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Trump’s Census Deadline Fight Marches Into Another Court Loss
The Trump administration kept trying to end the 2020 census early, even after judges blocked the move and warned that it would distort the count.
Edition · October 8, 2020
Trump’s Covid secrecy and census chaos define October 8
A grim, noisy day for the Trump operation: health transparency questions kept growing, while the administration’s census fight reached another ugly milestone.
On October 8, 2020, the Trump orbit managed the rare feat of making both its pandemic response and its governing competence look worse at the same time. The White House kept refusing to say when President Trump last tested negative for coronavirus, feeding suspicion about the timeline of his infection and the safety of people around him. At the same time, the administration pressed ahead with its census fight in court, even as judges warned that cutting the count short would badly damage the accuracy of the once-a-decade head count. The result was a day defined by secrecy, litigation, and self-inflicted distrust.
Closing take
The Trump message on October 8 was basically: trust us, stop asking, and ignore the mess. That is never a great governing strategy, but in the middle of a pandemic and a census fight, it was a particularly stupid one.
Ranked by how bad the fuckup was
5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.
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White House Keeps Dodging the Question on Trump’s Last Negative Covid Test
The White House again refused to disclose when President Trump last tested negative for coronavirus, extending the cloud over the timeline of his infection and the people exposed around him.
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Trump’s Covid Diagnosis Forces the Second Debate Online
After Trump’s positive test, the presidential debate commission shifted the October 15 debate to a virtual format, underlining how badly the campaign’s virus handling had gone off the rails.