Mr. Trump Cuts Off Funding to the World Health Organization in the Middle of a Pandemic

[Sunstone]

World's most infamous liar accuses the WHO of failing "to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion.” Totally ignores how he himself failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion.

Mr. Trump's comments linked to a worldwide shortage of functioning irony meters since most existing meters were exploded by it. Price of still working meters soars.

Mr. Trump is said to be blaming the WHO in an effort to divert attention from his own failings, which are of a magnitude greater.

If so, Mr. Trump's vanity expected to cause "many, many more deaths".

Fortunately, America and the world are proud to sacrifice anything and everything to preserve Mr. Trump's ego.


Trump halts World Health Organization funding over coronavirus 'failure'

 

[ChristineM]

I just heard that and was going to put up a thread... Well played sir..

But i cannot give it a frube, there is none suitable, sorry

 

[Augustus]

Much as I find Trump's boasting, grandstanding and buck-passing on such a tragic issue to be utterly contemptible, the WHO has been so abysmal on this issue that it has likely resulted in net harm.

If I were President I wouldn't be funding them either, but giving money directly to more worthy institutions.

 

[icehorse]

Supporting WHO costs the US about $450 million a year I think?

So that's about 1 / 4,000th of the 2 trillion we just spent. hmmm...

That doesn't seem penny-wise and pound foolish at all. argh!

Nor does it seem like jumping over a dollar to save a dime. sigh.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

The Petulant Child in Chief needs a scapegoat, and an action to show how decisive and influential his power is... since he holds such limited actual power...

 

[exchemist]

Much as I find Trump's boasting, grandstanding and buck-passing on such a tragic issue to be utterly contemptible, the WHO has been so abysmal on this issue that it has likely resulted in net harm.

If I were President I wouldn't be funding them either, but giving money directly to more worthy institutions.

It seems to me that the WHO, imperfect as it is, is about all we have in terms of an international body to exchange information and coordinate responses to global epidemics across national boundaries. I can see it might make sense, when the crisis is over, to propose changes to this body, to make it more effective in future.

But how can it make any sense to try to bankrupt it in the middle of global epidemic, when there is nothing else to take its place?

 

[Terry Sampson]

Donald Trump’s 3-Month-Old Tweet About China And The Coronavirus Comes Back To Haunt Him | HuffPost

 

[Secret Chief]

Trump's WHO de-funding 'as dangerous as it sounds'

• A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there were "no plans" to halt funding and said the WHO had "an important role to play in leading the global health response". The UK gives most of any country apart from the US
• Germany's foreign minister Heiko Mass tweeted that strengthening the "under-funded" WHO was one of the best investments that could be made at this time
• Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the decision would "undermine international co-operation" in fighting the virus
• The American Medical Association said it was a "dangerous step in the wrong direction"
• There was no justification for the move at a time when the WHO was "needed more than ever", said the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
• Australian PM Scott Morrison said he sympathised with Mr Trump's criticisms but that the WHO also does "a lot of important work"
• New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern said the WHO had provided "advice we can rely on"
• The president was doing "whatever it takes to deflect from the fact that his administration mismanaged this crisis", said Democratic representative Eliot Engel.
  The decision was "exactly right", said US Senator Josh Hawley, among many Republicans who share Mr Trump's views on the WHO

 

[Secret Chief]

"That is completely the wrong thing to do. There needs to be a global response to this, we should be supporting our global institutions. We’re about to go on and try and get a vaccine, there should be a global effort to get that vaccine and a global plan as to how we roll that out across the world. This is not the time to be retreating and pulling away from global organisations that help roll that out."

- Keir Starmer, Labour Leader (UK)

 

[Yazata]

World's most infamous liar

OK, so you hate Trump. So what? Is your hatred supposed to be persuasive? Quite frankly, I find hatred and haters rather repulsive.

accuses the WHO of failing "to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion.”

The disease first came to the attention of physicians in Wuhan in November. Evidence of community spread was immediately available (spread among family members, medical staff who had treated patients falling ill). Yet China's initial response was hush everything up, arresting doctors that tried to warn people. Then, when the cover-up strategy was overrun by events, they denied that human-to-human spread we even occurring. They also insisted that no medical staff had contracted the disease, which was obviously false. Those denials continued until the middle of January, when the line once again abruptly changed and Wuhan city and Hubei province were finally locked down. This only happened after literally millions of people, many infected, had already left and traveled all over China and much of the world. All the time, the WHO was simply repeating the Chinese line, along with denouncing attempts to restrict travel from China. Even today they are still just repeating the Chinese case and fatality numbers that the CCP feeds them, which aren't even remotely credible.

Totally ignores how he himself failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion.

President Trump is dependent on his advisers in these matters. While people like Anthony Fauchi admit that lives could have been saved if mitigation measures were put in place earlier, he also says that the medical community didn't realize that they were necessary until later than was optimal, and when those stringent measures were ultimately suggested to the President, he agred to them.

Again, the problem was that the consensus of the medical community didn't call for more aggressive measures until later than those gifted with 20-20 hindsight might have preferred. Why was the medical community slow to respond? Well, probably because they were giving too much credence to what the WHO and the Chinese were telling the world.

It's instructive to note that the President's political opponents, people like N.Y. governor Cuomo and the NYC mayor were also getting similar advice and were making very similar statements, telling people into March not to worry and to go about their daily lives. Patronize restaurants! There's nothing to fear riding the subway! That's probably one reason why the disease got such a terrible foothold in New York City in particular, where millions of people on busy sidewalks and crammed into subway cars were all infecting each other without knowing it.

 

[Revoltingest]

OK, so you hate Trump. So what? Is your hatred supposed to be persuasive? Quite frankly, I find hatred and haters rather repulsive.

When I see threads starting off with a flurry of epithets infusing
the entire post, I expect an echo chamber of nodding heads,
with a possibility of hostile conflict if one isn't fully on board.
Unless good judgement fails me, I steer clear. Too bad...there's
an issue here worth discussing.

 

[Sunstone]

OK, so you hate Trump. So what? Is your hatred supposed to be persuasive? Quite frankly, I find hatred and haters rather repulsive.

So in your mind, directing sarcasm at Mr. Trump weighs more than the lives of the people who will die because of Mr. Trump's actions? I mean, that's why you're trying to make this thread about me and not him, right?

Great values, Yazata. Superb.

 

[Sunstone]

Much as I find Trump's boasting, grandstanding and buck-passing on such a tragic issue to be utterly contemptible, the WHO has been so abysmal on this issue that it has likely resulted in net harm.

If I were President I wouldn't be funding them either, but giving money directly to more worthy institutions.

Whatever harm the WHO has caused, by what calculus do you make that harm out to be so great that Mr. Trump is justified in trying to bankrupt the WHO in the middle of a pandemic in order to distract attention from his own failings?

 

[Sunstone]

President Trump is dependent on his advisers in these matters. While people like Anthony Fauchi admit that lives could have been saved if mitigation measures were put in place earlier, he also says that the medical community didn't realize that they were necessary until later than was optimal, and when those stringent measures were ultimately suggested to the President, he agred to them.

Again, the problem was that the consensus of the medical community didn't call for more aggressive measures until later than those gifted with 20-20 hindsight might have preferred. Why was the medical community slow to respond? Well, probably because they were giving too much credence to what the WHO and the Chinese were telling the world.

It's instructive to note that the President's political opponents, people like N.Y. governor Cuomo and the NYC mayor were also getting similar advice and were making very similar statements, telling people into March not to worry and to go about their daily lives. Patronize restaurants! There's nothing to fear riding the subway! That's probably one reason why the disease got such a terrible foothold in New York City in particular, where millions of people on busy sidewalks and crammed into subway cars were all infecting each other without knowing it.

The article linked to in the OP refutes your BS. Have a nice day.

 

[Sunstone]

About Mr. Trump's response to the virus...

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus

Trump halts World Health Organization funding over coronavirus 'failure'

Timeline: Trump administration’s response to coronavirus

 

[sun rise]

It seems to me that the WHO, imperfect as it is, is about all we have in terms of an international body to exchange information and coordinate responses to global epidemics across national boundaries. I can see it might make sense, when the crisis is over, to propose changes to this body, to make it more effective in future.

That's utterly sensible.

 

[sun rise]

<sarcasm>
And, oh horrors, the WHO is not perfect. Doing things right 90+% of the time is not good enough. We demand perfection or lock them up/cut them off.
</sarcasm>

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

When I see threads starting off with a flurry of epithets infusing
the entire post, I expect an echo chamber of nodding heads,
with a possibility of hostile conflict if one isn't fully on board.
Unless good judgement fails me, I steer clear. Too bad...there's
an issue here worth discussing.

At least a part of that issue, I think, must be that even the WHO is not perfect, and in the face of something entirely new, must rely on the same kind of rapid info-gathering and judgment that anybody else has. And I think we can't forget that it's also true that China did keep a lid on this for a time -- and I don't think that can be laid at WHO's feet.

Further, I think it's important to remember that WHO is involved in an enormous array of other world health issues, and cutting US funding can only hurt those efforts, which I doubt is in the best interests of anybody, including the U.S. There's not enough money being saved to be of any particular use against the virus.

 

[Father Heathen]

OK, so you hate Trump. So what? Is your hatred supposed to be persuasive? Quite frankly, I find hatred and haters rather repulsive.

Some people hold important and powerful leadership positions to high standards and expectations, and that those in such positions should be held responsible and to account for their choices, words, and actions.
It's rather pitiful that people would consider this bias or hatred.
It's perfectly reasonable and rational to have a low opinion of dumpster fires, and it's okay to prefer presidents who aren't woefully corrupt and incompetent. It's sad that this is even considered a partisan issue.
As for persuasion, we're well past that point as those who have their tongues stuck in the treads of trumps boots are so well entrenched and doubled down in their tribalism.

 

[Cooky]

Whatever harm the WHO has caused, by what calculus do you make that harm out to be so great that Mr. Trump is justified in trying to bankrupt the WHO in the middle of a pandemic in order to distract attention from his own failings?

Get a clue what you're talking about before starting a thread.

Covid 19 coronavirus: Doctor, Scott Morrison slams WHO as Chinese wet markets reopen

Coronavirus: Australia slams WHO support for China wet markets | Daily Mail Online