Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump has repeatedly left states to essentially fend for themselves. He and his close allies like son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner have criticized the idea that the federal government should assist states at all. Yet, consequences remain for the president’s recklessness — after he suggested last week that injecting household disinfectants was worth looking into as a potential Coronavirus treatment, states like Maryland had to warn residents that Trump was wrong. This weekend on ABC, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who is a Republican, derided the president’s misinformation peddling and criticized the enabling Republicans in Congress who’ve pushed their own dangers.
Hogan revealed that his state had “hundreds of calls come into our emergency line at our health department asking if it was right to ingest Clorox or, you know, alcohol cleaning products,” adding:
‘I think it’s really important, and this has been important to me from day one, about communicating very clearly on the facts. Because people listen to these press conferences. They listen when the governor holds a press conference, and they certainly pay attention when the president of the United States is standing there giving a press conference about something as serious as this worldwide pandemic. I think when misinformation comes out, or you just say something that pops into your head, it does send a real message.’
The Maryland Emergency Management Agency warned that “under no circumstance” should disinfectants be ingested.
Gov. Larry Hogan says they received “hundreds of calls” seeking guidance following Trump’s comments and it’s important to communicate “facts.” https://t.co/zB7Ch1H4ND pic.twitter.com/RrFpJqmllo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 26, 2020
Amidst a deadly pandemic that has killed over 54,000 Americans as of early Sunday, it would be great if people in the U.S. could count on the president to stay away from peddling misinformation — but they can not. He has shown no remorse for his comments about ingesting disinfectants. Eventually, he even claimed that he was just being sarcastic, although few took that excuse seriously considering the repeated times he’d previously seriously returned to the suggestion.
Meanwhile, over in Congress, Republicans have been occupying themselves with their own nonsense, like the recent suggestion from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that perhaps letting states go bankrupt would be better than continuing to send them financial assistance from the federal government amidst the economic slowdown induced by the pandemic.
Hogan himself has previously called for an additional financial assistance package of some $500 billion for states, and this weekend, he explained:
‘We’re on the front lines. We’ve taken all these actions; we’ve got to provide these necessary services to help people get back on their feet. It’s critical to rebounding the economy. [Additional assistance] was very close to happening in this [latest relief package]; Senator McConnell blocked it. We have a commitment from the president and vice president, and there’s bipartisan legislation in the Senate to do something to help support the states. I thought Mitch McConnell probably would regret making that comment the other day; I think it just slipped out.’
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says he thinks Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will “regret” suggesting that states file for bankruptcy.
Hogan adds he’s “hopeful” he can “convince” McConnell to back bipartisan legislation to support the states. https://t.co/hxwDHL2LhX pic.twitter.com/LeHa6iyTdW
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 26, 2020
Wouldn’t it be great if during a pandemic, federal leaders could be counted on to get assistance to interests who need it across the board? Besides the sought financial assistance for states, other issues persist, like struggles to obtain adequate levels of Coronavirus testing around the U.S.
