Did Trump just blame his delays on China not telling him enough? He trusted them so he delayed?

[gulliver]

I distinctly remember reading during the early phases of the outbreak that no one was trusting that China was being completely open about its response and numbers. The idea that China was openly broadcasting everything they knew was considered a joke at that time. But leave aside whether China told us "enough" and told us soon enough. Was Trump supposedly just trusting what China was saying? That's the way it came across in todays Cornavirus Task Force briefing.

Look at about 2:26:15 in the video.

Are we to believe that what China divulged (or failed to divulge) about their activities was the basis for the delays in testing and other failed aspects of Trump's response that he spoke about just an hour or so ago?

Did China "let him down?" Did they "lie" to poor Donald and conceal things from him? And that's the reason he held off reacting? Really?

Trump and the part of the Republican party he controls had one job here. If there's a pandemic, no matter where it comes from and no matter why it happened, the United States is to be protected. Trump depended on information from China to excuse weeks-long delays in a response to a pandemic?

[CincyDem]

1. If only he had access to some organization that might have known...

Hmmmm...if we had that capability in the US so he didn’t have to rely on other government PR releases as the basis for his actions.

[underpants]

2. Like we don't have lots of people figuring probabilities and monitoring

The idea that China didn't tell him is fantasy land. Of course they didn't tell him. Who would tell him anything, he could just blabbed it out screaming in front of a running helicopter.

I read in the last few days that the "lights were blinking red " in terms of overall likelihood. There was plenty of info out there. Hell my wife has been all over this since the beginning of the year.

Here's the part that blows his BS out of the water - the first case in S. Korea and the US was on Jan. 24th. Compare the reactions.

[Under The Radar]

3. Not Trumps Fault that half if his staff are still in orientation

[Lock him up.]

4. It's his fault that Bolton (when he was in HIS National Security Council)...

… FIRED the Pandemic Response Unit in 2018.

Because President Obama created it.

As we know, the oa* never fires anyone himself.

He tells underlings to do it.

Then he thinks he can blame them, never himself.

* orange anus.

[magicarpet]

10. Bolton told by trDump to terminate Obama's infectious disease and pandemic team.

This team was never replaced.

Time and time again trDump was warned that a world wide pandemic was a reality for national security concern but he never took the warnings seriously. Of course trDump hates to read reports unless they show flattering pictures and say glowing things about Donald J. trDump.

###########

We were warned in 2018, on the 100th anniversary of the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed 50 to 100 million people around the world. My colleague Ed Yong served notice that the “next plague” was coming, with influenza the most dangerous possibility, even as the United States succumbed to “forgetfulness and shortsightedness.” Luciana Borio, then the director for medical and biodefense preparedness at the National Security Council, told a symposium that “the threat of pandemic flu is our number-one health security concern.” Serving under a president who’d come to office on the pledge to wall off the United States, she noted that such a threat could not “be stopped at the border.” The very next day, news broke that National Security Adviser John Bolton had shuttered the NSC’s unit for preparing and responding to pandemics, of which Borio was a part. The White House official in charge of spearheading such a response to infectious threats departed as well and was not replaced.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/03/pandemic-coronavirus-united-states-trump-cdc/608215/Dee

[brewens]

5. I was hearing speculation that China was downplaying it. Makes sense. Why would a country

overexaggerate seriousness? It seems to me in that case, you'd assume it was worse than anything they were reporting. that excuse doesn't make sense.

[magicarpet]

6. Yes partially,

He blamed China for not being forthright and honest. And was angry China concealed some facts about CV-19 early on.

Kinda like trDump intends to do in asking that true, accurate, and realistic unemployment numbers not be revealed to the public to make the trDumpandemic economic crash look not so bad. Team trDump wants tulips and daffodils popping up every where the media looks, and that is what he wants them to only write about.

Oh and back to the blame game,... this pandemic is all Obama's fault. Obama handed over a shit infectious disease and pandemic prevention department. It took trDump and trDump alone to finally set up a team for infectious disease and pandemic issues,... he patted himself on the back and shit all over Obama, like the vindictive asshole always does. Not once did he mention a report came out in 2017 warning about pandemics coming out of China. And that trDump buried this report from the media by giving it secret status.

Also trDump fails to mention that Obama left in place a White House infectious disease and pandemic team with on site agents in 10 countries to lookout for rising pandemics before they got here.

Vindictive trDump had Bolton terminate this infectious disease/pandemic prevention teams and never hired replacements.

But trDump forgot to mention those important and crucial details that contributed to our arrival at this precarious point and brought us top dead center in the middle of this pandemic. Thanks to trDump.

[Lock him up.]

13. Almost MIHOP.

Putin must pinch himself in disbelief all day long...

His King Chaos (and Death and Bankruptcy) reigns.

[tblue37]

7. He kept insisting that he trusted Xi because they had a very good relationship. He also

kept insisting that Xi was handling the situation well and transparently.

[gulliver]

8. You know, he really might have just trusted Xi.

Wouldn't that be amazing? Picture Xi telling Trump on the phone that there were no worries. Trump just buys it. He's flattered Xi is being so "straight" with him. Trump tweets what a great job Xi is doing and how transparent he's being. Then Trump goes to his rally and says it's all no big deal and the Democrats saying it was a big deal was a hoax.

Could something like that have happened? If it weren't Trump, it would be farfetched. I don't know if it's true that it went down like that, but it's not farfetched.

[tblue37]

9. He believes that politics & diplomacy are based entirely on whether the other

person likes him. And of course of they pretend to like and admire him, then he "falls in love" with them.

[uponit7771]

11. Yes, the last 3 pressers he's blamed China for not saying something fast enough and everyone knows

... that's a damn lie.

[magicarpet]

12. trDump is a fool to not investigate these issues of such importance to America's...

.... national and economic security.

Jeez,... even Saint Ronny said...

... trust but verify.

[Grins]

14. The guy who said "I don't care. I believe Putin"?

Oh, yeah. I feel a lot better

[Callalily]

15. He's a sorry excuse of a human being.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. It's not adding up. None of it. I hope his style of management ends with his

generation.