Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor called out President Donald Trump for falsely claiming he hasn't left the White House "in months" at a press briefing on Monday evening.
Trump was attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has criticized the administration's slow and negligent response to the coronavirus crisis. In response, critics have pointed out that, as late as Feb. 24, Pelosi told people to go to Chinatown in an effort to mollify the growing fears of the coronavirus. While in retrospect, any advice to go out at this time was likely a mistake, the Trump administration itself was weeks away from issuing any guidance discouraging public gatherings. And, as Alcindor pointed out, Trump was holding campaign rallies throughout February and into March, which potentially could have served to spread the virus.
"You held rallies in February and March," Alcindor said.
"Oh, I don't know about rallies," Trump said. "I really don't know about rallies. I know one thing: I haven't left the White House in months, except for a brief moment to give a wonderful ship, the Comfort—"
"You held a rally in March, in North Carolina," she said.
"Did I hold a rally? I held a rally! I'm sorry!" Trump said sarcastically. "I hold a rally. Did I hold a rally?"
He did, in fact, hold a rally on March 2, which undermines any claim that he was taking the spread of the virus more seriously than Pelosi was based on her Chinatown remarks. Trump was also in Florida on March 8, less than two months ago.
Trump continues to try to take credit for issuing restrictions on travel from China on Jan. 31 — a move that was similar to steps taken by many other nations, despite his claim to have acted alone. But if anything, it seems that small measure provided him and many of his supporters with a false sense of security about the dangers posed by the virus, which was likely spreading largely undetected through the United States in February.
Watch the clip below:
TRUMP: I took coronavirus very seriously ALCINDOR: You held rallies in February and March TRUMP: I haven't left tâ�¦ https://t.co/jX0EEh8LYk— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1587424369.0
When far-right extremists complain that stay-at-home orders and aggressive social distancing measures are hurting the U.S. economically, some Democratic governors and pundits have responded — correctly so — that prematurely letting up on social distancing and increasing the number of coronavirus fatalities will harm the economy even more. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the 79-year-old expert immunologist who is part of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, is making that type of argument in response to anti-shutdown rallies and protests that are taking place across the United States.
Those rallies feature protestors standing close to each other in blatant defiance of social distancing. Fauci, during a Monday morning, April 20 appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, warned that by promoting the spread of COVID-19, they are hurting the economy — not helping it."Clearly, this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus," Fauci asserted. "But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen."
A Politico/Morning Consult poll, released on April 15, found that 81 percent of respondents believe the U.S. should "continue to social distance for as long as is needed to curb the spread of coronavirus." So, the protestors are in the minority. But even so, they could cost people their lives — and hurt the economy — by promoting the spread of coronanavirus.
On Good Morning America Fauci warned, "What you do if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you're going to set yourself back. So, as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening, it's going to backfire. That's the problem."
Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.com.
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