Pence Follows Trump: Blame Game Used as Substitute for Their Early COVID-19 Inaction

Snake Oil Anyone – Anyone at All

(CNN) – VP Mike Pence now joins Trump in the denial and blame game. He now casts blame on the CDC when he was asked why the U.S. was so late in understanding the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “I will be very candid with you and say that in mid-January the CDC was still assessing that the risk of the coronavirus to the American people was low. The very first case, which was someone who had been in China – in late January around the 20th day of January. The reality is that we could've been better off if China had been more forthcoming. The reality is that China's been more transparent with respect to the coronavirus than certainly they were for other infectious diseases over the last 15 years, but what appears evident now is long before the world learned in December, China was dealing with this, maybe as much as a month earlier than that.”

Factual memo for VP Pence: Or as Trump once referred to him as “Mike Pounce” (seen in this video clip), facts matter as a matter of fact, e.g., on March 11, 2020:

– WHO’s Secretary-General had this as part his official COVID-19 announcement:  

“In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled. There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.  Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore have made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized officially as a pandemic.”

Key part: Back then no one knew the depth or impact of COVID-19.

However, in the course of only two months, Trump dramatically shifted his tone and level of optimism about the spread of the coronavirus and its impact on the economy several times.

Several Examples:

February 26: At the coronavirus briefing Trump said the following in a rambling statement: “This is a flu. This is like a flu. Now, you treat this like a flu. It's a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”

March 2^nd week: Trump was an advocate of facing the virus without taking drastic measures to address it.

March 27: Trump said “you can call the coronavirus a flu, or a virus, or a germ.”

March 31: Trump warned of a “painful and tough two-week stretch ahead” as he extended nationwide distancing measures and – that even if followed closely – it could still mean more than 100,000 and up to 240,000.

My 2 cents: And, here we are today with Trump still using the daily virus Task Force public forum to play politics, bash reporters, brag about himself, and seek self-pity while keeping his base tightly controlled with his infamous con-man attraction sideshow.

The man is incorrigible.

Related from my earlier posts – same subject here,  here, here, here, and here.

Thanks for stopping by – stay healthy and well.