Tuesday, March 31, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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What is the price of ignorance? How many people will die because of the abject ignorance of an incompetent leader?
Fact: President Donald Trump was briefed when he took office on the potential for a pandemic but made no plans for one.
Fact: Trump disbanded the pandemic preparedness office formed after the Ebola epidemic.
Fact: Trump’s Department of Homeland Security head gave a green light to taking sick passengers off of a cruise ship because of political pressure, arranging for them to go to a military base in California, where they were greeted by staff with no protections in place to prevent their exposure to the coronavirus.
For two months as cases spread, Trump had no interest in ramping up the availability of tests.
As doctors take major risks to save lives, Trump has still shown no leadership beyond his daily rally-type TV productions. Cities and states are in bidding wars to get desperately needed equipment with no federal strategy in place to manage production and distribution.
Trump owns this virus. He is responsible for the lack of coordination, where governors and other influential people still pretend there is nothing to worry about. His followers demand businesses be reopened to save an economy which will be sunk without people willing to leave home.
