Trump offered up a humiliating answer when asked why he has not declared the opioid crisis a national emergency.
Here is the transcript of the question and the Trump’s answer from the White House Press Pool as provided to PoliticusUSA:
Q: Is the opioid crisis an emergency, and if so why haven’t you made a declaration?
“The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially right now it is an emergency. It’s a national emergency. We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis. …
Q: But do you need emergency powers to do that?
“We’re going to draw it up and we’re going to make it a national emergency. It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had. You know when I was growing up they had the LSD and they had certain generations of drugs. There’s never been anything like what’s happened to this country over the last four or five years. And I have to say this in all fairness, this is a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem. This is happening worldwide. But this is a national emergency and we are drawing documents now to so attest.”
Trump’s cringe-worthy answer suggested that he thinks that a national emergency is declared when he says there is an emergency. This is more insight into Trump’s view of the presidency. The president is not a monarch or a dictator. A state of emergency can’t be declared via a Trump tweet.
Notice what was missing in the second part of Trump’s answer. The President never spoke about an actual answer to the crisis. If the country is facing a grave epidemic, a declaration of emergency isn’t going to solve the problem. Throwing some money at the epidemic isn’t going to work either, especially not the tiny sums that the Trump administration has floated spending.
Trump’s lack of knowledge of government works and his lack of a grasp on basic issues is astonishing.
Donald Trump’s ignorance is weakening the presidency and an embarrassment to every single American.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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