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A new report has indicated the US President Donald Trump‘s renewed focus on the coronavirus epidemic came after new maps and data showed his voting base was under threat. The report quoted (unnamed) senior administration officials. The Washington Post also reported the coronavirus warnings resonated with Trump after senior advisers presented new research showing a rise in cases among American people in Republican states. Trump advisers also shared projections and predicted spikes in Midwest states key to the 2020 election, including Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Trump has reinstated his daily coronavirus press conferences in recent weeks. He announced new relief funding packages but canceled the RNC convention in Florida.

Moreover, senior administration officials informed the post that the White House coronavirus taskforce and Trump administration have established a separate, smaller working group led by Deborah Birx and Jared Kushner. They said the group includes the vice president’s chief of staff Mark Short and the president’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller. The group is half focused on the pandemic response and half on the White House’s public message. Advisers and people familiar with Trump’s approach reportedly said barriers to addressing the crisis sooner were the president’s magical thinking and a positive feedback loop from staffers and conservative media.

President Trump’s approach made him distrustful of medical experts. The White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said in an email that the president acted early and decisively. She said, “The president has also led a historic, whole-of-America coronavirus response, resulting in 100,000 ventilators procured, sourcing critical PPE for our front-line heroes, and a robust testing regime resulting in more than double the number of tests than any other country in the world. His message has been consistent and his strong leadership will continue as we safely reopen the economy and continue to see an encouraging decline in the US mortality rate”.