial Day weekend playing golf and using his Twitter account to attack his political enemies, spread conspiracy theories and amplify the messages of some of his racist followers. He retweeted multiple personal attacks on House Leader Nancy Pelosi and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, attacking Pelosi’s physical appearance and Abrams’s weight. He also reposted a tweet referring to Hillary Clinton as a “skank.”

On Memorial Day, the president refused to wear a mask during events at Arlington Cemetery and Fort McHenry. Meanwhile, he shared a tweet mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask while visiting a veterans memorial in Delaware. On Friday, North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum made an emotional plea asking residents to avoid what he called “mask shaming.”

Gov. Doug Burgum: “If somebody wants to wear a mask, there should be no mask shaming. You should look at them and say that person is wearing a mask because, for them, there’s additional risk in their life.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top