Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar
suggested Sunday that underlying health conditions, including among minorities, were one reason for the high American death toll — nearly
90,000 as of Sunday evening. And Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro
added the government’s own
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to its list of scapegoats alongside
China and
the Obama administration.
The White House has been escalating its effort to
recast the narrative of its own chaotic response to the crisis as it aggressively pushes to reopen the country, a process vital to the fortunes of millions of people who have lost their jobs in lockdowns and its own political prospects in November.
The effort follows Trump’s repeated early denials that the virus would be a problem for the United States and claims that his administration had it under control months ago.
The United States accounts for about 4.25% of the world’s population, but currently has about 29% of the confirmed deaths from the disease, and models used by the White House suggest the tragic toll could rise to around
147,000 by
