STOP. REWRITING. HISTORY.

Instead of attempting to spin the public into a hateful, frightened frenzy, let’s try reporting some facts with the correct context. Here’s what that might look like:

THREAD https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1250471567705944070

On March 3rd, the day after you claim Trump should have shut our economy down, this is how the WHO downplayed the virus:

“COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick” https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---3-march-2020

Would the America public really have accepted millions of jobs destroyed for a virus that had infected just 102 people by March 2? Especially considering Italy would not lock down until March 10th, Spain on March 14th, and the UK on March 23?

A bit of context is in order here.

I want to respond to this particular comment:

“Because we did not act earlier to ramp up testing at a massive scale and prepare our health-care system, social distancing — shutting down most of the economy — was required.”

Not sure where the magic COVID-19 testing switch is. The truth is that long-standing regulations - in place for decades - prevented us from doing so. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/23/dan-crenshaw/did-fda-regulations-slow-testing-coronavirus/

Additionally, you falsely state that social distancing should have been a “last resort.” But this has no basis in fact. Experts have long said flattening the curve via social distancing is the only way to prevent the initial case spike that would overwhelm hospitals.

First, you argue that we should have shut down the economy weeks before we did. Then, you argue that the shut down, resulting job loss, and economic devastation are his fault too.

Which is it? You can’t have it both ways.

Your analysis makes it seem like our government deliberately decided not to buy more PPE. The truth is there was a global production shortage when China began stopping exports, and demand soared. This is still happening.

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/chinas-export-restrictions-strand-medical-goods-u-s-needs-to-fight-coronavirus-state-department-says-11587031203

While you argue that Trump ignored early warning signs, you ignore the headlines that ran on the pages of your paper in January and February. Here are a couple:

When it’s all said and done, this bad-faith analysis isn’t fact-based and lacks important context. Hating Trump is not an excuse for lazy argumentation and emotional reasoning.

Now, more than ever, we need critical thinking and productive deliberation.