HOME DISCUSSION PROBLEMS & RESPONSE DETAILS LIES/HOAXES TIMELINE REFERENCES
This page provides details of the problems faced by President Trump and his responses that were summarized on the DISCUSSION web page.
PROBLEMS DETAILS
All dates refer to the TIMELINE web page which has references and often more detail.
1. China Coverup
Taiwan was aware of the virus December 31 but their email requesting information was ignored by mainland China and WHO. China didn’t announce a new coronavirus until January 7 and didn’t announce the first death until January 11 and the first case of human to human transmission until January 13. China signed the trade deal January 15. The deal included a clause allowing them to back out in case of a pandemic.
A February 15 transcript of a President Xi speech January 7 reveals he knew about the virus almost two weeks before he commented on it publicly.
May 1 and May 4 reports from Global and DHS showed that China “intentionally concealed the severity” of the novel coronavirus, while ramping up imports and decreasing exports of medical supplies. Chinese authorities also held off from telling the WHO that the unknown illness was a “contagion,” to buy officials time to import more PPE, including face masks and surgical gowns.
2. Shortage of PPE
There was a shortage of PPE—masks, goggles, surgical gloves—due to China hoarding and the Obama administration not replenishing N-95 face masks after they were depleted by several crises.
The hoarding is discussed in the China Coverup section beginning “May 1 and May 4.”
Obama not replenishing face masks is proved here:
3. Testing delayed by several weeks due to CDC mistakes and long-standing FDA regulations
See Hindsight/Testing Hoax on the LIES/HOAXES web page.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S RESPONSE DETAILS
All dates refer to the TIMELINE web page which has references and may have more detail.
1. He Was Ahead of Democrats, the Media, and in Many Cases Even the Scientists and WHO in Taking Decisive Actions to Mitigate Future Problems
Democrats and their media supporters ignore what China did and use hindsight to criticize when things were done. The truth is, President Trump was always ahead of Democrats in recognizing the threat and taking decisive, unprecedented actions that needed to be done in spite of Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer all having been in highest levels of government through the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic of 2009-2010. They and other Democrats were obsessed with impeachment, ignored the President’s virus warnings in the State of the Union Speech, and said his actions were unnecessary. In particular, they called his China travel ban which clearly saved 1000’s of American lives inappropriate and xenophobic.
The administration’s responses to the virus began in early January. On January 7 the CDC established a coronavirus incident management system. On January 17 with only two deaths in China and one case outside China, the President implemented screenings for symptoms at airports in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles for flights coming from Wuhan. This is four days before Dr. Fauci says on January 21: “This is not a major threat to the people of the United States, and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.” It’s six days before WHO says that the Wuhan coronavirus does not yet constitute a public health emergency of international concern.
On January 27 WHO says the global risk from the deadly coronavirus was “high,” admitting it made a mistake in previous reports that rated the risk of the virus as “moderate.”
January 27: On MSNBC: “Should they panic? No. Americans do not need to panic. What I would suggest, however, is that Americans take this as a wake-up call for seasonal flu.”
Two days later, on January 29, while Democrats continued with the impeachment trial, the President formed a new task force to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus, and ensure Americans have accurate and up-to-date health and travel information. (This is one day before the first confirmed case of person to person transmission in the US and before WHO declared a Public Health Emergency.)
On January 31 the President banned entry to the US of all foreign nationals who had been to China in the last 14 days. All flights from China were to be funneled to seven domestic airports where the passengers would be screened and quarantined if necessary. This unprecedented action was taken two days before the first death outside of China and 29 days before the first death in the US. This action ended saving 10’s of thousands of lives.
On January 31, the Democrat response to the China travel ban was this: Joe Biden said: “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria (sic) xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia and fear mongering.” Nancy Pelosi called the ban biased and bigoted and introduced a bill to limit the President’s authority to initiate such bans.
Also on January 31, the Trump administration declared a public health emergency for the entire United States The emergency declaration gave state, tribal, and local health departments more flexibility to mobilize against the virus. On the same day it was announced that:
(a) the CDC was working closely with state health departments on disease surveillance, contact tracing, and providing interim guidance for clinicians on identifying and treating coronavirus infections,
(b) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was working with the Department of State to assist in bringing home Americans who had been living in affected areas of mainland China, and
(c) the HHS divisions also were collaborating with industry to identify and move forward with development of potential diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics to detect, prevent, and treat virus infections.
On CNN that day: : “Flu is a much bigger deal,” and later “There is an important context you need to keep this in and that is that the flu is more deadly.”
On February 1 CNN says: “While there's a lot of fear about the coronavirus, the flu is already widespread in the US and it really is much more deadly is it not?”
On February 3 WHO chief Ghebreyesus referring to Trump’s travel ban said there was no need for measures that “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.
On February 4, in his State of the Union address, President said: “Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”
Throughout January and until February 5 when the president was acquitted, the Democrats focused on impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi publicly ripped up every page of the State of the Union address calling it a pack of lies.
On February 5 the Trump Administration and health officials briefed lawmakers on the Federal Government's coronavirus response efforts.
On February 7 in the referenced clip at 2:00 Dr. Fauci says: “If there is, and I hope it doesn’t happen, a broad pandemic throughout the world, travel restrictions are not going to help.”
February 8 on CBS This Morning: “The coronavirus is not going to cause a major issue in the United States. We're going to have 40 to 60,000 deaths here in the United States of influenza, and it's preventable.”
On February 9 the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the nation at the National Governors’ Association Meeting in Washington.
February 15 on CNN: “The risk is low. The risk however for the flu is through the roof.”
On February 19, three weeks after the Trump China travel ban, the U.S. stock market which is very good at anticipating problems hit an all-time high indicating a consensus lack of concern about the coronavirus until this date. It started down the next two days then plunged February 24 and 25.
On February 24, President Trump asked Congress for $2.5 billion supplemental funding to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much needed equipment and supplies. On February 25 he discussed coronavirus containment efforts with Indian Prime Minister and checked out India’s supply chain and business environment. On February 29 he announced an Iran travel ban and a level 4 travel advisory to areas of Italy and South Korea.
Democrats, WHO, and the media continued to lag behind the President in seeing the problem and responding to it. On February 24, 15 days after the White House Task Force briefed Governors from across the nation, Nancy Pelosi made a video telling people it was OK to gather in San Francisco Chinatown. The next day, February 25, Adam Schiff (who as head of House Intel committee gets all intelligence briefings) mentioned the virus in public for the first time. On February 29 WHO continued to “advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.” Then March 2-March 10 Biden held rallies in Houston, Dallas, L.A., St. Louis, Kansas City, Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Philadelphia. On March 4 CNN’s Anderson Cooper said: ”Half the people in America do not get the flu shot and the flu right now is far deadlier. So if you're freaked out at all about the coronavirus you should be more concerned about the flu.” On March 8 Governor Cuomo downplayed the seriousness of the virus, noting that it is like “a bad flu,” and not serious unless one is part of these vulnerable populations.” On March 11 NYC mayor de Blasio told New Yorkers they should still be going out to eat in restaurants. “If you’re not sick, you should be going about your life,” the mayor said.
On March 11 WHO finally declared the Coronavirus a pandemic. Two days later on March 13 President Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus. Then on March 19 the president named FEMA as the lead agency in the COVID-19 emergency response efforts, a designation previously held by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These actions allowed the federal government to deliver virus response funds and other assistance to state and local governments in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and protect the economy against its mounting impact.
(In 2009 WHO declared the H1N1 (swine flu) virus a pandemic on June 11 but President Obama did not declare a National Emergency until more than four months later on October 24.)
March 18th in response to a Donald Trump tweet about how he has handled the virus including his early decision to close the borders Joe Biden tweeted: “Stop the xenophobic fear-mongering.”
On March 25 Governor Cuomo mandated that nursing homes accept Covid patients with deadly results. Later, on May 10, Cuomo admitted he was wrong to do that.
Clearly President Trump was way ahead of the Democrats, media, and even WHO and the scientists in taking decisive action to mitigate the problem. At a press briefing on April 13, he forced the press to watch a clip showing them underestimating the virus and summarizing his decisive actions to combat it. The clip includes Democrat Governor Cuomo thanking the president for his team being responsive (to the needs of New York) and doing everything they can do and California Democrat Governor Newsom saying President Trump returns calls, reaches out, has been proactive, and saying how helpful his sending the hospital ship Mercy had been.
2. He Listened to the Scientists When It Was Appropriate To Do So.
As shown in the previous section, President Trump was actually ahead of the scientists in some cases. For example, neither Dr. Fauci nor the head of WHO thought the China travel ban was necessary, but it clearly ended up saving thousands of lives.
After WHO said on January 27 that the global risk from the deadly coronavirus was “high,” the President responded only two days later with the formation of a new coronavirus task force
Two days later on January 31 the Trump administration via the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex. M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the entire United States. On the same day the President announced the China travel ban, and the administration introduced Dr. Fauci to the public at a press briefing.
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx appeared in the President’s daily press briefings. The president freely let them dictate guidance for the American people. Then he accepted their advice for the biggest decision of the pandemic—the shutdown of the economy. In this April 13 clip at 1:15 Dr. Fauci says: “The first and only time that Dr. Birx and I went in and formally made a recommendation to the president to actually have a "shutdown" in the sense of strong mitigation, we discussed it. Obviously there would be concerns by some, and in fact, that might have some negative consequences. Nonetheless, the president listened to the recommendation. And went to the mitigation. The next, second time that I went with Dr. Birx into the president and said 15 days are not enough. We need to go 30 days. Obviously, there were people who had a problem with that because of the potential secondary effects. Nonetheless, at that time the president went with the health recommendations, and we extended it another 30 days."
3. He Slashed Red Tape Quickly
Slashing red tape contributed to Operation Warp Speed, the effort to launch diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines in record time.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/16/fact-sheet-explaining-operation-warp-speed.html
The President and his administration eliminated outdated rules and bureaucracy around testing, treatments, telemedicine, and more to speed up our nationwide response to his standards.
On February 29 long standing regulations were removed to allow certified labs to develop and begin testing coronavirus testing kits without final FDA approval. March 3 federal restrictions were lifted to allow any American to be tested for coronavirus, “subject to doctor’s orders.” March 13 Roche and Thermo Fisher were granted emergency approval for coronavirus tests. March 16 states were empowered to authorize tests developed and used by labs in their states. March 30 the administration announced new regulatory changes to cut red tape and give flexibility to America’s health care workers by relaxing hospital workforce regulations, expanding child care, meal, and laundry services for health care workers, expanding tele-health reimbursement, and more.
4. He Got the Federal Government and Private Sectors Working Together as Only Someone with his Business Experience Could
Mobilizing the federal and private sectors contributed to Operation Warp Speed, the effort to launch diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines in record time.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/16/fact-sheet-explaining-operation-warp-speed.html
As early as February 11 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expanded a partnership with Janssen Research & Development to “expedite the development” of a coronavirus vaccine. February 14 the CDC began working with five labs to conduct community-based influences surveillance to study and detect the spread of Coronavirus. February 18 HHS announced it would engage with Sanofi Pasteur to quickly develop a coronavirus vaccine and to develop treatment for coronavirus infections. March 17 the Secretary of Agriculture announced a partnership between USDA, Baylor University, McLane Global, and Pepsi Co. to provide one million meals per weak to rural children in response to widespread school closures. Mar 20-21 it was announced that the administration was coordinating and assisting coronavirus testing at labs across the country.
The president himself met with executives from private industry to ensure they would do as much as they could to solve problems caused by the virus:
-March 2 he met with executives from Gilead, J&J, Pfizer, Regeneron and other pharma companies to discuss cures and vaccines.
-March 4 he met with test labs including LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics Inc , Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Abbott Laboratories and the Mayo Clinic to discuss increasing the availability of tests for the coronavirus and announced that the companies had formed a consortium.
-March 10 he met with insurance company CEOs and got them to agree to waive all copays, include coverage in their plans, cover telemedicine and present no surprise billing, among other things.
-March 11 he met with big banks to discuss what steps they were taking to help small- and medium-size companies weather the coronavirus.
-March 13 he met with presidents or CEOs of Target, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens to discuss drive through test centers. CEOs of laboratory, research, and medical device companies also joined Trump, who said that he had called on the labs to expedite efforts to increase the availability of tests for COVID-19. After the meeting he announced public-private partnerships to open up drive-through testing collection sites.
-March 15 he held a phone call with over two dozen grocery store executives to discuss on-going demand for food and other supplies.
-March 17 he spoke to fast food executives from Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Burger King to discuss drive-thru services recommended by CDC, and met with tourism industry representatives along with industrial supply, retail, and wholesale representatives.
-March 18 he spoke to doctors, physicians, and nurses on the front lines containing the spread of coronavirus and with 130 CEOs of the Business Roundtable to discuss on-going public-private partnerships in response to the pandemic.
-March 25 He and Vice President Pence held a conference call with 140 non-profit organization leaders, including The Salvation Army & The Red Cross, to discuss coronavirus response efforts.
-March 29 he met with supply chain distributors including FedEx, Cardinal Health, and UPS to discuss ways to get state and local governments necessary medical supplies to combat the coronavirus and he announced that Cigna and Humana are waving co-pays for coronavirus treatment.
-April 3 he met with energy executives from Phillips 66, Devon Energy, Continental Resources, Hilcorp Energy, Occidental Petroleum, The American Petroleum Institute, Energy Transfer Partners, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil to discuss coronavirus’ impact on the energy industry.
-April 14 he met with health care executives to discuss the supply of ventilators.
Update: As of August 22, the president had invoked the Defense Production Act more than 30 times to ensure America has the supplies it needs.
5. He mobilized the Military to Help
On March 17 the Department of Defense announced it would make available to HHS up to five million respirator masks and 2,000 ventilators.
He used Hospital ships, first deploying the USNS Mercy to Los Angeles on March 22. March 28 the USNS Comfort was deployed to New York City to help relieve the strain on local hospitals.
He used the US Army Corps of Engineers, first on March 21 when they were ordered to begin construction of temporary hospitals in New York. (A 2,900 bedroom temporary hospital was completed March 29 at the Javits Center in New York.) March 31 the President announced the Army Corps of Engineers & FEMA would construct:
-8 facilities with 50,000 bed capacity in California
-A field hospital with 250 bed capacity in Michigan
-2 field hospitals in Louisiana with 500 bed capacity
-An alternative care sight in New Orleans with a 3,000 bed capacity
By April 3 the Corps had completed 673 temporary hospital facilities and was working with states to assess requests for more.
The President used the National Guard. March 22 he announced the federal government was sending them to New York, California, and Washington. March 3 Vice President Pence announced that 17,000 National Guard Servicemen had been activated across the country to assist in the coronavirus response. By April 10 this number had grown to 29,600.
Finally, by April 9 4,700 active duty military medical personnel had been deployed to nine states.
6. Besides leading the country, the president assisted the states and major cities (and other countries) without trying to control them because their situations and problems were so varied.
As early as January 31 he gave state, tribal, and local health departments more flexibility to mobilize against the virus by declaring a public health emergency. Then on February 9 the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the nation at the National Governors’ Association Meeting in Washington. March 4 the Administration announced the purchase of approximately 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months. March 6 the president signed a bill that provided $7.76 billion to federal, state, & local agencies to combat the coronavirus. March 16 he held a tele-conference with governors to discuss coronavirus preparedness and response. March 17 he announced that the Army Corps of Engineers was on ”standby” to assist federal & state governments.
March 18 HHS temporarily suspended a regulation that prevented doctors from practicing across state lines and the Army Corps of Engineers consulted with New York on how to best assist state officials. March 19 the President and Vice President had a video call with Governors. Then on March 19 the president changed the lead agency in the COVID-19 emergency response efforts from HHS to FEMA. This allowed the federal government to deliver virus response funds and other assistance to state and local governments to reduce the spread of the virus and protect the economy against its mounting impact.
March 20th President Trump approved major disaster declaration for New York. (This gave New York Access to billions of dollars in aid from the disaster relief fund.) March 21 the US Army Corps of Engineers was given orders to begin construction of temporary hospitals in New York. March 22 the administration announced that the Federal Government would deploy hundreds of tons of supplies from the national stockpile including gloves, medical beds, N95 masks, gowns and 1000 additional hospital beds for New York. March 30 President Trump announced that in the coming days the Federal Government would be delivering:
-400 ventilators to Michigan
-300 ventilators to New Jersey
-150 ventilators to Louisiana
-150 ventilators to Illinois
-50 ventilators to Connecticut
The president’s assistance to and coordination with other countries included:
-February 12: The US shipped test kits for the 2019 novel coronavirus to approximately 30 countries who lack the necessary reagents and other materials.
-March 16 the president participated in a call with G7 leaders who committed to increasing coordination in response to the coronavirus and restoring global economic confidence.
-March 20 the U.S. and Mexico agreed to mutually restrict nonessential cross-border traffic at the direction of President Trump.
-March 26 President Trump participated in a video conference with the leaders of the G20 to discuss the global coronavirus response and the need for countries to share information and data on the spread of the virus.
-March 26 the president held a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the coronavirus.
7. He specifically helped the American people with special emphasis on some groups: Working Americans, Businesses, Students/Children, Farmers, Native Americans, Veterans, Senior Citizens, Uninsured Americans
General
-February 24 The Trump administration asked Congress for $2.5 billion supplemental funding to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much needed equipment and supplies.
-March 17 President Trump announced relevant Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act penalties would not be enforced.
-March 18 President Trump invoked emergency powers via Executive Order under the Defense Production Act.
-March 27 President Trump signed The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law.
-April 22 the president signed an executive order to limit immigration by suspending the issuance of new green cards for 60 days to protect the health, jobs, and wages of American citizens.
-April 24 the president signed legislation providing $484 billion to replenish a popular small business lending program to prevent layoffs and support hospitals and COVID-19 testing amid the coronavirus pandemic. The measure included an additional $310 billion in funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), $60 billion of which was reserved for community banks and small lenders; $75 billion for hospitals; $25 billion to support testing efforts; and $60 billion for emergency disaster loans and grants. Democrats had held up the bill for days to get these items not related to pandemic relief on it :
1) Unprecedented collective bargaining powers for unions
2) Increased fuel emissions standards for airlines
3) Expansion of wind and solar tax credits
He Helped Working Americans and Businesses
-March 9 President Trump called on Congress to pass a payroll tax cut over coronavirus.
-March 11 he directed the Small Business Administration to issue low-interest loans to affected small businesses and called on congress to increase this fund by $50 billion.
-March 11 he directed the Treasury Department to defer tax payments for affected individuals & businesses and provided $200 billion in “additional liquidity.”
-March 17 the Treasury Department contributed $10 billion through the economic stabilization fund to the Federal Reserve’s commercial paper funding facility and deferred $300 billion in tax payments for 90 days without penalty, up to $1 million for individuals & $10 million for business.
-March 17 Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met with lawmakers to discuss stimulus measures to relieve the economic burden of coronavirus on certain industries, businesses, and American workers.
-March 18 the president signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provided free testing and paid sick leave for workers impacted by the coronavirus.
-March 20 his administration announced that tax day would be moved from April 15 to July 15 for all taxpayers and businesses.
-March 20 the president held a call with over 12,000 small business owners to discuss relief efforts.
-March 29 the president directed the Treasury and Labor Departments to look at reinstating deductions of business expenses at restaurants, bars, and entertainment businesses to help the hospitality industry.
the coronavirus pandemic, issuing more than 17,500 loans valued at $5.4 billion.
-April 3 the SBA launched the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses impacted by -April 24 the president signed legislation providing $484 billion to replenish a popular small business lending program to prevent layoffs.
He Helped Students/Children
-March 13 his administration announced a pause on interest payments on federal student loans.
-March 17 Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced a partnership between USDA, Baylor University, McLane Global, and Pepsi Co. to provide one million meals per weak to rural children in response to widespread school closures.
-March 20 the Department of Education announced it will not enforce standardized testing requirements for the remainder of the school year, and it would allow federal student loan borrowers to stop payments without penalty for 60 days.
-April 9 Secretary of Education DeVos announced that $6.3B in CARES Act funding would be immediately distributed to colleges and universities to provide cash grants to students affected by the coronavirus.
-April 9 the USDA launched the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program in Michigan, which will help feed children eligible for USDA school lunch programs who are now home during the coronavirus outbreak.
-April 14 the Department of Education announced $3 billion in education block grants for states to help schools, students, and educators at all levels.
He Helped Farmers
-April 9 the USDA announced relief for farmers across the country by giving borrowers 12 months to repay marketing assistance loans (MAL), helping protect farmers from being forced to sell crops to make loan payments.
He Helped Native Americans
-April 3 HUD announced it was making $200 million in Indian housing block grants for Indian Tribes under the CARES Act.
-April 8 HHS expanded telehealth services for Native Americans through The Indian Health Service.
He Helped Veterans
-March 6 the president signed a bill that provided $500 million in waivers for Medicare telehealth restrictions.
-March 17 the president announces CMS would expand telehealth benefits for Medicare beneficiaries,
He Helped Homeowners
-March 18 the president announced that all foreclosures and evictions would be suspended for a period of time.
He Helped Senior Citizens
-March 25: the president signed a bill reauthorizing The Older Americans Act, which supported senior citizens by providing meals, transportation, and other crucial services.
He Helped Uninsured Americans
-April 3 the president announced that uninsured Americans will have their coronavirus treatment covered, using funding from the CARES Act.