The Note: GOP fissures grow as COVID-19 crisis continues
There are whispers in GOP circles that a Biden presidency wouldn’t be bad.
The TAKE with Rick Klein
It's happening loudly and softly at the same time.
There are shouting matches on Capitol Hill. There are book tours and op-eds. There are also whispers in Republican circles that a Joe Biden presidency wouldn't actually be all that bad.
Those breaking with the president include some battling for 2020 survival. But there are also those with 2024 aspirations, some focused on a longer-term vision of the Republican Party and even low-key former party regulars with no obvious future in the GOP.
One upshot at this moment is that Republicans have too many internal divisions on immediate priorities to come forward with a COVID-19 package among themselves. That doesn't even cover Democratic buy-in -- or President Donald Trump.
"Ultimately, something good will come out of it," Trump said of slow-going negotiations, at his briefing Wednesday night.
The president's resumed coronavirus briefings give him a chance to command media attention. But between his insistence on school reopenings and his move to send federal law-enforcement agents into cities against local leaders' will, some straining of ideological credibility is going on.
Two Homeland Security secretaries under former President George W. Bush -- Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff -- have come out against Trump administration actions that have played out in the streets.
"We still have a Constitution," Chertoff said on ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast.
Those breaking with Trump also still have a party.
The GOP has long since been taken over by Trump, but this stretch of his presidency could be defined by how much other Republicans start to see past him.
The RUNDOWN with Alisa Wiersema
Trump once again held a coronavirus press briefing on Tuesday without any of his administration's health experts present. When asked to clarify why health experts like Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci are not attending the briefings, the president said he spoke with Fauci and noted -- for the second day in a row -- that Birx was "right outside" the briefing room. The president added that they were giving him "everything they know of, as of this point in time."
"I'm giving the information to you, and I think it's probably a very concise way of doing it," Trump said, "It seems to be working out very well."
The information the president discussed regarding the reopening of schools did not appear to fully echo what his own health experts recently indicated. While the president told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that he would be "comfortable" with his son and grandchildren returning to school in person, he also inaccurately claimed that his administration had a "national strategy" for schools reopening. The current recommendations from the federal government, including the White House and the CDC, provide varying levels of guidance rather than presenting a broad, national plan. Meanwhile, the onus of figuring out the details involved with the reopenings have largely been put on local officials.
Just last week, Fauci said that the default action should be for schools to reopen, and local health officials should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Trump had called those guidelines "very tough" and "expensive."
On Wednesday, the president also claimed, without citing any evidence, that children do not transmit or catch the virus "easily."
"If they do catch it, they get better fast. We're looking at that fact. That is a factor, and we're looking at it strongly. We will be reporting about that over the next week," he said.
Moments after the president's briefing concluded, Birx appeared in a cable news interview in which she cited one study in South Korea suggesting that the president's claims were true, but added that more studying on the subject is necessary. Given that questions about those findings still exist, Birx referenced the president's earlier comments, "That's why the president concluded with, 'we're studying this very hard."
Even with any imminent attempts to look more deeply at the issue, the White House -- along with the nation's parents, school administrators and students -- are facing a tough deadline to settle on a solution as kids begin returning to school in the coming weeks.
The TIP with John Verhovek
As the coronavirus continues to rage, it appears increasingly likely that the final months of the presidential campaign will be fought online, an area where Biden's presence pales in comparison to Trump's digital juggernaut. Enter President Barack Obama and his roughly 175 million followers on Twitter and Facebook combined -- a number that outpaces Biden nearly 20 times over.
Wednesday's tease of a socially distant, mask-clad conversation between Obama and his former number two, which airs in full on Thursday, marks a new way Biden's campaign is seeking to cut through a crowded news environment and energize anxious Democrats, many of whom remain stuck at home, with some blunt talk from the party's most popular figure.
The boost from Obama -- who appeared exasperated at Trump's mishandling of the pandemic response and lauded Biden's governmental experience -- marks an uptick in campaign activity that aides to the former president say is just the beginning of his engagement this cycle, both on the presidential level and down the ballot.
While the bulk of his campaigning is likely to be done after Labor Day, an aide to the former president tells ABC News, videos like the one with Biden are meant to showcase the "chemistry" between the two men in a way that models best practices to combat the spread of COVID-19.
THE PLAYLIST
ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Thursday morning's episode features ABC News' Anne Flaherty, who tells us what we need to know about need guidance regarding self-isolation for COVID-19. ABC News' Conor Finnegan explains why the Chinese embassy in Houston is being shut down. And, ABC News' Alex Perez joins us from Chicago to discuss how locals are reacting to the Trump administration's plan to send in federal law enforcement. http://apple.co/2HPocUL
ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, a Republican, told ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that the Trump administration has taken a "very belligerent, aggressive tone" toward local officials and suggests the DHS may be exceeding its authority by deploying federal law enforcement officials to the streets of Portland, Oregon. https://bit.ly/2w091jE
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