He still has his job. The coronavirus is still a Public Health emergency in the United States to the tune of well north of 4. 5 million confirmed cases now. Over 154,000 americans dead. The centers for Disease Control now projecting the death toll could top more than 180,000 by the end of august. Thats according to an internal government document obtained by yahoo news. University of washington predicting 230,000 dead by election day. Several states are still fighting an intense resurgence of this virus with the sun belt hit especially hard. Trump spent the afternoon in one of those states, in fact, greeting a small about mostly unmasked crowd in tampa, florida. It was his 45th trip to florida as president. He arrived as that state set its fourth consecutive oneday record death toll from covid19. Florida is also in the midst of trying to prepare, as we said, for hurricane isaias. Trump tried to put an optimistic spin on both threats. My guess its going to be a pretty rough storm, but i know one thing. After having done this for 3 1 2 years, youve seen worse. Youve seen some beauties. We continue to take very aggressive action to combat the virus in florida. Were providing Additional Resources and personnel to help save lives. The single best way to defeat the disease is personal responsibility. Wear a mask when you cannot avoid crowded places or socially distance and wash your hands as often as possible. I think things that are going to be really spectacular. Were very proud of whats happening, and well get rid of it. Well beat it, and it will be soon. Well ask miamis mayor about these dual challenges to his city just a few minutes from now. The president also said he expects to release his Health Care Plan very soon, possibly sunday. Remember it was just 12 days ago trump told Chris Wallace hed be signing a full and complete Health Care Plan within two weeks. As for his handling of this health crisis, new abc news ipsos poll finds 34 of americans approve of his pandemic response. Twothirds of those surveyed, 66 , disapprove. This morning three members of Trumps Coronavirus Task force, the governments testing czar, brett giroir, dr. Anthony fauci and cdc director Robert Redfield were on capitol hill fielding questions from house members about the government response. Dr. Fauci, can you help us understand why when europe has largely contained the virus, the United States has seen a continued rise in new cases . When they shut down or locked down or went to shelter in place, however you want to describe it, they really did it to the tune of about 95plus percent of the country did that. We really functionally shut down only about 50 in the sense of the totality of the country. We feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021. Weve seen all kinds of that stuff during protests, and we know the protests actually increased the spread of the virus. Youve said that. So the protests dont increase the spread of the virus . I didnt say that. Youre putting words in my mouth. I just want an answer to the question. Did the protests increase the spread of the virus . I dont have any Scientific Evidence that anything would it possible for our nation to have results for all covid tests completed and returned with 48 and 72 hours . Is that a possible benchmark that we can achieve . It is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the demand and the supply. It is absolutely a benchmark we can achieve moving forward. At least mr. Giroir was being candid there. The experts warn that without adequate and timely testing, the country will continue to struggle to return to normal. Well just keep going the way weve been going in other words. And the economic toll from this pandemic has been devastating as you know. In less than an hour, that 600 weekly unemployment benefit that has helped, oh, 30 millionplus americans make ends meet officially comes to an end. But the senate left town for their long weekend yesterday. Congress and the white house no closer to a deal to extend that aid or any kind of an agreement on a larger relief bill. Instead there were more accusations about whos to blame for the failure to reach even a shortterm fix. We have made no less than four different offers to democrats on capitol hill. Four different offers have been actually rejected, but more importantly than that, theyve not even been countered with a proposal. What were seeing is politics as usual from democrats up on capitol hill. The white house offered a shortterm approach of continuing with that 600 additional federal money to go on top of state Unemployment Insurance payments, and you rejected it. So no, that isnt true. Lets just set the record but explain why they made no such offer. They made no such offer. So dont accept something as fact just because the white house said it. They made no such offer. Speaker pelosi and chief of staff meadows, Close Friends as you can tell, are to meet in her office tomorrow morning. Before leaving for his florida visit today, the president was asked about the negotiations. Are you going to spell out exactly what you want right now . They know what i want. And what i want is i want our people to be able to live and live well because it wasnt their fault that china brought in this pandemic, that china brought in this plague. Its chinas fault. You want to know the truth, china should be paying for it. Trump was also raising the volume on his effort to discredit voting by mail, part of a process of casting doubt on the integrity of our upcoming election. Why arent you spending more energy to get the resources and the funding for the states that they want to be able to secure this election for all americans . Peter, you know nothing about my energy, okay . You know nothing about what im doing. Everyone knows mailin ballots are a disaster. This will be catastrophic for our nation, and youll see it. Im always right about things like this. I guess i must be. I wouldnt be sitting here. And late today, the president told reporters hes mulling over taking action against the social media platform tiktok. We know this in large part because sarah cooper turned it into a video on tiktok. Tonight on the plane to washington, the president apparently went further. He wants to ban tiktok starting as early as tomorrow from operating in our country. And about the talks of the chinese selling tiktok to microsoft, he says hes against that too. Its a lot, but our initial guests here tonight can handle it. Our leadoff discussion on a friday evening includes susan page, usa today Washington Bureau chief. Dr. Anne rimoin, professor of epidemiology at ucla, where she also runs the citys center for global and immigrant health, specializing in emerging infectious diseases. And robert costa, National Political reporter with the washington post, moderator of Washington Week on your pbs station. Susan, id like to begin with you. Keeping in mind were 95 days out, this is a president looking straight down the barrel of reelection. How would you grade this week in the history of this white house . I think i would Say Something i say at the end of every week, which is this was the most momentous week ever. I know other weeks have seemed that way, but think about this week. We saw the biggest economic decline in growth since we started keeping records. We saw that more than 1,000 americans a day are dying from this deadly pandemic. And we had the president of the United States suggest that we just might delay the election in november. So this was a week that just i cannot remember another week in my time as a journalist where theres been such a confluence of such dire crises. And as you say, put on top of that an election in 95 days. Robert costa, i want to play some of your interview with former new jersey governor and trump adviser on and off, chris christie. Well talk about it on the other side. He is on the same page with the people who are advising him now, and i think that youll continue to see that happen over the course of the next 95 days. So, robert, not to be snide, how will we know when trump makes that pivot to listen to and follow the advice of his advisers . It might never come, brian, based on my reporting today, talking to governor christie and others close to the president. That christie question came about because the New York Post reported over the weekend that governor christie and Jared Kushner and bill stepien, the new campaign manager, all went to bedminster last weekend and had what the New York Post called a come to jesus meeting with President Trump, trying to get him to turn the page a little bit as he falls behind Vice President biden in the polls. But this is a president , brian, who i covered up close this week in texas, flying in the pool on air force one. A president alone, charting his own course when it comes to the virus response, distant from dr. Fauci and others. You think about dr. Fauci today testifying about hydroxychloroquine having issues and challenges, yet the president earlier this week going with doctors who are very controversial when it comes to hydroxychloroquine, going against his own food and drug administrations guidance. And that approach is just not going to change based on my conversations with trump associates. Yeah, i was going to say why change now . Anne rimoin, i have something for you too. This is a bit of dr. Faucis testimony today. Well talk about it on the other side. I think there was such a diversity of response in this country from different states that we really did not have a unified bringing everything down. So diversity of response, thats a euphemism for scattershot failure. And, anne, is our National Policy as of tonight and Going Forward does it remain the lack of a National Policy . I was just going to say, brian, when you say National Policy, what National Policy . We dont have a National Policy. We had a hearing this morning about how we were going to move forward with a National Policy, and theres still nothing clear in there. You know, we still have where we stand today is we still are lacking in testing. Were lacking in contact tracing. We are lacking in therapeutics and vaccines. We know the few things that works the masks, the social distancing, all the five things that fauci mentioned today, masks, social distancing, dont go to bars, stay away from crowded places, wash your hands. Thats all weve got, yet we cannot get on the same page in all states and have a National Policy. The idea of having this kind of patchwork just means that we are going to be leaving opportunity for this virus to continue to spread as it has out of control until we actually do come together to do something. You know, i think we need to realize that until we actually come together and do what we need to do as a country, we are doomed to be in this spiral. We have never been more dependent upon each other as people, as states, and as a nation before. It is time for people to do the right thing, wear a mask, social distance, hand hygiene, but have states actually mandate this and get people on the same page. It took a long time for people to get on the same page about wearing seat belts. It took a long time for people to get on the same page about smoking. It took a long time, and people are still trying to get on the same page about not texting in a car. Wearing a mask is the same idea. It should not be political. The politicization of science is whats responsible for this mess. It is totally unnecessary. Robert costa, again not to be snide, i would ask this question of a member of the senate, but they all left town. What do you have to tell people by way of hope, people who have come to depend on these additional payments theyve been getting because theyve been idle, out of work during a pandemic . I would look beyond the rhetoric if youre paying close attention to this because on the surface, it seems like both sides are far apart. Chief of staff meadows going out there and saying hes made offers, but the democrats havent taken them. But lets remember the facts here. For the last five to six months, Speaker Pelosi and secretary mnuchin have been the key players. Theyre still at the table. Theyre still having conversations. Theyve cut major stimulus deals in recent weeks, and theyre likely to do it again based on my conversations with Top Democrats and white house officials. But what this is about right now is this 11th hour stage to steal your own phrase where they all need to posture a little bit, signal to their base that theyve done all they could to fight for their different points. But you already have the white house making its own offer for a shortterm bill, a narrow bill. What the democrats and Speaker Pelosi really want right now is a little bit more on the table, to come together on something beyond just extending Unemployment Benefits for four months. They want to see more of a wholesale approach. Thats the democratic view. But they havent stopped talking. Theyre still meeting, and they know for both parties, its important to get something done just 94 days before the election. In many of these swing states, people are counting on these benefits, and these are the kind of voters in many of these swing states who were veering between going trump or clinton in 2016, and they may be uncertain this time around. These are the swing voters, oftentimes lower, middle class voters who are counting on this, and it will be a factor in their vote. Susan page, back to the clip of chris christie, which is so interesting. And no knock on the wifi service at pbs, but its always hard to see in these zooms and skype interviews. He looked like he had a straight face, saying the president s on the same page with the advisers around him. Talk, however, about the obvious disconnect between the president s talking points during this week that was and what most americans are forced to be concerned about. You know, i can guarantee you that the president s team was not saying, why dont you talk about delaying the election and then banning tiktok . Because when you think about the things that americans are worried about this week, neither of those are the subject at hand. Americans are very concerned about this pandemic, which is not under control, just keeps getting worse, about the Economic Situation thats followed, and about whether a government that continues to seem dysfunctional is going to be able to put together another package of relief as we head off a cliff. Remember, 30 million americans lose enhanced Unemployment Benefits today, and americans are also simultaneously losing the protection, the moratorium on eviction from their homes. So we are heading into difficult times for millions of our fellow citizens, and well see if our government is up to helping them. Absolutely right. Anne rimoin out on the west coast, during our conversation, the times is just out with a new piece. Were going to put the headline on the screen. It has to do with your state of california becoming the first state to reach 500,000 total cases. Anne, you and i have had this discussion before. They were doing so well. The governor seemed to have his arms around this. Does this mirror the same problem in so many other sun belt states . In short, what happened . You know, tony fauci said it today in the hearing. We opened up too soon, and were seeing exactly what you said. We are seeing the effects of what happens when you open up too soon. The virus wasnt gone. We did not eradicate the virus. We just pushed it down to a much lower level than it was beforehand. And we dont have a magic pill here. We dont have some magic solution. Its only going to be dealt with by hard work. And we stopped doing the hard work. We relaxed. We got complacent, and we are paying the price. And every state is going to pay this same price if they relax because the virus is among us. It is here. Its not going anywhere, and so everybody should be doing their best right now. Its time to double down. Its now or never. We have schools trying to open up. Anne rimoin on the west coast, susan page, robert costa in washington, great thanks to our beginning three for starting us off on another consequential friday night. Coming up for us, florida is about to find out what happens when you mix a pandemic with a hurricane. Remember, please, this is a virus that thrives on close quarters like evacuation centers. The mayor of miami standing by to talk with us on whats a busy night for him. And later, is your Government Armed and dangerous . The man who wrote the book on tyranny is also with us tonight, and his outlook is decidedly frightening. The 11th hour just getting under way on a friday evening. I think its pretty clear we will get, at a minimum, Tropical Storm force wind impacts, likely hurricaneforce wind impacts. Make sure you have your plan. Make sure you have seven days of food and supplies and medicine. There could be some power outages. Southern coast of florida is tonight under a hurricane warning. Thats Serious Business in that state as hurricane isaias heads their way. Unsettling news for a state that has earned its title as a global epicenter of the coronavirus with more cases than many nations on our planet. As we mentioned, florida set another daily death toll record again today for the fourth time in a row. Of the 257 new deaths reported, nearly 100 sadly were in Miamidade County alone. Predictably the approaching storm means coronavirus testing sites in miami and elsewhe