The internet exploded in laughter on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus because he had "nothing else to do."
The New York Times reported that the president made the remarks on Wednesday before naming Pence as the point man on the virus.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) survived a mass shooting attack during the Congressional baseball game in 2017 and he bragged about having the best healthcare in the world that saved his life during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
"I would not be here today without the greatest health care system on the face of the planet. I'm surely not going to let them take that away from you," he claimed.
The problem with Scalise's comments, however, is that the healthcare he touts as amazing and that the "government is taking control" of is actually government-sponsored healthcare.
Scalies told the audience that under the Democrat's plan, "180 million people [would be] kicked off of private insurance, put onto a failed government-run system like Medicaid, and that's what it would look like." Democrats like Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are proponents of a plan called "Medicare for All" not Medicaid.
Watch the video below:
A panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday alleged that socialized medicine -- not a car accident -- killed Princess Diana.
The remarks came during a panel on the alleged dangers of socialized medicine.
"Socialized medicine killed Princess Diana," the announcer revealed before asking one of the panelists to explain why.
"Princess Diana was in the car accident in France," Dr. David Schneider, an orthopedic surgeon, told the crowd. "They actually don't have any trauma specialists in France."
"For the first hour after that accident, she was still in that tunnel," he continued. "And after an hour, they took her to a nearby hospital and she was alive for another three hours and they couldn't control the bleeding from her pulmonary artery."
According to Schneider, "there were no trauma trained people there."
"I really believe, knowing what I know about her care and comparing it to what Congressman Scalise had, Princess Diana would have lived had that accident happened here in America," he concluded.
Watch the video below from CPAC.
Even conservative Meghan McCain said that Vice President Mike Pence has no business being in charge of the government's coronavirus outbreak.
During the "Hot Topics" on "The View," all of the hosts came together around Pence being the worst option to handle the crisis.
After playing a clip of President Donald Trump's press conference Wednesday, Whoopi Goldberg asked if it made people feel any better.
"Now that Pence is in charge?" asked Joy Behar.
"In all seriousness, Mike Pence has a really bad record when it comes to health records in Indiana, he actually hurt HIV patients because he halted needle exchanges," McCain explained. "So I think that reason alone, I really think someone with a medical background -- a virus background should be in charge of a potentially deadly and lethal virus and medical outbreak in the United States of America. It doesn't seem like that much of a leap for me. I don't think -- I'm not comfortable with him in charge."
Behar recalled Pence's op-ed saying that smoking isn't responsible for those who die from smoking-related illnesses.
"He's not a doctor," McCain said.
Sunny Hostin noted that Pence is also a science denier, specifically citing climate change, but McCain said that isn't something she cares about because health is more important. Hostin was likely referring to Pence's belief in science as a whole being a concern because science will be what saves Americans from an outbreak.
Goldberg said that her theory about Trump's choice of Pence was that he knows it isn't going to end well and wants nothing to do with the crisis.
"We don't need to panic but whenever he wants to look like he's doing something really good he will do something and then put somebody else in charge of it when he knows there's a cliff coming," said Goldberg.
McCain admitted that she is, understandably, "very worried" and doesn't understand why schools aren't being closed since there are so many concerns.
"I think it was something like 80,000 of people died of the flu last year," said Hostin. "One of the reasons I think he chose the vice president to do this is because it is so serious and had he appointed someone with real medical background, that person would not necessarily cover his ineptitude. We know that Mike Pence will cover for him because he is such a loyalist."
Watch the full exchange below:
Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov asserted on Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence is the wrong person to be in charge of fighting the coronavirus.
"There are deep concerns about putting Mike Pence at least quasi-in charge," Tarlov told a Fox News panel. "He oversaw an HIV outbreak in Indiana. Instead of going with science and dealing with needle exchanges, he went after Planned Parenthood and people got sick there because of it."
"Mike Pence is not a scientist, he's not a doctor, he's not someone who believes really in science," she continued. "And I don't believe that he should be in charge of this of anywhere near the forefront and that is a big concern."
Fox News host Ed Henry interrupted to object: "You say he doesn't believe in science."
"Well, with climate science, he thinks you should pray on it," Tarlov replied. "If you have HIV, you should go to a doctor. If you have a Coronavirus, you should go to a doctor. And this isn't about insulting prayer, it's just saying that that kind of policy and that kind of thinking is outdated and has no place in modern society."
Watch the video below from Fox News.
MSNBC commentators, former assistant US Attorney Maya Wiley and Rick Wilson, explained that President Donald Trump's most significant barrier is making it past his own lies to save America from the coronavirus.
"There's a case tonight being tested in Walton County, Florida. The heart of Trump country," said Wilson, referring to the panhandle county east of Pensacola. "That's not going to be something you can just walk away from if it turns out to be a real case. We're seeing these things popping up all over. The safe bet was always to say, 'This could be bad. We'll do everything we can to stop it.' But he can't stop himself from self-aggrandizing and lying about things. And it's actually -- setting aside my normal criticism of Trump -- this is a danger to the country that he is not a trustworthy person for the American people. Even people who like him now he BS's them all the time. Now, if he says it's not a problem and people are being hospitalized, it is a problem."
Wiley explained that Trump's plan for leadership on the virus is just like everything else: "deny, deflect and denounce."
"That's the way Trump leads. And, unfortunately, and to Rick's point, and to your point about stewardship, that's not leadership," she explained. "That's self-involvement. That's self-interest. And it's extremely dangerous."
She noted Trump's comments about the stock market and his claim that he's an expert on it. The market only dropped because of Democrats and the debate, he claimed. However, it plummeted nearly 2,000 points before the Democratic debate even aired.
"What's amazing to me is if Donald Trump is so smart about the stock market why didn't he turn this into a story about how the stock market is irrational, it is responding to fear and he as the leader of the free world is here to tell everyone exactly what he's going to do to help ensure that the irrational stock market can start behaving more rationally?" she asked.
She went on to say that it was an opportunity for Trump to talk about something other than himself. It's a virus that he can't control, and his problem is that he can't lead when he lies.
Watch the full discussion below:
"Late Night" host Seth Meyers warned that the United States is sliding into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
Sounding the alarm Wednesday evening, Meyers cited reports that Trump was making lists of disloyal people, purging them from their jobs, hiring unqualified cronies in top posts, and claiming he has the right to interfere in criminal cases.
While speaking to the press last week, Trump even announced that he's allowed to be involved in all criminal cases because he's the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. It's actually a title used for the attorney general.
"No!" Meyers exclaimed. "You're not a law enforcement officer! First of all, you'd never pass the background check or the physical."
Similarly, law enforcement positions require a psychological evaluation. It's unknown if Trump has ever had one.
"You don't even know the sound a gun makes," Meyers continued, playing clips of Trump seemingly confused about his sound effects."
The host explained that it's clear Trump desperately wants to be a cop, but realistically he's more like the annoying crossing guard, who isn't really paying much attention to traffic.
Watch Meyers hilarious comments below:
Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) blasted President Donald Trump after his press conference Wednesday because he contradicted his own scientists on the coronavirus.
During an MSNBC discussion after the Q&A, the Congresswoman explained that it only confuses Americans more.
"He's not doing very well on the coronavirus," she said. "Because the test of leadership is not talking about something you know very little about and he just confused the American people about whether this virus is going to spread. All the scientists said it is going to spread and the president gave the opposite impression. And presidents have to know that when they're in a situation like this with complicated science, they put the scientists, physicians in front of them, preferably, by the way, in white coats, and let them reassure the American people."
She said that the last thing the country needs is uncertainty about a health crisis.
It was something that didn't go unnoticed by MSNBC's Chris Jansing either.
Watch the comments below:
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace noted that one of President Donald Trump's biggest problems in the coronavirus crisis is that he's spent the entirety of his presidency lying to the American people.
During a panel discussion mere hours before Trump's address, Wallace explained that it was the Trump administration that said he had the largest inauguration crowd size when it was clear from photos that it was a lie.
"In some ways this was inevitable," she said. "He started by attacking the intelligence community, lying about his crowd size. He then waged a year's long war on law enforcement. He's now reached deep into the military justice system. He meddled with hurricane forecasts, of all things. I think for anyone looking for the bottom or anything left that is sacred has stopped the search. But the idea that on the brink of a possible global pandemic, his closest allies and friends would be smearing health officials is stunning. How does the public navigate around that?"
She went on to call Trump out for ushering in serious cuts to government scientists and public health, including the Center for Disease Control.
Watch the video below:
MSNBC's "Deadline" political panel blasted President Donald Trump's horrible response to the coronavirus by belittling the seriousness of it.
In a panel discussion with host Nicolle Wallace, former vice presidential chief of staff Ron Klain accused Trump of trying to solve the crisis via tweet.
"Trump's strategy thus far has been to happy-talk the virus and the virus is not going to respond to happy talk," he said. "Americans are not going to be safe by Trump tweeting, 'it's all fine, I've got the border sealed.'"
Last week, Trump's government brought 14 infected people into the United States on a public plane without informing the passengers or the airline. It was against the Center for Disease Control's recommendation.
"You can't seal the borders," Klain explained. "This virus has spread around the world. I wrote a month ago in the Post, it's not a question of if it comes here. It's a question of when it comes here. That's what the CDC was saying yesterday. And all the president's efforts and Larry Kudlow's efforts to stand there and say, 'No one should worry,' is not going to stop the virus. What it does do is undermines the professional communications of our public health officials who are trying to provide reliable, credible information to people. And the problem is -- will Trump start to intimidate those officials? Like Rush Limbaugh did with Dr. Nancy Messonnier? Will they try to brush them back from telling the American people the truth? And that's when it gets dangerous if that instinct takes over."
Watch the exchange below:
Dr. Rev. William Barber on Wednesday chastised members of Congress for failing to take on voter suppression.
At a House Oversight and Reform Committee on voting in minority communities, Barber noted that the Voting Rights Act had not been renewed in nearly three years. The minister called out Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, a fellow North Carolinian, by name.
"I wish my good friend Mr. Meadows was still here," Barber said, observing that the congressman had left the room. "I wanted to ask him to truly be a friend to the friend he claims in Elijah Cummings and support his vision to deal with voter suppression. If you can't support my truth, friendship is really questionable."
Barber concluded with a fiery sermon on the morality of voting rights.
"Voter suppression is sin!" he exclaimed. "So to supress the vote is to, in fact, suggest that you have entered a God space and you can determine other people's reality and to suppress the vote is to suggest that other people do not have the same imago dei -- image of God in you."
Barber asserted that voter suppression "is a form of idolatry and sin."
"And on this Ash Wednesday, I call on on those who have fought against the right to vote and have lied about voter fraud and have pushed voter suppression and who have smiled smirkingly at it, repent!" the reverend shouted.
"Repent!" he said again. "For the Bible says, 'Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights and make women and children their prey.'"
Watch the video below from C-SPAN.
Appearing on CNN on Wednesday morning, retired Sen. William Cohen (R-ME) hammered members of his own party still sitting in the Senate who refuse to take on Donald Trump, saying they are failing the country and themselves by standing by in fear.
Speaking with CNN hosts Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto, Cohen said kowtowing to the president is nothing new, but has grown worse over the past ten years.
"Some of it has to do with external pressures, that of social media, talk radio, specific channels that have a particular view and then hammer that view home to the constituents who then pressure the members of Congress," he explained. "But you have to ask yourself: Why are you a senator? Why are you there? Are you acting out of sheer fear that if you speak up and take a position that's controversial you'll be punished?"
"If that's the reason you're in the Senate, to simply be safe and to play it safe, then you really ... you really are undercutting what the role of that Senate should be," he insisted. "You're losing respect. 20 percent of the American people have respect for the Senate, and that number is going down. It's going down because people are not doing their job. As you point out, Poppy, in any private sector if you were not doing your job, you'd be out."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) lashed out at President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his response to the Coronavirus.
While speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Pelosi slammed the president after he promised the epidemic "is going to go away."
"This is shameful," Pelosi said. "He puts forth a proposal now that is meager, anemic in terms of addressing this. Ebola, we did $5 billion. And now they're trying to take the ebola money and spend it here."
"What he's doing is late, too late, anemic," she added. "Hopefully we came make up for the loss of time but we have to have professionals in place, resources that are adequate and not use scare tactics about people coming back to our country."
Pelosi remarks come as some health professional are questioning the Trump administration's competency.
Watch the video clip below.
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.
