On Monday, Joe Biden conceded defeat in his war on the COVID-19 pandemic when he declared, “There is no federal solution [to COVID]. This gets solved at a state level.”
His remark signaled a stunning pivot from his past rhetoric on the pandemic. For a year, he campaigned on the idea that Donald Trump was to blame for the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States and that things would improve if he were in charge. Biden promised he would “shut down the virus.” Well, he is in charge, and the virus hasn’t been shut down, and things haven’t gotten better—they’ve arguably gotten worse. The death toll from COVID-19 on his watch has now surpassed the death toll from COVID-19 on Donald Trump’s watch.
But Biden’s pivot to the pandemic being solved at the state level isn’t merely a pivot but an outright flip-flop. Not only did Joe Biden repeatedly promise that he had a (federal) plan to defeat the virus, but Ron Klain, a top advisor during his campaign and now his chief of staff, accused Donald Trump of deferring pandemic response to the states and not utilizing the federal government to “beat this killer disease.”
“I’ve been saying since March that we can’t beat COVID with an ‘Articles of Confederation’ response,’ Klain tweeted last year. “We have a national government for a reason. If Donald Trump won’t use it to beat this killer disease, I know someone who will, starting on 1/20/21.”
I've been saying since March that we can't beat COVID with an "Articles of Confederation" response. We have a national government for a reason. If Donald Trump won't use it to beat this killer disease, I know someone who will, starting on 1/20/21. https://t.co/8yb3vTa8na
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) June 24, 2020
According to Klain (who some believe is the real puppetmaster of the Biden presidency), a uniform national response to COVID was the key to defeating the pandemic. Yet now, Biden is saying the solution to COVID is at the state level.
The Biden administration should admit they failed and put Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in charge.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member