The United States (US) President Donald Trump maintained that the federal government will not extend the lockdown any further once they expire on Thursday. He said that his son-in-law Jared Kushner speculated that America will be “rocking again by July,” as per media reports.

Trump said he will resume his traveling with a trip to Arizona next week and indulge in mass campaign rallies for the US election 2020. He hoped that thousands of supporters will join him in the rally to extend their support to Trump.

Meanwhile, the US death toll has now surpassed American lives lost in the Vietnam War — Trump delivered his daily upbeat update, and Kushner described the administration's much-criticized response to the pandemic as "a great success story,” the report added.

Trump believes that the surge in number only shows an increase in rapid testing. He thinks that the US has improved its testing after a slow start. However, experts believe that the country still must do more — as many as 5 million tests a day — to safely reopen. Otherwise, they warn, cases will skyrocket as Americans return to work.

Trump remains hopeful that the virus will be gone for good once the vaccine hit the market. However, the government announced dismal new economic numbers as the pandemic took hold and shut down much of the country.

The US economy shrank at a 4.8 per cent annual rate in the first quarter of the year. According to experts, the extended lockdown will take a more severe toll in the coming days.

The White House is rushing to open the market sector and focused on efforts to immediately lift the restrictions across the States amid concerns that the immediate reopening may lead to the resurgence of the virus.

“We’re heartened that the worst of the pain and suffering is going to be behind us," Trump said as he led a round-table with executives from companies like Hilton and Toyota.

Trump laid out a vision of a return to pre-coronavirus normalcy — “with or without” a vaccine — with packed restaurants and filled stadiums. That vision flies in the face of sober assessments from doctors who say the country will need to embrace a “new normal" that includes extended social distancing and mask-wearing, AP report added.

“I don’t want people to get used to this,” Trump told reporters. “I see the new normal being what it was three months ago.”

White House spokesman Judd Deere tweeted that Trump would visit a Honeywell facility in Phoenix on Tuesday to highlight the production of “critical medical equipment production and the addition of 500 manufacturing jobs in the state.”

Trump also said he was considering making a trip to Ohio, even as much of the country remains under effective lockdown with all but essential travel banned.

“We’re going to start to move around and hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we’ll have some massive rallies and people will be sitting next to each other,” he said. He further added that having people spaced out in accordance with social distancing guidelines “wouldn’t look too good.”

The announcement came after Trump said he will not stretch the White House's “30 Days to Slow the Spread” guidelines when they expire Thursday.

“They’ll be fading out because now the governors are doing it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with John Bel Edwards, the Democratic governor of Louisiana.

Kushner had said in an interview with “Fox and Friends” that the administration had "achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So the federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story."

comment COMMENT NOW