WASHINGTON, D.C. – One hundred days ago today, while President Trump realized during a press briefing that he was, “in a sense, a wartime president,” despite the nearly 20-year war our commander-in-chief presides over, March 18th also marked the signing of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the official invocation of the Defense Production Act (DPA). Since that day, the President has used the DPA only sparingly, despite calls from governors, congressional leaders, and warnings from medical experts of the need for preparations for a potential deadly fall surge and the shifting of medical supply manufacturing from abroad.

In the following days, Trump’s recklessness continued, as he began referring to COVID-19 as “the Chinese Virus,” among the many offensive monikers he would soon deem it. One hundred days later, he’s full-on called COVID-19 the “kung flu,” stoking xenophobic threats while the CDC has been under-reporting racial disparities in illness and death reports and the financial aid programs the president enacted have all but shut out help to minority-owned businesses

100 DAYS AGO FRIDAY: March 18, 2020

  • Trump officially invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA).
  • Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the “Second Coronavirus Stimulus Package,” into law.
  • Trump said the coronavirus “snuck up on us,” and called himself “in a sense, a wartime president.”

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