*Why we want Trump to win November election – Opinionists
*Before you take Trump’s blame on China – Recap
“The fact that he even agrees that China has capacity to make him win or lose the election is testimony that Beijing now rules the world. So, I pray that Trump wins the election and that is the best way for China or whichever country the world has actually concluded on to emerge unopposed. This is the analysis.”
Information reaching us says United States President Donald Trump, despite having no proof but acting on speculations and personal suggestions, is considering taking action against China on the blame he put on Beijing over the origin of ongoing Coronavirus pandemic ravaging virtually every nation of the world excluding few particularly the North Korea.
This is so even as some individual states, we gathered, have reportedly already filed suits against China for believing Trump about its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump’s position is that China could have done more to warn and protect the world from the pandemic and, unfortunately, it is based on this uncertainty of fact that President of once known ‘super country’ wants to take action against another country that, indisputably today, is being respected as leader of the world particularly in the fight against the pandemic as the Asian country not only defeated the dangerous disease at home but has been helping other developed nations in West, Europe and some African countries in overcoming their own problems as far as the disease is concerned.
US intelligence and other agencies however do not support Trump’s position as they already said there is no evidence linking the origin of the coronavirus pandemic to China’s Wuhan laboratory. World Health Organisation (WHO) too has refused to waver on its position that China did nothing wrong as, according to the United Nations’ agency, the virus has “origin in nature” and continues to call on the world to unite in the fight against it.
Unsettled by all of those positions, Trump is pushing for action against China and some opinionists, who are already fed up with self-based democracy of America, are asking him to go ahead with anything he can be up to.
Such measures being considered by Trump could worsen already strained relations between Washington and Beijing, according to Al Jazeera’s John Hendren who reported on Sunday from Chicago in the US state of Illinois.
In the meantime, The DEFENDER Nigeria reports that, while Donald Trump’s issue for which he is unendingly fighting China has been revealed knowing or unknowingly by him as actually tied to his own local politics of November presidential election the United States, there are some opinions which favour that he should win the election so that one major thing will happen: war.
One of the sources told us: “As far as we are concerned, Trump has made it clear that his fight against China is based on two reasons all for personal gains. One, he is fighting that emerged world leader over 5G technology successes whereas he cannot take what the people have from them. Two he is fighting China because, like he has already opened up, he believes that Beijing is working hard to make him lose the November 2020 election in America.
“What this tells you is that, Trump has admitted that China is actually the world leader now playing the role that he himself or his United States had played in other sovereign countries in the past. Don’t forget the recent experience when this same Trump almost collapsed Nigeria when he upturned America’s known discipline against corruption when he aided Atiku Abubakar into a country he was already banned from entering on the ground of corruption cases. He aided him with the aide of Bukola Saraki’s diplomatic pass and we are not unmindful of the fact that ‘back end server’ with which Atiku and his opposition party wanted to upturn the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari was the doing of Trump. What is his point now, therefore, against Beijing?
“The fact that he even agrees that China has capacity to make him win or lose the election is testimony that Beijing now rules the world. So, I pray that Trump wins the election and that is the best way for China or whichever country the world has actually concluded on to emerge unopposed. This is the analysis.
“If Democrat’s Joe Biden wins, tension will go down between America and China while Beijing’s world leadership will scale smoothly with peace certain in Washington after all Russia has been living its life since the collapse of Soviet Union. But if Republican’s Trump wins, which is what we want, Trump will not only gloat over the electoral victory but he will go extra mile to now use the power of state to go to war with China. That is where Beijing’s world leadership will be stamped automatically. Go and write it down,” he said.
Before you take Trump’s blame on China
Only on Saturday May 2, 2020 The DEFENDER published recap titled, “Before you take Trump’s blame on China: Read what he said he did on the virus — and what he actually did” and the reports goes as follows:
United States’ President Donald Trump, stung by accusations that he was slow to act on the coronavirus pandemic, released a long list of key actions his administration took to save lives, according Politico report published on February 14, 2020.
But the list, released by his campaign, overstated some of his actions — and left out the inactions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did distribute tests, as the White House noted, the report said. But it omitted that the tests didn’t work — and even when they did get improved, testing capacity lagged way behind the need. It was during these crucial weeks, many public health experts say, that an initial scattering of infections snowballed into deadly hot spots. The president highlighted how he sought to get American CDC experts into China, while omitting that he had earlier cut back U.S. engagement there. He did take action on vaccine development, which arguably helped.
Here are all the ways the president said he took action — coupled with a reality check for what really happened.
Testing
Trump’s Timeline
February 6: The CDC began shipping CDC-developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.
February 12: The U.S. shipped test kits for the 2019 novel coronavirus to approximately 30 countries who lacked the necessary reagents and other materials.
February 14: The CDC began working with five labs to conduct “community-based influenza surveillance” to study and detect the spread of coronavirus.
February 29 : The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed certified labs to develop and begin testing coronavirus testing kits while reviewing pending applications.
Reality Check
The CDC admits that the test kits deployed early on in the crisis were deeply flawed, preventing widespread use and hobbling U.S. testing capacity. Two weeks after the initial announcement, just three of the more than 100 public health labs in the U.S. had verified the CDC test for use, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
For more than three weeks, the federal government insisted that only CDC-developed tests could be legally used to identify coronavirus outbreaks. The kits’ failures left states dependent on mailed samples to the CDC’s central lab — which proved to be a major bottleneck, delaying results.
Moreover, the testing flaws delayed deployment of the touted “community-based influenza surveillance,” a potential early warning system for hot spots. At the time, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told POLITICO that the testing delay could impede the government’s ability to detect scattered cases before they fueled larger outbreaks.
The eventual solution — a shift in FDA policy that let labs develop and deploy their own tests, beginning on Feb 29 — came nearly a week after APHL urgently requested the regulatory relief.
Britta Jewell, an epidemiologist at Imperial College, London, told POLITICO that the lack of early and widespread testing in the U.S. played an important role in the timing of social distancing policies. Her work suggests that implementing the policies two weeks earlier could have reduced coronavirus deaths tenfold.
“Many countries — not just the U.S. — were understandably trying to time social distancing policies to minimize economic pain,” Britta said, “but it’s very difficult to get the timing right if you don’t know with reasonable confidence where the hot spots are or how many people are infected.”
China Monitoring
Trump’s Timeline
February 3: The CDC had a team ready to travel to China to obtain critical information on the novel coronavirus, but were in the U.S. awaiting permission to enter by the Chinese government.
February 7: President Trump told reporters that the CDC is working with China on the coronavirus.
February 12: The CDC was prepared to travel to China but had yet to receive permission from the Chinese government.
February 22: A WHO team of international experts arrives in Wuhan, China.
Reality Check
The document accurately notes that China prevented experts from the CDC and the World Health Organization from assessing the outbreak in early February. But it omits context — cuts to international public health efforts by the Trump administration prior to the pandemic had left a smaller footprint in China.
According to reports by Reuters, the administration eliminated a public health position in Beijing last July that had embedded an American epidemiologist in China’s disease control agency. More broadly, the CDC has cut dozens of China-based positions since Trump took office.
The CDC denies that the reduced American presence affected its assessments of the pandemic threat.
U.S. intelligence agencies were also issuing their own classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the virus and attempts by Chinese officials to minimize the apparent severity.
Public Communications
Trump’s Timeline
February 4: President Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.
February 9: The White House Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the nation at the National Governors’ Association Meeting in Washington.
February 24: The Trump Administration sent a letter to Congress requesting at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
February 26: President Trump discussed coronavirus containment efforts with Indian PM Modi and updated the press on his Administration’s containment efforts in the U.S. during his state visit to India.
Reality Check
While technically accurate, the campaign’s descriptions omit the fact that Trump’s public statements throughout February repeatedly downplayed the pandemic.
While the White House Coronavirus Task Force did provide a briefing at the National Governors Association meeting, the panel stated that “the risk to the American public remains low at this time,” according to a summary released by Health and Human Services. Likewise, during the touted press briefing in India, Trump incorrectly stated that the virus was “very well under control in our country” and claimed the “whole situation will start working out.”
The White House letter to Congress did request $2.5 billion, although $535 million was redirected from Ebola prevention and treatment. Ultimately, after weeks of negotiation, Congress passed a $2 trillion relief package in late March with more than $120 billion in public health funding.
Vaccine Production
Trump’s Timeline
February 11: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expanded a partnership with Janssen Research & Development to “expedite the development” of a coronavirus vaccine.
February 18: HHS announced it would engage with Sanofi Pasteur in an effort to quickly develop a coronavirus vaccine and to develop treatment for coronavirus infections.
Reality Check
The vaccine partnerships are moving forward, and public health experts say the federal government’s financial backing could help expedite a vaccine.
But Trump has rerpeatedly overestimated and overpromised how quickly a vaccine could be deployed. Optimistically, researchers say a vaccine could be ready after a year to 18 months of development and testing. But it would take more time to ramp up production.
Experts say a more immediate need was more production of personal protective equipment for health workers on the front lines. The list makes no mention of actions to accelerate that production until late March.
Travel Restrictions
Trump’s Timeline
February 29: The Trump Administration:
– Announced a level 4 travel advisory to areas of Italy and South Korea
– Barred all travel to Iran
– Barred the entry of foreign citizens who visited Iran in the last 14 days
Reality Check
Trump frequently defends his record by pointing to China travel restrictions announced on Jan. 31, a move broadly defended by public health experts despite significant gaps.
Further efforts to contain travel from other countries, once the virus had escaped China and gained footholds throughout Europe and Asia, didn’t come until the end of February. By then, strains of the virus originating in Europe were likely already circulating throughout New York City. Trump issued a comprehensive set of European travel restrictions on March 11. Experts say Iran was likely an early hot spot, although data on the virus’ spread in that country is limited.
While travel restrictions are a widely accepted tool for containing international disease outbreaks, some experts have criticized the focus on foreign travelers — noting that American citizens are no less likely to contract the disease and spread it upon their return.
While returning citizens are typically screened at airports, many have gone home with little more than an information pamphlet and instructions to self-quarantine. In contrast, Hong Kong — touted by some public health experts as a model international response — has run random saliva tests and subjected nearly all travelers to mandatory 14-day quarantines with criminal penalties for disobeying.
