Trump again directs blame at Obama as coronavirus pandemic worsens in U.S.
Yahoo News
Trump again directs blame at Obama as coronavirus pandemic worsens in U.S.
President Trump on Monday again sought to redirect blame for his coronavirus response to the Obama administration.
Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that increased testing has led to a spike in U.S. COVID-19 cases, was asked by a reporter at the White House whether he was concerned about a resurgence of the virus that has killed more than 135,000 Americans and infected more than 3.3 million .
“We have one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere,” the president said before pivoting to an attack on Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee.
“Biden and Obama stopped their testing,” Trump said. “They just stopped it. You probably know that. I’m sure you don’t want to report it. But they stopped testing. Right in the middle, they just went, ‘No more testing.’”
It’s not entirely clear what Obama-era testing program Trump was referring to. He has previously criticized the Obama administration over its handling of the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak, which killed about 12,500 Americans. (On Monday he acknowledged that the so-called swine flu was “a much lesser problem than the one we're having.”)
But it’s not the first time Trump has tried to place blame on Obama and Biden for his halting response to the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 — nearly three years after they left office.
At a briefing of the coronavirus task force in early March , Trump also invoked his predecessor.
President Trump and former President Barack Obama. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Evan Vucci/AP, Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump said. “And we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.”
According to the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org, no such rule or regulation was ever implemented under the previous administration.
“The Obama administration did attempt to impose a risk-based system of regulation on laboratory developed tests, or LDTs, and introduced draft guidance in 2014,” FactCheck.org said. “But that guidance was never finalized, and was withdrawn after Trump won the election in 2016.
“There is no formal document that Trump needed to rescind to allow labs to create their own coronavirus tests,” it added.
In late March, Trump claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “inherited a broken test.”
“When CDC first looked at their test, the biggest problem they had is, the test didn’t work,” he said. “That wasn’t from us. That’s been there a long time. Now we have the best tests in the world.”
Politifact’s “Truth-o-Meter” gave the claim a “Pants on Fire” rating .
When the U.S. government began sending test kits out on Feb. 5, the fact-checking site noted, “there was no inherited test because a test couldn’t be created until the new virus had emerged.”
President Trump on Monday again sought to redirect blame for his coronavirus response to the Obama administration.
Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that increased testing has led to a spike in U.S. COVID-19 cases, was asked by a reporter at the White House whether he was concerned about a resurgence of the virus that has killed more than 135,000 Americans and infected more than 3.3 million .
“We have one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere,” the president said before pivoting to an attack on Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee.
“Biden and Obama stopped their testing,” Trump said. “They just stopped it. You probably know that. I’m sure you don’t want to report it. But they stopped testing. Right in the middle, they just went, ‘No more testing.’”
Hmmm....... given that H1N1 only managed to kill less than one-tenth of those killed by Covid TO DATE.... the Obama administration must have listened to the science experts on how to respond.
Maybe the Trump administration should try that......
HA! The Administration seems to fight science on a regular basis. But hey, what do doctors, virologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, ect. know about viral outbreaks, right? But hey, the Administration did appoint someone to head the committee dealing with the virus. A guy whose idea to fight disease is to pray it away. See, who needs science, right? >sarc<
What the hell is the Blamer-in-Chief talking about?
his legion of morons ears don't perk up unless he blows the loudest dog whistle he has, and it's worked on them for 12 years
In the immortal words of this President "Three and a half years into my Presidency the buck stops... over there, no over there, nope a little bit further, a little further, okay stop, right there on the square that says 'Obama'. If that doesn't work, push it over to that square that says 'Hillary'... Who really cares who we blame it on, our supporters are so fucking dumb they'd buy anything, I could shoot a guy on 5th Ave and blame it on Obama and those poorly educated dumb shits would gobble it up, God I love my monumentally gullible base...".
But, but Obama
Welcome to Donald Through the Looking Glass...
Anyone, anyone who believes a word he says is out of their ever-loving mind!
Fuck off Crooked donnie, this is all YOUR fault you moronic douche canoe
moronic douche canoe...
That's freaking hilarious.
And now in Floriduh . . .
Things are only going to continue getting worse if America waits until November. In my opinion, this is the best solution to the problem of Trump.
The honey locust tree, with its protective thorns, makes an excellent rail for involuntary rides.
I'm sorry - I'm a bit confused again. I didn't know that President Obama was running for a third term.
I mean he does have at least a 10 point approval rating over Trump.
Trump keeps campaigning against him - I just assumed he must be running ...
Maybe Trump started to realize that shifting all the blame for his lncompetent management onto China and the WHO was not working well enough so he is now aiming more locally to do so. I'm surprised he didn't take the hint from the old South Park show and blame Canada.
Did the image I posted not open? If not, here's another one that is similar, but without movement.
Always a favorite. Show them no mercy. Remember, they gave us Ted Cruz.
LOL