During a hearing recently held on the origins of COVID-19, a topic on which conspiracy theorists on the Right have expended a lot of energy, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) tore into the record of Donald Trump in responding to the virus.
Whether it was his apparent obsession with dismissing the seriousness of what was happening or had eventually already happened or his uncaring perspective on impacts from the virus in what he characterized as areas just run by Democrats, his lack of evident interest in comprehensively confronting the virus was well-documented. He wouldn’t even consistently promote masks, and although his own administration supported the development of vaccines, he’s now, particularly in rhetorical attacks on Ron DeSantis, essentially distancing himself from the jabs. He resisted testing for the virus as though cutting down on testing would’ve made for some kind of sudden fix in some of the nation’s problems and was posting in all-caps about setting certain states free, as he put it, in response to moderate restrictions to stop the virus’s spread.
“That president’s policy failures, magical thinking, and total recklessness, caused, according to his own special adviser on COVID, Deborah Birx, the unnecessary death of hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Raskin said, referring to Trump.
“Whatever the origins of COVID-19, whether it is bats or bureaucrats, no finding will ever exonerate or rehabilitate Donald Trump for his lethal recklessness in mismanaging the crisis in America, which cost us more than a million lives,” the Congressman added. “Indeed, if COVID was actually the product of a lab leak, or the worst bioweapon of mass destruction ever invented as some have [without basis] argued… it would not only not remove Donald Trump’s culpability. It would only deepen his culpability in the most profound way.”
Raskin subsequently went through a series of examples showing Trump expressing avowed support for the approach to COVID-19 from the Chinese government — which was and remains, just to be clear, a Communist government. Raskin described Trump’s stance towards Chinese leadership in this area as “sycophantic,” which certainly seems to mirror his approach to other leaders of a similar ideological slant, whether they’re in Russia, Saudi Arabia, or even the Philippines.
“Donald Trump was the biggest apologist in the United States of America for President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” the Maryland Democrat continued. Well, considering the rapid rate at which Trump and Republicans allied with him like to ridiculously accuse Democrats of promoting Communism, that’s something that could go well in some attack ads against him. These days, Biden and his administration have presided over a largely consistent, even if ongoing, economic recovery from the ravages of the virus spreading worldwide. Check out Raskin’s commentary below:
