- President Donald Trump appears to be neglecting his duties and has mostly been out of sight for the past week.
- Since losing the election, he’s refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden and is falsely alleging fraud.
- Trump has not addressed the growing COVID-19 outbreak and other national concerns.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Following the results of the presidential election, President Donald Trump appears to be neglecting his duties to govern. He has spent much of the past week falsely alleging voter fraud and then once a winner was projected, refusing to concede to President-elect Joe Biden.
On Wednesday, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery for a Veteran’s Day ceremony. It was his first appearance in six days, and he did not speak at the event, CNN reported.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told CNN that Trump is “carrying out all of his duties.”
“Just as he promised, President Trump is fighting hard for a free and fair election while at the same time carrying out all of his duties to put America First,” Deere said.
CNN noted that the last intelligence briefing on Trump’s public schedule was for October 2, the morning after he tested positive for the coronavirus. While the public schedule does not have all of the president’s meetings and events, it has been relatively empty for the past several days.
As Trump has stayed out of the public view, the US has been hitting records in new cases of COVID-19 as officials across the country try to figure out how to stop the rapid spread of the virus. On Tuesday, a record of almost 131,000 new cases was recorded and hospitalizations also hit an all-time high.
Public health experts have said this could be the "deadliest" wave yet, but Trump has not addressed the growing number of cases. The president, however, without any evidence, did post on Twitter allegations that Pfizer, who on Monday revealed promising vaccine results, deliberately waited until after the US election make that announcement.
He provided no evidence to support that claim. A Pfizer spokesperson told Business Insider that the timing had nothing to do with the election.
While Trump has stayed quiet on the pandemic, Biden addressed the country after it surpassed 10 million total cases, ABC reported.
"We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives," Biden said. "Please, I implore you, wear a mask."
It's not just the expanding outbreak, other issues that were central to Trump's platform are also being neglected
On Tuesday, TikTok revealed that it's been weeks since they spoke with the Trump administration. The company filed a petition in court over the November 12 deadline to divest after they had no meaningful dialogue with the Trump admin on a deal.
Trump had gone after the platform, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese-based company for national security concerns.
The Trump administration is also sidelining itself from COVID-19 stimulus bill talks. Democrats and Republicans, including the White House, spent months trying to agree on a package after the first round of financial relief expired this summer.
CNN reported that the President went golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, over the weekend.
Trump's keen focus on his re-election loss has placed the country at a standstill without proper governance.
His refusal to recognize Biden as the winner of the election has blocked Biden's transition team from access to necessary tools to be able to prepare to take office in January.