Dems Keep Blasting Trump's Coronavirus Plan, But Have No Clue What To Do Themselves
Democrats are concerned about coronavirus, and for good reason: It can be politicized.
Yes, there are reasons we ought to be troubled by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There are 85,222 confirmed cases and 2,924 deaths worldwide as of Saturday morning. In the United States, we’re dealing with the first cases of unknown origin, meaning the virus may have spread beyond people who have recently traveled to affected areas or who have come in contact with them.
If it all feels a bit like the beginning of an epidemic movie, it’s because that’s what lawmakers up on Capitol Hill, among others, want you to think. This politicized panic hasn’t just come from Democratic quarters, but the majority of it has. For your consideration, I give you a Friday hearing where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was appearing before the House to discuss the administration’s Middle East policy in the wake of the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
During the hearing, California Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman decided it was the perfect venue to fulminate to Pompeo about coronavirus.
“Mr. Secretary, it’s taken you two and a half months to come here before this committee to explain the actions of Jan. 3,” Sherman said, referring to Soleimani’s death.
“Today, the world faces a worldwide pandemic — the coronavirus. Will you come here next week and explain our international efforts to deal with the coronavirus, or will it take us two and a half months to have you back here?”
The exchange didn’t end with an answer — given it was a hearing on the Middle East and administration officials shouldn’t have to answer questions about coronavirus at such hearings.
At another House hearing on Friday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who finds herself in the news not infrequently for strange outbursts, induced several Republicans to walk out of the closed-door session with health officials when, according to Politico, she “kicked off the briefing sharply criticizing the administration as disorganized and lacking urgency in combating the coronavirus.”
This is all very interesting, inasmuch as I wonder what the Democrats would do to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Radio host Mark Levin did, too. On Thursday, he summarized the problem the Democrats are going to have in making political hay out of the outbreak.
“I’m waiting for the Schumer-Pelosi-Sanders-Biden-Buttigieg-Warren-Klobuchar-Steyer coronavirus plan,” he said.
“Open borders? Eliminate ICE? No vetting? Sanctuary cities? Nationalize the greatest health care system? Massive taxes on pharmaceutical companies and R&D? What’s their containment plan? What’s their vaccination development plan?
“Meanwhile, all they know is to attack, blame, and politicize. Like their media propagandists.”
So what is it? Because if this is going to be a global pandemic, which it has the potential to be, the Democratic Party’s core principles would have to be scuttled for any kind of effective response.
Just take border crossing. According to National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, three Chinese nationals were apprehended trying to illegally cross into Texas on Feb. 10; all three had flu-like symptoms.
The #CDC WARNING a #Coronavirus outbreak could hit #America. This, as we get word of 3 #Chinese nationals w/ flu-like symptoms, trying to cross into the U.S. It begs the question, don’t we need STRONGER #borders? Natl Border Council Pres Brandon Judd says ABSOLUTELY. #TrishRegan pic.twitter.com/uufpwwkD8n
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) February 26, 2020
Meanwhile, a source in Border Patrol told the Middle East Forum’s Todd Bensman, “What we cannot ascertain is if they are isolated until they come back negative. A lot of that is ‘medical’ and some managers treat it like it’s personal information. So we (Border Patrol) are not privy to the results of where they go after.”
My source doesn’t know that but said: “What we cannot ascertain is if they are isolated until they come back negative. A lot of that is ‘medical’ and some managers treat it like it’s personal information. So we (Border Patrol) are not privy to the results of where they go after.” https://t.co/icJIYtn1mZ
— Todd Bensman (@BensmanTodd) February 25, 2020
Reassuring.
Here’s the problem for Democrats: Remember that debate last summer when it was still in the clown-car divided-debate format? The one where Democrats were asked whether they would decriminalize border crossings? Eight out of 10 raised their hands.
While a lot of these candidates have long since exited the race — Kamala Harris and Julián Castro were the loudest among the decriminalizers that night last June — some are still in it.
And while the question wasn’t asked, I can give you a hypothetical which 10 out of 10 would have rejected: stronger border security.
In fact, one candidate is going on record saying she wants less border security to fight COVID-19: On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced legislation which would redirect money from the border wall into fighting coronavirus.
“Rather than use taxpayer dollars to pay for a monument to hate and division, my bill will help ensure that the federal government has the resources it needs to adequately respond to this emergency,” she said in a statement, according to The Hill.
Just so we’re clear, as travel restrictions increase across the globe and the biggest threat to our ability to contain the virus would be a porous southern border, Warren wants to redirect money away from solving that problem to … solve the problem of coronavirus. All of this because permanent border security is “a monument to hate and division.”
Their other policies are just as bad.
If big pharma isn’t necessarily going to save us during this outbreak, it could prevent future recurrences of COVID-19 — as long as they can innovate and do so profitably. One look at Nancy Pelosi’s ill-starred prescription drug plan — which aimed for onerous price controls on new drugs, effectively limiting the motivation to invest in new products — and you realize how the adversarial relationship the Democrats plan to have with the pharmaceutical industry might affect our ability to prevent outbreaks.
So, what’s their plan?
If an outbreak develops in Central America, do we beef up border security? Do we use Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to track down individuals from affected areas who may have gotten through? That’s beyond the pale in any sort of Democratic world.
They have a better solution — they just haven’t introduced it yet.
But you’ll see them fulminate. They’re the best at fulmination. They’re fuliminatetastic. And it’s not just going to be the Brad Shermans or Rosa DeLauros of the world who are going to be fulminating about this without actually having solutions themselves. Even Joe Biden is a proud member of Fulmination Nation.
“No one takes the president’s word for these things,” Biden said in an interview with CNN on Friday. “He at a minimum exaggerates everything, and the idea that he’s going to stand there and say ‘everything’s fine, don’t worry?’ Who’s going to believe that? Let the experts speak like we did in our administration.”
“You need to let the experts speak,” former VP @JoeBiden says about the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus fears. “…No one takes the President’s word for these things. At a minimum, he exaggerates everything.” https://t.co/43RdvxhMVw pic.twitter.com/eh8HV74pHO
— New Day (@NewDay) February 28, 2020
But that’s the thing: It’s not the Obama administration and Biden’s response to this is as flatfooted as the rest of the Democrats’.
This would normally be fine. I’m not usually of the school of thought that insists someone criticizing a plan needs to put forth a better one. Criticize away — so long as your policy positions wouldn’t actively make things worse.
In almost every case, what the Democrats have suggested in the past indicates they would be terrible stewards of the country during the coronavirus outbreak. Lecturing Republicans now carries no weight unless they’re willing to slough off many of their previous policy positions. They can’t and won’t.
They’re not going to call for increased border security, either at airports or the southern border. They’re not going to embrace pharmaceutical innovation. And they’re not going to get America believe that the solution is letting “the experts speak.”
This is a time for America to call a limited truce, at least in the department of coronavirus. I take no joy in hearing Democrats or Republicans use the potential of a pandemic as a moment to mount the soapbox. However, if a Democrat does choose to make their way up there, it’s more than fair to ask why they feel entitled to criticize the Trump administration when everything their party’s proposed in recent months is a prescription for perpetuating the coronavirus outbreak to the point it explodes.
Let’s hear them explain that.
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