The Patriot Post® · Pelosi vs. Trump on the Virus Crisis

A renewed war of words erupted over the weekend as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Donald Trump of being a “weak leader” who “doesn’t take responsibility” for his supposed “failure.” Pelosi spread her bile across several media interviews in which she was critical of Trump’s handling of the China Virus crisis — especially his plan for reopening the U.S. economy. She insists that he can’t open the economy “based on falsehoods” and that his plan endangers Americans.

Furthermore, Pelosi attempted to move the goalposts for reopening the economy away from an attempt to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections to the development of “a cure” and a “vaccine.” “I don’t know that anybody can give you a timeline,” Pelosi stated, adding, “We’re prayerful that there will be a cure soon, that there will be a vaccine. That will take longer. That’s really the answer. And it is, again, the sooner we commit to shelter in place across the board, testing, shelter in place, treatment, contact tracing — that’s the path to opening the economy and putting people back to work.” In other words, Pelosi wants to keep the economy shut down as long as possible. There is, after all, an election to win.

In reality, Pelosi has been entirely uninterested in ensuring that Americans and their jobs are preserved during the economic shutdown she is pushing to extend indefinitely. She and her fellow congressional Democrats blocked Republican attempts to add $250 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program that ran dry on Thursday. As political commentator Deroy Murdock put it, “[Democrats] should be forced to tell Americans why racial and gender quotas are more important than saving employees from joblessness.”

It appears that Pelosi’s definition of good leadership is that which most benefits those in power at the expense of those being governed.

Meanwhile, the availability of testing continues to be an issue of contention. Some governors complain of still not having enough, while Trump insists there is enough testing available to move forward on reopening the economy. “Just like I was right on Ventilators (our Country is now the ‘King of Ventilators’, other countries are calling asking for help — we will!), I am right on testing,” Trump asserted on Sunday. “Governors must be able to step up and get the job done. We will be with you ALL THE WAY!”

Vice President Mike Pence also argued, “There is a sufficient capacity of testing across the country today for any state in America to go to a Phase 1 level, which contemplates testing people that have symptoms of coronavirus, and also doing the kind of monitoring of vulnerable populations in our cities, in our nursing homes, that we ought to be watching very carefully for outbreaks.”

What’s become increasingly clear is that some governors are extremely fearful of moving forward without having the assurance they believe having more widespread testing will provide. No plan is foolproof. However, at what point does the continuing significant damage to the economy outpace the fear of the virus? This week’s jobless claims might once again make that reality more plain.

(Updated.)