During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union over the weekend, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows bluntly insisted that “we’re not going to control the pandemic.” Amidst rising case totals, hospitalizations, and deaths around the country — which is experiencing a third major surge — the White House sounds like they’ve essentially thrown up their hands and decided to largely stick to hoping for the imminent emergence of something like a vaccine. In the time before a vaccine emerges, many more Americans could die, and measures like universal or even almost universal mask-wearing could help cut off the rising death toll. However, the Trump White House is just refusing to take the crisis with the seriousness that it demands.
On Sunday, Meadows sounded unhinged. He raged at CNN host Jake Tapper over the suggestion that the Trump administration has been anything but top of the line in their handling of the Coronavirus outbreak, despite the fact that some 225,000 Americans and counting have died. In reality, Trump’s White House seems incompetent and has put American lives on the line.
Meadows commented to Tapper as follows:
‘We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation.’
Tapper then cut in to ask why the U.S. is “not going to control the pandemic.” Meadows hastily replied that the lack of control will be “because it’s a contagious virus, just like the flu.” Did he think that this retort sounded on-point? Of course the Coronavirus is a contagious virus — and masks, social distancing, and similar measures are meant to control contagious viruses! Every flu season, people make sure to wash their hands, frequently stay home when they’re sick, get flu vaccines, and more — so not only is the Trump administration totally out of line for openly throwing up their hands in the face of the spreading Coronavirus, they’re wrong to insinuate that the country takes a somewhat lackadaisical approach to the flu.
Besides claiming that they are actually making some supposed efforts to contain the virus, Meadows insisted:
‘What we need to do is make sure we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it’s therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people don’t die from this, but to suggest that we’re actually going to quarantine all of America, lock down our economy… Joe Biden’s saying that. He says lock everybody down. We’re gonna have a dark winter.’
Meadows subsequently complained that Biden “is sitting there suggesting that we’re going to mandate masks.” Wearing masks could literally help save people’s lives, but the Trump administration is such a spectacle of self-serving belligerence that they’re complaining about demanding mask-wearing. Check out Meadows’s comments below:
Mark Meadows is making very clear on CNN that the White House has given up trying to contain the coronavirus. Their only strategy at this point is praying for a vaccine. pic.twitter.com/ZvPsQA7gDI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2020
Meadows is lying. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has never suggested blindly placing “all of America” under quarantine or locking down the entire economy. In reality, he has said that he would listen to public health officials’ advice if elected — and that’s sent Trump and his allies spiraling.
Watch more of Meadows and Tapper’s Sunday conversation below:
Tapper to Mark Meadows: "Just yesterday, President Trump said 'we are rounding the corner & it's going away.' Mark, it's not going away even in the WH! But beyond that, the US reported 83,000 new cases on Friday and Saturday. That's the 2 highest days of the entire pandemic." pic.twitter.com/gCXUB2I2xh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2020
