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Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ Our first story concerns the coronavirus. It's the Home Alone 2 of viruses, as it's amplified the dangers of air travel. Lots of it took place in New York, and right in the middle, for no good reason, is Donald fucking Trump. And I know that the fact we're about to talk about this at all would make Trump roll his eyes.

Speaker 2

00:21

That's all I hear about now. That's all I hear. Turn on television.

Speaker 2

00:25

COVID, COVID. COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID.

Speaker 2

00:34

By the way, on November 4th, you won't hear about it anymore. It's true. COVID! COVID!

Speaker 1

00:42

Look, believe me, I would love nothing more than to not talk about COVID and instead return to subjects we'd normally cover on this show, like scented candle fraud or alpaca veterinarian malpractice. But unfortunately, I can't do that when so many Americans are still dying of COVID! COVID!

Speaker 1

00:59

Every day! For many, Trump's handling of the coronavirus is going to be a significant factor in how they vote. And to listen to him, that's really not a problem. He's labeled his handling of the pandemic as tremendous, A-plus, and said, nothing more could have been done.

Speaker 1

01:12

Which is obviously ridiculous, as America has just 4 percent of the global population, and yes, about 20 percent of global cases. And if you're thinking, oh, come on, who doesn't know that Trump fucked up this pandemic? The truth is, a lot of voters are more than willing to give in the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 3

01:28

How do you feel President Trump has done in handling the pandemic?

Speaker 4

01:32

The best he can for something that's so somewhat unknown.

Speaker 3

01:36

I think he's probably doing the best that he can right now. I mean, there's so much mixed information out there and trying to decipher what's fact and what's fiction. The pandemic, Not his fault.

Speaker 3

01:49

And everything that's gone along with it? Not his fault. He's doing the best he can.

Speaker 1

01:56

Is he? I mean, I guess that depends, doesn't it? Do you mean that he's doing the best that any president can?

Speaker 1

02:01

Or the best that he can? Because if it's the second 1, you may actually be right. We should probably all be grateful that he hasn't tried bottling his urine and selling it as Trump immunity juice. Look, all presidents, whoever they are, tend to face a defining crisis.

Speaker 1

02:15

And this was unquestionably Trump's. But his response has been such a disaster that there are massive fuck-ups you may have already forgotten. Remember that time that he suggested we should leave American citizens on a cruise ship ravaged with coronavirus because they'd increased the number of positive cases in the country and he liked the numbers being where they are? That was insane, right?

Speaker 1

02:35

And we covered that on this show. In fact, we've talked about coronavirus a lot on the show this year, but we still thought that tonight, especially if you or someone you know also thinks that nothing more could have been done, it would be worth taking a look at 3 crucial areas where more could very much have been done. Specifically, preparation, coordination, and communication. And let's start with preparation, because it is worth noting, Previous presidents had been aware of a threat like this for years.

Speaker 1

03:03

George W. Bush demanded the government develop a pandemic response plan all the way back in 2005. And Obama created a pandemic preparedness team and gave a speech in December of 2014 that is eerily prescient.

Speaker 5

03:15

There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly.

Speaker 2

03:30

And in

Speaker 5

03:30

order for us to deal with that effectively, we have to put in place an infrastructure, not just here at home, but globally, that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly. So that if and when a new strain of flu, like the Spanish flu, crops up, 5 years from now, or a decade from now, we've made the investment.

Speaker 1

03:54

Wow. Those are some shockingly specific predictions. What else did he say there? In exactly 5 years, the Warriors are gonna blow a 3-1 lead to the Cavs, and LeBron's gonna have a chase-down block that makes your soul jump out of your body.

Speaker 1

04:06

Also, Kamau Nanjiani's gonna get really jacked in a way you don't know quite how to feel about. So, previous presidents were well aware that something like this could happen, And yet, in the years before this outbreak, Trump's administration not only disbanded Obama's pandemic team, they also cut CDC staff operating within China by more than two-thirds, and ended a pandemic early warning program. And even once the pandemic had begun, Trump took an appallingly long time to take it seriously. He will often complain, and not wrongly, that China took too long to be forthright with us about the virus.

Speaker 1

04:38

But what he doesn't mention is that once we found out about it, we acted unforgivably slowly. The first public reports of what was happening in Wuhan came on December 31st. And yet, Alex Azar, Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, couldn't get a meeting with Trump to talk about it until January 18th. And even when he did, Trump apparently interrupted him to ask when flavored vaping products would be back on the market, which, you know, cool.

Speaker 1

05:05

Then, Trump continually implied that the virus would simply go away, despite learning on February 26th that there was community spread in the U.S., something we might have known sooner, had we also not lost a month due to flaws in our testing process that we were extremely slow to fix. And yet, despite all of this, Trump loves to claim that it doesn't matter what he didn't do. What really matters is this.

Speaker 2

05:29

This country is very lucky, and I'm very lucky that I put the ban on China. I swiftly implemented a travel ban on China. I put in the ban on China.

Speaker 2

05:38

I did the China ban. We put that ban on. When I put a ban on, you have to remember, I put the ban on China. I ban travel from China.

Speaker 2

05:46

We put the ban on China. We put the ban on China. Ban on China.

Speaker 1

05:49

Yeah, to listen to Trump tell it, he bans travel from China and job done. So, if you've lost a loved 1 to this virus, I've got some great news. You didn't.

Speaker 1

05:58

They're completely fine. They've just been busy jet-setting all across the world, enjoying live performances with thousands of their closest friends. Because Trump put the ban on China, and we're all very lucky he did. But a few things about that, because while he did indeed impose some travel restrictions on China, they took effect on February 2nd.

Speaker 1

06:15

That is 2 weeks after the first known case in the U.S. And also, after 45 other countries had already done so. And this ban had some major exceptions, including allowing U.S. Citizens, residents, and their immediate family members to still come into the country from China, meaning an additional 40,000 people came in from there during the first 2 months that his ban was in place.

Speaker 1

06:37

Also, we now know that the virus came to the New York City area, not from China, but predominantly via Europe. And yet it took Trump an additional 6 weeks to place any restrictions on travelers from there. And when he finally did that, it came in a chaotic Oval Office speech where he falsely made it sound like some Americans wouldn't be allowed back into the country, which had predictable consequences.

Speaker 3

07:00

Confusion leading to chaos at U.S. Airports under the administration's European travel ban. Lines stretching for hours in New York, Dallas, and Chicago's O'Hare.

Speaker 1

07:10

Yeah, those images don't get any easier to look at. People panicked by Trump's announcement rushed into airports that were not adequately prepared to safely process them, with some passengers reporting there was no hand sanitizer available and having to share pens to fill out immigration forms. And this was before most of us knew we shouldn't be sharing anything with anyone, which incidentally is still true, despite what this Coke bottle tells you.

Speaker 1

07:34

Do not share that Coke with grandma. Get her her own and have it delivered by someone in a hazmat suit. Happy 90th, Gammie. Try to stay safe.

Speaker 1

07:44

So Trump's travel ban wasn't a ban, wasn't early, and didn't do what he said it did. But even if he had rolled it out perfectly, experts will tell you, if you decide to use travel restrictions, they have to be part of a comprehensive plan, because the best they can do is delay a pandemic, not prevent it. All they'll do is buy you a little bit of time, which is useless if you don't then use it wisely. Which actually brings us to our second point, coordination.

Speaker 1

08:08

And I shouldn't have to remind you just how badly this administration coordinated crucial supplies like PPE. Some medical professionals resorted to making their own using ski goggles, snorkel masks, and garbage bags. And yet, the White House denies mishandling anything. The RNC even featured this video touting the heroism of frontline workers, including a clip of Trump talking to a nurse practitioner in the Oval Office.

Speaker 1

08:32

But if you find the raw footage of that clip, you will see that the conversation they're having is pretty revealing.

Speaker 3

08:38

PPE has been sporadic, but it's been manageable, and we do what we have to do.

Speaker 2

08:45

Sporadic for you, but not sporadic for a lot of other people.

Speaker 3

08:47

Oh, no, I agree, Mr. President.

Speaker 2

08:49

Because I've heard the opposite. I've heard that they are loaded up with gowns now. And, you know, initially, we had nothing.

Speaker 2

08:56

We had empty cupboards. We had empty shelves. We had nothing. Because it wasn't put there by the last administration.

Speaker 1

09:03

Okay, first, sporadic for you, not sporadic for other people is the literal definition of sporadic. And second, his complaint that he had empty cupboards and shelves is slightly undercut by the fact He'd been president for 3 years when that conversation took place. If you move into a new apartment and 3 years later, there is still nothing in the cupboards, you don't get to blame the previous tenant when you're hungry.

Speaker 1

09:26

Go buy some fucking food. And it's not like the administration wasn't warned here. Take Mike Bowen, a top executive at a PPE production company. For years, he has been sounding the alarm that most of the U.S.

Speaker 1

09:38

Mass supply now comes from abroad. And in January, seeing what was coming our way, he emailed everyone he could think of in the government, offering a clear plan to ramp up production.

Speaker 4

09:49

I voted for Donald Trump. I thought, you know, if I contact enough people in the administration, somebody, 1 of these people, are gonna look at this and go, hey, this is a problem, maybe we ought to call this guy. And, no, I couldn't get any response.

Speaker 4

10:02

I didn't get any response there.

Speaker 1

10:04

Now, in hindsight, would warning Donald Trump have done anything? You'd get into the Oval Office and go, sir, a quarter million Americans are gonna die. And he'd say, like, me die?

Speaker 1

10:13

Or just like random people? And you'd go, well, Herman Cain. And he'd say, yeah, not really seeing the problem here. And you'd say, it might cost you the election.

Speaker 1

10:19

And he'd say, but I'd still have my fans and rallies, right? And you'd say, yeah, of course, they'll never abandon you, even if you're actively killing them. And he'd go, okay, not really seeing what the warning's about here, please leave. It's time for me to watch my shows.

Speaker 1

10:30

Bowen could not have been more explicit about what needed to happen. He told government contacts that placing large, non-cancelable orders would allow him to ramp up production immediately, which was important because, and I quote, I think we're in deep shit. But the administration dawdled, and Bowen later testified before Congress about what that delay meant.

Speaker 4

10:51

I'm getting 500 to 1,000 emails a day. I'm getting emails from people, not businesses. I am getting emails from moms.

Speaker 4

11:00

I'm getting emails from old people. Please, send me a message. And I...

Speaker 3

11:10

You make a product that can protect people.

Speaker 4

11:12

I can't help all these people.

Speaker 1

11:14

Yeah, that must have been incredibly frustrating. Because he offered the administration a clear way to at least mitigate the damage, and they just didn't move fast enough. And decisions like that meant that suddenly, and entirely avoidably, we had to scramble for essential equipment at the same time as almost everyone else on Earth.

Speaker 1

11:33

And for all Trump's supposed expertise as a businessman, his administration's approach to managing the supply chain was a total shambles. At first, Trump encouraged states to get it themselves, pitting them against each other and essentially starting a bidding war. And later, Jared fucking Kushner was made the White House lead for something called the Supply Chain Task Force. At 1 point, it tried to coordinate things directly, with Jared pulling in a group of mostly young, untrained volunteers to help vet leads on PPE.

Speaker 1

12:00

And here is 1 of them describing what happened after an initial pep talk about the importance of them tracking down equipment.

Speaker 6

12:07

Everyone stood up and started filing into different offices, and I remember the only people left were the volunteers. We thought we'd be auxiliary support for an existing procurement team that just needed to be expanded as quickly as possible, and we would, you know, do data entry for contracts. And instead, we were the team.

Speaker 6

12:23

I think when people imagined the federal government response in the war room, they thought it would be this big, you know, energized group of experts, not 10, twenty-year-old volunteers.

Speaker 1

12:35

That really doesn't sound good. And I'm not saying that young people are all dumb idiots. Mozart composed a minuet at age 6.

Speaker 1

12:43

This guy created the downfall of society at age 19. You'd just hope that everyone on the federal task force would have resource management experience that goes a little beyond, I played Settlers of Catan at my friend Topha's house 1 night, and I actually did pretty well. And the thing is, 1 of the best ways not to run short on PPE is to not have mass community spread. And 1 of the best ways to achieve that is by promoting strong public health guidelines.

Speaker 1

13:07

Which brings us to our final point here, communication. Because Trump has repeatedly undermined public messaging from the very start, despite the fact that, as we now know, he knew extremely early on just how bad things could get.

Speaker 2

13:21

You just breathe the air, that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky 1, that's a very delicate 1. It's also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus.

Speaker 7

13:34

That's what he said privately, but in public, later that month, he was still downplaying the severity and spread of the virus.

Speaker 2

13:41

This is a flu. This is like a flu.

Speaker 1

13:44

Yeah, Trump just lied. Which I know at this point isn't something that I should have to say. It seems like the kind of thing we all already know.

Speaker 1

13:51

Like, puppies are good. And Geppetto definitely built Pinocchio for weird sex stuff. That really should not be a surprise, because be honest, if you live next door to a bachelor who's aged somewhere between 70 and 1,000, whose only friend was a fish, whose house was full of not-for-sale handmade clocks going off at different times, and who 1 day said, good news, this little wooden boy is Pinocchio, he is my son. You'd have exactly 2 thoughts.

Speaker 1

14:12

1, he's fucking that puppet. And 2, We have to move. The guy whose house sounds like a bomb built himself a son. We have to move.

Speaker 1

14:19

No judgment, he fucks that puppet. It's not a crime. There's no law written down anywhere that says Geppetto is not allowed to fuck a puppet he made while his fish watches. I'm not calling the cops here, I'm just saying I'm moving.

Speaker 1

14:29

Away from Geppetto. And yet, even as it became clear to everyone that this was very much more than the flu, Trump constantly undermined his own administration's advice. On April 3rd, the CDC finally advised that the public wear masks, but Trump immediately undercut it in the very press conference that news was announced.

Speaker 2

14:49

The CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure. So it's voluntary, you don't have to do it. They suggested for a period of time.

Speaker 2

15:03

But, this is voluntary. I don't think I'm gonna be doing it.

Speaker 1

15:08

And just like that, wearing a mask was a political issue. Trump himself didn't wear a mask in public until July, which is obviously dangerous. You can't effectively convince people to do something while refusing to do it yourself.

Speaker 1

15:21

It is why SoulCycle instructors are on a bike like everyone else instead of just yelling, pedal faster, while lounging on a beanbag and eating a bucket of hot wings. It's about setting a good example. And the thing is, Americans were listening to him. Listen to these people just a few weeks later.

Speaker 3

15:39

Just like the flu, right?

Speaker 8

15:40

Well, it's not just like the flu.

Speaker 4

15:41

It's far more contagious.

Speaker 3

15:43

Well, I know, but people die from the flu also.

Speaker 6

15:46

They do

Speaker 8

15:46

doctors from

Speaker 3

15:47

the flu. So, to me, that's just the way I look at it.

Speaker 4

15:50

I mean, if he's not wearing a mask, I'm not gonna wear a mask. If he's not worried, I'm not worried. The president?

Speaker 4

15:55

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1

15:56

Okay, I understand that impulse. I really do. But, if he's not worried, I'm not worried, is a weird thing to say when he is the president, surrounded by 24-7 security and a team of doctors, and you are not even surrounded by a shirt.

Speaker 1

16:10

It has been genuinely remarkable just how consistently Trump has undercut public health messaging. Over a decade ago, the CDC actually developed guidelines for how leaders should communicate during a crisis, and they are... And I'm not saying that the CDC has been perfect during this pandemic, but Trump did the precise opposite of every single 1 of those. And on the empathy 1, which should be the hardest to do badly, he has been borderline sociopathic.

Speaker 1

16:42

Because just think about what medical professionals have had to go through this year, especially at the start of this crisis. In New York, hospitals had giant refrigerated trucks that served as makeshift morgues, and there were mass graves dug on Hart Island, even as hospital workers broke down in video testimonials. It was utterly brutal here. And with that in mind, let's go back to that Oval Office meeting Trump had with nurses.

Speaker 1

17:07

You know, the 1 that they used in the RNC video. And just watch Trump respond to someone citing concerns about what his colleagues were going through.

Speaker 8

17:15

And if I may add, 1 big concern that I have is the post-traumatic trauma that a lot of the nurses and doctors and other members of the health care team will be facing in the future. You know, they're seeing death probably 3 to 4 times the average than what they normally would.

Speaker 2

17:32

A lot of death.

Speaker 8

17:33

Yes. Yes, sir. No question about it.

Speaker 2

17:36

And by the way, while we're at it, you can pass these pens around, okay? Pass it around. There you go.

Speaker 2

17:43

I got something on the other side. Oh. I don't want to mess it up with you. No, no.

Speaker 1

17:48

I know, after 4 years, it is hard for anything Trump does to shock you anymore, but it is worth making sure that that still does. Because that man was in the middle of talking about his peers' PTSD, and the president cut him off so he could offer everyone pens. Pens!

Speaker 1

18:04

He wasn't even listening. He was just sitting there, waiting for his turn to speak so he could do his pen thing. Is there anything more grim than that? I mean, I guess he could have not offered them pens, but would that have been worse?

Speaker 1

18:14

Better? It's honestly difficult to say. It's even more difficult to write a joke off of. Oh, Trump must be great for you comedians, right?

Speaker 1

18:21

Yeah, not really. This has been a fucking nightmare. And all of this, the lack of preparation, coordination, and communication has had real world effects. And I know that Trump badly wants everyone to believe that nothing more could have been done.

Speaker 1

18:36

But that's just not true. Other countries have done more and suffered less. We have 4 times more people than Germany, but 17 times the COVID cases. And we have 3 and a half times more people than Vietnam, but 7,500 times the COVID cases.

Speaker 1

18:51

This wasn't inevitable. And look, I shouldn't have to take 20 minutes to tell you that Trump mismanaged the pandemic. In a lot of ways, the answer to the question, has Trump done a good job handling this pandemic is, well, he got the disease, so, you know. And the thing is, there are so many more terrible moments we haven't even had time to cover.

Speaker 1

19:11

From using this racist term multiple times to never once releasing a comprehensive federal strategy for fighting COVID to removing a watchdog overseeing 2000000000000 dollars in COVID relief, to saying he asked his people to slow down testing, which his people then tried to pass off as him kidding, to which he responded, I don't kid, to baselessly claiming that doctors are inflating coronavirus death counts for money, to suggesting sunlight and ingesting disinfectants could help cure the virus, to repeatedly undermining the nation's top infectious disease expert. At 1 point, he retweeted, fire Fauci, and got so openly jealous of him, that when Fauci was invited to throw the opening pitch at a Nationals game, Trump announced he'd be doing the same for the Yankees, surprising them since they'd not actually invited him. And look, if Biden is elected, it's not like he's gonna magically end this pandemic, but he'll at least take it seriously. And it's pretty bleak that that alone sounds good, but it really does.

Speaker 1

20:06

Because at this point, Trump is clearly bored of hearing about COVID, and I am sorry about that. But you know what's been completely exhausting for the rest of us? Worrying about it all the time. For what it's worth, multiple members of our staff were sick earlier this year, and it was heart-wrenching being constantly concerned about their health.

Speaker 1

20:24

And that concern hasn't gone away. There are long-term and devastating effects for many who have recovered that we still don't fully understand. People who are sick and dying can't see their families, and cases are now spiking to record highs all over the country. This virus has taken so much from us.

Speaker 1

20:40

Our peace of mind, our routines, and nearly a quarter of a million Americans. And it's frankly pathetic that in response, the only things Trump has offered people in this country over the past 8 months are damaging lies, staggering incompetence, and occasionally, when he's feeling generous, some shitty fucking pens. You