Trump sounds optimistic on COVID-19 treatments as task force warns of toughest week yet

Kristin Fisher reports from the White House with an update.

America’s leaders are struggling to do their best to limit the damage inflicted by COVID-19. It’s about time, we cut them all a little slack in how we evaluate their efforts. This is no time for a gotcha approach.

When President Trump first expressed the hope that we could return to our jobs and earn a living before Easter, the criticism was quick and often harsh. The president made clear the decision would be driven by the data. Thus, when he announced the crisis could stretch to August, it seems fair to ask whether Americans would have been ready to abide by the restrictions if he first suggested we shelter in place for five months.

Shortly after Trump’s comments, Cuomo wondered aloud whether imposing such an absolute shutdown was a good idea in the first place. “What we did was we closed everything down,” he said. “That was our public health strategy. I don’t even know if that was the best public health policy.” Some Trump supporters angrily demanded to know how anyone could say the president was reckless, but it was OK for Cuomo to wonder if a shutdown ever should have happened.

Video

In both cases, it would have been far better to resist the rush to politicize the comments. This is all new ground for everyone.

It has been encouraging to watch the president and two Democratic governors put aside their typically adversarial relationship to help get aid to those most in need.

At every turn, we have been encouraged to listen to the experts. No doubt, Dr. Deborah Birx fits that description. Recently, when pressed on what could have been done sooner or better, she noted that it was not until Jan. 14 that we knew there was human-to-human transmission. On Feb. 3, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said there was no reason to ever do a travel ban. She was not affixing blame. Instead, she was pushing back at an aggressive reporter who wanted to appear tough, especially on the president.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

Brix rose to the occasion: “We can talk about why didn’t Italy do something or Spain do something or Germany do something, or we can really say right now — we can all do something. We can do social distancing and all of the pieces that we know is starting to work around the globe in country after country. And, then when we get through all of this, we can ask the questions about could we have done some piece of this better as a global community.”

Video

There is some good news. The GOPAC Education Fund recently conducted research on the public’s understanding that the COVID-19 situation is without precedent, interviewing 3,700 voters in 11 swing state House districts in North Carolina. In the race for president, it is a virtual tie between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. At the same time, the president enjoys a 10-point margin for his handling of the coronavirus crisis (52 percent approve, 42 percent disapprove). Simply put, the voters seem to be saying they get that dealing with COVID-19 is tough stuff.