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

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.

Trump Reelection Chances May Be Hurt By Falling Economy

American voters usually make their election decisions on two factors, peace and prosperity. The first looks good for the president. The second is getting worse by the day.

Yes, I know, it is not his fault. This is true and irrelevant. Voters vote on results and Trump has always asked to be judged on results. If too many are out of work in the fall, if too many businesses close, if the national economic psychology is trending downwards then the president may have a rough going.

He is partially saved by the fact that Joe Biden is a weak candidate. You could call him a speech-impaired Dukakis. He will not know how to strike the right tone between sorrow over the virus and indignation at the president’s supposed shortcomings. Biden will just spew, and incoherently at that.

True, an economic rescue package is on the way and the president is doing a good job in fighting the virus. But $1,000 per person will go quickly, may be a headache to distribute, and will be long forgotten by November. The virus should be mainly over by the fall and the president is liable to get much credit for his handling of the crisis.

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But will that credit overshadow an empty pocket or the loss of a job and wages? Not likely.

The president has a sharp political team and they are no doubt factoring this in to their reelection campaign. They will emphasize the probable low virus mortality rate compared to other countries and argue the president deserves votes for saving the nation from possible mass death.

They will have a point. But they will not be starting from the halcyon time of only a couple of months ago, when exoneration over impeachment and a booming economy made reelection look like a sure thing.

Trump still has an advantage because the jury is out on the economy in the fall. If it comes back guilty, if unemployment is sharply up and GDP is down, if stocks are low compared to a year ago, if business closures are numerous, then the sentence of the electoral jury may not be to the president’s liking.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on March 18, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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