Trump claimed that he had no idea that the coronavirus was coming even though the CDC has been warning about it for months.
At his latest rally in South Carolina, Trump said, “Things happen. Who would have thought of this two weeks ago, four weeks ago, that this could be going on, but things happen in life, and you have to be prepared, and you have to be flexible, and you have to go out and get it, and my guys, we have the best professionals in the world, and we are so ready.”
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Trump on the Coronavirus: Things happen. Whoever thought of this two weeks ago, who would’ve thought this could be going on. Four weeks ago, but things happen in life pic.twitter.com/sV2TAePFze
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— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) February 29, 2020
The CDC has been monitoring the coronavirus since December 2019. They have been issuing a steady stream of public warnings since early January 2020. The CDC warned that the coronavirus could be spread by human contact more than a month ago. They began public health screenings at airports on January 17, 2020.
The coronavirus has been known about for months. Trump wasn’t aware of it until 2-4 weeks ago, because he gets his information from watching cable news.
In May 2018, the White House pushed out the nation’s top pandemic response officials. At the time, observers warned that the administration was weakening global health security, “His exit comes against the backdrop of other administration actions critics say have weakened health security preparedness, including dwindling financing for early preventive action against infectious disease threats abroad.”
Trump is lying when he claims that coronavirus popped up out of the blue, and the wheels were put in motion for bungled response nearly two years ago when weakened the infrastructure for pandemic handling.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association