monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Fail.

liar.

[Biden] admires Joseph Stalin and aspires to be just like him

Anyone from the US who fancies a round of golf and vacation at a Trump Resort can do so at Turnberry, Scotland, UK and Doonbeg, County Clare, Ireland as, happily, both countries have been exempted from the Europe-wide travel ban.

In a speech Wednesday, President Trump announced a ban on travelers from Europe. This led to a lot of initial confusion over what Trump meant by “Europe,” and whether trade in goods was banned too (Trump said it was, but the White House quickly clarified that this was not the case). Trump also said that the United Kingdom would be exempted from the ban, prompting a lot of speculation as to what exactly was going on. It turns out that the ban — and the exception for the United Kingdom — is not quite as arbitrary as it sounds. Trump’s ban extends to countries in what’s known as the “Schengen area,” a region that includes most states that are members of the European Union (as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland). The Schengen area does not include the U.K. nor Ireland.
[...]
Trump, in his speech, blamed Europe [sic!] for not being careful enough in introducing restrictions, saying that viral clusters in the United States have been “seeded by travel from Europe.” The rationale for the ban appears to be that border-free travel will allow the contagion to spread throughout the Schengen area, and then jump to other countries such as the United States.

Why then are some Schengen states restricting travel from other Schengen states, and why is Trump imposing a general ban on foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen area? One plausible explanation might be that travel bans send a highly visible signal to voters that the government is doing something to stop the spread. That might be particularly politically important in the United States, where the government has not yet been able to test citizens for the novel coronavirus in significant numbers, let alone introduce significant targeted measures to halt the spread of the virus that causes the disease covid-19.

Though many Schengen area states are likely to be very angry at Trump’s decision, the willingness of some of their fellow Schengen members to impose similar restrictions will make it hard for them to respond in an unified way. It will be particularly interesting to see whether states such as Austria and Hungary denounce the U.S. ban or seek an exemption on the basis that they are imposing restrictions, and whether Ireland will refer to the ban on its fellow E.U. member states in the prime minister’s meeting with Trump on Thursday.