I read this article through twice and actually don’t find anything wrong with it. It is factual and avoids hyperbole and hysteria. It really doesn’t cast blame.
The author wrote “Mr. Navarro said in the memo that the administration faced a choice about how aggressive to be in containing an outbreak, saying the human and economic costs would be relatively low if it turned out to be a problem along the lines of a seasonal flu. But he went on to emphasize that the “risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked” given the information coming from China.”
So it sounds like a typical fence straddling memo — “it might not be bad or it could be bad.”
It actually seems to praise Navarro for sounding the early alarm: “Both Mr. Navarro and Matthew Pottinger, the chief deputy at the National Security Council, were among the few officials urging colleagues in January to take a harder line in relation to the growing threat of the coronavirus. But their warnings were seen by other officials as primarily reflecting their concerns about China’s behavior — and their concerns look more prescient in hindsight than they actually were, other officials argue.”
This article is not out of the usual NYT, WaPo, or CNN “Get Trump” mold.
It is 2020. They need to post the memo and we can read it and form our own opinions. No need for them to translate it for us...unless they have dishonest motives.
Really??
You didn’t read where they credited Navarro and the others for their early words of caution but then slammed Trump for “downplaying the possibility” as they claimed? You didn’t read where they said Trump’s “downplaying” would “define” his presidency?
Usual biased bologny.
Praised Navarro alright. Only so they could do the normal number on Trump. Same old same old.
“Mr. Navarro’s memo is evidence that some in the upper ranks of the administration had at least considered the possibility of the outbreak turning into something far more serious than Mr. Trump was acknowledging publicly at the time.”