Donald Trump, as expected, has done nothing but make a huge mess out of his response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic since day one.
God knows the man is far from presidential to begin with, but it’s his deep-seated hate for his predecessor that’s turned an already bad situation far worse.
As we’re all painfully aware, Trump’s response was substandard from the start as a result of him firing almost the entire pandemic response team that President Barack Obama had put into place not only within the United States but around the world in high-risk areas, as well, when he was faced with the Ebola crisis during his term — all because Donald is a selfish, petty, childish little man.
But according to a new report from the Washington Post, it gets worse.
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According to the report, the Obama administration had signed a contract back in 2015 with medical manufacturer O&M Halyard regarding the creation of a “one-of-a-kind, high-speed machine” with the ability to produce no less than 1.5 million N95 masks per day — with the specific intent of getting out ahead of a PPE crisis like the one we’re currently facing.
However, apparently thanks to Donald Trump, that machine never came to be.
Evidently, despite the fact that the design was delivered on time and well within budget back in 2018, an HHS employee revealed to the Post that when the time came, there were simply no funds for the project.
WaPo goes on to note that the department responsible for the production of the machine had a budget of almost $1.5 billion for 2020 — yet here we are with tax cuts for the rich and no masks for front-line workers during a pandemic.
According to a spokesperson for the company, the design is still available and ready, who went on to note that, “Implementing this design along with use of more proven mask manufacturing techniques are being considered by a supply chain task force to reduce N95 shortages.”
University of New Haven occupational safety professor Howard Cohen stated, “it is sad, because we really did see this coming. We saw the shortfall. And there were a bunch of things that potentially could have been done and weren’t.”
When questioned as to whether their machine could meet the overwhelming need for masks in today’s crisis, the company was confident that it would.
However, here we sit, as thousands more nurses, doctors, and front-line workers continue to literally risk their lives, all because Donald Trump seemingly couldn’t stand to follow through with something Obama started.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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