This quote was offered up over the weekend and has already begun to make the rounds. In fact, we are surprised that the Democrats haven’t already made a campaign ad about the matter.
The most prominent Democrats have already taken major pains to highlight what was said here. They may not like it but Meadows is spot on with what he said.
Mark Meadows: “We’re not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”
Jake Tapper: “Why aren’t we going to get control of the pandemic?”
Meadows: “Because it is a contagious virus” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/1ahyatu6co
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 25, 2020
This is strictly an empirical manner now. There was a window in which the virus could have been dealt with but it has been slammed shut now.
The CDC had a chance to establish more widespread testing procedures months ago but they dropped the ball. Anything that is done now is going to be too little, too late.
Trump also deserves his fair share of the blame here. In April, he made a decision that sent things spiraling in a negative direction. He was obsessed with the idea of reopening things on Easter.
It was a symbolic date, in a lot of respects. While this would have made for a great story, things did not pan out that way. Americans themselves also need to take some responsibility for how things have unfolded.
Cases have been shooting up all over the country over the past few weeks, as Americans continue to ignore warnings about remaining indoors. They were told that they needed to do their part to keep the numbers down before winter arrived and things got even more ugly. There are others who believe that there was never a realistic window to contain the outbreak of the virus.
Take a closer look at what is happening in Europe right now. They were the first ones to mock the foolish Americans because they spent their whole spring on lockdown. Now look at them!
Perhaps this pandemic would have been terrible no matter what happened or who was in charge. “We’re not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigations,” Meadows said.
We do understand where some people are coming from on this one. Meadows may be telling the truth but government officials cannot speak about matters this bleak without putting some sugar in the medicine to make it go down more easily. Imagine a five-star general admitting that they are unable to stop the enemy while they are in the middle of a war.
The people who are in charge are now admitting that they are all out of answers. If the Trump administration wants to change the conversation, they need to start answering questions with questions. What are they supposed to do that they are not already doing?
Of course, there are those who are going to respond with the obvious. The Trump administration has done some things but have they done everything that they possibly could?
There’s no sane person who would argue that. The ambivalence that Trump and his staff have displayed when it comes to masks and social distancing.
Big picture steps are great but the average citizen cannot see these steps each day. What they can see is a president who is not willing to wear a mask until his personal health situation becomes dire.
By allowing the mask debate to remain in the national consciousness for months, Trump provided the Biden campaign with a cudgel to smack him over the head with.
He won’t stop the mass rallies, he won’t commit to wearing a mask on a regular basis and his staffers are not being forced to take any precautions.
Pence’s decision to keep campaigning after being exposed to the virus is also not going to sit well with people. “We are not prepared for a pandemic. Trump has rolled back progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. We need leadership that builds public trust, focuses on real threats, and mobilizes the world to stop outbreaks before they reach our shores,” Biden tweeted one year ago. We’ll just leave you with this.
