I Do Not Blame Donald Trump

To be clear, I do not blame Donald Trump for the Coronavirus pandemic.

But I do blame him for gutting the nation’s preparations to deal with it. I blame him for bungling testing and allowing it to spread uninhibited. I blame him for wasting taxpayer money going to rallies and playing golf during the crisis. I blame him for being incompetent and dishonest at a time when the US and the world needed competence and clarity and facts.

Specifically,

Donald Trump declined to use the World Health Organization’s (WHO) test like other nations. Back in January, over a month before the first COVID-19 case, the Chinese alerted the world to a new mysterious virus. Within a week, Berlin virologists had produced the first diagnostic test and by the end of February, the WHO had shipped out tests to 60 countries. But not to the US. We declined the test even as a temporary bridge until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could create its own test. The question is why. Who knows? But be on the lookout for which pharmaceutical company eventually manufactures the test and who owns the stock.

In 2018, Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossart, whose job was to coordinate a response to global pandemics. He was not replaced.

In 2018, Dr. Luciana Borio, the National Security Council’s (NSC) Director for Medical and Bio-defense Preparedness, left the position. Donald Trump did not replace her.