WHO AND TRUMP

The subject of today’s lunacy is a primer on why the WHO is being punished for the lack of Donald Trump’s leadership and his propensity to deflect and project his inadequacies.  The United States provides 17% of the WHO funding.  Trump in his announcement on the 15^th stated “had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China, to objectively assess the situation on the ground, the outbreak could have been contained at its source, with very little death”.  This statement is in direct conflict with his administration’s decision in July 2019 to cut the Center for Disease and Control and prevention’s staff in Beijing by 2/3rds.  Last fall the U.S. Agency for International Development’s was closed.  The program was responsible for world-wide tracking and identifying new viruses.  At this time experts warned the administration that by cancellation they feared and expressed their concern that the public would be venerable to lethal pathogens.

In Trump’s policy and his desire to keep America first (and alone) the National Science Foundation closed its overseas offices.  This action shows his lack of belief in science and his lunacy in being a closed society in a global economy.

Trump thinks leadership is only invoked when he knows that in the end he can become the winner. He knows he will not ever be a winner when all the public is seeing and feeling the impact of the virus and he knows he can’t alter the output.  So what does the worm do? He deflects, denies and gives everyone else his responsibility. 

Trump will insert himself only when he can see that the outcome may make him a hero even though anyone else may have rendered a better outcome.  This is not leadership.  Testing is now the responsibility of the states; The WHO is responsible for his failures and so on.  He blames the states for his administration’s lack of tests and testing. 

While he waited 2 ½ months to turn over this responsibility to the states, after in late February at the CDC (I previously thought it was at a pharmaceutical company) he stated “anyone that wanted a test could get a test” it wasn’t true then and it’s still not true.  Since his administration has failed miserably in testing, instead of making a Manhattan project and throwing resources at the problem he downplayed the pandemic and is now on the blame tour.

I honestly think he thought, by giving the responsibility to the states, he can deflect his failures and is in the process of blaming China as well as the WHO.  There was a window that Trump let slip, by where immediate action would have stopped the virus in its tracks, unfortunately Trump choose to ignore the danger and punted off to the states.  The states are ill equipped to respond to a national emergency and that is why FEMA was formed.  He will take credit only if it has some political benefit.  A leader does not politized a national emergency, then again a with reality show host that puts on a daily show for his audience, what would you expect?

Below the radar is the EPA that just gave coal fired power plants a gift.  Trump says he loves coal and promised jobs.  The EPA relaxes the rules governing the release of mercury into the environment.  Mercury causes brain damage in younger individuals.  My father would bring home mercury from work and I would rub it on dimes and quarters (when they were silver) and make them look good as new, for only a day then it would dissipate and turn dull.  I think that’s what is wrong with my mental development making me a lesser genius. 

The burning of coal releases mercury and it usually winds up in sludge that Trump has allowed to be released into rivers.  What could go wrong?  The poorer individuals’ lie closest to these plants and down river, as that is where rent is lowest.  Does this have an impact on the mental health of the poorest among us?  Is U.S. policy intentionally creating a second class?

In other news, a billionaire that owns a private major military company that works with the intelligence community was given the #2 spot in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  Trump wanted to appoint him to the #1 spot, but faced opposition in the Senate and since he has yet to appoint a #1 he is now acting as #1.  His appointment has followed his support for Mr. Trump, in 2016 he gave 1 million dollars to a PAC that supported Trump near the end of the campaign.  In that he owns a private company, there is no way to look into his companies’ businesses.

Today Trump started a campaign to tar Biden with the stench Trump has attempted to tarnish China.  Trump is blaming China for his own dithering.  His new tack is to associate Biden with China and thereby try to deflect the animosity he generated on China, onto Biden.

Also discovered, is a new scheme by which the taxpayer pays more than once for Trumps decisions.  The scheme generated by Jarrod Kushner goes like this: The U.S. government charters aircraft from UPS and Fed Ex to fly PPE from Asian suppliers and delivered to U.S. suppliers saving the companies $ 25 Million.  Then the suppliers were free to sell the PPE supplies at market prices.  The savings on shipping was not even taken into consideration in the sales.  This is a half-assed approach to a national crisis.  The government has the resources not only to purchase these assets but would garner a better price (economies of scale) and could use Defense Logistics professionals to distribute the goods.  Last year these firms earned $2 Billion in profits.  The program operated by FEMA (that has state wide distribution capabilities) is called Operation Air Bridge.  Medline, one company involved, had an income of $11.7 billion in revenue and because it is a privately owned company it does not allow anyone to look at its books.  This audit is avoided by not having FEMA directly purchase the goods and distribute them.  This produces both un-necessary profits generated due to a national emergency.  Is this tantamount to allowing and encouraging wartime profiteering?  This supply scheme, furthered by the firms, was only required to send ½ of the PPE’s to hot spots (irrespectively of need) and was allowed to sell the remaining at market prices.  Market prices for PPE has been 5 to 10 times the normal prices due to demand (not cost) and thereby having the government participate in profiteering.

That’s all for now!