by Pa Rock
Hand-Washing Fool
With the most serious health crisis that our nation has faced in decades looming on the horizon, one thing appears certain: the Trump administration will fail to meet the challenge - and fail bigly.
The past several days have witnessed a cascading failure of government responses to the rapidly escalating public health emergency. The tone for the Trump administration's response was set when Dear Leader appointed Vice President Mike Pence to head the government response team. Pence, who is seen by many to harbor strong "anti-science" feelings, was thought to be an odd choice for coordinating efforts to combat the rampaging virus.
Mike Pence, whom some are calling the Coronavirus "czar," had not held that position for very long when he was caught on camera at a press briefing wiping his nose with his right hand and then shaking hands with a group doctors and government officials. Pence has also been criticized for his failure to lead during an AIDS outbreak in his home state of Indiana while he was governor.
Now that an official government response team has been formed and Donald Trump has someone he can blame when the crisis gets out of hand, there is a pronounced effort by the government and the team to keep everything about the situation as secretive as possible. Trump was reportedly furious that material regarding the health of the nation was getting around his control and into the press.
Yesterday at a government briefing on the Coronavirus outbreak, the White House announced that the press could not film or record the event, even though the Trump administration had vowed just days earlier to be completely transparent in its handling of the matter.
(The press has been allowed to take photos of Pence's Coronavirus committee participating in solemn prayer.)
Some are speculating that Trump's seemingly futile efforts to control the news about the viral outbreak has more to do with stabilizing the stock market than it does with protecting the public.
And Donald Trump, who claims to be well-briefed and up-to-speed on the topic, is proving, to no one's surprise, woefully ignorant regarding the burgeoning medical catastrophe. At a press briefing this week in which he grilled medical experts and pharmaceutical executives on when a vaccine could be available. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and others, advised Trump publicly that while a preliminary vaccine might be ready for testing within the next several weeks, it would take at least a year-and-a-half before it could be deemed safe enough to administer to millions healthy adults. Trump kept trying to get them to say they could shorten that length of time, but the doctors and drug companies would not promise what they could not deliver.
Yesterday it was also revealed that GOP senators are concerned with finding ways to insure that the pharmaceutical companies are well paid for their efforts in creating and distributing a Coronavirus vaccine. In the end it's always about profits.
And there are also a lot of stories bubbling up regarding a lack of testing kits. Symptomatic people are apparently having to wait long periods of time before being tested, and some of those who do manage to get tested are receiving outrageously high bills to cover the cost of what many see as a public safety measure. Some are even starting to suggest that the government (our government!) is intentionally holding back on testing in an effort to keep the number of confirmed cases low.
And meanwhile people with unconfirmed cases of Coronavirus go on spreading the disease.
And somewhere Mike Pence wipes his nose with his hand - and then pays the paperboy - or drops his pocket change in the collection plate..
And the bug goes on . . . and the bug goes on.
Hand-Washing Fool
With the most serious health crisis that our nation has faced in decades looming on the horizon, one thing appears certain: the Trump administration will fail to meet the challenge - and fail bigly.
The past several days have witnessed a cascading failure of government responses to the rapidly escalating public health emergency. The tone for the Trump administration's response was set when Dear Leader appointed Vice President Mike Pence to head the government response team. Pence, who is seen by many to harbor strong "anti-science" feelings, was thought to be an odd choice for coordinating efforts to combat the rampaging virus.
Mike Pence, whom some are calling the Coronavirus "czar," had not held that position for very long when he was caught on camera at a press briefing wiping his nose with his right hand and then shaking hands with a group doctors and government officials. Pence has also been criticized for his failure to lead during an AIDS outbreak in his home state of Indiana while he was governor.
Now that an official government response team has been formed and Donald Trump has someone he can blame when the crisis gets out of hand, there is a pronounced effort by the government and the team to keep everything about the situation as secretive as possible. Trump was reportedly furious that material regarding the health of the nation was getting around his control and into the press.
Yesterday at a government briefing on the Coronavirus outbreak, the White House announced that the press could not film or record the event, even though the Trump administration had vowed just days earlier to be completely transparent in its handling of the matter.
(The press has been allowed to take photos of Pence's Coronavirus committee participating in solemn prayer.)
Some are speculating that Trump's seemingly futile efforts to control the news about the viral outbreak has more to do with stabilizing the stock market than it does with protecting the public.
And Donald Trump, who claims to be well-briefed and up-to-speed on the topic, is proving, to no one's surprise, woefully ignorant regarding the burgeoning medical catastrophe. At a press briefing this week in which he grilled medical experts and pharmaceutical executives on when a vaccine could be available. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and others, advised Trump publicly that while a preliminary vaccine might be ready for testing within the next several weeks, it would take at least a year-and-a-half before it could be deemed safe enough to administer to millions healthy adults. Trump kept trying to get them to say they could shorten that length of time, but the doctors and drug companies would not promise what they could not deliver.
Yesterday it was also revealed that GOP senators are concerned with finding ways to insure that the pharmaceutical companies are well paid for their efforts in creating and distributing a Coronavirus vaccine. In the end it's always about profits.
And there are also a lot of stories bubbling up regarding a lack of testing kits. Symptomatic people are apparently having to wait long periods of time before being tested, and some of those who do manage to get tested are receiving outrageously high bills to cover the cost of what many see as a public safety measure. Some are even starting to suggest that the government (our government!) is intentionally holding back on testing in an effort to keep the number of confirmed cases low.
And meanwhile people with unconfirmed cases of Coronavirus go on spreading the disease.
And somewhere Mike Pence wipes his nose with his hand - and then pays the paperboy - or drops his pocket change in the collection plate..
And the bug goes on . . . and the bug goes on.
No comments:
Post a Comment