Feb 26 Debate: Mike Bloomberg Raises the issue of COVID-19 & tRump's lack of response

Say what you will about Mike, he was right on target about the seriousness of this pandemic while the other candidates were busy picking nits and having a food fight.


As COVID-19 outbreaks spread globally and the Trump administration’s response comes under greater scrutiny, it’s no shock the coronavirus came up during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in South Carolina. Debate moderators noted the new CDC warning, issued earlier in the day, that Americans should expect outbreaks of the virus inside their communities. Four candidates — Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden — had chances to weigh in with their proposals and criticism.

Michael Bloomberg was the first to bring up the crisis, unprompted, in order to raise alarm about President Trump’s lack of preparation. “The president fired the pandemic specialist in this country two years ago,” the former mayor correctly noted. “There’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing. And he’s defunded the CDC.”

CBS moderator Gayle King then cut Bloomberg off as he started talking about the outbreak’s dire impact on the stock market, insisting, “We’ll talk about that in the next segment,” before asking him instead about his public-health policies in New York and his attempt to ban soda.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/what-democrats-said-about-coronavirus-outbreak-at-the-debate.html