Blaming comes easier than admitting wrong, taking responsibility,
fixing flaws
April 15, 2020
White House statement by President Donald John Trump: “I will never
hesitate to take any necessary steps to protect the lives, health, and safety
of the American people. I will always put the well-being of America first.”
February 24, 2020
US president declares: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in
the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC &
World Health have been working hard and very smart.” [FactCheck]
February 28, 2020
US president at a political campaign rally declares the coronavirus
“their [Democrats’] new hoax.” [France24]
President Trump boasts
“Thirty-five
thousand people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that?”
Thirty-five thousand… That’s a lot of people. And so far, we have lost nobody
to coronavirus in the United States.” [France24]
In a span of three months,” Politifact notes,
“Americans went from
hearing about a new virus in central China to being told they ought to stay
home and avoid groups larger than 10.
“President Donald
Trump went from telling people not to worry and everything was under control to
leading daily press conferences on containing the outbreak in the United
States.”
He also went from praising the World Health Organization to demonizing
it.
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oynter Institute’s Politifact Chronology
DECEMBER 2019
December 31: China confirms existence of a new virus.
JANUARY 2020
20World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases in China, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea.21The first US case is announced in the State of Washington (and in Vietnam and Singapore). The WHO declares the virus risk is high globally.22President Trump responds to a reporter’s question about pandemic worries:“No, not at all, and we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s — going to be just fine.”24President Trump tweets: “It will all work out well.”29The White House forms a coronavirus response task force, initially led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.30The WHO declares a global health emergency.
Also January 30: President Trump holds a campaign rally in Iowa, and blocks travel from
China. He declares
“We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. … [W]e think it’s going to have a very good ending for it.”
FEBRUARY 2020
2President Trump tells broadcasting outlet “Fox News” host Sean Hannity: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”4Diamond Princess Cruise Ship [on board 2,600-plus guests, 1,000-plus crew] quarantined at Yokohama, Japan. Within two days, eight Americans among more than 40 people test positive for COVID-19.11The WHO names the new disease COVID-19.14President Trump discusses the ‘very small’ number of US coronavirus cases with Border Patrol Council members. He says:“We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”20The WHO reports nearly 77,000 cases worldwide in 27 countries.24Stock market plummets as Dow Jones Industrials falls more than 1,000 points; and President Trump asks for “$1.25 billion in emergency aid” and Congress members increase the amount to “$8.3 billion,” and the president tweets “that the virus ‘is very much under control’ and the stock market ‘starting to look very good to me!’26The first COVID-19 case is reported in California “with no clear source, suggesting community spread of the virus;” and the president mantras in a news conference that “the United States is ‘really prepared’” and US vice president Mike Pence is to take charge of “a White House task force” on the matter.28Cases are reported in European countries including Italy, Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Belarus.29: FDA [Food and Drug Administration] eases guidelines to speed the broader use of testing.
MARCH 2020
4: US House of Representatives “passes $8.3 billion emergency bill, aimed mainly at the immediate health response to the virus.” And in a broadcasting interview and later White House exchanges with reporters the president blames the previous federal executive administration saying“[T]he Obama administration (including former vice president Joe Biden) ‘didn’t do anything about’ swine flu.” [Politifact rated the president’s claim False”]; and “‘The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing.’” [Politifact found the president’s claim false in that “the process dated back to 2006, before the Obama administration assumed office.”6: Grand Princess Cruise Ship [2,000-plus passengers aboard] waits disembarking “off the California coast.” About the hold, President responds: “‘If Your Time is short.’”Moreover, Trump said, after the disease hit the State of Washington and the World Health Organization reported a high global risk: “there were no worries of a pandemic.”“The day the stock market plummeted, the president said the virus was very much under control in the United States, and the stock market was looking pretty good to him.”Then a few days after the president declared a national emergency, he declared “he had ‘always known’ this was a pandemic.
11The same day the WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic, President Trump takes to prime-time television from the Oval Office and announces a ban on travel for non-Americans from most of Europe. The president “misstates a freeze on cargo and falsely [says] the health insurance industry has ‘agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments.’ In reality, getting tested would be free, but treatment would not be covered.”13The president declares a national emergency to access $50 billion for states and territories, and clear the way for fast-track waivers for hospitals and doctors as they respond to the virus.14President signs a bill four days after passage by the House of Representatives that allows “worker and business relief… with paid leave guarantees for certain workers, expanded food assistance and unemployment insurance benefits, and employer tax credits.17President Trump in a news conference says “for 14 days, ‘we’re asking everyone to work at home, if possible, postpone unnecessary travel, and limit social gatherings to no more than 10 people.’”The President had minimized the threat of a pandemic for many weeks but declared “I’ve always known this is a real, this is a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”The president, in answer to a question, declared also that the WHO had not offered detection tests; and that the WHO coronavirus test ‘was a bad test.’” [Politifact found the statement to be “False”: the WHO said three independent labs had validated the test, and the White House coordinator for coronavirus response said she assumed the WHO test is effective.]19The US Senate unveils a $1 trillion-plus economic stimulus package. California orders lockdown for 40 million residents.20-23The governor of New York orders all non-essential businesses to keep their workers home. Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois and many other states issue similar restrictions.
24: Regarding the economic shutdown, the president tweets “‘we cannot
let the cure be worse than the problem itself.’” Then on Fox News town hall,
the president says “he would ‘love to have the country opened up, and just
raring to go by Easter.’”
The president responds to a request for ventilators from New York’s
governor
“‘(He) [the New York governor] rejected buying recommended 16,000 ventilators in 2015 for the pandemic, for a pandemic, established death panels and lotteries instead. So, he had a chance to buy, in 2015, 16,000 ventilators at a very low price, and he turned it down.’”
[Politifact found the president’s statement false: “A state study said
that many might be needed in a crisis, but it also said there were immediate
pressing health needs, and there was no money to buy that many ventilators.”]
27
President Trump signs $2.2 trillion emergency spending bill.”
29President Trump says“The peak, the highest point of death rates — remember this — is likely to hit in two weeks…. Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all.”30The president says on Fox News: “We inherited a broken test” for COVID-19.Cases had topped 163,000 and the number of tests had crossed the one million mark.[The CDC’s first shipment of tests to states contained tainted reagents. That and bureaucratic delays cost the U.S. several critical weeks in testing.]31The president declares “This is going to be a very painful — very, very painful two weeks…. When you look and see at night the kind of death that’s been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s — it’s incredible.”
The death toll reaches “about 3,700.”
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hen people hoping for a few morsels for themselves tribalize
against one another and persist in believing or pretending to believe in
leaders they feel are hurting them and they know are lying to them—these people
deserve what they get.
America deserves better.
With the United States being headquarters of major cyber
technological industries, with the US’s expansive cyber spying networks all
over the world these together with the United States’ expansive “black”
operations, standard military and contracted mercenary entities presences, and
a variety of sinister intrusions into governments and foreign societies—it is
bald-faced, deliberate dissembling to claim (1) “we didn’t know” and (2) some
other person or group “didn’t inform us.”
With all the US global “intelligence”
and intrusiveness from land, sea, air —whatever officials claim they didn’t
know, they should have known. And if
they didn’t know, it is only because they refused to know and placed themselves
in a position of deniability (false on its face).
What is shameful about US “leadership” is not only their
reckless and interminable hostilities across the world, their failure to engage
in language, discussion, dialogue, debate; but US officials’ failure in one
after another congress and administration to come to terms with and take
responsibility for their failures— failures often borne of deliberate neglect
and self centeredness.
US officials (members of congress and executive
administrations, and their partners) like being in high positions, having power
and influence, having people pay for their high living and kowtow to them— but
they don’t bother rolling up their sleeves, off camera and offline, and doing
the hard work required by government positions among nations and in service to
the United States of America and its people, bar none.
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he current executive in federal Washington (tolerated and
acquiesced to by too many at home and abroad) is dangerously, even criminally
ignorant, recklessly destructive, and casually contemptuous of fundamental,
founding principles, processes, and potential of the United States of
America.
While tribes fight mindlessly among themselves, a television
twitter TelePrompter'ing showman towered mentally and physically in his mansions from the New York Island
to the Arabian Peninsula, all back dropped by red-hat and stars-and-stripes props —this man is foreclosing the birthright of Americans.
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actCheck reports these responses by US President Donald Trump
FEBRUARY 2020
24President tweets: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”26 (three)President states in White House briefing: “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.” —President states in press conference: “And again, when you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”President states in press conference when asked if US schools should be preparing for a coronavirus spreading: “I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”27President Trump at White House sermonizes with African American leaders: “It’s going to disappear one day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”
29
President Trump in a Washington, DC, Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC) speech: “I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re
incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool.
They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control.”
MARCH 2020
4 (two)President Trump in White House meeting with airline CEOs: “[W]e have a very small number of people in this country [infected]. We have a big country. The biggest impact we had was when we took the 40-plus people [from a cruise ship]. …We brought them back. We immediately quarantined them. But you add that to the numbers. But if you don’t add that to the numbers, we’re talking about very small numbers in the United States.”
President Trump in Fox News broadcasting interview referring to percentage of worldwide fatalities diagnosed COVID-19 patients as reported by the WHO: “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number.”
7President Trump responds to reporters’ questions as to whether he is concerned about the arrival of the coronavirus in the Washington, DC, area: “I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.”9President Trump tweets: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
10President Trump declares after meeting with Republican senators: “[W]e’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
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hite House behavior and blame: US Shame
April 15, the US president declares
The WHO has shown it was not prepared to
prevent, detect, and respond to a severe infectious disease crisis like this.
The WHO lacks the structure to ensure
accurate information and transparent data sharing from members, which makes it
vulnerable to misinformation and political influence.
The WHO praised the Chinese government’s
response throughout January and claimed there was no human-to-human
transmission, despite the fact that doctors in Wuhan were warning there was.
The WHO decided on
January 22 that the coronavirus did not pose a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern, all while praising China’s response.
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he director general of the World Health Organization taking the high
ground responds to the latest White House eruption by advising “the most
powerful [to] lead the way, and, please, quarantine COVID politics.”
“Like other human beings, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “We
make mistakes.” He offered the assurance that, after the emergency, the WHO would
conduct its usual assessment of its performance … and draw lessons about its
strengths and weaknesses.” In the meantime, he urged unity and the ending of “politicization” of
the global health crisis.
Ghebreyesus called on the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America to show “honest leadership” following the example set in 1967 by former Soviet Union and United States leaders “in the 10-year global campaign that eradicated smallpox, a disease then killing 2 million people annually.”
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t the end of March, as US officials continued to demonize China and
others, a wise writer, also looking to past and present health crises, pointed to the
futility of casting blame.
“Some countries’ politicians have been playing the blame game over the
pandemic and, in the process, distorting facts,” wrote Liu Yang, assistant
professor at the School of Law, and a fellow at the Institute for National
Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China.
“Many in the United States still have a vivid memory of the H1N1 swine
flu outbreak in 2009—the first influenza outbreak to be declared a pandemic by
the World Health Organization. …”
California was where the first cases of this flu were reported and some
people “tended to pin the blame for the outbreak on the United States.”
Fast forward March 25, 2020, the Associated Press reported that at the
meeting of foreign ministers representing the Group of 7 leading industrialized
democracies, European officials referenced US Secretary of State Michael
Pompeo’s insistence on “identifying the COVID-19 virus as the ‘Wuhan virus’
even though the World Health Organization and others [had] cautioned against
giving it a geographic name because of its global nature.”
Associating a virus “with a specific place or a particular ethnic group
is offensive,” Professor Liu Yang wrote “And, given the experience of the H1N1
flu, the American people should know that better than anyone else.”
People who “…ride on manipulated hatred suffer a deep sense of loss,”
Yang concluded. “They tend to believe they are losing a power competition,”
their reaction symbolizing an admission of decline.
Differences of opinion, notwithstanding,he said,
“…the novel
coronavirus has brought humans to a Kantian cosmopolitan moment: You don’t
necessarily like others, but you have to live with them. So you’d better work
together to protect all; or, by creating divisions, bring about universal
misery.”
Sources
White House statement issues April 15, 2020.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-demanding-accountability-world-health-organization/
France24. “From ‘hoax’ to pandemic: Trump’s shifting
rhetoric on coronavirus.” March 20, 2020
https://www.france24.com/en/20200320-from-hoax-to-pandemic-trump-s-shifting-rhetoric-on-coronavirus
Politifact: The Poynter Institute (story was updated as of April 1,
2020) https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/mar/20/how-donald-trump-responded-coronavirus-pandemic/
Rieder, Rem. “Trump’s Statements about the Coronavirus.”
FactCheck Posts. March 18, 2020
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/trumps-statements-about-the-coronavirus/
France24. “WHO fires back after Trump dig about their
handling of coronavirus pandemic.” News wires. April 9, 2020 https://www.france24.com/en/20200409-coronavirus-who-donald-trump-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-pandemic-mike-pompeo
Yang, Liu. “Blame game over outbreak an exercise in futility.” China
Daily Hong Kong March 31, 2020. https://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/126148
Philosopher Immanuel Kant’s cosmopolitan right stems from an
understanding of all human beings as equal members of a universal community.
Cosmopolitan right thus works in tandem with international political rights,
and the shared, universal right of humanity (Wikipedia).
Insight Beyond Today’s News, CLB - © All Rights
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