President Trump has consistently and repeatedly vocalized his surprize at the scale and magnitude of the coronavirus as it has made its way across the globe and in turn across the United States.
“I would view it as something that just surprised the whole world,” he said in a press conference earlier this month. “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion.”
In a separate briefing, Trump said: “I just think this is something … that you can never really think is going to happen.”
However, the national security council would have an issue with those statements as the Trump administration was unquestionably warned about the risk of a potential pandemic and the danger it could pose to American citizens.
Politico reported that as far back as Trumps much maligned predecessor Barrack Obama’s (much maligned by Trump himself) tenure, there was a 69-page “playbook on fighting pandemics” compiled by the national security council in the wake of the 2016 Ebola outbreak.
This document contained advice on tracking the spread of a new virus, how to ensure testing was conducted effectively and the need to stockpile emergency resources.
You may be saying to yourself that this plan was written in the Obama era and only in relation to the Ebola outbreak in 2016 so therefore President Trump can’t be blamed for his statements.
The problem is that not only was the plan called a “playbook on fighting pandemics” not just Ebola, according to an anonymous official quoted by Politico, the incoming Trump administration was briefed on the playbook but it was “thrown on to a shelf”
And perhaps his administration could be forgiven for this slip up due to the unprecedented nature of the current situation, that is until you learn this wasn’t the only time they had been warned about the potential threats posed by a pandemic.
Last October, an internal federal government report warned how underprepared and underfunded the US would be in terms of tackling a virus without a cure. A position we find ourselves in just a few months later.
It was completely predictable: the world is suffering from a pandemic at the time the USA has an idiot for president. When will we ever learn? The citizens of this country are no longer capable of choosing their own commander-in-chief.
Something of this nature was bound to happen. What do we have leading this nation in this time of crisis? A total idiot. The people of this nation do not appear to be capable of choosing our leader.
Donald Trump at the helm of this nation during a world-wide pandemic, still spreading his ignorance. God help us all.
I love this article! Kiddos to whoever wrote it. Finally, the facts along with Trumps actual statements are in print for everyone to read!
65% of Americans polled believe Trump is doing a great job. The vast majority of these individuals are Republicans.
Fox News is partly responsible for this. However, a great deal is due to the ignorance of Americans.
We are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world and take it for granted.
We have a responsibility to honor and protect our democracy.
We have allowed a snake oil salesman to turn the United States of America into a third world country through racial bigotry, economic inequality, and greed.
God will save His children and will not be mocked by a man who claims to know God.
So-called Evangelical Christians need to wake up and speak out against his presidency rather than behaving like Pharisees and Sadducees. God did not place him there!!!!
God’s plan for our lives will come to fruition if we believe in Him.
Please, pray for our country and our world.
Be blessed.
Churchill – “We will never surrender.”
Roosevelt – “We have nothing to fear but fear itsel”
Kennedy – “Ask what you can do for your country.”
trump – “I take no responsibility.”
AT same time the Congress left session and abandoned their constituents. They are too infested with racism and xenophobia that it’s truly hurting America. I wouldn’t lie to you. Most of them are motivationally deficient and differently logical and therefore not worth their salt. They did nothing for the prior h1n1 and swine flu pandemics and could not concieve any plan that is workable.