Recently, reporting has circulated about apparently imminent plans to shut down the White House Coronavirus task force, although the U.S. is far from out of the woods regarding the Coronavirus crisis. Around 2,300 new Coronavirus deaths were reported in the U.S. on Tuesday of this week alone. This Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter with a glibly self-congratulatory message in which he insisted that the White House’s task force would actually be continuing “indefinitely.” In his diatribe, Trump didn’t exactly inspire confidence, because he repeatedly indicated how brazenly incompetent that he really is.
Pres Trump said yesterday the WH will phase out its coronavirus task force. He explained by saying, “Well, because we can’t keep our country closed for the next five years.”
Today, a total about-face after backlash.
Trump saying now task force will "continue on indefinitely." https://t.co/hxmXcA3PSz
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 6, 2020
Trump insisted that the task force “has done a fantastic job of bringing together vast highly complex resources that have set a high standard for others to follow in the future.” Well over 70,000 Americans are dead and projections suggest that tens of thousands of more Coronavirus deaths could be imminent, but none of that stopped Trump from proclaiming a supposed job well done anyway.
….produced in the thousands, and we have many to spare. We are helping other countries which are desperate for them. Likewise, after having been left little, we are now doing more testing than all other countries combined, and with superior tests. Face masks & shields,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 6, 2020
….to it, as appropriate. The Task Force will also be very focused on Vaccines & Therapeutics. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 6, 2020
The examples that he cited included ventilators and Coronavirus testing capacity. Trump posted that U.S. ventilators supposedly “were few & in bad shape,” but here’s the problem — Trump was president for three years prior to the emergence of the Coronavirus crisis, so he doesn’t get points for finally getting around to something (beefing up the ventilator supply) that he should have done years ago.
More Presidential Fake News — testing edition https://t.co/IZtx99aypz pic.twitter.com/qSYhLfecb3
— Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) May 6, 2020
Trump added the claim that “after having been left little, we are now doing more testing than all other countries combined, and with superior tests” — but the idea that the Obama administration left dismal Coronavirus testing capacity behind is ludicrous. There was no Coronavirus when Obama was in office, so neither were there any tests. Trump’s added claim that the U.S. is conducting more tests than every other country combined is just brazenly wrong, too. The tests that have been completed in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. alone surpass the U.S. total, and obviously, there are a lot of other countries in the world besides just those four.
Hospital gowns will be a “significant challenge in the days and weeks ahead,” one administration official said April 24.
“Supply appears to be the main limiting factor” to more testing, another said. https://t.co/76UAuoldzQ https://t.co/y2WSkW9pie
— Adam Cancryn (@adamcancryn) May 6, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response below…
