Okay—this is getting out of control. President Donald Trump is accused of dithering in his Wuhan coronavirus response to the point where people are now saying there’s blood on his hands, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is pretty much skating by blame-free. It’s to be expected; Bill is a Democrat. The Democrat-media complex protects its own people. Yet, with over 750,000 Wuhan coronavirus cases in the US, with a death toll blowing past 36,000, when will Bill be pressed on his shoddy response? I say this because most of the coronavirus cases are concentrated in New York City and the wider tri-state area. It’s a mess. Before there was an explosion of infections, Trump created a task force, shut down incoming travel from China and then Europe, got American industry mobilized to create much needed personal protection equipment, especially ventilators, and got the FDA to loosen its grip on regulations concerning testing capabilities. What did Bill de Blasio do? He sat on his hands for most of the time but didn’t waste any opportunities in blaming the president.
On March 10, NYC Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot presented the mayor with evidence of an outbreak and urged him to enact measures to curb the spread. De Blasio refused. The next day NY Eater reported that de Blasio was still urging healthy New Yorkers to go out. On March 15, he finally began shutting down the city, though the subways appear to be still packed. De Blasio muffed the punt here period. Of all places, MSNBC actually pressed him on his somewhat sloppy response to which he replied that he did his best.
De Blasio is now tweeting that Trump needs to help his hometown and not screw up the next round of stimulus for the sake of the city and the economy. You cannot restart America without New York City recovering first. That’s mostly true and I would have no problem with Bill if he took action instead of staring at the sun. Unlike the fake narrative that Trump knew about the virus, which has become the new ‘FDR knew about Pearl Harbor’ conspiracy, de Blasio was warned by his health department and did nothing. Coronavirus was going to hit New York. They already had their Chinese New Year festivities. It was going to happen, but could there have been fewer infections if he took immediate action? Possibly.
Congress could vote on the next stimulus package this week. Guess how much direct aid @realDonaldTrump and the @SenateGOP have put aside for New York City, the epicenter of this crisis?
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 20, 2020
Nothing. #AskMyMayor pic.twitter.com/pIohlLuZ8u
If there is anyone who should be criticized for dithering, it’s Bill de Blasio, who also auctioned off ventilators that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg stored for this reason. Did de Blasio do his best? Well, as Cortney wrote today, some of New York’s finest say that’s fake news.
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