Words Fail: Donald Trump Admits He's Letting Americans Die

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by: Colorado Pols

Donald Trump.

Political news this Sunday morning is dominated by a statement made by Donald Trump at least night’s re-election rally in Tulsa–a statement that, if true, could be the most damning admission ever made by a sitting American President:

In a shocking admission during his Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally on Saturday night, President Donald Trump said he had told officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because of the rising number of cases in America, and used a racist term to describe the coronavirus.

“You know testing is a double-edged sword,” Trump said while complaining about press coverage of his handling of the virus. Claiming the US has now tested some 25 million people, he added: “Here’s the bad part … when you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people; you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please.” [Pols emphasis]

It was a stunning revelation given that nearly 120,000 people have died in the United States from the coronavirus and medical experts have long said that testing is critical to identifying cases, tracing them and stopping the spread of the virus.

Trump adviser Peter Navarro tried to walk it back this morning, sort of, except not really:

“I don’t know if it was [tongue in cheek],” responded CNN’s Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday morning. Responded Navarro, the White House trade adviser: “Thirty million people are unemployed, and we’ve seen over 100,000 people die because of the China, Wuhan virus,” Navarro said, using terms for the virus popular among some Trump backers. “Let’s talk about some serious issues, Jake.”

But the question of whether the Trump administration may have deliberately sought to know less about the COVID-19 pandemic, thus thwarting by design any real attempt to contain the spread of the disease, is a deadly serious matter. The administration’s early response to the pandemic is a story of exactly this kind of denial–routinely downplaying the severity of the situation, and insisting that cases were declining when they were not. As for concealing the extent of the problem by deliberately not testing people, that’s a tactic we’ve already seen in Colorado after tests promised by Sen. Cory Gardner and Vice President Mike Pence himself of meatpacking workers at the JBS plant in Greeley was halted after finding “too many” positive results.

The scariest part about this statement isn’t how it is outrageous beyond belief. It’s scary because it is not just plausible, it appears to explain events as they transpired. Trump didn’t want to know then, and doesn’t want to know today how bad the pandemic really is.

And where does this admission leave Trump’s most indefatigable local defender, Sen. Cory Gardner? Remember what Gardner said about COVID testing back in April, and then ask yourself what Gardner is thinking today:

“Testing absolutely is key here,” Mr. Gardner said on “Fox & Friends.” “I’d like to see testing so ubiquitous going forward that you can go buy your Big Gulp at 7-Eleven, and you can get your COVID-19 test at the same time.”

Well folks, it looks like the White House has adopted a different strategy than tests with every Big Gulp.

It’s called letting Americans die.

Because Donald Trump, by his own admission, doesn’t want to know if they’re sick.

How can anyone with a conscience, or even Cory Gardner, allow this deadly charade to continue?

11 thoughts on “Words Fail: Donald Trump Admits He’s Letting Americans Die”

Diogenesdemar says:

June 21, 2020 at 10:22 am

“Thirty million people are unemployed, and we’ve seen over 100,000 people die because of the China, Wuhan virus,” Navarro said, using terms for the virus popular among some Trump backers. “Let’s talk about some serious issues, Jake.”

Hmmmm, more serious than this mad administration’s failure to still ever yet treat Covid as a serious medical issue????

. . . so then, like slippery ramps, and leather-soled shoes perhaps???

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1. JohnInDenver says:
  
  June 21, 2020 at 12:16 pm
  
  Given the number of deaths, it astounds me that Trump's line is "it coulda been lots worse."
  
  I didn't watch the rally, but read coverage fairly extensively, and did not hear about Trump expressing a single word of regret about not doing better, or a word of sympathy for those who have lost family and friends, or a coherent plan to make sure that, if elected, there will be a better approach to keep the next hundred thousand people from dying. Nothing about a better plan for health care insurance that will help protect people from ruinous bills. Nothing about learning from this and developing a better early warning system to prevent future epidemics.
  
  Who would want 4 more years of this sort of blather?
  
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  1. harrydoby says:
    
    June 21, 2020 at 12:46 pm
    
    How could you not want to vote for this guy for another four years?
    
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  2. The realist says:
    
    June 21, 2020 at 8:03 pm
    
    " . . . a coherent plan to make sure that, if elected, there will be a better approach to keep the next hundred thousand people from dying." His PLAN is exactly what Florida, Arizona, Alabama, Texas and a few other states are doing: Stick head in sand and hope people (those still living) lose interest. Beyond criminal.
    
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2. MichaelBowman says:
  
  June 21, 2020 at 12:59 pm
  
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3. notaskinnycook says:
  
  June 21, 2020 at 5:18 pm
  
  I just ran into this from the Lincoln Project at the Washington Post. Sorry you have to listen to his voice, but you’ll miss half the joke without it
  https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1274748265376907265
  
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bullshit! says:

June 21, 2020 at 10:26 am

How can we not be discussing the 25th Amendment at the point? Seriously.

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Duke Cox says:

June 21, 2020 at 10:39 am

We are stunned, here at the edge of the world. Not so much that T***p said it, but that there seems to be no limit to the cruelty and evil of the Reign of the Orange King. The abject, obsequious, complicity of the Republican senate in this criminal attack on the Unites States Constitution is astonishing.

The assault on the people of America and their well being could be stopped fairly easily by the United States Senate. It is important for American voters to hold these people responsible for aiding and abetting the treason of the Orange King.

At the very least, the president is guilty of negligent homicide, assault, fraud, and extortion. Is there a more loathsome creature than a Republican senator?

No…I think not.

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1. Conserv. Head Banger says:
  
  June 21, 2020 at 4:34 pm
  
  Somehow I don't think you should be including Mitt Romney in the same breath as Mitch McConnell and Jim Inhofe, to name just two.
  
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  1. Duke Cox says:
    
    June 21, 2020 at 4:40 pm
    
    I am watching Tim Scott. I stand by my statement. Mitt ain't no angel. Split hairs, if you like.
    
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JohnInDenver says:

June 21, 2020 at 4:09 pm

And today, the clean up crew is insisting the testing slow down was "tongue in cheek" or "Trump joking."

Anyone have a sense of humor who gets that message from the speech and able to explain to me why delaying tests would be funny?

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