During President Donald Trump’s announcement of his emergency declaration for response to the Wuhan Coronavirus, there was a question from one reporter that earned the derision and anger toward the press and its attitude, as recently expressed by a Legal Insurrection fan.
The topic of the exchange was the closure of a White House office that dealt with pandemics.
The closure is being used as a cudgel to diminish the effective approach Trump and his Coronavirus Task Force have developed to deal with the spread of the disease and to ensure equipment and resources are directed to where they can help Americans.
A former senior director of the National Security Council’s dissolved pandemic unit said its closure left the United States “less prepared” for the COVID-19 outbreak.Beth Cameron wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post that the Trump administration’s response to the novel coronavirus had been “slow and inadequate,” and suggested that the closure of the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense had contributed to its “sluggish” response.She added that the closure of the unit left “an unclear structure and strategy” for coordination of efforts to combat the damage of a pandemic….Writing about the closure of the NSC’s pandemic office, Cameron said, “I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19.
However, it does appear that the National Security Council certainly had enough resources to address the most recent Ebola epidemic.
Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton defended President Trump’s 2018 decision to shutter the National Security Council’s (NSC) office overseeing responses to pandemics, saying the move did not hinder the government’s response to the coronavirus.“Claims that streamlining NSC structures impaired our nation’s bio defense are false. Global health remained a top NSC priority, and its expert team was critical to effectively handling the 2018-19 Africa Ebola crisis. The angry Left just can’t stop attacking, even in a crisis,” Bolton tweeted Saturday morning.
One of the hallmarks of Trump’s approach to governance is to avoid duplication of responsibilities. When there are 17 different organizations focused on national security, the bureaucracy can hinder speedy responses. Behemoth government networks can also make it difficult to identify, discipline, and fire problem employees.
The regular press conferences being held by the president, Vice President Pence, and the Coronavirus Task force show that the “White House Pandemic Office” was immediately open for business when the magnitude of the problem became known. Perhaps Team Trump would have gotten an earlier start if they weren’t also having to deal with impeachment:
Conservative pundit Don Surber recalls the Obama administration had a similar approach to the Swine Flu epidemic.
Given President Donald John Trump’s swift action to restrict travel to Red China and other infested places, the CDC’s swift action to develop tests, and the reaction at the state and local level, what exactly would an Office of Pandemics do?I mean besides get in the way. Created in 2015, the office never handled a pandemic.A pandemic is an emergency situation that falls on the shoulders of one man: the president. Obama appointed Biden to head in reaction in the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.President Donald John Trump appointed Vice President Mike Pence to head reaction to this one.This is how it should work. We should hold someone accountable. Presidents who do not handle an emergency well wind up ex-presidents. Jimmy Carter is Exhibit A. Presidents who get the job done in are re-elected. George Walker Bush is Exhibit B.
One of the benefits of Trump not having an extra layer of bureaucracy to wade through is that his administration has created perhaps the most effective public-private partnership to respond the the real needs of the American people. The Trump approach also means that novel ideas for providing medical assistance and new drug therapies are going to be available faster.
We already have a “White House Office of Pandemics” ready-to-go when needed, headed by our very effective Vice President.
The only reason this became an issue is that the press needs another hoax story to feed its #TrumpDerangementSyndrome.
The American media really should rethink its approach to covering this story.
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