The article's focus is on Vice President (and others') criticism of President Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the recap / description of how President Trump and his administration has dealt with it is perhaps the best I have read to date.
1st, the author of the article calls it like it is, pointing out that the President's boasts about his
unique foresight and his administration's
'perfect' Coronavirus response is a non-serious piece of revisionist history, an attempt to highlight the current handling of the response versus the early days. The article is one of the most objective ones I have read because it points out both the early missteps while giving the President and administration credit for all of the things done right / well:
"President Trump's boasts about his unique foresight and his administration's 'perfect' Coronavirus response are unserious, inaccurate, revisionist. Even if one is inclined to give the president the benefit of the doubt -- and I think some in the peanut gallery relentlessly criticize him for political reasons -- even a cursory perusal of this Washington Post account and timeline published over the weekend should disabuse any fair-minded reader of the notion that Trump was on top of things from the beginning.
Much like many other governments around the world, and like nearly the entire political/media class here at home, the Trump administration was slow to grasp the breadth and severity of this crisis, dithering and downplaying until it was nearly right on top of us. To pretend otherwise is self-serving spin. I believe that after a period of damaging denial, Team Trump made a heel-turn and has been working 'round the clock to mitigate this pandemic. The president's tone and actions, with some unfortunate exceptions, have been noticeably better, winning praise from typically-hostile Democratic governors working closely with Trump's task force. Trump has been listening to experts, making tough but correct calls, and trying to move heaven and earth to help hard-hit hotspots. These improvements do not erase early failures -- which were unquestionably exacerbated by China's deceit -- but they are nevertheless praiseworthy.
Trump's restrictions were pilloried by many critics at the time as pointless and bigoted (denying this is another form of gaslighting). They, in fact, were absolutely necessary, and bought us valuable time (some of which was squandered, especially vis-a-vis the CDC's testing debacle). His subsequent restrictions on travel from Europe were also attacked, even as that continent became the global epicenter of the virus."
Fact Check.
townhall.com
But ultimately, it's still a pivot to shift blame away from Trump and be critical of someone who the last time I looked, isn't President. His restriction from travel from China came on January 31st. About a week and a half too late. Now, maybe he gets more credit for that...if he does anything besides deny, deflect, downplay, tweet, and hold his pep rallies between January 31st and March 13th. He got taken to the woodshed after his disasterous address on March 11th and the subsequent market tank the next day.
A week and a half too late? Really?
View attachment 319865
note that date from the WHO. Jan 14th.
Yep, they were a bit tardy to the party. But they quickly got it. I believe they reversed themselves days later and said it could indeed be transmitted from human to human. Trump was in Davos on January 22nd busy giving a speech of how it wasn't a big deal and it was under control. What prevented him from ordering action then? Sooooo, I ask again, the reason for inaction until March 13th was???
Inaction?
December 31: China reports the discovery of the coronavirus to the World Health Organization.
January 6: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel notice for Wuhan, China due to the spreading coronavirus.
January 7: The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
January 11: The CDC issued a Level I travel health notice for Wuhan, China.
January 17: The CDC began implementing public health entry screening at the 3 U.S. airports that received the most travelers from Wuhan – San Francisco, New York JFK, and Los Angeles.
January 20: Dr. Fauci announces the National Institutes of Health is already working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
January 21: The CDC activated its emergency operations center to provide ongoing support to the coronavirus response.
January 23: The CDC sought a “special emergency authorization” from the FDA to allow states to use its newly developed coronavirus test.
January 27: The CDC issued a level III travel health notice urging Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China due to the coronavirus.
January 29: The White House announced the formation of the Coronavirus Task Force to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the president.
January 31: The Trump Administration:
- Declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.
- Announced Chinese travel restrictions.
- Suspended entry into the United States for foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.
January 31: The Department of Homeland Security took critical steps to funnel all flights from China into just 7 domestic U.S. airports.
February 3: The CDC had a team ready to travel to China to obtain critical information on the novel coronavirus, but were in the U.S. awaiting permission to enter by the Chinese government.
February 4: President Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.
February 6: The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.
February 9: The White House Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the nation at the National Governors’ Association Meeting in Washington.
February 11: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expanded a partnership with Janssen Research & Development to “expedite the development” of a coronavirus vaccine.