Prominent Republicans distance themselves from Trump

Icon: enlarge

Donald Trump (Thursday in Greenville, North Carolina)

Photo: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS

Less than three weeks before the US presidential election, several prominent Republicans are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump.

The focus is on dealing with the corona crisis.

Trump confidante

criticized,

among other things, the protective measures in the White House.

He assumed that he was in a "safe zone" there.

"I was wrong."

Icon: enlarge

Trump critic Chris Christie

Photo: imago stock & people

Christie had helped Trump, among other things, prepare for the TV debate with his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

He was then treated for about a week in the hospital for Covid 19 disease.

"Nobody should be haughty"

Christie was formerly the governor of New Jersey.

The tone he adopted in a statement on Thursday and a TV appearance on Friday contrasted sharply with statements by Trump.

Christie warned against taking the virus lightly. 

"It's something you have to take very seriously," he said, calling for people to wear masks and keep their distance.

"Nobody should be happy to catch the virus and nobody should be haughty about being infected or infecting others."

Meanwhile, during a TV appearance, the president once again raised doubts about the usefulness of masks. 

Icon: enlarge

Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Last week, Senate Republican majority leader

said he had not been to the White House since early August - because of concerns about how coronavirus risks are being dealt with there.

His remarks have been seen by some political observers in Washington as a license for Republicans to stop criticizing Trump.

Trump is clearly behind Biden in polls. 

The Republican Senator

attacked the incumbent on a broad front in a conference call with voters.

Trump spends money "like a drunken sailor" and "kisses dictators' buttocks," Sasse complained in a recording published by the conservative Washington Examiner website. 

Trump's leadership in the corona crisis was also neither sensible nor responsible.

Sasse also warned that the Republicans could permanently lose influence over the voters because of Trump.

Some even support Biden

Influential Republican Senator

, who chairs the Justice Committee, openly acknowledged that his Democratic counterparts had strong prospects in the November 3rd presidential election.

"You have a good chance of winning the White House," Graham said in a committee meeting on Thursday.

He himself must fear his re-election in the state of South Carolina in November. 

Also on Thursday, Massachusetts Republican Governor

publicly that he would not vote for Trump in the presidential election.

His spokeswoman released a statement saying Baker could "not support Trump as president".

Combating the pandemic has priority for him.

Baker is considered a moderate Republican with good contacts to the Democrats.

Icon: enlarge

Senator Mitt Romney

Photo: ERIN SCOTT / REUTERS

According to Forbes, the Republican governor of Vermont,

, and the Senator from Utah and former Republican presidential

have also announced that they will not vote for Trump. 

According to Forbes, the former Republican governors of Ohio and Michigan,

and

go even further

: They openly support Biden. 

The political handling of the corona crisis is likely to be of great importance.

Two and a half weeks before the election, the number of confirmed infections in the US has passed the eight million mark.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, more than 218,000 people had died of or with a corona infection by Friday.

The USA is the country with the most confirmed cases of infection and death, ahead of Brazil and India.

Most recently, the number of infections in the USA has risen again - to more than 60,000 new cases per day.

Experts are concerned that it is not possible to get the spread of the virus under control, especially as the flu season begins.

Trump runs record debts

As a result of the corona pandemic, the US government announced the largest budget deficit in US history on Friday.

In the fiscal year that ended in September, new debt exploded to $ 3.1 trillion (2.6 trillion euros), an increase of 218 percent compared to the previous year.

The deficit is more than double the previous record deficit of $ 1.4 trillion in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Overall, the US government's public debt rose significantly during President Trump's tenure and is now around $ 21 trillion.

That corresponds almost to the annual economic output of the USA.

The government and Congress have been negotiating a further trillion dollar stimulus package for months.

Trump's Republicans and Democrats still have very different ideas about it.

An agreement before the US election on November 3rd therefore seems unlikely.

Icon: The mirror

wal / dpa / AFP