The Response is dated January 6, 2017, exactly two weeks before Trump's inauguration and exactly one week before out-going Obama administration officials gave 30 Trump administration officials a lengthy briefing on the likelihood of a pandemic and essential actions the government would need to take. The Trump administration's criminal negligence in ignoring this report, as well as others, and dismissing numerous classified warnings from the beginning of the year, is the biggest reason why the United States finds itself in its current crisis.
Trump has been nothing but a pathetic, self-congratulating ignoramus, incapable of keeping his dozens of lies from contradicting each other. After giving out wrong and harmful information, he then insults anyone who questions him and denies ever making the comment (despite the evidence being preserved on videotape or his own Twitter account or made to the media one minute earlier).
We should never forget that Trump's personal definition of having "done a very good job" regarding this crisis shifted in less than one month from "zero cases" to "200,000 deaths".
Trump assured the country that his administration had the virus "totally under control" on January 22, promised that the virus was a "very little problem" on January 30, said the US had "shut it down" on February 2, suggested the virus "miraculously goes away" in April on February 10, said "the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along" on February 19, repeated that his administration had the situation "very much under control" on February 23, stated "the people that have it are ... all getting better" and "we're very close to vaccine" on February 25, promised that the number of cases in the US would be "within a couple of days ... down close to zero" and "there's a chance it won't spread" and "it's going to disappear one day, it's like a miracle" on February 26, said "we think we're going to be very fortunate" and believed "it will all amount to very little" on February 28, claimed to have "saved many lives" on March 2 ... and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on ... and asserted on March 29 that limiting the number of dead Americans to 200,000 would be proof he had "done a very good job".
Desperate cult members are now claiming Trump was unable to focus on the coronavirus because the Democrats "distracted" him with their bogus impeachment trial. But Trump also held five rallies and went golfing several times during the trial. AND the "trial" was a complete farce, as witnesses and evidence were not allowed (Trump didn't have to fret about anything.) AND it was over on February 5. AND impeachment didn't prevent the intelligence agencies from warning Trump (and Congress) in January and February about the virus. AND "senior Trump administration officials heatedly debated the scope and scale of the coronavirus pandemic" throughout January and much of February. (AND in the 20 days after impeachment, Trump tweeted about the virus only once.)
As Digby writes:
Yes, he was distracted by the impeachment. Also his approval ratings, Sean Hannity, his golf score, his profits, the media, his twitter feed, election polls the usual. In other words, he isn't actually a president. He's a celebrity influencer who spends all his time thinking about his popularity. And he's hired a bunch of sycophantic amateurs who also don't know how to do anything so they couldn't take action without him. ... He didn't want to hear it. The economy was doing well ... and he was excited to be campaigning. The last thing he wanted was to have to be president. And so he ignored it ...Exclusive: The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming
The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds in 2017—but the Trump administration did nothing.
Ken Klippenstein, The Nation, April 1, 2020
Despite President Trump's repeated assertions that the Covid-19 epidemic was "unforeseen" and "came out of nowhere," the Pentagon was well aware of not just the threat of a novel influenza, but even anticipated the consequent scarcity of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds, according to a 2017 Pentagon plan obtained by The Nation.
"The most likely and significant threat is a novel respiratory disease, particularly a novel influenza disease," the military plan states. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel (meaning new to humans) coronavirus. The document specifically references coronavirus on several occasions, in one instant saying, "Coronavirus infections [are] common around the world."
The plan represents an update to an earlier Department of Defense pandemic influenza response plan, noting that it "incorporates insights from several recent outbreaks including…2012 Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus."
Titled "USNORTHCOM Branch Plan 3560: Pandemic Influenza and Infectious Disease Response," the draft plan is marked for official use only and dated January 6, 2017. The plan was provided to The Nation by a Pentagon official who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.
Denis Kaufman, who served as head of the Infectious Diseases and Countermeasures Division at the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2014 to 2017, stressed that US intelligence had been well-aware of the dangers of coronaviruses for years. (Kaufman retired from his decades-long career in the military in December of 2017.)
"The Intelligence Community has warned about the threat from highly pathogenic influenza viruses for two decades at least. They have warned about coronaviruses for at least five years," Kaufman explained in an interview.
"There have been recent pronouncements that the coronavirus pandemic represents an intelligence failure…. it's letting people who ignored intelligence warnings off the hook."
In addition to anticipating the coronavirus pandemic, the military plan predicted with uncanny accuracy many of the medical supply shortages that it now appears will soon cause untold deaths.
The plan states: "Competition for, and scarcity of resources will include…non-pharmaceutical MCM [Medical Countermeasures] (e.g., ventilators, devices, personal protective equipment such as face masks and gloves), medical equipment, and logistical support. This will have a significant impact on the availability of the global workforce."
The 103-page response plan provides an overview of what might cause a pandemic, likely complications, and how the military might respond. The plan outlines conditions under which an infectious disease can become a pandemic, several of which were at play with Covid-19: crowded workplaces, proximity to international airports, unsanitary living conditions. It also contains references to classified annexes that go into further detail. (The Nation is not in possession of these annexes.)
Last week, Trump lashed out at General Motors and Ford on Twitter, demanding that they manufacture ventilators, a life-and-death appliance for many people with acute Covid-19 symptoms.
The plan's warning about face masks and ventilators was prescient: The US Strategic National Stockpile of medical equipment including respirators, gloves, face masks, and gowns is reportedly nearly depleted.
The military plan also correctly anticipates "insufficient hospital beds." Indeed, hospitals are in critically short supply in Italy and rapidly filling up across New York.
"Even the most industrialized countries will have insufficient hospital beds, specialized equipment such as mechanical ventilators, and pharmaceuticals readily available to adequately treat their populations during clinically severe pandemic," the report goes on.
Another prediction in the report anticipates worldwide competition for, and scarcity of, Covid-19 vaccines. Trump has already reportedly offered German scientists large sums of money for exclusive rights to a vaccine, and efforts to develop drugs are underway in several countries.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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