The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Right_in_Virginia on May 04, 2020, 02:28:47 am
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'Empty cupboards': Trump rips Obama and Biden for not doing more to prepare for pandemic
Washington Examiner, May 3, 2020
President Trump took a shot at his predecessor's administration for not doing more to make sure the country was prepared for a nationwide health emergency such as the coronavirus pandemic.
"I inherited empty — no ammunition," Trump said during a virtual town hall on Fox News Sunday night. "Our military was bad. We rebuilt our military. $1.5 trillion, the best military in the world ... But you know what? Medically, we had empty cupboards."
Trump continued, arguing he has done a good job responding to the coronavirus considering the obstacles he faced.
"We have an incredible testing. We have the best testing system right now in the world. We also make all the ventilators. I spent the weekend at Camp David speaking to heads of other countries that are desperate for ventilators. A month ago that’s all they were talking about was ventilators. The team of people that did this job, it was probably the biggest mobilization since World War II," he said.
Multiple news outlets reported earlier this year that the United States was suffering a national shortage of N95 respirator masks when the coronavirus pandemic hit. The depletion of the stockpile masks dates back to 2009, when the Obama administration was advised by health experts to replenish the supply after the H1N1 flu outbreak and never did.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who was former President Obama's vice president, pushed back on Trump's criticism of the Obama administration in a tweet this week.
"We left a playbook. He ignored it," Biden said. "We created an office to prepare for pandemics. He gutted it. We had CDC officials in China to detect and contain outbreaks. He pulled them out."
More: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/empty-cupboards-trump-rips-obama-and-biden-for-not-doing-more-to-prepare-for-pandemic (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/empty-cupboards-trump-rips-obama-and-biden-for-not-doing-more-to-prepare-for-pandemic)
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Playbook?
I remember those signs from the Cold war...
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51vXmh-UX9L._AC_.jpg)