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Former Bush Diplomat Gets Key Detail Wrong in Tweet Admonishing U.S. Over Wuhan Coronavirus Response

Richard Haass is a longtime diplomat and president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He decided to weigh in on who is to blame for the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and decided to lay a large chunk on the blame on us. Yeah, apparently, he got some of the timeframe messed up. Our friends at Twitchy found this story.

“Yes, the coronavirus crisis had its origins in China-both its wet market & its initial coverup-but China cannot be blamed for our own months of denial, the lack of protective gear, tests & ventilators, & the failure still to require social distancing throughout the entire US,” Haass tweeted. 

The longtime diplomat was then fact-checked, with those noting that in January, China was still denying there was human-to-human transmission. Also, they destroyed samples that exposed the virus in December, strong-armed doctors who were trying to do the right thing, kept medical crews in the dark, and prevented doctors from reporting on cases of Wuhan coronavirus they encountered. They allowed Chinese New Year to be celebrated, exposing legions to the disease and allowed 5 million to leave Wuhan. This is all China’s fault. Their incompetence unleashed this mayhem upon the world. And we should be unapologetic in that regard. For now, the liberal news media is peddling Chinese communist propaganda because…'orange man bad.’ 

Sorry, Mr. Haass, the fault rests with China and China alone.