Presidential debate: Trump says on Covid-19: “I take full duty. It’s not my fault.”

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Presidential debate: Trump says on Covid-19: “I take full duty. It’s not my fault.”

President Donald Trump appeared poised to take duty for his failure on Covid-19 at Thursday’s presidential debate — after which he didn’t. “I ta


President Donald Trump appeared poised to take duty for his failure on Covid-19 at Thursday’s presidential debate — after which he didn’t.

“I take full duty,” Trump mentioned. He instantly continued: “It’s not my fault it got here right here. It’s China’s fault.”

It’s a giant contradiction, however it’s emblematic of Trump’s method to the coronavirus. Time and time once more, Trump has tried to downplay the coronavirus and dodge duty, all whereas failing to embrace the type of messaging and coverage method that consultants suggest.

Requested about failures on testing early on, Trump mentioned in March, “I don’t take duty in any respect.” Requested concerning the 1,000 Covid-19 deaths a day within the US on the time, Trump mentioned in July, “It’s what it’s.”

In the meantime, Trump has intentionally downplayed the pandemic, demanded states reopen too rapidly, punted issues with testing and tracing all the way down to native and state governments with extra restricted sources than the federal authorities, mocked masks, and tried to politicize public well being establishments as an alternative of letting science lead the response.

The outcome: America is faring a lot worse than lots of its developed friends. The US is within the high 15 % amongst developed nations for confirmed Covid-19 deaths, and has virtually six instances the dying charge because the median developed nation. If the US had the identical dying charge as, for instance, Canada, practically 140,000 extra People would doubtless be alive in the present day.

Many consultants have laid this failure on Trump. “It begins in some ways, and you can argue it ends in some ways, with the Trump administration,” Ashish Jha, the college director of the Harvard International Well being Institute, beforehand advised me. “If George W. Bush had been president, if John McCain had been president, if Mitt Romney had been president, this may have regarded very completely different.”

For extra on Trump’s failures on Covid-19, learn Vox’s full explainer.


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