Trump sends good wishes to ailing Boris Johnson

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sent his best wishes to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was moved into the intensive care unit of a London hospital while suffering from coronavirus.

Trump said he’d directed two pharmaceutical companies to send people to Great Britain to help with Johnson’s treatment, calling him “a very good friend of mine.”

As of Monday, coronavirus deaths in the U.S. passed 10,500, and nearly 75,000 worldwide., according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 276,000 people who’d been infected with the disease had recovered, however.

During a daily briefing of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force, Trump said he had a warm talk that lasted about 15 minutes earlier in the day with former Vice President Joe Biden who shared suggestions on COVID-19 policy. Trump described the conversation as friendly and refrained from calling Biden disparaging nicknames, .

There was good news as well: A fall in New York’s death and hospitalization rates hinted that the curve in America’s hottest spot had begun to flatten. During his daily briefing, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters the Empire State did not need additional ventilators.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has served as the the friendly doctor’s face for the task force, said he did not want to declare victory too soon, but the New York developments represent “the kind of good signs that you look for.”

Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s point man on the coronavirus, announced that Nevada would get 100 out of 500 ventilators donated by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to the Strategic National Stockpile.

Before the briefing, Trump told Cuomo that he would grant a request to allow doctors aboard the USNS Comfort, a 1,000-bed hospital ship, to treat COVID-19 patients — rather than only people suffering from other ailments. Trump also granted access to the ship for coronavirus patients from New Jersey.

Modly criticizes captain

Also Monday, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly was caught on tape bad-mouthing former U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt Capt. Brett E. Crozier, whom Modly fired, as “too naïve or too stupid to be a commanding officer.” Crozier has since tested positive for the coronavirus.

Asked about the episode, Trump criticized Crozier’s decision to distribute a letter critical of the Navy, but said he would get investigate the episode because, “I don’t want to destroy somebody for having a bad day.”

“It was weak,” Trump later clarified, “but I’m going to take a look.”

Crozier was cheered by the crew on the Roosevelt as he disembarked after being relieved of his duties.

Biden versus Trump

Trump’s conversation with Biden, followed back-and-forth sparring on Twitter and in the news between the Republican president and presumptive Democratic nominee.

On Sunday, Biden appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” where he suggested he would have handled the outbreak better because his instinct to “follow the science, listen to the experts, do what they tell you.”

Biden frequently sells himself as a political veteran who, unlike Trump, would be able to tap experienced hands like Ron Klain, President Barack Obama’s Ebola czar, to swiftly administer measures that would have prevented the coronavirus from becoming a fearsome threat to public safety.

With the coronavirus sucking up all the oxygen on cable news, Biden has founded himself shunted away from the spotlight and capable mostly of giving the odd interview remotely from his home while Trump soaked up the limelight during White House daily briefings which have served to take the place of his erstwhile packed prime-time campaign rallies.

With Biden stuck behind closed doors, some Democrats feel that his campaign has been hobbled, even if Biden enjoys a lead of about 6 percent in head-to-head polls against Trump according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

For his part, Democratic pollster Paul Maslin argued that Biden is “still the favorite” who only has to do three things through the summer – “shake hands” with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has yet to bow out of the Democratic primary, pick a solid running mate, preferably female, and oversee a successful convention, whenever it happens.

“At some point, the world will turn, the camera will turn and then it will be Joe Biden and Donald Trump and that will be the choice,” Maslin said. “Hopefully, we’ll be mostly out of this thing. And then we’ll have a debate about the future.”

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.