Narrative Busted: Anti-Trump Dem Governors Praise President for Coronavirus Response
The media has been working double-time to pin the stock market drop and the coronavirus panic on President Donald Trump.
They, and the Democrats, have slammed the administration for not acting properly in the face of what CNN now calls a pandemic.
But sometimes leaders step up in the face of a crisis and, rather than using it for politics, simply tell it as it is, which is what Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have done.
Make no mistake, they are as anti-Trump as it gets, so when handed softball questions by the media on the administration’s response, reporters had to be expecting that they would knock it out of the park.
Instead, the Democratic governors stunned everyone by heaping praise on the administration, saying it has done its job properly.
“I really don’t care too much what Donald Trump thinks of me, and we just kind of ignore that. It’s background noise because we really need to work together, Republicans and Democrats. This is a national crisis,” Inslee told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday when shown a video of Trump saying he did not want Vice President Mike Pence to praise him.
Governor Jay Inslee on the coronavirus response from President Trump’s administration:
“I believe the agencies of the federal government are being very diligent in helping our state.” pic.twitter.com/UBb3AgvpmY
— Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) March 8, 2020
“We are doing that effectively, as I’ve indicated. I’ve had good meetings with the agency directors. I think that the vice president has been helpful in this regard,” Inslee said.
“We’re focusing on people’s health, not on political gamesmanship right now and that’s what we need to do,” he said.
Obviously, there is no love lost between Inslee and the president and he did not pretend that they are on good terms.
But what he did was put the interests of his constituents ahead of going after Trump, which is the wise move in this situation and a refreshing change.
It was also a nice change of pace when, also on Sunday, a reporter tried to goad Newsom into attacking the president and hit a brick wall.
“Over the past couple of days, President Trump has said that he would prefer if none of the passengers aboard these cruises landed on U.S. soil. Did he mention any of that to you in your conversation?” the reporter asked.
California Gov. Newsom had kind words for Pres. Trump and Vice Pres. Pence when asked about the administration’s handling of coronavirus and cruise ships:
“We had a very long conversation, and every single he said they followed through on.” https://t.co/iBPb6YBiQ0 pic.twitter.com/7bYjBdspno
— ABC News (@ABC) March 9, 2020
“We had a private conversation, but he said, ‘We’re gonna do the right thing’ and ‘You have my support, all of our support, logistically and otherwise,'” Newsom said.
“He said everything that I could have hoped for,” he said. “And we had a very long conversation and every single thing he said, they followed through on.
“So I’m just not interested in finding daylight on those statements because every single thing his administration, and it starts at the top, including the vice president, has been consistent with the expectation that we’d repatriate these passengers and we’d do it in a way that does justice to the spirit that defines the best of our country and the state of California,” he said.
Wow. In a day and age of partisan politics being at the forefront of most things, these two Democratic governors really did show what leadership is all about.
We can disagree with a lot of the policies these governors have put in place, but credit should be given when it is due.
The federal and state governments, as they and the president have said, must work together to face this crisis head-on and protect our citizens.
And if the media wants to continue to play political games, they are not going to have much luck if the politicians won’t play along.
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