Day 1,173: Trump: National public health response should be handled by individual hospitals and states

The pass-the-buck president is at it again.

Donald Trump, he who never admits fault, is still trying to pawn off any and all responsibility for coordinating a coronavirus response at the federal level.

During Monday’s coronavirus briefing, Trump was asked a benign question about when the federal government could assist hospitals with rapid testing. Trump responded by insulting the reporter, asking for congratulations, and directing hospitals to figure it out themselves. He told the reporter that if hospitals need help, to go to their state.

Trump was incensed because the reporter mentioned a critical report that emanated from within his own administration.

At Monday’s briefing, Fox News correspondent Kristin Fisher asked the President about a recently released report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General which details challenges facing hospitals in responding to the coronavirus pandemic, including shortages of supplies and equipment, as well as prolonged wait times to get testing results.

In response, Trump said, “It’s just wrong. Did I hear the word ‘inspector general,’ really? It’s wrong.”

When pushed on the fact that the report was released by his own administration, Trump suggested the findings were politically motivated, asking, “Well where did he come from, the inspector general? What’s his name?” Trump later added, “So give me the name of the inspector general. Could politics be entered into that?”

The report issued worrying findings putting health professionals lives at risk.

Hospitals reported that widespread shortages of PPE put staff and patients at risk. Hospitals reported that heavier use of PPE than normal was contributing to the shortage and that the lack of a robust supply chain was delaying or preventing them from restocking PPE needed to protect staff. Hospitals also expressed uncertainty about availability of PPE from Federal and State sources and noted sharp increases in prices for PPE from some vendors.

In Trump’s Monday response, Trump, again, blamed his predecessors for something that was literally impossible to do.

Moreover, Trump recently lamented his administration “inherit[ing]” from Obama COVID-19 tests that were “broken.”

But the “19” in “COVID-19” — the disease caused by the coronavirus — means the disease originated in 2019. Trump’s argument is as nonsensical as someone blaming Trump in 15 years for not developing a test in 2020 for a disease that literally will not exist until 2035.

Hundreds of millions of Americans are not Trump’s concern. If they were, he’d be doing something, anything to show leadership instead of making this a partisan fight and deflecting at every question that isn’t a softball.

His main concern is reelection.

The first 100 concerns of Donald Trump will always be Donald Trump, even during a pandemic killing thousands of Americans.

1,173 days in, 289 to go

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