As the coronavirus continues to spread around the globe amid fears that the virus is reaching pandemic levels, Rachel Maddow said that America will be less capable of dealing with the health crisis because of a move Donald Trump made two years ago.
As the MSNBC host pointed out, citing reporting from Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist Laurie Garrett, Trump “fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command back in 2018 and never replaced them with anyone.”
“One of the national security jobs the president emptied and never bothered to refill is the position at the national security council that’s supposed to take point on all global health security matters,” Maddow said. “There used to be someone in that job.”
“The president emptied that job two years ago and never filled it,” she added.
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Maddow said:
Markets both in the United States and around the world tanked today amid fears that the global spread of the coronavirus is reaching pandemic proportions. Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist Laurie Garrett recently wrote about the fact that the United States government is almost uniquely ill suited to take a leading role with something like a global infectious disease crisis right now. Because without much fanfare and honestly without much objection, President Trump “fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command back in 2018 and never replaced them with anyone.” I think the reason this went largely unremarked upon at the time is because the president has fired and never rehired whole big swaths of the federal government. The turnover rate, even in national security positions in this administration, is beyond unprecedented. … As the coronavirus threat rises and rises and rises, it’s starting to seem particularly important that one of the national security jobs the president emptied and never bothered to refilled is the position at the national security council that’s supposed to take point on all global health security matters. There used to be someone in that job. The president emptied that job two years ago and never filled it.
Most of the crises that have unfolded over the past three years were directly caused by Donald Trump himself, from the record-long government shutdown to the humanitarian disaster on the southern border to the escalating conflict with Iran.
In the case of the coronavirus, Trump may not have triggered the possible pandemic, but he will be directly responsible for making the situation worse than it should be.
Donald Trump’s inability to govern responsibility by filling key positions within his administration will make it much more difficult to navigate this global health crisis, and it could cost lives.
This is what happens when a failed businessman and former game show host is put in charge of the most powerful government in the world.
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