The court scholar serving Hermann of Thuringia.

The court scholar serving Hermann of Thuringia.
The scholar

2020/09/18

President Trump and the coronavirus

 This, to me, is the Trump Administration's worst failure. 

Was Trump responsible for the existence of COVID-19? No, and neither was China (Which is why it's racist to call it the "China virus").

Was he responsible for it spreading to the US? No, it spread everywhere. Even though the route from China to the US was partially blocked, evidence has shown that it was Italy was the main portal that the coronavirus came from. 

The REAL problem is pointed out in this piece: "...hospitals were pleading for masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment to safeguard their medical staff." 

The piece goes on to document the Trump Administrations faith in the free market. But the free market was simply not the answer, as producing equipment is something that the federal government has done extremely well for well over a century. 

As the piece explains, the need for the federal government to take the lead was obvious. This is something that, over the past several months, has gotten better. But this, and other problems the piece points to ("With just 4% of the world’s population, we now account for 20% of global deaths from the virus."), shows that Trump is simply incapable of doing the job of President. 

The free market was simply incapable of doing the job of supplying America's hospitals with what was needed and The President deserves every curse and insult he's gotten for not recognizing this.

Update I: The Press Secretary condemned the Vanity Fair story and is heavily criticized by commenters on Twitter. 

Update II: From a Vanity Fair story about the Pentagon being allocated $1 billion to fight the pandemic by producing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE - gowns, masks, gloves, etc.) and then deciding to spend it on other things.  

Meanwhile, U.S. health officials say there are still significant funding gaps in the country’s pandemic response, with CDC director Robert Redfield warning a Senate panel last week that states urgently need about $6 billion for vaccine distribution. There is still a severe shortage of N95 masks at multiple U.S. hospitals.