Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:05 pm
Rachel Maddow torched Donald Trump on Monday for still not solving America’s coronavirus testing shortage four months after he said any person who needs a test can get a test.
The MSNBC host pointed to New Orleans as an example, saying that tests ran out in two minutes on Monday and folks were turned away.
“That’s what our testing situation is in this country,” Maddow said. “That’s how we’re doing this now, even as of July.”
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Maddow said that Trump’s bungled response to this crisis “will go down in American history not just as a presidential failure but as an American failure of epic and fatal proportion.”
Video:
Rachel Maddow blasts Trump for his failure to solve the testing shortage four months after he said any American who needs a coronavirus test can get one. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/wxYyQvqTYX
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) July 7, 2020
Transcript:
MADDOW: There were more than 150 people standing on line when they opened. Every one of their testing slots for the whole day was then filled between 8:00 A.M. And 8:02 A.M. Today in New Orleans, that was your two-minute window in which you might have had a chance to get tested had you been lining up for enough hours before the 8:00 A.M. opening. That’s what our testing situation is in this country. That’s how we’re doing this now, even as of July.
TRUMP: Anybody that wants a test can get a test.
MADDOW: Was not true then, still not true now, and the wasted time and effort and sacrifice between then and now that got us to a place now where that is still not true, will go down in American history, not just as a presidential failure but as an American failure of epic and fatal proportion. 130,000 dead now. We still can’t get people tested in July?
Trump will never shake this failure
The vast majority of Americans agree that Donald Trump’s management of this crisis has been an unmitigated disaster.
A quick look at the data shows why the country feels that way. As almost all advanced countries have gotten a handle of the outbreak, the United States is seeing a record number of cases reported in recent weeks.
Overall, the U.S. ranks number one globally in coronavirus deaths (132,000+) and infections (over 3 million).
In a polarized political environment, Donald Trump could still win reelection by motivating his loyal base to turn out while suppressing the vote of those most likely to support Joe Biden.
But regardless of whether Trump wins in November, he will likely never be able to shake this monumental and fatal failure.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
