With each passing day, it is becoming more obvious. The Trump administration knew about the dangers of the Coronavirus outbreak far sooner than they are admitting. From a 2019 report , which Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar presented to Congress last April to a detailed memo from White House Economic Advisor Peter Navarro, it is obvious that the administration’s response was to ignore the problem.
Despite this, Trump has repeatedly stated that nobody knew this outbreak was coming, only to backpedal and now claim that he knew “long before”, that a pandemic was coming.
So, which is it?
The facts would certainly support that the administration knew, yet chose to ignore, the warnings. This means they ignored the risks, where thousands died and several thousands more were sickened by what could have been a preventable situation.
To deflect from this, Trump holds a daily Coronavirus briefing that seeks to twist the narrative with a public relations blitz of lies, distortions and berating of any member of the media that dares to question the administration’s failure to launch an adequate response in time.
During these briefings, Trump has repeatedly, and erroneously claimed that the federal government has no role in the Coronavirus response, while at the same time calling himself “a wartime president”. He has stated that the issue of testing is up to the individual states and health organizations. This position has been backed up by his son-in-law and White House advisor, Jared Kushner, who claimed essential medical supplies were federal property, and not to be used by the individual states.
Of course, there is plenty of blame to spread around for the administration’s failed response. Predictably, Trump never misses a chance to blame President Obama, despite being in office for over three years. Republicans in Congress have also played the blame game by stating that the impeachment hearings prevented Trump from focusing on the Coronavirus response.
Despite the obvious failures, Trump’s approval rating has risen to a high of 49%, largely due to the daily briefings keeping him in the public eye.
This was the same approach that garnered him so much attention during the 2016 campaign. The press covered each gaffe, misstatement and outlandish comment ad nauseam, keeping him in the news.
With facts of his failure to respond and further deaths on the horizon, it is up to the media to take a stand. They need to stop giving him free airtime. They need to stop covering these briefings that have been nothing more than a replacement for his campaign rallies.
Trump knew about the Coronavirus and DID NOTHING!
