Trump news: Americans told to prepare for unprecedented dual hurricane threat as president rages against 'deep state' in baseless Covid vaccine conspiracy
Two tropical storms advanced across the Caribbean Saturday as potentially historic threats to the US Gulf Coast, one dumping rain on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands while the other was pushing through the gap between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba.
Tropical Storms Laura and Marco were both projected to approach the US Gulf Coast at or close to hurricane force, representing a very unusual threat to Americans in their paths.
Devastating wildfires in California have torched nearly 1m acres, in areas totalling more than the size of the state of Rhode Island, with 100,000 residents under evacuation orders. Thousands of firefighters are battling the flames, though California Governor Gavin Newsom has sought additional support from neighbouring states, Canada, Australia, and the federal government.
On Saturday, however, Donald Trump appeared more preoccupied with airing grievances and promoting baseless conspiracy theories on Twitter.
The US president – who golfed at his Virginia resort on Saturday – has falsely claimed his own government was delaying a coronavirus vaccine in order to hurt his re-election chances.
He suggested that the Food and Drug Administration – led by his own appointed director – was part of a "deep state" conspiracy to stall development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The president also falsely claimed that Democrats removed "God" from the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, despite widely available video from each night of the event proving otherwise.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi convened the House of Representatives to a rare session on Saturday to vote on a measure to boost the beleagured US Postal Service with what Democrats have argued is a desperately needed cash infusion to support vote-by-mail efforts and other delays during the public health crisis.
Postmaster general Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee, is scheduled to appear at a House committee on Monday.
The president called the House measure a "money-wasting hoax".
"This is all another HOAX by the Democrats to give 25 Billion unneeded dollars for political purposes, without talking about the Universal Mail-In Ballot Scam ... that they are trying to pull off in violation of everything that our Country stands for," he said on Twitter.
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