THREAD The adept reporting from dozens of sources have built a solid record, corroborated, of the disjointed, directionless, chaotic, ad hoc nature of the Trump administration's dedicated effort to undo everything Obama did. One critical, fateful issue was the comprehensive
international network for detecting and mitigating a potential pandemic. It placed CDC experts in key area around the world known for emergence of novel diseases, primarily Africa and China. Trump knew the threat, because of H1N1, Ebola, and others that he severely criticized
the response of the Obama administration. In fact, he said that a President owns all of the deaths that happen on their watch in a disease breakout. But he eviscerated the framework Obama (and Bush) had carefully constructed in concert with the UN, WHO, NIH, HHS, CDC, China,
Africa, Europe and other countries around the world. It was all put into a playbook, ready to go. The playbook was left to gather dust, the network was abandoned, and funding was drastically cut for any response at all. Trump's America First doctrine pulled away from
international funding of other countries' efforts to detect and contain disease, and destroyed confidence in America being the world leader in pandemic mitigation. The CDC was previously known as the world expert, ready, willing, and able to assist any country without hesitation.
And so it was, when a novel virus emerged in China, the CDC was no longer there, working in concert with Chinese health officials. That relationship from severed by Trump. So, the US was dependent on the Chinese for scientific data, not the CDC. The WHO worked with the Chinese
as closely as they allowed, but they were not as transparent as they would have been if the CDC was on the ground in country, working with them. Mistake #1. It would prove to be a lethal one. Yet, our military was monitoring the status of the outbreak, and issued a stern
warning that a pandemic was probable, in November. That message went unheeded. Trump was asleep at the wheel, oblivious to the impending pandemic. Yet he was warned numerous times, especially in January. He was more concerned about the vaping debacle. And ignored the warnings.
The article by Vanity Fair was especially damning, showing a chaotic scene in the WH, with Jared being the lead (with no experience in pandemic disease) We were doomed to fail. vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/d…
Other reporting shows the timeline of the progress of the disease, and Trump's remarks in parallel time. It paints a picture of a perfect storm of ignorance, avarice, and corruption that torpedoed any effective mitigation. There is no doubt that Trump failed completely to
prepare and protect America from the impending pandemic. The CDC, HHS, and the military all alerted him with escalating alarm in January and February. Yet, he maintained in public that all was well. Meanwhile, the virus spread, undetected across America. So don't let anyone tell
you that Trump shut it down, that nobody could have seen it coming. Don't let them get away with blaming China, the CDC, the Impeachment Trial, or whatever flavor of lie Trump promotes. It is a roulette wheel of blame he spins, hoping something will catch fire with the public.
The bottom line is that there is nobody to blame, other than Trump. He cannot spin his way out of this one. HE FAILED. AND HE FAILED MISERABLY. And millions of Americans were put in harms way as a result, with likely more than 100,000 innocent lives taken from their loved ones.
So, in Trump's lust to undo all things Obama, he led us into a situation that proved to be catastrophic beyond our imagination. Trump alone (and Jared perhaps) owns this horrific genocide of innocent Americans. How does he react? He complains about how the press treats him, and
how the Governors don't come to him on bended knee. Imagine any modern President doing that? We should not hesitate to call Trump out as the despotic, corrupt, vindictive, ruthless man that he is. One man cannot be allowed to destroy what it took 250 years to build. If Congress
fails to remove him from office, then we deserve to fail as a nation. It falls on both Parties to save our precious democracy. To stop an autocratic takeover by a ruthless tyrant. #ImpeachTrumpAgain #25thAmendment or force him to resign. That is what we are left with. Who will
prove to be our modern day Lincoln? Who will recognize the critical need to step forward and demand that America reject the hate that Trump represents, the poison he has fomented in our nation, the intentional effort to divide us, to fight each other, rather than unite to
battle this horrific invasion to our shores, that does not discriminate by political party, age, race, ethnicity, or location. America must rely on Americans being Americans, without labels, to defeat this pandemic. I argue that America also must eliminate the most dangerous
threat we face - Donald Trump. Can there be any debate that he is the most existential threat to Democracy we have ever faced? @RepAdamSchiff @SenateGOP @HouseDemocrats @TheDemCoalition @lister_lester @SenateDems @HouseGOP 
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