Category: coronavirus

Schiff drafting plans for 9/11-styled commission to investigate failed pandemic preparations

Posted on by Hunter

In an interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff says that his staff is now working on a "discussion draft" for creating an independent commission to investigate the failures of the United States in preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission would be modeled after the 9/11 Commission, created to investigate the events leading up to the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

Schiff told Ignatius that that would be delayed "until the crisis has abated to ensure it does not interfere with" agencies' ongoing response efforts.

The most obvious concern, of course, is whether Trump and surrounding loyalists ignored warnings about the rapidly spreading virus due to Trump's obsession over his own self-interests. Ignatius reports that intelligence officials are already concerned that new acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a partisan Trump loyalist, is "trying to shape intelligence that might challenge or embarrass Trump."

If this is the case, and there is absolutely no reason to believe Grenell would not act in such a fashion, an investigation of administration actions cannot be delayed for long. The Trump administration has already been caught once engaging in criminal conduct intended solely to benefit Trump's own reelection, resulting in impeachment; there is no question that Trump's team, having been immunized from consequences for those acts by a similarly corrupt Republican-held Senate, may engage in more.

Obama Accuses Trump Of Denying Coronavirus Warnings, Ted Cruz Fires Back

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Barack Obama took a not-so-veiled swipe at President Trump, accusing his administration of ‘denying’ warning signs of a pandemic.

The former President took the jab on social media, sharing an article that discussed the White House’s efforts to roll back Obama-era regulations on gas mileage and emissions.

“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic. We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial,” he wrote. “All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”

Cruz Missile

Texas senator Ted Cruz responded by pointing out the obvious – that while President Trump was implementing travel restrictions to slow the pandemic, Nancy Pelosi and Obama’s former VP Joe Biden were fighting it.

“Bold: Obama calls for the overwhelming electoral defeat of Joe Biden [and] Nancy Pelosi, after they opposed [and] demagogued Trump’s China travel ban, which helped slow the coronavirus pandemic,” he wrote.

There is little doubt at this point that Trump’s actions did just that, with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pointing out repeatedly that the President’s actions slowed the spread and saved lives.

RELATED: Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy

Biden and Pelosi

Cruz is right – it was Democrats like Biden and Pelosi who hammered the President for daring to implement travel restrictions to combat the pandemic or ignored his warnings.

“This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science,” Biden said on the day Trump announced the restrictions.

House Speaker Pelosi meanwhile, has been accused by President Trump of ignoring his attempts to tighten travel restrictions.

“All she did was focus on impeachment. She didn’t focus on anything having to do with pandemics,” he insisted.

She also must have missed when Trump addressed the coronavirus outbreak in his State of the Union speech, perhaps more focused on her staged protest – ripping up her copy – than on what he was actually saying.

RELATED: Susan Rice Accuses The US Of Race-Baiting After Pompeo Refers To ‘Wuhan Virus’

Takes Guts

It takes a tremendous amount of chutzpah for Obama to accuse Trump of denying the pandemic knowing full well his administration helped handcuff any actions he may have taken.

In 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic triggered a massive deployment of respirators and masks, but the Obama administration never set about replenishing the stockpile, despite warnings from multiple experts.

Also that year, Obama scrapped the White House Health and Security Office, which worked on international health issues.

And a Fox News report, citing yearly budget requests, reveals “the Obama administration repeatedly sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

The post Obama Accuses Trump Of Denying Coronavirus Warnings, Ted Cruz Fires Back appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump obliterates Republican excuse for his abysmal coronavirus response

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

President Donald Trump actually made at least one true statement during Tuesday’s White House briefing on the novel coronavirus. When it comes to the way he handled the administration’s response, he wasn’t affected one bit by impeachment. “I don't think I would have done any better had I not been impeached,” Trump told reporters, when asked whether the impeachment process impeded his response.

Trump’s response basically destroyed one of Republican lawmakers’ favorite new talking points. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a conservative radio host on Tuesday that impeachment had "diverted the attention of the government.” It was nothing if not an admission that Trump and GOP lawmakers totally fumbled the ball on this public health disaster. If anyone thought they were really doing a great job, Republicans would be cooing about how wonderfully they’ve managed the response. The real question is, why did Senate Republicans vote to keep the ever-incompetent Trump in charge when they very clearly had a sense of the calamity that lay ahead for the country?

Of course, Trump is delusional enough to think he’s been just great. “Did it divert my attention?” Trump said during the White House briefing. “I think I'm getting A-pluses for the way I handled myself during a phony impeachment, okay? It was a hoax.” Trump said he may have thought about impeachment, but added, “I don't think I would have done any better had I not been impeached, okay?”

Trump isn’t getting A-pluses.

Impeachment wasn’t a hoax.

But he was constitutionally incapable of mounting an aggressive, coordinated response to this crisis. So—ding ding ding!—impeachment or no impeachment, Trump wouldn’t have done any better. Correct.

YouTube Video

Maxine Waters Says Trump Is An ‘Incompetent Idiot’ Who Must ‘Pray for Forgiveness’

Posted on by Guest Author

On Monday, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters went on a social media rant against President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, calling him an “incompetent idiot” who needs to “pray for forgiveness.”

‘Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling’

“Trump, stop congratulating yourself! You’re a failure & you’ve mishandled this #COVID19 disaster! You’re not knowledgeable & you don’t know more than experts & generals,” Waters wrote on Twitter. “Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling & you continue to demonstrate that every time you open your mouth!”

RELATED: Mitch McConnell Points Finger Of Blame For Coronavirus Crisis Directly At Impeachment Happy Democrats

She didn’t stop there.

“Trump, you incompetent idiot!,” she tweeted. “You sent 18 tons of PPE to China early but ignored warnings & called COVID19 concerns a hoax. You’ve endangered doctors, nurses, aids, [sic] orderlies, & janitors – all risking their lives to save ours. Pray 4 forgiveness for the harm that you’re causing!”

Waters’ Rampage Against Trump Is Nothing New

Waters had accused President Trump on Sunday of ignoring the pandemic early on.

“As you know, we had an office of pandemic affairs basically in the office of the president that was shut down, closed down, not funded by the president of the United States,” Waters told MSNBC host Joy Reid. “That’s the kind of office that does the planning, that anticipates, that makes sure that supplies and everything that’s needed can be readily available when you have this kind of disaster. And so even though we didn’t have that kind of planning in addition to that, the early notifications I’m told were ignored.”

Waters Wants Trump to Address Crisis But Also… Shut His Mouth About It?!?

Strangely, while Waters accused Trump of ignoring the crisis in its early stages, she also believes he should “shut his mouth” about it.

RELATED: Maxine Waters Accuses Trump Of Lying, Ignoring Early Warnings On Coronavirus

“It’s been said over and over again that you cannot trust this president,” Waters told Reid. “Not only is he a liar, he does not believe in anything scientific.”

“So the President of the United States cannot be relied upon,” she added. “Someone said he needs to be quiet, he needs to shut his mouth.”

Despite Waters’ random and often nonsensical grumblings, the Trump administration continues to make strides in implementing testing nationwide, mask production and financial and other relief crucial to Americans during this crisis.

The post Maxine Waters Says Trump Is An ‘Incompetent Idiot’ Who Must ‘Pray for Forgiveness’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Dr. Fauci Slaps Down CNN’s Jim Acosta Attempt To Say Trump’s Coronavirus Response Was Too Slow

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

CNN reporter Jim Acosta attempted to get Dr. Anthony Fauci to say the President didn’t react quickly enough to the coronavirus crisis. In fact, he said the exact opposite.

Acosta inquired as to whether or not the administration had taken enough action when countries such as South Korea and China were grappling with the outbreak.

The exchange between him and Fauci took place during Tuesday’s coronavirus task force briefing.

Acosta’s Accusation

The White House coronavirus task force announced yesterday that the pandemic may leave 100,000 to 240,000 people in the United States dead, with millions infected.

A somber President Trump announced that America could be in for “a very painful two weeks.”

Acosta couldn’t help but take that opportunity to point a finger of blame at the administration.

“This may be an uncomfortable question but what would the models have looked like … if we had started the social distancing guidelines sooner in February or January when China, South Korea were doing those,” he asked. “Could these models be different?”

RELATED: Mitch McConnell Points Finger Of Blame For Coronavirus Crisis Directly At Impeachment Happy Democrats

Taken Out of Context

The President decided to yield this question to his experts, but not without first pointing out that his travel restrictions early on helped slow the spread, something Dr. Fauci has agreed with many times.

Dr. Deborah Birx stepped up and explained pushing back on the virus couldn’t necessarily start until testing results were available in the United States.

Acosta replied, “There may be Americans at home saying if we had started this sooner we might not have 100,000 to 200,000 Americans dying.”

Fauci followed up Birx’s comments by calling out Acosta for an attempt to find a quote and take it out of context.

“Just to underscore what Dr. Birx was saying, if there was no virus in the background there was nothing to mitigate,” he explained.

“If there was virus there that we didn’t know about than the answer to your question is probably yes,” Fauci continued. “The only trouble with that is that whenever you come out and say something like that it always becomes almost a soundbite that gets taken out of context.”

 

RELATED: Watch: President Trump Makes An Example Out of Jim Acosta Yet Again

Very, Very Early

Ultimately, Dr. Fauci replied to Acosta’s question by saying that yes, the administration did act swiftly to help lessen the devastating impact of the coronavirus.

“But we were watching South Korea excuse me and China and Italy and we weren’t taking action when those countries were spiking,” Acosta insisted.

“In a perfect world it would’ve been nice to know what was going on there,” Fauci replied. “We didn’t but I believe Jim that we acted very, very early in that.”

Acosta tried once again to manipulate sound bites by leading people with “an uncomfortable question” and Fauci shot down that effort in a hurry.

The far-left CNN reporter tried the same thing a day earlier when he attempted to blame President Trump for not taking the virus seriously enough in the beginning.

That effort prompted the President to say, “Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question.”

Who knows, maybe he’ll try that approach next time. But we wouldn’t bet on it.

The post Dr. Fauci Slaps Down CNN’s Jim Acosta Attempt To Say Trump’s Coronavirus Response Was Too Slow appeared first on The Political Insider.

COVID-19 news: U.S. deaths top 3,000; nuclear aircraft carrier captain begs for aid

Posted on by Hunter

Three weeks after Donald Trump said it would "go away" and two months after he claimed it was "very well under control," U.S. deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic topped 3,000 yesterday evening, outnumbering deaths in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The month of April is going to see mass deaths in the United States.

In recent days, government experts have been floating a new estimated eventual death toll of 100,000—200,000 Americans. Trump has seized upon that number, if it creeps no higher, as representing a possible "very good job" by him.

In today's pandemic updates:

• It is now evident that the Trump administration and its congressional allies had overwhelming evidence of the pandemic's dangers during the same period of time they were publicly downplaying the threat of the virus—and, in the case of several Republican senators, cashing out of the stock market before those markets collapsed.

• In a hint of what may be to come, a New York City hospital today reminded its doctors that they are allowed to withhold care for "futile" intubation efforts.

• The nation's critical shortage of protective masks continues.

• The captain of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt wrote a four-page letter begging the Navy for quarantine rooms in Guam after between 150 and 200 sailors tested positive for the virus. The ship has over 4,000 on board, and little to no ability to contain further spread.

• Republicans coordinated to again push the notion that January’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump "diverted" the Trump administration's attention away from the pandemic. Attempting to address Trump's known criminality, in other words, only exacerbated his known incompetence.

• Talks of the next stimulus measures to salvage the pandemic-ravaged economy are beginning. Those measures need to be much bolder than the first few attempts.

• As U.S. testing continues to lag behind that of other nations, rural counties may soon face the same consequences of sparse testing that allowed the pandemic to explode in more urban areas.

• Democratic mayors in Republican-held states are battling against the more lax pandemic policies of their Republican governors.

• The New York Times and other outlets continue to privilege Trump's false statements, framing them as political disagreements rather than provable lies.

• Trump's attacks on black female journalist Yamiche Alcindor for asking him to explain his past pandemic statements did not go unnoticed.

• After three federal judges temporarily blocked legislation ending abortion services in Texas, Ohio, and Alabama by declaring them "unnecessary" medical services, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly issued an order staying that decision, allowing the Texas legislation to be enforced.

• A second federal judge is now urging immigration officials to work more urgently to release detained children, warning officials that he will "revisit" demands for emergency releases if "there are [COVID-19] cases in these centers" or "there are other problems that are not compliant." Detained immigrants and immigration attorney's groups are now suing for the immediate closure of U.S. immigration courts due to severe pandemic risks.

• A ventilator manufacturer took $13.8 million of federal money to design and produce 10,000 ventilators for the emergency stockpile. They delivered none, but are instead selling more expensive variants of the designed machine overseas.

• Ohio voting rights groups have filed a lawsuit asking the state's pandemic-delayed, now vote-by-mail primary be further delayed, arguing the April 28 date set does not allow enough preparation time for either boards of election or voters.

• Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden's campaign released another video highlighting Trump's own words downplaying the pandemic as it unfolded.

• The Trump administration is using the pandemic crisis to nullify environmental regulations, allowing widespread air, water, and soil pollution without consequence.

• After Trump publicly invented an alleged new website he claimed was in the works, a Jared Kushner-tied company quickly scrambled to try to create one.

• While much of the rest of the economy shutters, construction of Trump's demanded wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is not just continuing, but "ramping up."

• The conservative legal scholar who impressed the Trump team with his ... unusual ... theories about the virus gave an interview to defend his claims. It did not go well.

• Large corporations continue to furlough workers by the tens of thousands as pandemic-related shutdowns wreak havoc on newspapers, retail stores, and other industries. The CEO of Columbia Sportswear, however, slashed his own salary to help avoid layoffs during the crisis.

• A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic, and 69% support a "national quarantine." Republicans, however, remain "remarkably insular" in their support for Trump and his (non)responses.

• DACA recipients are playing vital roles in the nation's pandemic response.

• For decades, the U.S. militia movement has prepared for disaster to strike America. Now that a disaster is taking place the same idiot brigades are resisting social distancing measures, believing them an illegitimate use of government power.

• Farm work was already one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Now it's even more dangerous.

• Fox News has promoted reckless and false conspiracy theories, medical advice, and dismissals of the emerging pandemic throughout its early days. If you have cable television, you are probably helping to subsidize those lies.

• While Trump congratulates himself (now, for potentially allowing "only" 200,000 deaths), Rep. Maxine Waters isn't having it.

Pelosi, Trump start talking about the next phase of coronavirus stimulus, need to be talking bigger

Posted on by Joan McCarter

The new Daily Kos/Civiqs poll is chock-full of important and astounding information about how the American public is handling the COVID-19 pandemic. In and amongst that data is the suffering, and the reason why Congress still has a lot of work to do to get us through this crisis. Through March 30, one in FIVE Americans who were working before the outbreak say that they have been laid off or furloughed from their position. Nearly 40%—fully 39%—of households have lost income. More than a quarter, 26%, has already been affected by a layoff, furlough, or cut hours and another 15% feel extremely concerned that it will happen to them. Another 28% are moderately or slightly concerned they'll lose income because of the disease and its economic impact.

That's a lot of economic uncertainty that a one-time check for $1,200 isn't likely to allay. The enhanced unemployment benefits that were included in the third coronavirus stimulus bill will help a lot of people, but it won't help everyone including all those people still working but with fewer hours. There's still so much work to be done to get the country through this, and with money practically free to borrow now, yes, Congress should be "tossing money out of helicopters" to answer it, since the Fed is unlikely to do it. Give everyone money, and while you're at it, all the things Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about, especially what was in the House bill that didn't make it into the Senate's bill.

In an interview in The New York Times Pelosi "emphasized the need to secure more equipment for health workers on the front lines, known as personal protective equipment, and ventilators for hospitals" and House Democrats would make another "push to bolster pensions and medical leave provisions, and would work to ensure that other aspects of treatment for the coronavirus, beyond the initial test, would be covered by the government." She also talked about more direct aid to families, including "a possible retroactive rollback of the limit on the state and local tax deduction, a change that hurt high earners in states like New York and California." Fine, if that's what it takes to get Republican support, but that's not a sword to die on.

The sword to die on is health care for everyone infected by this disease. It's food security for everyone. It's making sure that the nation's millions of incarcerated people aren't left to die locked up. It's making sure that the gig workers and minimum-wage workers and the undocumented workers who are securing our food supply have the protections they need on the job and in society. It means at least $2 billion to secure this year's elections AND saving the U.S. Postal Service to conduct the necessary vote-by-mail elections.

It means not just postponing student loan payments, but cancelling student loan debts. It needs to have Housing Security, including a moratorium on evictions, a national mortgage and rent holiday, and at least $200 billion to keep housing stable.

It could also have the infrastructure Donald Trump endorsed in a tweet Tuesday: "Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4." Whatever, if that gets Trump on board, as long as it's green, sustainable infrastructure. That, by the way, should include broadband infrastructure—the entire nation needs to have access to reliable, high-speed internet. That's one thing this crisis has demonstrated in spades; the technology gap can cripple communities. Earmarking those trillions now would be great for getting people to work on infrastructure right out of the gate when it's safe for people to be out in the world again.

So yes, Phase 4 or whatever Donald Trump wants to call it, provided he gets Republicans in Congress—who are so far rejecting the notion that more has to be done—on board. They're not going to have much choice, realistically. It's not going to take very long for the pressure to build on them to realize that they haven't done nearly enough to get us out of this thing standing.

Democrats Diverted Nation When Coronavirus Was Beginning

Posted on by LifeZette

When Democrats whine about an alleged late response of the Trump administration to the coronavirus, they should first look in the mirror.

For when the virus was germinating in Wuhan and the U.S. could have possibly gotten quicker wind of it, the nation was diverted by the unsuccessful Democrat impeachment effort against the president.

If anyone is this responsible for a delayed response, it is the Democrats. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the point Tuesday on a radio show: “He was first, and I think Tom [GOP Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas] was right on the mark. And it came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial,” he said on The Hugh Hewitt Show. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment. But Tom figured this out early, and he was absolutely right.”

Former GOP Senate aide John Ashbrook also said Tuesday that the pandemic probably arrived in the U.S. the same day Democrats sent articles of impeachment to the Senate. The same day.

Democrats were playing political games while a silent threat was getting ready to kill thousands of Americans. Not only do they not acknowledge their share of the blame, they try and switch it to the president. Shame is a concept foreign to them, as are logic and natural fabrics.

McConnell mentions Tom Cotton. If two GOP senators have made a name for themselves recently, it is Cotton and Senator John Thune (R-SD). You may hear from them in 2024.

McConnell concluded: “The way I thought it [the economic rescue bill] would work best would be for those of us in the Senate to try to get started on a bipartisan basis, and we were doing really quite well, as you may recall, until the speaker of the House decided to insert herself into the process, which created a couple of days of unnecessary partisan sniping. But we got past that. And in the end, I think the best evidence is that there was not a single vote against it.”

Whether it’s unnecessary sniping or diverting the nation away from a mortal threat, you can always count on Democrats to be, well, Democrats.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on March 31, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
What if President Hillary Clinton were dealing with this virus?
Will there be a coup at the Democratic convention?
Lindsey Graham obliterates Nancy Pelosi after she blames Trump for Americans dying from COVID-19

The post Democrats Diverted Nation When Coronavirus Was Beginning appeared first on The Political Insider.

Mitch McConnell Points Finger Of Blame For Coronavirus Crisis Directly At Impeachment Happy Democrats

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Senator Mitch McConnell tore into Democrats for distracting lawmakers from being better equipped in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Majority Leader pointed out that Congress was still being pulled in the wrong direction by having to focus resources on the impeachment effort heralded by Nancy Pelosi and her resistance minions.

Distraction

McConnell made the comments during a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt.

“It came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment,” the Kentucky Republican recalled.

RELATED: Maxine Waters Accuses Trump Of Lying, Ignoring Early Warnings On Coronavirus

Consumed With Impeachment

McConnell’s comments echo those of Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) who said he began studying the coronavirus problem in mid-January.

“I have to tell you that in mid-January and late-January, unfortunately, Washington, especially the Congress was consumed with another matter — you may recall the partisan impeachment of the president,” Cotton explained.

It’s good to hear officials admitting what many supporters of the President have believed for some time – the nation would have been better prepared if lawmakers weren’t distracted by a partisan impeachment sham.

On January 15th, the CDC reported that the coronavirus had arrived in America.

What were Democrats up to? After delaying sending over the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a month, Pelosi was all smiles, gleefully handing out pens while signing her articles of impeachment.

RELATED: President Trump Taunts Romney Over Coronavirus Test Results

Trump Wasn’t Distracted

While McConnell’s comments were more focused on Congress, one would hardly be off base if they thought President Trump himself may have been distracted by the whole ridiculous resistance affair.

But he wasn’t.

Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson said the President’s early actions were “going to save countless American lives.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, credited Trump’s travel restrictions – implemented in the midst of the impeachment effort – with saving lives.

One of the key actions necessary to control the spread of the virus, Fauci explained, is to “contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside.”

In late January, while Democrats were entirely focused on impeachment, President Trump would issue travel restrictions with China, establish the Coronavirus Task Force, and declare coronavirus a public health emergency.

Imagine what could have been done – better planning to respond to the crisis, economic measures to stop job losses – if Democrats focused on America instead of their own political ambitions.

The post Mitch McConnell Points Finger Of Blame For Coronavirus Crisis Directly At Impeachment Happy Democrats appeared first on The Political Insider.