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Pence Claims Trump Never ‘Belittled the Threat of the Coronavirus’
National Review ^ | April 1st 2020 | Tobias Hoonhout

Posted on 04/02/2020 2:02:28 PM PDT by Ennis85

Vice President Mike Pence defended President Trump’s handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic Wednesday, claiming that “I don’t believe the president has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus” in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Despite banning Chinese nationals from entering the country and declaring a public health emergency at the end of January, Trump and his administration have sent mixed signals on the virus.

The president has implied that the outbreak was similar in potency to the common flu and telling CNBC in January that “we have it totally under control.” In February, he claimed that, “within a couple of days,” the U.S. number of cases “is going to be down to close to zero.” “That’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” Trump stated.

Then-acting White House chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney also dismissed the possibility that the coronavirus was a serious threat while addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February. “This is not Ebola. It’s not SARS. It’s not MERS,” he said, adding that the media’s hyper-attention was because “they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president.”

The back-and-forth messaging has drawn criticism from fellow Republicans.

“He at times just says whatever comes to mind or tweets, then someone on TV is saying the opposite,” Maryland governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, the Washington Post. “It’s critically important that the message is straightforward and fact-based for the public.”

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson said on his March 9 show that coronavirus “is definitely not just the flu.”

“People you trust, people you probably voted for, have spent weeks minimizing what is clearly a very serious problem,” Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson stated. “It’s just partisan politics,’ they say. ‘Calm down. In the end this was just like the flu and people die from that every year. Coronavirus will pass.’ We get it. But they’re wrong.”

While the mainstream media has also heavily scrutinized Trump’s response, numerous media outlets also explicitly downplayed the threat from the coronavirus throughout January and February.

Pence, who Trump appointed as head of the White House’s coronavirus task force in February, also suggested Wednesday that the outbreak could be contained by June if the White House’s new guidelines are followed.

“If all of us continue to do our part, and that is by some time in early June, we could well have the coronavirus largely behind us as a nation, reopen our country, put America back to work,” Pence stated.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; denial; down2zero; fakenews; gonesoon; justtheflu; pence; trump; trumpcdc
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To: HangnJudge

And the World Health Organization was bought out by the Chinese, lock stock and barrel.


41 posted on 04/02/2020 4:15:44 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Cultural Marxism is the cult of the Left waiting for the Mothership.)
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To: Ennis85

Fake news media claim they are not biased.


42 posted on 04/02/2020 4:22:37 PM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
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To: Ennis85

“Pence Claims Trump Never ‘Belittled the Threat of the Coronavirus”

I saw on the early AM CBS National news show this morning video of Pence making this statement. And CBS trying to refute this shows a Video of PDT from WEEKS back saying that in theory it’s possible the virus could die out in April when it warms up, and that he “hopes” so. This is an issue scientists have been theorizing. How in the hell is that some ding on Trumps response, that’s all that you got cBS?


43 posted on 04/02/2020 4:46:11 PM PDT by DAC21 ( and Naflet had demint)
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To: Fury

That’s the writer, Tobias Hoonhout.


44 posted on 04/02/2020 5:43:53 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Ennis85

Saying that Covid-19 is similar to the flu, is NOT belittling it! The seasonal flu kills 40k-60k people each year in the US!


45 posted on 04/02/2020 6:18:43 PM PDT by enumerated
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To: jonrick46; kaehurowing

>> SOTU: “... working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China.”

Wow, and that #ing Rat ripped it up.

The Rats a trying to get ahead of the political optics with their BS commission.


46 posted on 04/02/2020 8:45:51 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Ennis85

How sick that this is even a debate with anyone...the President was cautious about adding to the panic and has continued to try to interject rays of hope into the viscous, fetid mess this has become.


47 posted on 04/03/2020 3:29:09 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches, or Trump in general, while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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To: trebb

Remember, the Democrats message is that Trump and everything about him is irredeemable evil. They want everything to fail and will do anything, even kill, to get rid of him.


48 posted on 04/03/2020 8:12:06 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: Morpheus2009
Can't be said enough - you and I realize where we are...hopefully others will become "woke".

The same folks who were wont to quote some folks like these 2:

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” ― William Pitt the Younger

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Ben Franklin

Are now doing a 180 because of a perceived personal threat - which they can alleviate with a few simple actions/precautions, are now in the "Better Red than Dead" clique as they have abandoned all common sense.

For the first time in my life, I am truly afraid for our nation - and that's saying something after the Obama experiment.

49 posted on 04/03/2020 8:38:30 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches, or Trump in general, while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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