Letter to the Editor, The East Hampton Star, March 19 edition

An Inspiration
East Hampton
March 16, 2020

To the Editor:

When asked at a press conference last Friday if he takes responsibility for the lack of coronavirus test kits, the president said, “No, I don’t take any responsibility for it at all.”

Enough. Since January it was clear this emerging virus was going to be a problem. Trump could have used the past three months to involve every federal agency in preparing for and dealing with the impending crisis. Instead, we got finger pointing and tweets ranging from “we have it totally under control” (Jan. 22) to “the coronavirus is very much under control.” (Feb. 24) Not.

The president’s disdain for experts has led him to ignore them at every turn. He has repeatedly insisted that a coronavirus vaccine is weeks or months away, only to be corrected by his own officials that it will take at least a year for one to be developed.

When asked at the same conference why the White House pandemic response team was disbanded and never replaced in 2018, Trump snapped, “That’s just a nasty question. I don’t know anything about it.” Nope. Not taking responsibility for that, either.

When it was Pence’s turn at the mic, he declared, “This day should be an inspiration to every American.” Yes. An inspiration to every American to vote in November and elect a president who is intelligent, thoughtful, empathetic, and able to shoulder the responsibility of leading the country during a national emergency.

Sincerely,

CAROL DEISTLER