Donald Trump returned to the White House briefing room on Tuesday and essentially admitted that he hasn’t bothered to develop a national strategy to combat the pandemic – six months after the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States.
“The China virus is a vicious and dangerous illness, but we’ve learned a great deal about it and who it targets,” Trump said. “We are in the process of developing a strategy that’s going to be very, very powerful.”
President Trump says the COVID-19 pandemic “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better — something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is.†https://t.co/oq6Izhk4I5 pic.twitter.com/hgxYJcOSF6
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 21, 2020
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The president’s remarks are a stunning admission that his plan to fight the virus is still in the development stages, even as the U.S. death toll approaches 150,000 Americans, with more than four million total infections nationwide.
Trump’s briefing reboot is proof that he has failed
While some in the media irresponsibly chose to focus on the “tone” of the president’s sham briefing, the fact that the briefings are being brought back at all is proof that Donald Trump’s management of this crisis has been an abject failure.
Trump doesn’t deserve credit for standing behind a podium six months into the pandemic and saying he’s a big fan of masks and social distancing.
He doesn’t deserve a pat on the back for finally deciding that now – only after his poll numbers have cratered – he’s interested in “developing a strategy” to take on the coronavirus.
For six months, the pandemic has been wreaking havoc all across the country, causing mass suffering, death and economic hardship – all of which Trump has ignored in hopes that it would just go away on its own.
Not only should Donald Trump and his task force already have a plan in place to fight this virus, but they shouldn’t have thrown out the playbook left behind by Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
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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.