Barack Obama Falsely Accuses Trump of ‘Ignoring Warnings of a Pandemic’

On Tuesday morning, Barack Obama criticized Trump’s rollback of fuel standards in a tweet that made what appears to be a backhanded critique of Trump’s response to the coronavirus. “We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic,” Obama said.

Who exactly was Obama talking about there? Now, it’s quite possible he was actually talking about himself, seeing as how even after the H1N1 pandemic that claimed as many as 18,000 American lives, according to CDC estimates, Obama’s response to the Ebola pandemic later in his presidency was similarly wrought with problems–so much so that even the Obama White House and the CDC acknowledged there were multiple “shortcomings” in the administration’s response. Those shortcomings may have been the result of Obama axing the White House pandemic response office in 2009, which was reinstated in 2016 specifically because of his administration’s poor response to the Ebola pandemic. . .

The likely source of Obama’s accusation was a Washington Post hit piece earlier this month that claimed intelligence agencies issued warnings about a possible pandemic back in January and February, “while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action” that might have slowed the spread of the coronavirus. This allegation was easily debunked by the facts. The Trump administration acted quickly and decisively after China reported the discovery of the coronavirus to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019.

The Trump administration issued a travel notice for Wuhan, China, and established a coronavirus incident management system within the first week. Soon after, public health entry screening was put in place at the three U.S. airports receiving the most travelers from Wuhan. By Januray 20, the National Institutes of Health was already working on the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Does this sound like an administration that was “ignoring warnings of a pandemic”? Three days later, the CDC sought a “special emergency authorization” from the FDA to allow states to use its newly developed coronavirus test. Before the end of the month, the coronavirus was declared a public health emergency and Trump banned travel with China to slow the spread of the virus in the United States–that decision alone is credited with saving thousands of lives.

Now, let’s compare that with how Obama handled the H1N1 pandemic. The H1N1 outbreak originated in Mexico, but, the Obama administration refused to restrict travel with Mexico or close the border, despite calls to do so. “Closing our nation’s borders is not merited here,” said Obama’s DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano when a national health emergency was declared. She argued that closing the border or U.S. ports would have “no impact or very little” in stopping or slowing the spread of the virus. (Read more from “Barack Obama Falsely Accuses Trump of ‘Ignoring Warnings of a Pandemic'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE