 So I haven't really had the chance to speak at length about the coronavirus yet because as you all know we've just been focused almost exclusively on the Democratic Party primary but you know as it kind of winds down. I want to make sure that we talk about this and not brush it off or push it to the side because this really is an important story. And this is going to continue to be a story for the foreseeable future. In fact, former CDC director Tom Frieden is saying that the outlook is actually really grim. In fact, a lot more grim than many of us expected because if things continue on the path that they're on now, then approximately half of the United States population could be affected by coronavirus and a million people could die. Like, think about that. This really is a horrifying situation. We are looking at the prospect of a global pandemic and the United States is just not ready to deal with that. Donald Trump is in over his head. He's not capable of dealing with that. And we live in a capitalist system to where workers aren't able to deal with that. We don't have the resources needed to take ourselves to the doctor if we're experiencing symptoms. We don't have paid sick leave mandated by law. It's really horrifying. And you know to say that the Republican Party isn't taking this seriously would be an understatement because as many of you know a chud member of Congress literally wore a gas mask on the house floor to poke fun at all of the quote unquote hysteria over coronavirus. And this came at a time when one of his constituents literally died from it. But then he was forced to self quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus himself. And he's not alone because other Republicans, namely ones that attended CPAC, they're now in self quarantine. Ted Cruz was exposed to coronavirus. Even Donald Trump exposed to coronavirus. So I mean it's all fun and games until it starts getting serious, right? So I want to talk to you about Donald Trump's botched response because he managed to mangle anything related to coronavirus in a multitude of ways. But before we do that, I want to share this clip from ABC News because in order to understand what should be done and what Trump could have done better, we have to at least understand coronavirus, you know where it originated, how it's spread, what are the symptoms, just a general overview. So take a look at the short clip. The first case of novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Early cases were believed to be linked to a live animal market in Wuhan and have since been spreading from person to person. Shortly after, cases of the virus began to appear outside of China and on January 20th, 2020, the first case of novel coronavirus was reported in the United States. On January 30th, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. More cases should be expected in other parts of China and possibly other countries. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses named for their shape, protruding spikes that look like a crown or a corona. SARS and MERS are part of the coronavirus family as well as viruses that cause the common cold. The 2019 novel coronavirus was officially named COVID-19 on February 11th by the World Health Organization. Suspected community spread was first reported in the United States on February 26th with no known links to people who've traveled to Wuhan, China. WHO said on February 27th that COVID-19 has pandemic potential. This virus does not respect borders. COVID-19 can cause flu-like symptoms that range from mild to severe, including cough, fever, and shortness of breath. Since the infection can include symptoms similar to pneumonia, influenza, and the common cold, only a diagnostic test can confirm whether or not an individual is positive for the virus. Thousands of people have died around the world. The first deaths in the United States occurred on February 26th. There are trials underway for treatments, but vaccines are still in the development phase and likely more than a year away. CDC officials say that Americans should prepare for major disruptions to their daily routines. Recommendations to reduce the risk of infection include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, avoiding close contact with anyone showing signs of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing, avoiding touching your face, disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water aren't available. If you're sick, stay home. If you're experiencing severe symptoms or worried that you've contracted the virus, call your doctor before going in. I mean, if only it were that easy to just stay home. Most of us don't have paid sick leave. So even if, you know, we stayed home, then that's less money, less food on the table, right? And I think that this is also really getting people to think about the need for policies like Medicare for All and it is exposing the flaws in global capitalism. I mean, you see what's happening, right? Capitalist systems only function properly when we work workers to death. But when, you know, schools start shutting down and businesses start shutting down, events get canceled. But then what happens? Then, you know, markets start to hurt, stocks fall, global capitalism takes a hit. Like, there's got to be a better way to set up an economic system than global capitalism, but that's besides the point. I want to talk about Donald Trump's response because it genuinely is, I would say like, hilarious because it's so embarrassing, and this is disturbing because this is something that you have to take seriously, but he hasn't taken it seriously at all. He's incompetent. He's a buffoon. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's in over his head. He's your reality television show star. So of course, this isn't necessarily his forte, but I mean, like you have people in your administration to advise you and he's still managing to botch the response. So I want to share an article from Mother Jones that was written by Will Pascal and Jessica Washington, and they lay out 17 ways to be exact that Donald Trump botched the response to coronavirus. First, Trump picked Vice President Mike Pence well known for allowing an outbreak of HIV to rapidly spread in Indiana during his time as governor to head the government's coronavirus task force. As governor, Pence initially refused to allow clean needle exchange programs, which experts argued were necessary to prevent further outbreaks of HIV. He also spearheaded funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, which led to the closing of the last HIV testing facility in a county at the center of the outbreak. Last month in its 2021 budget, the Trump administration announced proposed cuts that would reduce CDC funding by 16% and slash 3 billion for global health programs. Three in 2018, the National Security Council's Global Pandemic Director left his post abruptly that his entire team was disbanded by former National Security Advisor, John Bolton. The Trump administration has yet to refill any of those positions, leaving huge vulnerabilities in our global pandemic preparedness. Four, in a press conference and tweets, Trump has been downplaying the severity of the coronavirus. In remarks he made on February 26, he claimed that the number of cases was declining in the United States. The CDC says it's highly likely it will continue to spread. He claimed that the fatality rate for coronavirus was lower than the flu it isn't, and a vaccine was coming quickly. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says it will take at least a year. Fewer than 500 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the United States, compared with 13,911 in the UK and 1,126 in the Ontario province of Canada alone as of March 2. Experts blame delays in rolling out the test on account of a faulty component in the original test, which has led to an inadequate supply of tests nationwide. As of Sunday, an unnamed HHS official told Politico that the defects had been resolved that hasn't been enough to prevent an HHS investigation into the delayed national response. The CDC failed to update testing guidelines to include more people as the disease has spread globally. The first instance of coronavirus contracted within the United States took four days to confirm after a delayed response for requests for disease testing from the CDC according to medical staff at UC Davis Medical Center in California. They blamed the center's narrow specifications for distributing coronavirus testing kits. The organization allegedly took days to approve the medical center's request. Trump isn't the only member of his administration spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. Last Tuesday, Trump's National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow told CNBC, We have contained the virus, despite CDC officials warning that the virus is likely to continue to spread. In a Meet the Press interview Sunday, Vice President and coronavirus head Mike Pence refused to refute Donald Trump Jr.'s claim that Democrats wanted the virus to spread and kill Americans. In 2018, the Trump administration cut 80% of CDC funding used to fight global pandemics. The funding support which went to training local health professionals and bolstering emergency responses across 49 countries was reduced to just 10 nations. China wasn't included in the revised list. Last October, the Trump administration opted to discontinue a Bush-era program expanded under Obama called Predict. That monitored the threat of animal-borne diseases to humans, the possible origin point of the novel coronavirus. The program was behind the discovery of more than 1,000 viruses, including an Ebola strain. During a standoff last week on a tarmac in Japan, the State Department pushed to allow 14 coronavirus-infected Americans to board a pair of flights back to the United States. The CDC fought back, arguing that bringing them back, especially considering the planes carried 300 other passengers who'd tested negative for the disease, would pose an unnecessary risk and more than double the number of infected in the country. In the end, the State Department got its way. According to a federal government whistleblower, Department of Health and Human Services personnel have been improperly tending to potentially infected Americans who were in Asia during the outbreak. The whistleblower alleged that the HHS workers without proper training or protective equipment operated alongside CDC personnel donned in hazmat suits when seeing patients and potentially exposed themselves to infection. The whistleblower later indicated that they were unjustly reassigned as retribution for speaking out. Without clearance from local health centers, federal health officials planned to fly coronavirus patients from a California air base to a FEMA facility on a decommissioned army base in Aniston, Alabama. The mayor of Aniston, shocked by the lack of planning, told HHS officials that the FEMA buildings lacked the medical capability to operate as a quarantine zone. On February 23rd, the administration dropped the plans. Costa Mesa, California is also fighting federal plans to transport patients to the city. As the crisis unfolded last week, one-third of the coronavirus task force took time off to speak at the Conservative Political Action Convention. The list of CPAC attendees also on the task force included White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, Larry Kudlow, Director of the White House National Economic Council, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the task force told CNBC attendees that the risk of infection remains low. Despite reassurances from Trump officials at CPAC and beyond that rumors of the coronavirus have been greatly exaggerated, Pence and his office have taken control of all public government statements on the coronavirus, which now go through his press secretary, Katie Miller. Because of this move, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health can no longer share their own research, and the Pence office stamp of approval is required to broadcast independent information. When a CDC-distributed coronavirus test kit incorrectly gave a negative result, an infected patient was allowed to leave a San Diego hospital. The patient, who was flown back to the U.S. from China, rejoined the quarantine tank of repatriated citizens for an entire day before being brought back to the hospital. Wow. That's a lot of information. And it is by no means a comprehensive list. This article is from March 3rd. So since then, more has happened, we've learned more. And the situation really is, it's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. I mean, when you have, it's spreading so rapidly, and a vaccine not likely out for another year, and we have Donald Trump doing this, responding in this dim-witted way. I mean, this is just the perfect storm of things that are leading to an outright disaster, and I see all of this. And I have this, like, sick feeling in my stomach, because this is horrifying. This is absolutely horrifying. Think if the worst-case scenario actually came to fruition, like former CDC director Friedman says, Friedin says, excuse me. Like, if half of Americans were infected with coronavirus, we have 30 million people in this country who don't have health insurance. We have more people, a total of about 80 million, who are underinsured, meaning they have health insurance, but they might not be able to use it because it's inadequate and doesn't really offer much benefits. Now, Trump is trying to do everything in his power to seem more competent. He floated the idea of providing, you know, healthcare to people who have been infected with coronavirus. On top of that, his campaign is announcing paid sick leave for coronavirus victims. But I mean, this is something that's been going on for a long time. We have paid sick leave for coronavirus victims, but I mean, this is something that we have to build into the system. Like, coronavirus is something that shouldn't have to happen to get us to think about the necessity of healthcare and paid leave. Like, it shouldn't have to come to a literal global pandemic, possibly, to get us to think differently about our economic system and our healthcare system in the way that, you know, we are absolutely crushing poor people. It shouldn't have had to come to this. And the fact that it is, is really sad. It tells you a lot about the state of affairs in America. And we have the biggest idiot in the world now in charge of trying to contain this and he keeps spreading misinformation. He put Mike Pence in charge who doesn't even believe in science. I mean, we just need a break. We need a break. We need to stop worrying about global war and climate catastrophe or a global pandemic for just a month. Can something happen that's good to the human race? Anything. It seemed like we were going to be hopeful because of a Bernie Sanders presidency, but even in that best case scenario, we'd still have to fight like hell to get changed. But I mean, like, you just keep getting hit over and over and over and over again that I just, I feel so bad for young people and old people. Anyone who's suffering and marginalized and disadvantaged and is an underdog because think about this. I mean, if you're like an 18 year old and you're just graduating this year, what future do you have to look forward to? Like you're looking at climate catastrophe, global pandemics. I'm sure coronavirus won't be the last incompetence in government and corruption. A Democratic Party that isn't capable of responding or unwilling to respond to the threat of fascism. I just I feel so bad and I don't know what to tell people who are, you know, just starting out in life like my niece who's 19. I don't know what to tell her. Like what do you say to give young people hope? What do you say? When I was their age, I felt hopeful, right? I got to vote for Obama. I felt like, you know, climate change was something we can take care of later on down the road. I mean, I knew it was something that needed to be addressed, but that was when we were looking at that 2050 timeline. But now we're looking at, you know, a 10, 11 year deadline to where we need to act to stop climate catastrophe. And it's just, I'm at a loss. Like what do you say? My job is to do political commentary, but I'm running out of things to say. I don't know what to say in these types of situations. The outlook is grim. Not just for Americans, but the human race. And, you know, I really hope that we get our act together. No more voting for dipshits like Donald Trump. No more voting for dipshits like Joe Biden. Like Joe Biden, who are just self-serving career politicians. You don't care about people. Like, let's get it together. And not just in the United States, everywhere. I mean, fascism is on the rise around the globe. Look at Brazil with Jair Bolsonaro. Look at India with Narendra Modi. It's just a really horrifying situation that we find ourselves in. And, you know, that's not to say that older generations have never had to deal with these types of pressing issues. Of course, that's been the case. The way we have an advantage when it comes to the technology now in 2020. But our human, like the human race, like all of us, our species has never been this close to extinction. Right? So, I don't know what else to say. We'll just take a deep breath. Understand that, you know, there is, there's a correct course of action for everything. It's just a matter of urging lawmakers to go in the right direction and do the right thing. Exercising our voices, finding, you know, the power where we can find it using the leverage that we have to push for change. But as you can tell, you know, it's getting increasingly difficult to be optimistic because I'm just kind of deflated. And maybe it's just me because I've been dealing with a lot lately. But I mean, everyone's dealing with a lot lately. We're all deflated and demoralized. And this doesn't help.