Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, February 27, 2020

Trump puts Pence in charge of coronavirus response


So trump thinks that the Democratic presidential debates caused the stock market dive. He also tells us that there were only about 15 coronavirus cases (there are 60 as of yesterday) in this country, and they are all getting better, so the problem will soon go away. Also, the warmer weather in April will help to dissipate the problem.

Isn't it confidence-inspiring to have a preznit who can so brilliantly analyze pandemic problems?

Trump's response to the coronavirus? He put his VP, Pence, in charge. Pence.

As governor, Pence famously said he had to “pray on” law enforcement and health officials’ request for a needle exchange program to help an exploding HIV epidemic in southeastern Indiana, which in turn was caused by his defunding and the resulting closure of Planned Parenthood, the only HIV prevention and testing facility in that area. His two-month delay in approving the program caused a public health crisis to become even more disastrous. 

 Pence also was the genius behind Indiana’s anti-gay legislation, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which resulted in calls by the NCAA to move the Final Four out of Indiana, NASCAR criticizing the law, and causing many CEO’s and corporations to question doing business or increasing operations in Indiana. The result was that Pence had to sign a revised version of the bill which stated that businesses could not refuse to provide service bases on sexual orientation, race, religion or disability.


IOW, with his past history, Pence is totally unprepared, without any experience in infectious disease control and pandemics, and totally incompetent to head up the coronavirus response.


Trump Tweet from October 17, 2014.



View image on Twitter







Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response


As it improvises its way through a public health crisis, the United States has never been less prepared for a pandemic.




" 'Trump cuts to national security staff may hurt coronavirus response, former officials say. For the first time since 9/11, you don't have someone directly reporting to the president responsible [for threats like] pandemics,' an ex-official said.


WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's decision to downsize the White House national security staff — and eliminate jobs addressing global pandemics — is likely to hamper the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus, according to veterans of past disease outbreaks and experts who have studied them. 

 'This is why you have a National Security Council,' said John Gans, a former Pentagon speechwriter who wrote a book about the NSC, which has long been the principal advisory body inside the White House for national security affairs. 

'The changes have made it much harder for the NSC to do this.' Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is leading the Trump administration's coronavirus response efforts. On Wednesday, Azar disputed reports that Trump would soon be appointing a coronavirus "czar," or response coordinator."


10 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

The only person less qualified to be the point man on this than Pence is Trump himself. But just think, The Stable Genius has appointed ONLY the VERY BEST to serve in his GENIUS Enabled Administration. Nothing to worry about.

I's be LOL! Except is ain't at all funny.

Jerry Critter said...

Just another of the many examples of the incompetence of Donald and his administration. More people die because of his failure to understand what it takes to deal with the problem.

Leanna said...

The only reason why Drumpf appointed Pence the Coronavirus Czar is so if the worst happens, it will take the blame off himself. He also knows Pence won't go to extremes and will pray on something before he decides. So anything that goes wrong is on Pence.

Infidel753 said...

Yeah, but at least Pence realizes that the coronavirus is God's punishment on us for allowing gay marriage. If he can just get the country to ban gay marriage and hold a national day of prayer and repentance, the problem will miraculously go away.

Shaw Kenawe said...

RN, Jerry, Leanna, Infidel753,

From the WaPo:

The announcement has cast light on Pence’s record as a lawmaker and his handling of a major public health crisis during his time as governor of Indiana. The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program.

In 2011, as a member of Congress, he voted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Two years later, a Planned Parenthood clinic that had been the only HIV-testing center in Scott County, Ind., closed after public health spending cuts, HuffPost reported.

Two months passed from the start of the outbreak in 2015 before Pence declared a public state of emergency.

The spread of the disease was attributed to people injecting Opana, an addictive painkiller, with shared needles. But Pence didn’t agree with federal health experts that distributing clean needles was a good idea.

“I don’t believe effective anti-drug policy involves handing out drug paraphernalia,” he told the Indianapolis Star at the time. Despite assurances from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it is an effective way to halt the spread of infections and diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, Pence said if state lawmakers tried to send him a bill for a needle-exchange program, he would veto it.

As cases spiked, Pence reportedly turned to prayer.


Trump put this guy in charge of the coronavirus response. What could possibly go wrong?

Curly Qs said...

Mike effing Pence? He doesn't believe in Evolution! He's anti-science and in a position that screams for science and rational thinking! Prayers are fine but prayers do not prevent or heal pandemics!

Mike effing Pence? I wouldn't trust him to butter my toast!

Anonymous said...

The Takoma Torch, my town's satire paper just had the following headline:

"Trump Sends Pence to Combat Coronavirus in Hopes of Getting to Pick a New Vice President!"

LOL!!!


Possumlady

Dervish Z Sanders said...

Regarding satire, here is a true story that you (if you didn't know) might mistake for parody...

The spread of the coronavirus couldn't have come at a worse time for Corona beer. (excerpt) Two surveys released this week show that the Corona's brand is suffering from negative buzz. 5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona "under any circumstances" because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn't order a Corona in public [end excerpt].

I wonder how many of the 38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona under any circumstances are Dotard supporters.

Shaw Kenawe said...


Dervish: "I wonder how many of the 38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona under any circumstances are Dotard supporters."

I'm betting all of them.

Dotard told his cultists at the South Carolina cult meeting to treat the Coronavirus as a hoax. Do his cultists understand that he's encouraging them to die?

skudrunner said...

What he should do is appoint 45 czars. They don't need confirmation and can do whatever the leader dictates.