He did? Back in January he called Trump xenophobic and racist for curtailing travel from China.
Except Trump is giving all 50 governors daily updates and recommendations. And yet Fauci has said they've done everything possible. Is Biden accepting that science?
nonsense.
Biden called Trump xenophobic because Trump called it the “Chinese virus.”
Fauci said that they were doing everything possible “right now” way back in March. That has not always been true, it was only true right then. Fauci has mostly been quite unhappy with our response.
We are doing very poorly compared to other countries.
US: 2qtr GDP = -32.9%, unemployment rate = 10.2% deaths per million to date = 514, deaths yesterday = 1,284
Germany: 2qtr GDP = -10.1%, unemployment rate = 4.2%, deaths per million to date = 111, deaths yesterday = 5
South Korea: 2qtr GDP = -3.3%, unemployment rate = 4.3%, deaths per million = 6, deaths yesterday = 0
Both Germany and South Korea also had smaller GDP drops in the 1st quarter than the US.
The bottom line is that we have done far worse both health wise AND economically than countries lead by leaders who follow the science rather than deny it.
The main things that Germany and South Korea and Germany did that we did not is to encourage social distancing, mask wearing, as well as testing, quarantine and contact tracing early on. They also had lockdowns that were no stricter than ours but waited to reopen until they could manage new outbreaks. Unfortunately for us Trump was an impediment instead of an enabler on all of these fronts.
From the very beginning Trump has worked against the scientists. Whether it be on the wearing of masks, his reluctance to use the powers he alone has to take measures to expand testing capabilities in order to facilitate contact tracing, his general denial of the severity of the virus, or his encouraging states to reopen quickly without regard to the guidelines developed by his own administration.
He has also worked against the governors. While they were trying to get their constituents to wear masks, Trump was disparaging people that wear masks, saying that they were being politically correct and that they were wearing them to show their disapproval of him. When governors were pleading for more testing capabilities instead of using his power to mobilize industry Trump was dragging his feet. When governors were trying to follow the reopening guidelines, he was yelling LIBERATE, LIBERATE.
Trump repeatedly downplayed the severity of the pandemic instead of making people aware of the danger and encouraging social distancing. He has also tried to hide the scientists who don’t downplay the severity of the virus from public view. Trump could have ramped up testing quickly through a public/private partnership. He was warned that such a partnership was needed in January, but did not act until mid March after states were pleading for more testing and the political pressure was so great he was forced to do something. Unfortunately he has long been known to dislike testing because he thinks it makes him look bad and doesn’t seem to understand that it is one of the keys to reducing the number of cases.
Perhaps we could not have done as well as South Korea in contact tracing due to privacy concerns (something we might want to think about in preparation for the next national emergency), but we could have done as well as Germany who is one of the best. Merkel also has to work with her states to get things done like we do in the US. Even though she does not have direct authority over the states she still worked hard to get a coordinated response. It’s interesting that Trump is willing to send 75,000 federal workers to assist the cities with crime when many don’t want the help but not with testing and contact tracing when they do want help.
The true test of leadership is how one performs in a crisis. Trump has shown himself to be nothing but the spoiled bully he is who was handed his position in life on a silver platter by his father. Unfortunately you can’t bully a virus. When faced with a crisis he has failed miserably resulting in a plunge in popularity. Merkel on the other hand has shown herself to be a true leader. As a result her popularity has soared to more than 70%, more than a 20% jump. It’s a shame Trump couldn’t have done the same.
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