The Presedent Trump's (very) brief period of coronavirus mourning

Analysis: As the week began, the president quickly lamented the deaths of fellow Americans by the tens of thousands — and the economy he says he built.

In most religions, mourning is a finite ritual. For President Donald Trump, it lasted just a few seconds Monday.

"We continue to mourn with thousands of families across the country whose loved ones have been stolen from us by the invisible enemy," he said of the human toll of the coronavirus at a Rose Garden news conference as he glanced toward the spot behind his podium where prepared notes usually sit. "We grieve by their side."

It was a rare moment in which Trump talked about the aspect of the coronavirus he has been least interested in talking about in near-daily briefings: death.

And then, in less time than it would have taken to read some of the recent reports about his neglect of the human toll of the pandemic and lack of empathy for victims, he praised several major corporations that are partnering with the government to ramp up production of testing for the virus.

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Despite the mortality, he suggested, the risk of the disease has been mitigated to the point that it poses less of a threat to Americans' security than the freeze in commercial activity that has contracted the U.S. economy.

"We want to reopen, and the testing is not going to be a problem at all," he declared, adding later that "the fact that people aren't allowed to have their freedom causes a tremendous amount of problems, including death."

Trump seemed to be building backward from the conclusion that stay-at-home orders have to be revoked.

He had originally looked to the middle of this month as a target date for what he calls "reopening American again." But the most prominent medical professionals in his administration said that couldn't safely happen until testing was available widely enough to control a larger outbreak.

On Monday, with the top government infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, once again noticeably absent, Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and

officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enumerated an eight-point checklist for reopening states. Seven of the eight items already had been accomplished, according to their slide presentation.