world

Trump threatens to freeze U.S. funding for WHO, saying they 'missed the call' on coronavirus

98 Comments
By JONATHAN LEMIRE, JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

98 Comments

Comments have been disabled You can no longer respond to this thread.

Even March 9th, everything was still fine and people were using the WHO as their source.

A report today in Travel Market Report, a news site for travel advisors, quoted a spokesperson from industry trade group CLIA as saying, “Any action to restrict cruising is unwarranted, and at odds with the World Health Organization which ‘continues to advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.’"

The spokesperson continued, “Singling out the travel and tourism industry, and cruise lines specifically, will have significant detrimental impacts — some possibly irreversible — on the national and local economies.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/douggollan/2020/03/09/fauci-says-cruising-is-ok-if-you-are-healthy/#247b28fd2d4d

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Nancy said it was fine. DeBlasio said it was fine. NY Health Commissioner said it was fine. Liberal media said it was a racist, xenophobic overreaction to even consider coronavirus as anything dangerous. WHO said it was fine. Even Dr Fauci said go on a cruise if you want- less than a month ago.

Why would he listen to Peter Navarro when the topic wasnt trade? Does he ask Dr Fauci

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Trump, the genius and magician is right!

The WHO is indeed very China-centric!

But so is Donald and his USA!

Taiwan warned them way back in late December or early January that the Wuhan pneumonia is very contagious but Washington and the rest of the world snubbed the warning and didn't even consider letting the democratic Island Republic to be a member of WHO to please Beijing's President Xi JP.

As an old sayin in Naha said, hens of the same beaks da-kine nests and lay eggs together!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

the WHO got it wrong

Why didn't Trump say the WHO is part of the Chinese Communist party. This sounds serious. I would understand Trump pulling out and even calling for its elimination. If they collaborated with China to lie about the seriousness of CV shouldn't Trump lead the effort just to dissolve the WHO?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

it says it right here. TRADE adviser.

Why would he listen to him about a pandemic instead of the WHO? The WHO said its all good, dont even need to restrict travelers from China, they said.

*Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro,*

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

You all know good and well what the intent of that statement was to convey

What it conveyed to me was "This is what we have found so far, we aren't sure, things may change, watch this space." It seems your good and well is different from my good and well.

"We haven't found any clear evidence so far" means exactly that.

Its obvious when you go to the WHO website and watch how the message changes over time

Based on the findings as they come out. As one would expect.

Unlike the message from the Dumpster White House, where the message has always been clear, consistent and science-based, right?

But don't worry, it's April, the weather is getting warmer and the virus is set to disappear like a miracle. Dr. Dump sed so.

Invalid CSRF

10 ( +11 / -1 )

You all know good and well what the intent of that statement was to convey. Its obvious when you go to the WHO website and watch how the message changes over time in their daily situation reports up to and after 11 March. the WHO got it wrong and many countries have 10,000 or more deaths as a result of believing them.

And yet Trump's most loyal cabinet member said this in two letters in late Jan and early Feb;

President Donald Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, sent a memo to the National Security Council in January that predicted hundreds of thousands could die from the novel coronavirus with a loss of trillions of dollars for the economy.

Navarro sent at least one other memo, in February, with both warning of a grave impact if the coronavirus outbreak were not contained in the US.

Both memos were published Monday by Axios. In the first memo, sent January 29, Navarro wrote that as many as 543,000 Americans could die, costing the country $5.7 trillion. The memo described the possibility of both a "seasonal flu-like" outcome and a "pandemic flu" outcome but suggested the pandemic was likely given Americans' lack of immunity against the new virus.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-was-warned-peter-navarro-millions-could-die-coronavirus-2020-4

Yet Trump did nothing - except then go to five campaign rallies.....

Explain that...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the organization had said.

So let me try:

Preliminary doesnt mean that later we dont reserve the right to say we have found something after all later. No clear evidence doesnt mean no evidence, just not really clear, ya know?

no human to human transfer but we didnt say no transfer from a human touching a contaminated surface that another infected human touched. we just mean the virus from Wuhan, the one everywhere else might be different.

You all know good and well what the intent of that statement was to convey. Its obvious when you go to the WHO website and watch how the message changes over time in their daily situation reports up to and after 11 March. the WHO got it wrong and many countries have 10,000 or more deaths as a result of believing them.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Trump is correct on the WHO, but he will be bashed by the fake media nonetheless.

China bad - home of Corona Virus, unfair trader, communist government...

WHO bad - adjunct of Communist China, spreads Chinese propaganda...

Someone who gives business to Communist China and who gets their shirts and ties made in Chinese sweatshop factories cheating US textile workers out of jobs....

Bad too?

5 ( +7 / -2 )

RationalReader:

Taiwan warned WHO about person-to-person transmission at the beginning of January but the WHO refuses to interact with Taiwan because of political pressure from China.

Did you see the interview with the WHO official? Mentioning "Taiwan" to these goons is like a silver cross to dracula. Would be funny if it not not so sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlCYFh8U2xM

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

oh so now we hide behind the supposed difference between does not and cannot? would you parse and twist words like that if Trump said the same thing? nope.

"Based on what we know so far there is no clear evidence" does not translate to 'it cannot be transmitted person-to-person.'

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Trump is correct on the WHO, but he will be bashed by the fake media nonetheless.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

The World Health Organization said on January 14 that the coronavirus could not be transmitted person-to-person.

Mmm, no. To quote from the WHO report on the Taiwan case: "Based on the available information there is no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission. ..... Additional investigation is needed to ascertain the presence of human-to-human transmission, modes of transmission, common source of exposure and the presence of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases that are undetected. It is critical to review all available information to fully understand the potential transmissibility among humans"

"Based on what we know so far there is no clear evidence" does not translate to 'it cannot be transmitted person-to-person.'

https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-thailand-ex-china/en/

Compare that with:

Jan 22: We have it totally under control

Feb 25: CDC and my administration are doing a great job of handling coronavirus

Feb 26: The 15 cases within a couple of days is going to go away

Mar 4: If we have thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work - some of them go to work, but they get better

Mar 10: It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away

Mar 13: National Emergency

Invalid CSRF

9 ( +11 / -2 )

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze U.S. funding for the World Health Organization, saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.

Well Mr President, maybe if YOU and Bolton hadn't abolished the Office pf Pandemic Response, and withdrew the CDC experts we had in several overseas countries to include China, maybe YOU wouldn't have missed the call...

New Trump 2020 campaign slogan...

Trump/Pence 2020 - you can never say we suck, because we always pass the buck...

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Trump's move saved a lot of lives.

Trump long ago made things worse concerning viral pandemics via his hate for Obama. Obama had established the Directorate for Global Health security and biodefense within the National Security Council specifically to anticipate with scientific belief pandemics such as COVID-19, and work closely with the CDC and WHO. Two years ago, Trump forced out the directorate's leadership, and still claims as a business person, he doesn't think he needs people unless absolutely necessary, which actually, he did, but he doesn't listen to science nor its proof a pandemic was a very real possibility. Trump couldn't foresee it because he's an idiot, who won't listen to real experts, like WHO.

Yet, 'when necessary', Trump prioritizes his own comfort over necessity and won't have people he dislikes around, so nothing gets done. Things go bad and instead Trump chooses to scapegoat organizations like WHO, after the hard facts show him he no longer can lie and/or ignore what others have been seeing all along.

He's juvenile, foolish and has lost a lot more lives than he's saved by first ignoring, then wrongdoing and death causing slow actions toward the coronavirus.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

For anyone interested

The WHO is part of the Chinese communist party? Why didn't Trump say so? If so then Trump should lead the effort to completely dissolve the entire WHO. Not a trace of it should be left. But Trump should be clear that WHO is part of the Chinese communist party. He should speak up about it. We are not mind readers. Trump has to say it clearly.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

For anyone interested........https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2020/03/19/world-health-organization-acts-like-propagandist-for-chinese-regime/

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

WHO is complicit with the CCPs scheme of "corruption for power". Don't think for a moment the CCP didn't buy some pockets to make themselves look good. It's always about "saving face" even though they lack any credibility in the first place.

Trump though is once again throwing the baby out with the bathwater again with his reactionary words instead of rationally and intelligently addressing the issue in a way that should be far more serious and effective than what he's doing.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The World Health Organization said on January 14 that the coronavirus could not be transmitted person-to-person

Doctors suggest healthy people start taking the drug

(Trump)

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Taiwan warned WHO about person-to-person transmission at the beginning of January but the WHO refuses to interact with Taiwan because of political pressure from China.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The World Health Organization said on January 14 that the coronavirus could not be transmitted person-to-person

The WHO said on 02/03, after Trump banned travel from China, that travel restrictions were not needed. U.S. experts say that Trump's move saved a lot of lives.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

The Trump scapegoat search continues.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

What is there to say aside too little too late in cutting the funding as the US President is correct that the WHO did miss or perhaps dropped the ball intentional and did favor China way too much. Even Vice President of Japan Mr. Aso made the same allegations which are quite true and facts exist to support his opinion and there is no shortage of data out there posted to support the claim that it should be CHO and not WHO.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

The only way Trump would cut funding to the WHO is if he thinks it's politically a good move, even if it hurts the world during the pandemic. I'm sure the adults in the room will sit him down and set him straight. He likes to talk tough then back down.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Trump..nothing else but himself.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

all the people here cant stop turning it into Trump hate instead of having this necessary conversation. Which is what the article should actually elicit as a response when someone reads it.

They missed the call is what he said. Trump, you missed the call. As always. Incompetent ingrate blames the wrong people and organizations, like WHO, who are doing good, while he lacks the brains and visceral ability to help America. At a COVID19 high 1858 deaths in America today, the blame is very much on Trump, and it isn't hate for him that is causing anger, it is how he has been incompetent in his handling of the virus. Anyone who can't see that has blind love for Trump. It isn't blind hate of those who are seeing the problem of Trump attacking WHO, it's reason.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The interesting thing is that I am becoming extremely doubtful of whatever information that comes to us officially... from governments all over the world... and from major so called global and world aid organizations... So far nothing seems to "jive" as they say... nothing is soundly and reasonably backed up by meaningful and rational data, statistics and analysis on anything that is being presented by the governments and the world media...

All the hype is from so called authorities who give illustrations based upon "what?" Every data from every country worldwide is different but the same design when you look at the media... bit only one perspective... that this virus is extremely dangerous...

And we are stuck at home for how long..?

I think Abe did what he had to do here in Japan, but wisely did not commit to stopping ALL activities nationwide. Just as Trump did. Trump left it to the States.

And it really showed how each State or Prefecture leaders acted and thought.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Can this Moron do anything but whine? He's spent the last 3 months ignoring his advisers, spreading falsehoods, and whining....

All the while the virus took hold in the US and as Dr Fauci said so clearly, we were unprepared...

And now we lead the world in infections, and in his own estimates, possibly 250K fatalities....

There has been no greater display of utter incompetence in our nation's history...

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Regardless of all the Trump haters, the topic is continued funding of the WHO by the United States.

We will be cutting their funding, which is justifiable based on their misleading and false public statements and their inept response to this pandemic.

Thats all this article is about and facts support the decision.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Please look at the track record of WHO in this.

Are WHO still saying the same thing now? They are not doctors effectively. They are a world political group and rely on information from different countries and to help share and make policy.

Trump said it

Trump is stuck on saying Malaria meds are effective against CV.

don't just support WHO

Should they be eliminated?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Trump did say the virus would be like the flu and gone very soon. There is video evidence of it. However, WHO is no angel either.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/coronavirus-world-health-organisation-accused-of-parroting-chinese-propaganda/news-story/1b8b339912d5e5a05006925f834822b9

The World Health Organisation is facing growing criticism for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

From criticising travel bans and repeating China's claims in mid-January that the virus cannot be transmitted between humans, to blindly accepting the regime's likely fake statistics, the WHO and Dr Tedros have consistently toed the line of the Communist regime.

The WHO declined to classify the new coronavirus a pandemic until March 11, when there were already more than 120,000 confirmed cases throughout 114 countries and nearly 4400 deaths.

Despite clear evidence of Chinese authorities covering up the beginnings of the outbreak in Wuhan – detaining doctors and journalists who attempted to sound the alarm – Dr Tedros has lavished praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping, hailing the “transparency” of the country's “top leadership”.

“We appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak,” he said in a statement on January 28.

In early February, Dr Tedros slammed countries including the US and Australia for inciting “fear and stigma” by denying entry to travellers from China, saying there was “no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade” and calling “on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent”.

In a press conference, he hit back at a journalist's suggestion the WHO had been pressured to lavish “effusive praise” on China.

In an opinion piece published in The Hill last month, University of Texas political science professor Bradley Thayer and Citizen Power Initiatives for China vice president Lianchao Han noted “China’s connections to Tedros’ homeland of Ethiopia, now called East Africa’s ‘Little China’ because it has become China’s bridgehead to influence Africa and a key to China’s Belt and Road initiative there”.

“Indeed, China has invested heavily in Ethiopia,” they wrote.

“Tedros was elected to his position with the WHO in 2017, despite the fact that he was not trained as a medical doctor and had no global health management experience. A former minister of health and minister of foreign affairs for Ethiopia, Tedros is an executive member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front political party, which came to power through a struggle in 1991 and has been listed as a perpetrator in the Global Terrorism Database.”

Dr Tedros was heavily criticised in 2017 after attempting to appoint then-Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So? They have reiterated. Doctors used to prescribe cigarettes to sick people decades ago. Rush Limbaugh says cigarettes don't cause cancer. Trump is still stuck on blaming CNN and Hillary.

This article is about Trump blaming WHO, not about CNN or Hillary.

I do not support or like Trump. Trump has heaps to blame on himself and yes he should have realised about WHO being totally wrong sooner, but all that does not change that was he is saying now about WHO is correct. I cannot understand comments in this forum from Trump hater who choose to support WHO just because Trump said it. Please look at the track record of WHO in this. They are clearly incompetent or worse.

Criticise Trump for the numerous things he deserves it for but don't just support WHO out of hate for Trump.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Trump hasn't handled this situation particularly admirably, granted, but the WHO has been pushing the CCP's barrow since the situation exploded and has copped little public criticism. Why should the US keep funding the WHO if the WHO is already in China's pocket? China has consistently lied and obfuscated about the virus's origin and numbers of infections, suppresses information, scrubs records of scientists and disappears whistleblowers. Yet Trump is Public Enemy No. 1? Give me a break.

If the WHO wants to keep taking funds from a corrupt autocracy in exchange for influence, let them. But they they shouldn't then expect the US and others to pay up as well.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

he didnt wait. he banned all travel from China end of Jan and set up a task force. Spoke of the threat of Coronavirus in the State of the Union address in early Feb. For all that, he got called a racist xenophobe who was overreacting.

WHO was still advising not to take any action late Jan. So if he isnt supposed to wait for the WHO or expect them to provide correct info, that proves my point.....what is the purpose of the USA funding them?

So are all you agreeing with the dimwit trump saying the president of the US is supposed to WAIT for China & various international organiations to MAKE DECISIONS on behalf of the US & other countries......are you all MAD!!!!

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Look for Fox to sprinkle in unflattering WHO stories over the next week.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Trump is right . Don't shoot the messenger

WHO continued to advocate not having travel bans that all countries are now doing. Imagine the world situation if these had been instigated months or even weeks age. (Same person who shamefully refused to talk about why WHO ignores Taiwan - check it online all you WHO supporters)

Dr. Bruce Aylward, who led a WHO team in China during the raging COVID-19 outbreak there last month, said in an interview that travel bans “generally aren't part of the armamentarium you bring to bear on something like this.”

"What we found, as a general principle - not a general principle, a pretty robust principle - is that it doesn't help to restrict movement,” 

>

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Trump's trick is working even here in JToday. Many people suddenly change their target to the WHO. He is a smart and genuine demagogue, I mean both domestically and internationally. Abe should learn from him more. Even 8+ million deaths would not matter to Trump.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

It's obvious that the WHO dropped the ball on dealing with the virus from Wuhan, China.

Thats a huge understatement.

WHO also delayed it's announcement that this virus was a pandemic. The usual suspects will continue to support China, in spite of China's repeated failures, and they will continue to attack Trump because that is what they do. Haters gotta hate.

They are the absolute last body of government that should receive US tax dollars. The Europeans and take over and fill that financial gap or maybe China can and then we can finally discredit the organization...well, we’re already there anyway.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

international parasite organizations

Could you give us a few examples of these organisations?

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Trump is right. Don't shoot the messenger

So? They have reiterated. Doctors used to prescribe cigarettes to sick people decades ago. Rush Limbaugh says cigarettes don't cause cancer. Trump is still stuck on blaming CNN and Hillary.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

WHO is clearly a puppet of China and have been wrong and late on all of their calls. Remember they recommended NOT to stop world travel and close borders thereby allowing the virus to spread worldwide. China locked down Wuhan to the rest of China but still allowed fInternational flights to fly out of Wuhan to infect the rest of the world. Then for weeks they refused to call pandemic when Blind Freddy could see the virus was spreading and was already a pandemic. They keep paying it can be averted bah blah. Look at the world now thanks in good part to them! And more recently continue to advocate against the need to wear masks when the USA and most countries are now realising that wearing a mask has some value and many places mandating when going outdoors.

Here is the thing, YES, anyone with a functioning brain KNOWs that China's response to its own doctors & the rest of the world deserves  CONDEMNATION. And Yes the WHO was late to ""declare"" a pandemic..

BUT as I said anyone with a BRAIN KNEW both of the ABOVE!!!

So are all you agreeing with the dimwit trump saying the president of the US is supposed to WAIT for China & various international organiations to MAKE DECISIONS on behalf of the US & other countries......are you all MAD!!!!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Trump is right. Don't shoot the messenger

An example of the great job the WHO has done for all you WHO supporters. Straight from their puppet masters

“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the organization had said.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Trying to choose who to root for between the WHO and Trump, is like having to choose whether to be executed by electric chair or gas chamber.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sure they do. 

China's population is about 4x that of the US. Do the math and it shows Trump is the loser in this situation vs. China.

Yet the USA, France, Spain and Italy all have 3-4 times as many deaths.......why?

And Japan? Stay safe with Japan's government run healthcare. Germany is doing better than the US. In the US many people have symptoms but they are afraid to get tested because TrumpCare is such a failure and they might get hit with 100s of thousands of dollars in medical bills. China is 2 vs. 8 (the US) per million CV death cases. There's the math and it shows Trump's failure. He can't even compete against China in terms of public health. How are Americans going to pay if they become infected with CV and need to rely on TrumpCare? Stay safe in Japan. Less cases and no bankruptcy from healthcare costs. You can have your cake and eat it in Japan when it comes to your health under the CV threat.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Sure they do. Yet the USA, France, Spain and Italy all have 3-4 times as many deaths.......why? Trump supposedly is the cause of USA what happened everywhere else? Did they also make the same mistake of trusting the WHO statement?

Sorry, are you saying that Trump was listening to the WHO and therefore decided to do nothing? For starters, that is idiotic, everybody knows Trump doesn't even listen to his own advisors, so why would he have listened to the WHO? Second, even if he was, the WHO was telling everyone in February that this was spreading and that countries needed to take radical steps to contain it, which he ignored. Because duh, he never listens to the WHO.

You can't have it both ways. Either he was listening to the WHO all along and for some reason decided to ignore their recommendations, or he was ignoring them all along in which case it doesn't matter what they were saying. Either way, he is the one who screwed up.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Blaming everyone but himself.... while smaller populations, countries like Australia and NZ have it managed and flattening the curve.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The WHO declared COVID-19 a public health emergency on Jan. 30, nearly a month before Trump tweeted that "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA" and a full 43 days before he declared a national emergency in the United States.

Yep, it's on them.

Look, some things Trump has done has been good. He's obviously listening to the experts when making decisions. He's obviously taking their guidance to heart and I'm thankful for that. They are able to get through to him and reach him.

Then Trump speaks on his own and the wheels fall off the bus. Bragging about TV ratings. Denying aid to governor's who aren't "appreciative." Spontaneously talking about sealing off entire states. And now this, threatening funding to the WHO as a way to have someone to point the finger at.

This is when Trump is at his absolute worst, when he's following his instincts and not thinking or talking through things with others. Let's hope he keeps that to a minimum during this crisis. It's bad for the country.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I am most certainly not a Trump supporter but just because it is him saying it doe not mean it is wrong. Not everything he say has to be wrong just because he says it and in this case he is most certainly 100% correct.

WHO is clearly a puppet of China and have been wrong and late on all of their calls. Remember they recommended NOT to stop world travel and close borders thereby allowing the virus to spread worldwide. China locked down Wuhan to the rest of China but still allowed fInternational flights to fly out of Wuhan to infect the rest of the world. Then for weeks they refused to call pandemic when Blind Freddy could see the virus was spreading and was already a pandemic. They keep paying it can be averted bah blah. Look at the world now thanks in good part to them! And more recently continue to advocate against the need to wear masks when the USA and most countries are now realising that wearing a mask has some value and many places mandating when going outdoors.

Trump haters, hold off on this Trump is occasionally right!

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Trump & few poster here NEED to watch this video about OWNERSHIP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljqra3BcqWM

Hell EVERYONE here should watch this video, the above link clearly shows what leadership is & MEANS!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Sure they do. Yet the USA, France, Spain and Italy all have 3-4 times as many deaths.......why? Trump supposedly is the cause of USA what happened everywhere else? Did they also make the same mistake of trusting the WHO statement?

China has 3,000 reported deaths

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

I just read an article that says the medicine that the US president has been pushing in the news briefings is sold by a company that he owns shares.

Donald Trump Has Stake In Hydroxychloroquine Drugmaker: Report

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine_n_5e8c41d7c5b6e1d10a696280

In addition, Sanofi’s largest shareholders include a mutual fund company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said. Trump’s three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding was Sanofi, according to the Times. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also had ties to the drugmaker, the Times reported.

How is that not a conflict of interest as people around the world are suffering, and people are dying?

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Anonymity sure brings the Trump supporters out of the shadows...

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Was it intentionally wrong?

Trump sure is. Proof:

The U.S. leads the world with more than 383,000 reported COVID-19 cases. The death toll has surpassed 12,000.

(news source)

The problem is scientists do get it wrong but they reiterate to get it right. Trump keeps blaming CNN and Hillary. The US is worse off than China and (1) it started in China and (2) China has a bigger population.

If you look here:

https://google.com/covid19-map/?hl=en

The US is in the dark blue (under Trump and TrumpCare)

China is in the medium blue

Japan (stay safe folks) is still in the light blue.

The CV fight is failing under Trump. Trump only thinks about his properties and blaming Hillary and CNN.

China has 3,000 reported deaths vs. the US's 13,000. Japan only has around 80 (stay safe)

6 ( +8 / -2 )

More deflection by Tramp.

Shift the Blame, Shift the Focus, Shift the Narrative.

Failing to own up to earlier inadequacies "not my responsibility" reflects on true lack of leadership qualities.

No Spin can change that. It's a Fact. It's on the Records.

But what Tramp can do is to cut the demonizing, the disparaging, the lying, the self-inflation and face the crisis with his fragile ego locked away in his gold safe in his gold room in his gold tower.

Because what the people of the US need is a knowledgable, empathetic leader who can act with wisdom and decisiveness.

Just watched prime minister of Aust (and the opposition leader) both give speeches in parliament this morning. I'm no big fan of the conservative leader Scott Morrison - no way, but I welcome all to listen to the speech(es) on youtube and compare to the manner & dribble coming out of the Tramp's mouth. Morrison is a deeply religious conservative, but he understands that it is the people first - the citizens & their well being that is the critical priority and has created bi-partisan legislation towards that. Tramp is way off the page re this.

Tramp has an enormous battle ahead. He will need to show far more than simple attacks on others - governors, WHO, journalists, China, etc etc - if he wants history to record outstanding leadership in times of peril.

Sad.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

It’s just amazing that all these “speak truth to power” people have no comment about the WHO statement that there is no human to human transmission. Was it intentionally wrong? Did it lead to deaths?

> oh never mind. #orangemanbad

its just amazing that all these sudden "Speak truth to WHO" people have no comment about Trump's statement that this would all disappear miraculously when the weather got warm in April. Or that it was a Democrat hoax to make him look bad. Was that intentionally wrong? Did it lead to deaths?

oh never mend, #WHObad

13 ( +14 / -1 )

The WHO certainly couldn’t decide to call it a pandemic when it was clear that it was wildly spreading.

Praising China after its persecution of doctors there?

Tedros is hand in glove with the CCP.

Also, the United Nations was also silent on the spread of the virus.

All the players were reticent to call it.....

2 ( +7 / -5 )

It’s just amazing that all these “speak truth to power” people have no comment about the WHO statement that there is no human to human transmission. Was it intentionally wrong? Did it lead to deaths?

oh never mind. #orangemanbad

-12 ( +1 / -13 )

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze U.S. funding for the World Health Organization, saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.

Oh, are we into punishing people who "missed the call" on Covid-19 now? Great, lets start with the idiot who was saying it would just miraculously disappear a month ago.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

Deflect, deny, deceive, discredit, and destroy; it's the Trump way.

20 ( +20 / -0 )

Trump said the international group had “called it wrong” on the virus and that the organization was “very China-centric" in its approach, suggesting that the WHO had gone along with Beijing's efforts months ago to minimize the severity of the outbreak. The WHO has praised China for its transparency on the virus, even though there has been reason to believe that more people died of COVID-19 than the country’s official tally.

“They should have known and they probably did know," Trump said of WHO officials.

It's obvious that the WHO dropped the ball on dealing with the virus from Wuhan, China. WHO also delayed it's announcement that this virus was a pandemic. The usual suspects will continue to support China, in spite of China's repeated failures, and they will continue to attack Trump because that is what they do. Haters gotta hate.

-14 ( +5 / -19 )

Trump = Chief Blaming Officer. Absolutely pathetic!

15 ( +16 / -1 )

Large orange man with an even larger ego takes no blame trying to pass the buck as usual. Didn't he boast a few weeks back that the U.S was doing a "fantastic" job and that there were no cases! I bet with Kushner leading pandemic response team they'll have everything in control soon /s

12 ( +14 / -2 )

In january, the wise were already know the virus is dangerous, and prepared for it . In february, even the idiotsalso knowed that from the news around the world. Trump was worse than a idiot.

The wise? Like WHO? Like politicians such as Pelosi in the USA who considered use of the term “Wuhan Virus” to be racist in January. Give me a BREAK!

-15 ( +6 / -21 )

That's right, Cheeto-in-Chief. Blame anyone, ANYONE, except yourself.

After all, "I don't take responsibility at all."

Groundhog Day is long past. Go back into your hole in the ground.

-17 ( +5 / -22 )

"The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive and beyond words," he said, and noted that China is setting "a new standard" for outbreak response

The CCP is the absolute worst, just disgusting.

-6 ( +11 / -17 )

what was happening in Wuhan in November and December 2019

I think your timeline is off. All of the doctors in Wuhan had no idea what it was until mid December, and they certainly didn’t know how dangerous it was until late December. As soon as they did, they notified (not through government channels but a worldwide infection web portal) as many as possible. To my recollection anyway.

invalid CSRF

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

Yeah, just what we need now. Let's shut down our global health institutions.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

In january, the wise were already know the virus is dangerous, and prepared for it . In february, even the idiotsalso knowed that from the news around the world. Trump was worse than a idiot.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

and there is human to human transmission obviously. So why would the USA fund an organization that helped China lie to the world?

Why would he do that? He would be a fool if he did. Once again the liberal apologists for China on TV and in the halls of the W.H.O to fund an organization that has gotten this virus so wrong on many levels and bows to the echoes of China. He should definitely withhold funding and you have other nations that will bow down to them, let them take the reigns then. Best of luck to them.

-19 ( +6 / -25 )

Some people don't want to hear what they don't want to hear, and then, when reality manifests, they blame others.

13 ( +18 / -5 )

I happen to think that Trump is a liar, a fool, and not fit for office, so I can't wait to see him gone. But that does not blind me to the fact that as far as the WHO is concerned, yes they pandered to China instead of doing their job, which was to let the rest of the world know exactly what was happening in Wuhan in November and December 2019. The Chinese dictatorship, having experienced the SARS outbreak of 2002/2003 and it's being traced to the wet markets, did not make them illegal then as they should have. Instead they put their efforts and undoubtedly under the table funding towards "buying" the WHO.

Yes Trump has messed up the US response to COVID19 as he has messed up many many things. But this is on a scale that every country on the planet in struggling to manage, so frankly, itn doesn't really matter who is in the leader's chair. The failure of medical systems goes back beyond current world leaders and this pandemic is on a scale that no one was prepared for. So as a Trump hater, I think that my fellow Trump haters should back and take a clear bipartisan view of this national and international crisis.

As for threatening to cut off US funding for WHO unless they clean house and get out of China's pocket, I support this completely. As I am sure millions around the world who are asking "why didn't the WHO alert the world sooner". The United States officially funds more than double what China does.

https://www.who.int/about/finances-accountability/funding/AC_Status_Report_2020.pdf?ua=1

1 ( +14 / -13 )

is any part of this statement true?

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus heaped praise on China in Thursday's news conference in Geneva announcing the emergency.

"The Chinese government is to be congratulated for the extraordinary measures it has taken to contain the outbreak," Tedros said.

"The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive and beyond words," he said, and noted that China is setting "a new standard" for outbreak response.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Did-WHO-s-China-ties-slow-decision-to-declare-emergency

-6 ( +12 / -18 )

and there is human to human transmission obviously. So why would the USA fund an organization that helped China lie to the world?

And?

-17 ( +7 / -24 )

Trump is not just brazen, he's mentally incapacitated. Even Maine Senator, Susan Collins, who gave Trump a pass over his impeachment, now admits that her president may not have learned his lesson. Meanwhile, the Republic burns and the orange hero just goes on playing his accordion. Reality will eventually come, even to Trump and his enablers.

21 ( +26 / -5 )

There is no depth to which he will not sink.

16 ( +22 / -6 )

China has to be held accountable

How exactly? Trump is the one who said CV was a hoax to get him impeached

16 ( +21 / -5 )

We can't expect better from 'The buck stops everywhere'.

Since Donny clearly ignored all warnings, because his friends at faux told him so, is he going to sanction 'Faux' too?

13 ( +18 / -5 )

Trump has mouthed the slogan “America first,” but he has never acted on it. It has always been “Trump first.” His business first. His excuses first. His pathetic vanity first.

22 ( +29 / -7 )

His position has been quite obviously justified by the position that WHO officials took regarding the sources and actions of China. China has to be held accountable and yet WHO was and is playing international politics. The research and reports from the international community has given enough evidence to support the exremely political nature of WHO.

-5 ( +9 / -14 )

Oh, the old blame game. Trump is a disgrace and insult for the whole civilized world.

16 ( +22 / -6 )

God, I hope he does. I mean, I hope Graham does.

-24 ( +2 / -26 )

 Trump said. “I’m a cheerleader for this country."

There's an infamous tweet from Trump years ago where he made fun of President Obama for being a "cheerleader" rather than a leader. This statement didn't age well.

19 ( +23 / -4 )

Oh ! , has Trumpy had his feelings hurt again, when anyone or any organization tells the truth to Trump, the excuse master in chief starts to blame everyone but himself. His handling of the situation regarding the coronvirus has been a disaster.

16 ( +24 / -8 )

George Carlin explained all this in 1990.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rh6qqsmxNs

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Yes. It is always expected.

Trump blames the WHO and others, except himself.

I will not be surprised that Abe soon blames S. Korea.

8 ( +25 / -17 )

Trump is an absolute embarrassment. He himself downplayed the severity of the Coronavirus up until mid-March. There is video and audio evidence that he had done so plenty of times, later on going on to lie that he was taking it serious from the beginning. The guy is a clown and his administration is a circus.

24 ( +36 / -12 )

The Jan. 14 tweet came less than two months before WHO declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic.

And?

-2 ( +11 / -13 )

The Jan. 14 tweet came less than two months before WHO declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic.

“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the organization had said.

7 ( +21 / -14 )

That's right, Cheeto-in-Chief. Blame anyone, ANYONE, except yourself.

After all, "I don't take responsibility at all."

19 ( +36 / -17 )

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites