Four Years Ago Today

@fouryearsagotoday.bsky.social

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This account was born on March 6, 2024 when Elise Stefanik asked, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”)

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In a glaring example of corruption, Trump commutes the 3-year sentence for Roger Stone, his loyal dirty-trickster who was convicted of obstruction, lying and threatening witnesses in connection with Wikileaks targeting the Clinton campaign to help Trump win in 2016. www.justice.gov/pardon/page/...

July 7, 2020 As the pandemic continues to rage, Trump announces the United States is withdrawing from the World Health Organization. Candidate Joe Biden promises to immediately reverse this if elected. (He did, in his first hours in office.)

In a baleful 4th of July speech to a crowd of about 3,700 people at Mount Rushmore, Trump rails against Democrats and warns that “angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”

Bars in Texas and Florida - states that had declared victory over the virus and reopened their businesses - are abruptly ordered closed down amid huge spikes in infections. The virus, which initially hit worst in the Northeast, is now surging across the South and West. There is still no vaccine.

Amid an increasingly deadly pandemic and an economic crisis - and while offering no alternative health plan - the Trump administration formally calls on the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act. At least 20 million Americans face losing their health insurance.

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Four Years Ago Today

Go through this thread. Remember what an upside down clownworld it was. I’ve blocked out so much of those years. All respect to BTS’s ARMY.

June 20, 2020 Donald Trump holds his first big rally since March, aiming to restart his lagging campaign with a supercharged crowd. It does not go as planned. A memorable debacle on several levels, it will mark the lowest point of his 2020 campaign.

June 15, 2020 The FDA revokes its emergency authorization of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which is championed by right wingers, including the president, as a covid-19 cure. The FDA says it was found to have no effect on the virus and may cause "serious cardiac adverse events." 1/3

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Revokes Emergency Use Authorization for Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquinewww.fda.gov COVID-19 Update: FDA Revokes Emergency Use Authorization

On a sunny Sunday, Trump gives the commencement address at West Point. On his way out, he walks slowly and gingerly down a ramp - a moment of minor interest until Trump, stung by jokes about it online, tweets and makes it into a news story that leads to days of questions about his age and health.

Trump announces he will restart his campaign rallies - on hold since March - in Tulsa on June 19. The announcement is met with dismay in a nation convulsed by the George Floyd murder as Tulsa was the site of a notorious 1921 racial massacre and Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the US.

Trump to resume campaign rallies with June 19 event in Tulsawww.politico.com The president did not mention safety precautions or restrictions for the upcoming events, which have been on hold because of coronavirus.

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Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today: Buffalo Police knocked over a 75-year old man at a George Floyd demonstration, giving him a head injury that would put him in the hospital for a month. Trump went on Twitter to promote a conspiracy theory about it and say the man had it coming.

Ahead of new protests expected in DC after 9 days of nationwide demonstrations over the police murder of George Floyd, massive new fortifications of chain link and concrete go up around the White House to protect the president. His foes continue to mock him for hiding in a bunker a few days earlier.

June 2, 2020 Though nobody believes it, Trump tweets a true thing.

June 1, 2020 In one of the most notorious days of the Trump presidency, police suddenly advanced on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park across from the White House, clearing them away with batons, flash-bangs and tear gas. Trump then strode through the park and held up a bible for photographers.

As protests over the police murder of George Floyd convulse the nation, the White House briefly goes on lockdown when demonstrators mass outside. When it is later reported that the Secret Service rushed Trump to the bunker underneath the complex, he claims he was just inspecting it. Gift link

As Protests and Violence Spill Over, Trump Shrinks Back (Published 2020)www.nytimes.com The president spent Sunday out of sight, berating opponents on Twitter, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a televised address to an anxious nation.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

Trump warns 'when looting starts, shooting starts' as fires burn in Minneapoliswww.nbcnews.com "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen," President Donald Trump tweeted after three days of looting and fires.

May 27, 2020 A furious Trump threatens to shut down Twitter after it applies its first fact check to one of his tweets predicting the election will be stolen via forged mail-in ballots. He accuses Twitter of "interfering in the 2020 election" and vows to "strongly regulate, or close them down."

www.history.com/this-day-in-...

George Floyd is killed by a police officer, igniting historic protestswww.history.com On the evening of May 25, 2020, white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kills George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for almost 10 minutes. The death, recorded by bystanders, touche...

The New York Times marks a grim milestone with a front page bearing not a single image: just names, one after the other.

Another 2.4 million Americans lost their jobs in the last week, bringing the total unemployed to over 38 million, the worst crisis since the Depression. However the rate of layoffs is slowing as states begin to loosen health restrictions newslink.mba.org/mba-newslink...

Labor Dept. Reports 2.4 Million New Jobless Claims; Total Now 38.6 Million - MBA Newslinknewslink.mba.org Another 2.4 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week, the Labor Department reported yesterday, bringing to 38.6 million workers who have applied for unemployment assistance since the c...

Trump refuses to host the traditional unveiling of the former president's portrait at the White House or hang the painting. All previous modern presidents have invited their predecessor (or their widow) to a bipartisan ceremony. www.businessinsider.com/trump-refusi...

Trump is refusing to unveil Obama's portrait at the White House, breaking a 40-year traditionwww.businessinsider.com Trump and Obama have perhaps the most contentious relationship of any current and former presidents in modern US history.

The drug maker Moderna announces that a vaccine tested on a handful of people appears to be safe - and working. It is the first flicker of hope in a long time. Moderna says if more trials continue to be so positive, a vaccine could be available for widespread use as early as the end of the year.

Coronavirus vaccine from Moderna appears safe, shows promise in data from 8 peoplewww.reuters.com Moderna Inc's experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be tested in the United States, produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers, according to very early data released by the biotech company on Monday.

Trump says he's taking hydroxychloroquine to avoid Covid-19. The malaria drug is touted by right wing "influencers" even as studies show it doesn't help and may hurt the heart. "I've heard a lot of good stories," Trump says. In 2024, it is estimated 17,000 people died from hydroxychloroquine misuse.

Trump says he’s taking unproven drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronaviruswww.nbcnews.com The antimalarial drug is unproven as a treatment for the coronavirus, and the FDA has warned against its use outside hospital settings.

By request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump fires State Dept watchdog Steve Linick, who, it later turns out, has five open investigations, including Pompeo bypassing Congress to sell $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and Pompeo's wife using staff to walk the dog and send holiday cards.

Trump announces Operation Warp Speed, a massive government project to rush a COVID vaccine to the public. "We'd love to see if we can do it prior to the end of the year," Trump says. Most medical experts caution this is unrealistically soon. The first Pfizer vaccine will be approved Dec 11.

The Washington Post publishes a story on the high approval numbers for state governors fighting against the virus. Governors pushing to reopen early are less popular. All are more popular than the president, who is peeved by the story. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/man...

In a much-anticipated (because the White House had barred him from speaking to the Democratic-run House) appearance before the Senate Health Committee, Dr Anthony Fauci warns against reopening schools and businesses too soon. 1/2 abcnews.go.com/Politics/cor...

Coronavirus government response updates: Fauci testifies consequences of reopening too soon could be 'really serious'abcnews.go.com Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned senators Tuesday that if states reopened too soon, the "consequences could be really serious."

The White House tries to hide a report from its own coronavirus task force showing that after the initial outbreaks concentrated in blue states, cases are starting to rise in red states. Someone leaks the report. www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

Unreleased White House report has coronavirus rates spiking in heartlandwww.nbcnews.com Trump's claim that cases are falling everywhere is contradicted by his own task force's report, obtained by NBC News, showing the virus spreading far from the coasts.

Update to the bungled Covid outbreak at the White House: after a reporter asked about the line of succession, the vice president and president are finally being kept apart. Pence does not self quarantine though, despite the administration's guidelines for someone with an infected press secretary.