Is it President Obama's fault the USA does not have stockpiles of medical masks and other materials needed to fight a pandemic?

So why did the Trump Administration disband the Pandemic Working Group? Because we would have been prepared then.

Trump has been president for three years.

Trump owns this but he’ll never realize it.

Trump owns this but he’ll never realize it

I don’t think “realize” is the right word.

Q:“Dr. Fauci said earlier this week that the lag in testing was, in fact, “a failing.” Do you take responsibility for that?”

A: “Yeah, no, I don’t take responsibility at all”

Whitehouse.gov – March 13, 2020 – Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Conference

China shut down Wuhan (population 10 million) on January 23, 2020. After that, there were no excuses for any authorities on Earth. Trump continued denying and downplaying the problem for seven weeks.

The way epidemics spread, and the likelihood that they will occur is well known. Before Trump took office, his people were required by law hear about it as a national security threat:

The Hill – March 17, 202 - “The Obama administration walked incoming Trump administration officials through a hypothetical scenario in which a pandemic worse than the 1918 Spanish flu shut down cities like Seoul and London in early 2017, Politico reported

“During the briefing, Trump administration officials were told such a pandemic would likely lead to circumstances such as shortages of ventilators and that a coordinated national response would be “paramount,” according to documents obtained by the publication.”

If you’re going to blame Obama, then you have to go backwards all the way to Reagan and Bush I, and perhaps earlier than that.

We haven’t stockpiled things like masks – in large quantity – since WW2 or at least the Cuban missile crisis. If there’s blame – and I am not sure what good it does to blame someone out of office – it goes back several presidencies.

And let’s be serious here. Congress and its funding role has a lot to do with what presidents can or cannot do. So let’s also put some responsibility on the senate and house.

Would the Tea Party (during the Obama years) have passed legislation for a stockpile of masks? I doubt it.

No. It is Ronald Reagan’s fault.

No. It’s the fault of her emails.

Surprise, surprise…they found 30,000 respirators in the current stockpile..4,000 are on their way to NY & the others will be dispersed when needed!!!

But NY needs 30,000.

Cuomo says he has them coming

@LadyMarissa Not what I heard him say unless things changed..

Here’s just one link of many about it:

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/489214-cuomo-says-ny-needs-30000-ventilators-pleads-with-feds-for-help

Yes.

Stockpiles of supplies were depleted during the Eboli epidemic and distributed internationally by Obama, and were never replaced.

@Yellowdog

Citation please.

@LadyMarissa: Cuomo says “What do you want, a pat on the back for sending 4,000 when we need 30,000?”

Stockpiles of supplies were depleted during the Eboli epidemic and distributed internationally by Obama, and were never replaced.

Obama has been out of office for over three years. Just thought you should know.

@Yellowdog Obama may have depleted the supply, but trump has had 3 years to replace them. Obama did NOT disband the Pandemic Working Group. Truth is trump gambled with our lives & doesn’t care that we lost!!!