Vice President Mike Pence’s team has also wanted him to do more, but the president’s communications aides bristled at the vice president appearing at them when they thought Mr. Trump should be leading the effort. 1 topic of conversation around family dinner tables and Zoom conversations, so the president is smart to ensure his message is getting into those discussions,” said Cliff Sims, a former White House media aide under Mr. Trump. But in recent weeks, the surge of cases has frustrated Mr. Trump’s effort to play down the seriousness of the continuing pandemic. White House officials have said in recent days both that the president is too busy to attend coronavirus task force meetings and that he is “working around the clock” on the virus. But even as hospitals fill up and governors reverse decisions to reopen, Mr. Trump has continued to insist that the virus would simply vanish on its own.

Source: New York Times July 20, 2020 22:18 UTC