'Did someone do something on purpose?' Trump's cryptic message in China coronavirus attack

President Trump's comments came as he said he had seen "evidence" the virus came from a Wuhan laboratory. Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"Yes, yes I have," he said, declining to give specifics. "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."

The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology has dismissed the allegations, and other U.S. officials have downplayed their likelihood. Most experts believe the virus originated in a market selling wildlife in Wuhan and jumped from animals to people.

The Republican president has shown increasing frustration with China in recent weeks over the pandemic, which has cost tens of thousands of lives in the United States alone, sparked an economic contraction and threatened his chances of re-election in November.

Trump said previously his administration was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from the Wuhan lab, following media reports it may have been artificially synthesized at a China state-backed laboratory or perhaps escaped from such a facility.

The coronavirus outbreak has contributed to a deepening rift between the Trump administration and China, with Beijing suggesting the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to China and Trump saying China failed to alert the world to coronavirus risks in a timely and transparent fashion.

Trump also said on Thursday it was possible that China either could not stop the spread of the coronavirus or let it spread. He declined to say whether he held Chinese President Xi Jinping responsible for what he feels is misinformation about the emergence of the coronavirus.

Trump said of China's efforts to get to the bottom of how the virus emerged: "At least they seem to be trying to be somewhat transparent with us.

"But we're going to find out. You'll be learning in the not-too-distant future. But it's a terrible thing that happened - whether they made a mistake or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one. Or did somebody do something on purpose?" he said.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1276284/Donald-Trump-china-coronavirus-lab-wuhan-accusations

He's looking for someone to blame. First, it was denial...only 15 cases, and they'll be well by the weekend. Next, it was blame (fill in the gap, Obama, the press, now China). Anything to draw attention away from his mumbling, stumbling, inept response to a real crisis.

This is the big hit we told y'all about.

Perhaps in this, he’s right. Who knows?

eddie wrote:Perhaps in this, he’s right. Who knows?

American intelligence claim to know. They say it was a natural zoonotic spread, not a laboratory experiment.

"Zoonotic" for fucks sake Quill, I'v got to find my Dictionary again !

nicko wrote: "Zoonotic"    for fucks sake Quill, I'v got to find my Dictionary again !

Haha...didn't mean to trip you up, nick.  I had to look it up when I first saw it, too.

Actually, it is a word that Maddog introduced on another thread, discussing spread of the virus, so I thought it was a familiar term to posters on this site.  A zoonosis is an infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has jumped from non-human animals to humans.  That would be, as distinct from a disease that was created in a laboratory.

I don’t remember the thread or section, but I do remember it took place some 4 – 5 days ago, between MD and Ben.

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As to the current topic, I still think this discussion is simply the Republicans scapegoating the issue.  They claim China was deceptive, and point to the fact that they (1) weren't forthcoming; and (2) that they "hoarded" medical supplies.

Well, FOOK, as to (1), no one was forthcoming because NO ONE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS VIRUS.  The same thing that might be said about China, can be said about the US or the UK.  The sin of governments was not in being in the dark; it was in dropping their guard and being caught by surprise.  Dr. Obama had left this country in the best shape to meet this virus.  He had endured the SARS, MERS, H1N1, and the frightening Ebola virus (to Obama’s credit, only 2 people entered this country with Ebola).  Obama had set up the institutions of the Department of Health and Human Services to meet such a crisis as this, including starting a number of research programs in the CDC, preparing crisis teams in the DOHH, and setting up the Pandemic Response Team in the National Security Agency of the White House.  Trump dismantled all of these safety measures, deliberately, in his attempt to remove all regulations (public protections) in the DOHH and elsewhere.  Y’all were watching when he did it; what do you think now?

As to the allegation (2), that China was “hoarding” medical supplies, it’s not hoarding when they are urgently needed.  China was the first to suffer from the Covid-19 virus, so their orders came in just like everyone else!  Do you think they should have said, oh, gee, let’s leave some for others!  Ridiculous!  When you have excessive need, you order excessive supplies.  You can’t read the future, and if you could, who would blame China for saying me first!

The most culpable of world leaders is Trump, himself.  He dismantled the very protections that Dr. Obama had set up for this very contingency.  When Trump took office, many of us said this amateur is going to lead us into a trainwreck somewhere down the road.  Well, here it is.

Trump is well aware that he is the one responsible.  He knows the value of public deflection.  He knows how to lie.  His present vilification of China is an attempt to avoid his responsibility.  Don’t be taken in.

The question of investigating whether the virus was created in a Wujan laboratory, is after-action review, for a later date. A much closer review question is: what did the President know, and when did he know it/take action upon it?

China may not have been a nice neighbor, but members of our own household apparently betrayed us at the same time, with much more devastating effect. We don't pay China to look after us, but we do pay those in the White House who deceived us.

It's Trump's classic game of, look over there, don't look over here! He betrayed us--murdered over 75,000 US citizens--in order to hide the truth, and get reelected. That's putting self-interest in front of the national interest. Trump and the Republicans are traitors to the US, and should undergo after-office prosecutions.