What a bizarre month this has been.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) ask if the National Forest Service might change Earth\u2019s orbit<\/a> around the sun to alter the effects of climate change. An Ohio doctor pushes the idea that the vaccines can magnetize people<\/a> and make them susceptible to government monitoring — an idea readily accepted by Republican legislators there.<\/p>\n

Now comes Rep. Ann Wagner, (R-Missouri) proposing a bill that would hold China accountable for \u201cdeliberate, reckless action that allowed the coronavirus to spread, killing millions worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recently warned constituents that the government must pass this legislation, \u201cto make sure China pays for their reckless actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about reckless actions, I bet she can\u2019t wait to read \u201cNightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration\u2019s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,\u201d a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta that captures the Trump administration\u2019s dysfunctional response to the unfolding pandemic.<\/p>\n

The book details some of the inner workings of Trump world early on in the pandemic. We knew he wanted to block cruise ship passengers from re-entering the country. But did we know he also wanted to bar infected Americans returning from abroad? His solution: send them to Guantanamo. All to keep the COVID numbers down in the U.S.A.<\/p>\n

The book is not without its ironic moments…<\/p>\n

\u201cTesting is killing me!\u201d Trump reportedly exclaimed in a phone call to then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on March 18, yelling so loudly that Azar\u2019s aides overheard every word. \u201cI\u2019m going to lose the election because of testing! What idiot had the federal government do testing?\u201d
\n\u201cUh, do you mean Jared?\u201d Azar responded, citing the president\u2019s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
\n– Washington Post<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump fired key people to stifle sound scientific commentary. And, of course, he espoused ideas like using hydroxychloroquine and bleach injection. He repeatedly claimed the whole pandemic was all a hoax. He downplayed the need for masks and he failed to encourage widespread vaccination.<\/p>\n

Crazy, right? We laughed. But Abutaleb and Paletta take a more somber view.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest flaws in the Trump administration\u2019s response is that no one was in charge of the response\u2026 Was it Birx, the task force coordinator? Was it Pence, head of the task force? Was it Trump, the boss? Was it Kushner, running the shadow task force until he wasn\u2019t? Was it Marc Short or Mark Meadows, often at odds, rarely in sync?… Ultimately, there was no accountability, and the response was rudderless\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, Ann Wagner, people need to be held responsible for making the pandemic much worse than it needed to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a bizarre month this has been. We\u2019ve had Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) ask if the National Forest Service might change Earth\u2019s orbit around<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":41599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,119,1],"tags":[2678,3609,2459,3610,3532],"yoast_head":"\n