On January 28, in the Oval Office, Trump was told by his National Security Advisor, Robert O'Brien, that "this virus will be the biggest National Security Treat you will face as President". Then, O'Brien's Deputy, Matt Pottinger, stepped in and provided specifics. He had been a Wall Street Journal reporter in China for seven years, and knew China lied about things like this. Pottinger still had contacts on the ground in China who told him that "this virus was as bad as the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918", which killed 675,000 Americans.
This Oval Office Meeting could have been one of the most historic in our history. A threshold. A crossroads. Which way to go?
Donald Trump, in no uncertain terms, knew the danger of the Coronavirus in January. It was laid out in specifics, but he still decided not to level with the American People. The choice was made.
All he had to do was address the Nation and explain what was coming and the plan on how we were going to deal with it. He could have told us that we are Americans. We are resilient. We have been through this before. We will come together as a Nation and fight this together. We will stay calm and meet this headon.
We would have rallied around him. That's how we work.
But, instead, he decided to "Play it down" because he didn't want us to "panic". Was he worried about us or the Stock Market? What ever the reason, he didn't give us a chance. Not only could he have avoided the infamous shut-down but he also would have saved 100,000+ lives. He would have been a leader which has been so sorely missed in this last eight months. Can you imagine what that would have done for his re-election chances?
So, here we are, mired in a state of fear, hate and blame, all because the man didn't know how to be a leader, or was to afraid to be one.
Anyway you look at it, as Bob Woodward says, "If he would have been honest and shared the truth in some form, we would be in a completely different position now. It was a monumental, catastrophic leadership failure."
This Oval Office Meeting could have been one of the most historic in our history. A threshold. A crossroads. Which way to go?
Donald Trump, in no uncertain terms, knew the danger of the Coronavirus in January. It was laid out in specifics, but he still decided not to level with the American People. The choice was made.
All he had to do was address the Nation and explain what was coming and the plan on how we were going to deal with it. He could have told us that we are Americans. We are resilient. We have been through this before. We will come together as a Nation and fight this together. We will stay calm and meet this headon.
We would have rallied around him. That's how we work.
But, instead, he decided to "Play it down" because he didn't want us to "panic". Was he worried about us or the Stock Market? What ever the reason, he didn't give us a chance. Not only could he have avoided the infamous shut-down but he also would have saved 100,000+ lives. He would have been a leader which has been so sorely missed in this last eight months. Can you imagine what that would have done for his re-election chances?
So, here we are, mired in a state of fear, hate and blame, all because the man didn't know how to be a leader, or was to afraid to be one.
Anyway you look at it, as Bob Woodward says, "If he would have been honest and shared the truth in some form, we would be in a completely different position now. It was a monumental, catastrophic leadership failure."
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