- Joined
- Jun 20, 2008
- Messages
- 106,580
- Reaction score
- 98,349
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Just a little over two weeks ago, Vanity Fair came out with a stunning article claiming that Jared Kushner, leading the coronavirus response, was advised to ignore the pandemic because it was seen as just a blue state problem.
Kushner COVID-19 plan axed because virus hit Democrats worst: report - Business Insider
Trump appeared to be receptive to similar advice:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...33a0_story.html#click=https://t.co/boU2NIQqYV
But the suggestion that a President would knowingly ignore a health crisis because he believed it would only affect his political opponents is too cartoonishly evil to accept. It's a plot more suited to Gargamel or Skeletor, and an accusation so beyond the pale that it could only be manufactured by Democrats.
So the question is....is this something Trump would do? How compatible with the things we know to be true are these articles, whose sources are anonymous? Ultimately, we'll be exploring two things: 1)Are the claims in the articles compatible with what he know of Trump's feelings toward blue states? And, 2)Are the claims in the articles compatible with his known actions? Let's find out!
1)Here's the Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security under Trump saying that Trump ordered FEMA to ignore California's wildfires because the state doesn't support him.
https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/status/1295428130170195968
2)Here's trump, in fact, threatening to cut aid for California during their wildfires:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ens-cut-off-fema-aid-california-forest-fires/
3)Here's trump retweeting "Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot."
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1295097876427747328
4)Here's trump advisers saying blame will be laid at the feet of blue state governors:
Trump blaming governors for coronavirus in new reelection ploy - Business Insider
Here's trump saying he doesn't take responsibility for the pandemic:
President Trump: ‘I Don’t Take Responsibility at All’
Here's trump saying that blue states can get their own supplies, or that he'll help the blue states if they're nice to him:
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/25/21193803/trump-to-governors-coronavirus-help-ventilators-cuomo
And finally, here's Trump saying that the pandemic is the problem of the blue states:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/cor...lue-state-bailouts-unfair-to-republicans.html
So in light of that, how likely is it that Jared told him to ignore the pandemic because it was a blue state problem and that he could just blame the governors?
Do any of the facts contradict the claims in the Vanity Fair article, or do they corroborate those claims?
Members of Jared Kushner's coronavirus task force considered a national-scale testing plan early in the US's coronavirus outbreak.
However, according to a new Vanity Fair report, the plan never came to be, partly because the task force thought it would be better politically to hold off.
The logic, a source told Vanity Fair, was that the virus would hit Democratic-voting areas hardest and that the damage could be blamed on governors instead.
In March and early April, Kushner, a senior White House adviser, led a task force, parallel to the White House's official efforts, to devise a plan to accelerate coronavirus testing and supply chains nationwide.
Ultimately, that was abandoned, and President Donald Trump shifted much of the responsibility for controlling outbreaks to individual states.
Kushner COVID-19 plan axed because virus hit Democrats worst: report - Business Insider
Trump appeared to be receptive to similar advice:
In the past couple of weeks, senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among “our people” in Republican states, a senior administration official said. They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the official said.
This new approach seemed to resonate, as he hewed closely to pre-scripted remarks in a trio of coronavirus briefings last week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...33a0_story.html#click=https://t.co/boU2NIQqYV
But the suggestion that a President would knowingly ignore a health crisis because he believed it would only affect his political opponents is too cartoonishly evil to accept. It's a plot more suited to Gargamel or Skeletor, and an accusation so beyond the pale that it could only be manufactured by Democrats.
So the question is....is this something Trump would do? How compatible with the things we know to be true are these articles, whose sources are anonymous? Ultimately, we'll be exploring two things: 1)Are the claims in the articles compatible with what he know of Trump's feelings toward blue states? And, 2)Are the claims in the articles compatible with his known actions? Let's find out!
1)Here's the Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security under Trump saying that Trump ordered FEMA to ignore California's wildfires because the state doesn't support him.
https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/status/1295428130170195968
2)Here's trump, in fact, threatening to cut aid for California during their wildfires:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ens-cut-off-fema-aid-california-forest-fires/
3)Here's trump retweeting "Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot."
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1295097876427747328
4)Here's trump advisers saying blame will be laid at the feet of blue state governors:
Trump blaming governors for coronavirus in new reelection ploy - Business Insider
Here's trump saying he doesn't take responsibility for the pandemic:
President Trump: ‘I Don’t Take Responsibility at All’
Here's trump saying that blue states can get their own supplies, or that he'll help the blue states if they're nice to him:
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/25/21193803/trump-to-governors-coronavirus-help-ventilators-cuomo
And finally, here's Trump saying that the pandemic is the problem of the blue states:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/cor...lue-state-bailouts-unfair-to-republicans.html
So in light of that, how likely is it that Jared told him to ignore the pandemic because it was a blue state problem and that he could just blame the governors?
Do any of the facts contradict the claims in the Vanity Fair article, or do they corroborate those claims?