Maryland's GOP governor: 'Why didn't Trump help my state with coronavirus testing?'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan criticized the President Trump in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday , describing how the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic was inadequate and did not provide testing resources, prompting the state to outsource COVID-19 tests from South Korea.
"Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation's response was hopeless; if we delayed any longer, we'd be condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death. So every governor went their own way," Hogan wrote in the op-ed published Thursday.
Hogan said that the president downplayed the potential impact of the virus early on. He said the country missed the opportunity to prepare while other countries were experiencing outbreaks.
"So many nationwide actions could have been taken in those early days but weren't," Hogan wrote. "While other countries were racing ahead with well-coordinated testing regimes, the Trump administration bungled the effort."
Hogan said that while the threat was escalating, "instead of listening to his own public health experts, the president was talking and tweeting like a man more concerned about boosting the stock market or his reelection plans."
Hogan, who is chairman of the National Governors Association, continues in the op-ed to say that the governors were briefed by public health officials such as Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who told them the disease was dangerous and highly contagious.
"It was jarring, the huge contrast between the experts' warnings and the president's public dismissals," Hogan said. "Weren't these the people the White House was consulting about the virus? What made the briefing even more chilling was its clear, factual tone. It was a harrowing warning of an imminent national threat, and we took it seriously - at least most of us did. It was enough to convince almost all the governors that this epidemic was going to be worse than most people realized."
The Maryland governor has been one of the few GOP leaders who has publicly broken with Trump and criticized the federal government's response to the pandemic.
In an excerpt from his recent memoir, Hogan makes a similar comment, stating that the Trump administration's response to the pandemic has been fractured, with the president contradicting health officials.
"It's mixed messages - bouncing from one message to the other," Hogan said. "[Trump's] entire administration is telling everyone to take it seriously while he tells everybody to not take it seriously," Hogan wrote.
Hogan also told the New York Times that he is considering a presidential run in 2024, hoping to attract more supporters to the Republican party.
Hogan said that as coronavirus cases began popping up in the state in March, he contacted the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal organization located in Maryland. The NIH told him they did not have enough tests for their own staff and immunocompromised people. The governor said that the organization asked him if he could help them acquire more tests.
"I could only shake my head at that," Hogan said. "The federal government - a much bigger and better-funded institution, with tens of thousands of scientists and physicians in the civil service - wanted my help!"
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
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Think hearing the truth from enough republican governors will penetrate to those that reside in the Trump Bubble?
No, they'll continue to wax prolifically, if not poetically, about their Emperor's shiny new suit.
Nah....they're call him a RINO and proceed to trashing him, his family, his dog...even his car
Being able to work across the aisle is now a bad thing. It used to be a show of leadership, like when Reagan was president.
It was much more recent than that. The career of my former Senator, Richard Lugar is a perfect example of that. The GOP's creation of a 'partisan' litmus test has caused every 'moderate' Republican to either bail or loose primaries to RW nut jobs like Richard Mourdock.
Really sad state of affairs when being moderate is a bad thing, when it used to be what we looked for.
Reagan had the good fortune to work across the aisle from a quality leader, gentleman, and a man of good character like “Tip” O’Neil.
No current Democrat comes anywhere close to being able to fill his shoes. They seem to have all turned into far left partisan assholes.
yeah right, it's the fault of all democrats, exclusively..........
And somehow you seem to miss that our current president is no Reagan. This is not a one-party issue. If you should be wondering where all the good representatives are?
At least he didn't send diagnosed positive cases to nursing homes to infect everyone there.
he probably should have sent them to DC or maralago....
At least he didn't send diagnosed positive cases to nursing homes to infect everyone there.
Congratulations on precisely posting the Trump supporting talking points.....
Lets see where the Florida ICU admission rate ends up against those early states that had to learn by OJT.
Florida will be issuing the new DIY home ventilator to trumpsters when the ICU's reach capacity...
I don't give a shit who they are, when you are the one elected to run something, and you bitch moan and whine about someone else, 'cause you "Couldn't" do it, that is the most moronic thing I have seen.
Governors are supposed to be leaders of THIER State ...... Not Whiners.
At least my governor hasn't Whined to Trump !
He does HIS JOB !
But, there are some County and City Leaders that have been Whining to the governor, since apparently they can't do THIER JOBS !
And your governor would be....?
Him.
I like the dude. I would even consider voting for him.
I did !
Looks like he did what he had to do..... Used his wife's Korea connections to purchase test kits from Korea for use in Maryland.
Furthermore, I think he managed to keep them hidden from the Feds who were poaching them.
Maryland hiding coronavirus test kits from South Korea so they won’t be seized by federal government
Officials in at least 6 states are accusing the federal government of quietly diverting their orders for coronavirus medical equipment
It wouldn't be so bad if the Feds would have just gotten out of the way, but to hinder the states that were being proactive.....?
What does that have to do with my original comment ?
It looks like it confirms that Hogan did what he had to do for Maryland. Furthermore, he protected what he purchased for the people of Maryland from being poached by the Feds..... Sounds like it did it right for Maryland.
I guess it didn't work !
When did telling the truth, become whining?
States have rights, or NOT !
Yes, states have rights, but so does the Federal government. You seem to forget that.
Oh....No I Don't !
But States leaders seem to.
Weird..... If Trump wants to do something with States, they don't think is necessary, Trump is an overbearing Nazi !
BUT
If they want something from Trump that they themselves Falter on, and he doesn't JUMP, Trumps an uncaring Ass for not overriding States Rights !
This is not about doing something to the states. This is about supporting the states with disaster funding. Something that every other president, republican or democrat has done before. It's about listening to what your governors are saying, since they are the people who know what is going on in their states.
There is only so much Federal Tax Payer funds available !
States Tax their own Folks too ya know !
"It's about listening to what your governors are saying, since they are the people who know what is going on in their states. "
Cuomo and Newsom Praised Trumps actions on Covid Response, until they didn't (The Liberal Narrative wasn't being upheld.)
It's all a game.....and we have been the pawns all along !
There were trillions of dollars spent by the federal government to support the citizens and states due to Covid-19. So I would submit that disaster funding has been provided. I think a bigger focus of this has been the partisan politics of this. That does not mean I agree with everything Trump and the administration has done in response to this crisis but I also think that the partisan bullshit is off the charts and coloring all efforts here.
The disaster with testing kits and PPE started long before Trump took the oath of office. The supply chain for these things was moved offshore a long time ago which put us at the mercy of other countries. Also the supply chain is designed to move at standard consumption as it's not cost efficient for companies to make large amounts of PPE and warehouse it hoping someone comes along to purchase. So when consumption sky-rocketed due to the virus the supply chain was under performing and had to ramp up. Add to that that the countries where these factories were located at were also under greater need for the same PPE, it's quite easy to understand that the entire supply chain was in trouble.
Do I wish that the administration had done some things differently? Absolutely yes. Hell, I wish we had a national lock down and mandatory face covering rules, but you know as well as I do if Trump had mandated any of that there would have been states filing court cases against him right away for overstepping his authority. I wish that we had a robust testing plan since day one, but the test kits for this just did not exist. The CDC built the first test kits and they were no good. And people bitch about how we didn't take any test kits from WHO, ignoring that WHO would not provide test kits to the US in the first place because we have the means to manufacture our own. Countries who did get WHO kits are unable to do so. But people don't want to be realistic about the response to the virus because the country is so divided. Partisan politics has poisoned the well long before this virus started and we see it everyday in action.
Snuffy,
First of all, I would like to thank you for a thoughtful comment. Well done!
I think that the Federal response to the outbreak could have been more immediate in the states that needed it more. I also feel that there was a huge misspending with the PPP money. When you hear of multimillion-dollar companies getting PPP money, while mom and pop's didn't there is a problem, and I think that has been a big part of the poor response by this administration.
Now in all fairness, Obama was warned that a pandemic was up the pike and that they needed not only a plan but supplies like reagents, and that wasn't done. But you know what they say... the buck stops here, and I say that, because I know that Trump was also warned. Had this outbreak been on Obama's watch, I would have said the same thing. We do know that the Fed gov is still holding on to supplies. That shouldn't be given the state we are in now. Also, the PPE should have never come almost totally from China. How does one go into a trade war, when you still need them?
I agree with your last paragraph, totally.
Cuomo and Newsom did what they had to do, and for the most part, they all played well with Trump. There was actually very little complaints other than need for immediate assistance at specific times. I actually don't think that any of them were being partisan about this, including Trump. I think they just had their own way of looking at this.
Covid-19 has been political since day 1 !
LMAO, yeah he's doing a hella job. 13,985 new cases yesterday and 156 deaths..
Hell of a job there Ron.
Continuous Testing actually finds folks !
Still can't fill the Daytona Speedway !
Again.... Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties need to get themselves under control.
LYAO ?
LOL, nice try but it the positive rating that important and that's more than doubled.
Yup, they are hot spots but so are the following. Wednesday results, Duval county (Jville) 840 new cases. Pinellas County, 288 new cases 18 deaths. Hillsborough County 539 new cases 40 deaths. Manatee County 350 new cases, 4 deaths. Lee County 872 new cases 0 deaths. Orange County 1390 new cases 8 deaths.
Cheers
The Worst..... as I've noted to you before !
Orange County = 21,299 - +1,390
Palm Beach County = 23,711 Cases - +923
Miami-Dade = 75,425 cases - +3,108
Broward County = 35,566 - +1,413
Half of the entire States infected individuals, in just these 4 counties.
Still LYAO ?
I'm well aware of that, as I stated above.
Are you forgetting that the population and density of those areas? Seems like you are.
Those 4 counties plus make up almost a 1/3 of the population of Florida.
Still LYAO? Yes, I sure am
Cheers.
Nope !
Those 4 counties plus make up almost a 1/3 of the population of Florida.
SO !
Doesn't change a thing I noted. Numbers are just that.....numbers.
They do have City and County Mayors along with Board and Council members that are more than capable of controlling their populations issues, don't they ?
The governor is the CEO of the state and can overrule mayors, city councils etc.
It's his job. Too bad he doesn't seem to be doing good at it.
You could use some mustard with that pretzel.
What is he going to over-ride/rule ?
and a fine job he's done so far...........
We think so.
Now if the few County Leaders, where these upticks are taking place, would do their Jobs, we could get this contained again.
4 out of 67 counties, really are fucking up the Entire State !
of course you do.......
Great info., and Enlightening Too !