Video Emerges Confirming Trump Dissolved Pandemic Response Team
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty
Last week, we reported that Trump said some weeks ago in a press conference, in reference to the dissolution of the pandemic response team set in place by the Obama administration, that he did so willfully: “I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.”
Yesterday, Trump said he didn’t disband the government’s pandemic response team.
He lied. Here he is earlier this year defending doing just that: pic.twitter.com/oQOBFZLv1u
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) March 14, 2020
Just Friday, reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump about those cuts in 2018, specifically the axing of the pandemic response team. He called her question “nasty” and said he had nothing to do with it, denying he knew anything about it.
Trump stonewalls @Yamiche for question about firing NSC pandemic group, denies knowing anything about it. pic.twitter.com/xQ12O1z0gl
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 13, 2020
Trump’s willingness to lie is enough proof of his guilt on the matter. As the situation worsens, Trump has become more and more belligerent, such as his tweet on Monday night referring to COVID-19 as “the Chinese Virus,” phrasing he was warned against by the WHO because of its prejudice-fueling connotation (just last week, a Manhattan Asian woman was assaulted in a coronavirus-related hate crime).
The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2020
As the socially distant quarantine continues (a suggestion at this point, as there’s been no official lockdown and workers of non-essential jobs are forced to return to their posts daily), it becomes more and more clear that Trump and his administration understand little about how to handle the current situation. This is to be expected from anyone; we are operating in an unprecedented event for any person alive, as the last disease outbreak of this caliber was 1918’s Spanish Influenza pandemic. However, one has to wonder how much preventative measures would have helped to allay some of our current problems.