United States President Donald Trump wore a mask publicly for the first time this week after refusing to wear one for months. Meanwhile, daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. hit record highs on multiple days this week, peaking at over 67,000 new cases on Friday alone.
Trump has repeatedly accused reporters of wearing masks in an effort to be politically correct, but the science doesn't support him. The science has shown masks help, and also that this pandemic should be taken seriously.
More than 3.2 million coronavirus cases had been reported as of Saturday with nearly 4,500 deaths. On Saturday, the new single-day death toll was 724, more than doubling a 289 toll from just last week.
In a decisive move away from scientific proof and expert advice, the White House has begun a campaign to publicly discredit the country's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci has been one of the leading voices working to educate the public on the pandemic and how to slow the spread.
Recently, Fauci has criticized some states' decisions to begin reopening.
Despite the alarmingly high number of cases in the country in recent weeks, Trump has been pushing for more reopening. For instance, just this week he threatened to pull tax exemptions for schools and colleges if they won't reopen in the fall. It's worth noting that tax experts don't think the President has legal grounds to pull schools' tax-exempt status.
"Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education," Trump tweeted. "Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!"
Speaking of taxes, the Supreme Court ruled this week that Trump doesn't have immunity from the investigations of a New York prosecutor seeking his tax returns. This comes after significant efforts by Trump to avoid turning over his financial records. Trump reacted to the decision on Twitter
"PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!" he wrote. "POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!" and, "Not fair to this Presidency or the Administration!"
However, in a separate case, the Court denied Congress access to the same sort of documentation saying the body's right to the President's personal information is not limitless. Trump is the only president in modern times to refuse to make his tax returns publicly available.
Also this week, Trump commuted the sentence of convicted felon and longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. Stone was found guilty of witness tampering and obstructing a House investigation into the Trump campaign. To reiterate, Stone was found guilty of obstructing an investigation into Trump, but Trump commuted his sentence before he would have to spend any prison time for it.
"The president told me that he had decided, in an act of clemency, to issue a full commutation of my sentence, and he urged me to vigorously pursue my appeal and my vindication," Stone told the Associated Press by phone. He said he would have to change rooms to hear the call because there were "too many people opening bottles of Champagne here."
And finally, a Trump-supporter funded border wall began showing signs of erosion after only being in place for a few months. In a comic twist, Trump said the wall, which was funded by Trump supporters during a government shutdown over the project, was "only done to make me look bad." Former members of the group's board include Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and Trump ally Kris Kobach.
