“I don’t take responsibility at all.” -President Donald Trump

When asked yesterday about his administration’s inept handling of the coronavirus pandemic, especially as relates to the manufacture and distribution of test kits, Donald Trump responded, “I don’t take responsibility at all,” insinuating that he’d been hamstrung by rules put in place to the Obama administration – a claim, by the way, that has been thoroughly debunked. [note: The Obama administration has not been in the White House for 1168 days now.] Here’s footage of the President of the United States denying responsibility.

Trump can blame a non-binding guidance document from the Obama administration that he had over three years to change, but, the truth is, when Obama was the President of the United States, and we were confronted by the H1N1 virus, and responded exponentially more quickly. The first case of H1N1 was reported on April 15, 2009, and the Obama administration declared a public health emergency 11 days later, on the April 26. And the first test to detect the new virus was approved by the FDA two days later, on April 28. [The CDC under Obama activated emergency operations April 22.] Shipments of the H1N1 test from the CDC then began May 1. By May 15, 1 million tests had been released.

So, from the first case being reported to our having 1 million tests in circulation, took one month under the Obama administration. By comparison, the Trump administration has known about this deadly strain of the coronavirus since December of last year. And it’s now been almost almost two months since the first case was confirmed in the United States. And we still don’t have proper testing.

To put things in perspective, The United States and South Korea announced their first cases of coronavirus on the same day, January 20, 2020. As of right now, the United States has tested approximately 13,953 people total. Meanwhile, in South Korea, they’re testing 10,000 a day with an infrastructure of drive-up testing stations. Donald Trump keeps saying that we’re the best at this, and that his administration is don’t an absolutely fantastic job, but the numbers don’t bear it out. And every day the virus spreads further.

Speaking of Donald Trump’s denial of responsibility, he was also asked why, in spite of warnings from the public health and national security communities, he disbanded the pandemic response team within the National Security Council that had been established by Barack Obama. He responded by calling it a “nasty” question, and attacking the reporter who asked it. Here’s the footage.

The fact is, Donald Trump, in order to justify tax cuts for the super wealthy, and appeal to “small government” zealots on the right who would link nothing better than to see the federal government shrunk to non-existance, slashed the scientific and public health infrastructure of the United States. And he did so over the warnings of leaders within the public health and national security communities, who knew that it was just a matter of time before we’d be facing other pandemics like H1N1, SARS and Ebola. And, as we’ve already discussed, that’s not the worst of it. There also appears to be evidence that, when we first started seeing cases in the United States, he purposefully delayed testing in order to keep the outbreak numbers artificially low. [He seems to have thought that it would help him in his reelection bid to keep the numbers artificially low, apparently not understanding that, by slowing testing in order to keep the numbers low, he was just allowing the virus to spread unchecked.] If this is true, he should not only be immediately removed from office, but tried for manslaughter and treason – the crime of betraying one’s country. We’re well beyond just impeachment now.

I should add that I know I should be turning my attention toward things of local importance, as we face this very real crisis. I feel guilty for spending any time at all thinking about Donald Trump right now, and how we got here, when I know that I should be spending my time thinking about the local response, and how we ensure that vulnerable populations are cared for. But I do think it’s important to acknowledge that, when you strip everything else away, we are in this position because the Republican Party chose to rally behind a clearly unfit and dangerous con man rather than cede an election to Hillary Clinton. I think it was inevitable that Donald Trump would eventually be tested, and fail in a way that would cost Americans their lives. And now we’re here. I just hope, now that it’s unfolding, that we learn from it. And I hope we internalize the lesson as a nation, so that it never happens again. We need to ensure, among other things, that this is the absolute end of the Republican Party – a party that now stands for absolutely nothing but the advancement of Donald Trump’s corrupt personal interests. We cannot afford to forget this. Ever.

update The letter sent to the White House by Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown over 600 days ago, demanding answers as to why the NSC’s entire pandemic team had been fired.

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17 Comments

  1. John Brown
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 2:40 pm | Permalink

    Rona (Romney) McDaniel is being tested after being at Sleaze-a-Lago, and showing symptoms. Karma bitch.

    Those deals with the devil always work out so well don’t they?

  2. Sad
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    It’s not Karma . Everyone is getting sick and dying.

    Especially old people. I’ve heard the alternative to calling it Wuhan Virus is boomer remover.

  3. Posted March 14, 2020 at 5:13 pm | Permalink

    I talked with a relative in Florida today. She’s staying put, but her friends went out to a flea market, of all places. We’re in a relatively educated university region. Elsewhere around the country, people – even people in at-risk demographic groups – don’t seem to be as concerned.

  4. Lynne
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 5:33 pm | Permalink

    I can confirm that NO ONE here in Florida is taking this seriously. I think they are going to need someone they know die from it before it becomes real to them. I am getting shit for not wanting to go to parties and stuff and now they are bringing the party here (although small dinner parties are an improvement over the larger parties they would rather go to)

    I am leaving tomorrow. My mother is still trying to talk my sister, a teacher, into flying down.

  5. iRobert
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 5:53 pm | Permalink

    ABC news just reported that Michigan has more than 100 confirmed cases.

  6. iRobert
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 6:50 pm | Permalink

    Trump tested negative. Even the COVID-19 virus doesn’t want to be associated with him.

  7. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

    Teeeesssts!!! Impeeeeach!!!

  8. iRobert
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 7:11 pm | Permalink

    Is anyone calling for impeachment again? That makes no sense. Voters will have their chance in less than 8 months to remove him from office if they’d like.

  9. iRobert
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 7:11 pm | Permalink

    Is anyone calling for impeachment again? That makes no sense. Voters will have their chance in less than 8 months to remove him from office if they’d like.

  10. Bob
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 8:33 pm | Permalink

    He’s toast. Finally. Even middle west republican dolts aren’t going to forgive this blatant failure. The con man has been revealed.

  11. iRobert
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 8:38 pm | Permalink

    WXYZ, the ABC affiliate in Detroit is reporting only 33 confirmed cases in Michigan. So apparently ABC News is contradicting the local ABC affiliate. Idiots.

  12. dirtgrain
    Posted March 14, 2020 at 9:56 pm | Permalink

    Trump said in the second video, “It’s the administration. Perhaps they do that.” He’s talking about his administration. He has said similar things previously to dodge responsibility. It’s an admission that he does not function as president. He has taken Zaphod Beeblebrox to new levels (record breaking, never been seen before levels . . .).

  13. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted March 15, 2020 at 12:48 am | Permalink

    New coronavirus cases in China slowing to a trickle. 11 new cases yesterday.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-wuhan-masks-video-doctors-nurses-hospital-a9402631.html

  14. Jean Henry
    Posted March 15, 2020 at 6:56 am | Permalink

    There is no way a man who works 4 hours on a weekday is actually running the country. To the degree that we are still afloat, I’m sure it’s due to this. I may disagree with how they do it and what they do, but his admin has been effective at implementing their frightening agenda.

  15. iRobert
    Posted March 15, 2020 at 1:14 pm | Permalink

    Do any of our commenters here have any of the symptoms yet?

  16. Posted March 15, 2020 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    Trump blames governors.

  17. Jean Henry
    Posted March 16, 2020 at 12:50 pm | Permalink

    Gov Whitmer has signed an EO that expands and fast tracks Unemployment Insurance Protection for workers, AND, critically, prevents rate hikes for small businesses as a result of increased claims.
    I’m impressed with our Governor right now.

    https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90499_90640-521770–,00.html

3 Trackbacks

  1. […] and Donald “I don’t take responsibility at all” Trump also have himself a “10” today, on a scale from 1 to 10, for his handling of the […]

  2. […] were just in denial. And denial was relatively easy at that point, given that the administration of Donald “I don’t take any responsibility at all” Trump had so throughly botched the coordinated rollout of test kits. We didn’t get news that people […]

  3. […] at all for what’s happened. He’s actually come right out and said, “I don’t take responsibility at all.” The truth is, however, that his administration not only failed miserably in the response to […]

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