*By Carlo Versano*
The president's denying the deaths of an estimated 3,000 Americans from a hurricane ー just as millions more seek shelter from another storm ー hasn't sat well, even with members of his own party.
Republicans running in competitive races in Florida found themselves rebuking Donald Trump's false claim Thursday that Puerto Rico's death toll from Hurricane Maria was fabricated by Democrats to make the president look bad.
There are major implications for the party, said GOP consultant Rick Wilson, author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies".
Trump "just put a bullet in Rick Scott's Senate campaign," he said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar.
Scott, the Florida Governor now vying for Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson's seat, wasted no time distancing himself from Trump on this issue, [tweeting](https://twitter.com/ScottforFlorida/status/1040265322270474242) on Thursday, "I disagree with @POTUS," adding that he's seen the devastation first hand.
Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican nominee for Governor and one of the most unabashedly pro-Trump candidates in the country ー he recently ran an [ad](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/31/ron-desantis-campaign-ad-florida-candidate-orig-mss.cnn) showing him reading "The Art of the Deal" to his infant son ー released a [statement](https://twitter.com/CHeathWFTV/status/1040256381801123840) saying he “doesn’t believe any loss of life has been inflated.”
Florida is home to thousands of Maria evacuees and a large Puerto Rican population that might take issue with the president insisting their friends and relatives didn't actually die, said Wilson.
Trump's inability to project empathy ー whether it's for storm victims or a Senator he disagrees with ー is one issue behind the latest erosion in his poll numbers and an "ever shrinking base," Wilson added.
Indeed, Thursday's comments, which FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver unequivocally [called] (https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1040246573689659392?s=20) "the worst thing he's ever tweeted," appears to be a bridge too far to cross for even some of Trump's most ardent backers ー two months before a crucial election, at that.
Projecting empathy and leadership ahead of a hurricane "is a lay-up," Wilson said.
"You can never rely on Donald Trump to get out of his own way."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/president-trump-stirs-up-storm-with-controversial-hurricane-comments).
An recently conducted AP-NORC poll found that majorities of the Black and Hispanic populations in the U.S. still find themselves either somewhat worried or extremely worried over the pandemic, while more than half of white Americans responded with either being not too worried or not worried at all. Dr. Chris Pernell, the chief strategic integration and health equity officer at University Hospital, joined Cheddar News to talk about how perceptions of COVID-19 differ between groups of Americans. "We’re still seeing people get infected, and because of the toll of the disproportionate impact, we have concerns among the Black and brown community about whether or not they have an increased risk of exposure because of where they work, because of the use of public transportation, because they live in homes that they may not be able to safely quarantine and or isolate in, and because they have at baseline chronic health conditions that may make coronavirus more severe in those persons," she said.
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the EPA and the president of Beyond Plastics, joined Cheddar News to talk about the role of plastics in the climate crisis and California's investigation of ExxonMobil and other oil companies for misleading the public on the ability to recycle plastics. "The reason why petrochemical companies like Exxon have gotten away with selling more and more plastic is that they've lied to the public and told us don't worry about all those negative upstream impacts and downstream impacts of plastics. Just be sure to recycle it. Well, guess what? Plastics largely are not recycled," Enck said.
The ongoing war in Ukraine and the Fed's hawkish stance toward reining in inflation might be causing a frenzy among investors. Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at foreign exchange OANDA, joined Cheddar News to talk about the current "mixed bag" markets. "It's hard to read too much into it. These are just the market conditions we have right now," he said. "Ultimately we're a little directionless at times overall, but these intraday moves are causing a lot of volatility this week."
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 29, 2022, with President Biden asking Congress for a $33 billion aid package for Ukraine, a shrinking GDP potentially leading to a recession, Beijing banning weddings and funerals while closings schools amid COVID, and more.
Buying a new home is tough right now; but for first-time buyers, it's an especially challenging time, with obstacles like rising mortgage rates and record-breaking home prices. The housing market is not expected to get much friendlier, as mortgage rates are expected to continue to climb as the Federal Reserve proceeds with its plans for rate hikes in an effort to stifle inflation. Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of real estate appraiser Miller Samuel, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Tyler Moran, former senior adviser to President Biden on migration, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the recent controversy around the administration's decision to end the use of Title 42, a public health order allowing the U.S. to expel migrants without going through the asylum process.
Christian Heyne, vice president of policy at the gun safety group Brady, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss President Biden's executive action on so-called "ghost guns," and to reflect on the Brooklyn subway shooting.
Jasmine Burney-Clark, founder of Equal Ground Education Fund and Action Fund, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the redistricting process in Florida, and how the state's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a map reducing the power of Black Floridians.
Ryan Thoreson, an LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss claims of grooming made by Republican politicians during efforts to pass so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bills.
