Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she has “no doubt” she would have handled the coronavirus pandemic better than President Donald Trump has. She even boasted, “I was born for that.”
“You noted that a lot of countries that did best in the pandemic were led by women,” Kara Swisher, host of The New York Times‘ podcast “Sway,” said in an interview with Clinton. “Do you think a woman president in the United States would handle the pandemic better?”
“I have no doubt, especially if it were me,” Clinton responded. Swisher laughed.
“No, I mean, I was born for that. I mean, that’s why I knew I’d be a good president,” the former secretary of state continued. “I was ready for crises and emergencies and I would have done what you see these women leaders doing: you listen to the science; you bring in people in an open, inclusive way; you communicate constantly; you make the case by explaining why what you’re doing is in the long-term interest not only of health but also the economy.”
“Yeah, I have no doubt in my mind at all that I would have stepped up to that crisis,” Hillary Clinton repeated.
.@HillaryClinton: There’s “no doubnt” I would have handled Covid better than @realDonaldTrump
“I was born for that" pic.twitter.com/3kUu02KIBc
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 26, 2020
Contrary to the legacy media narrative, President Trump’s policy record on the pandemic is rather solid. He restricted travel from China early on, he created private-public partnerships to fast-track medical resources, and he launched Operation Warp Speed, which aims to produce and distribute a vaccine in record time.
If successful, Operation Warp Speed may rank as one of the most impressive achievements in American — and perhaps even human — history. While the wait for a vaccine seems long, vaccines simply do not move this fast. Vaccines usually take at least 5 years, and most frequently quite longer than that.
Hillary Clinton does not have a record on COVID-19, but she has endorsed Joe Biden. During the vice-presidential debate, Vice President Mike Pence excoriated Biden’s record on COVID-19. Pence noted that Biden initially opposed the China travel ban, that Biden effectively plagiarized Trump’s policy response to the pandemic, and that the Obama-Biden administration (which Clinton joined) did not have a stellar record of success on pandemics.
“We actually do know what failure looks like in a pandemic,” Pence argued. He mentioned the 2009 swine flu pandemic. “Before the end of the year, when Joe Biden was vice president of the United States, not 7.5 million people contracted the swine flu, 60 million Americans contracted the swine flu. If the swine flu had been as lethal as the coronavirus in 2009 when Joe Biden was vice president, we would have lost 2 million American lives.” Pence quoted Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain, who admitted it was the result of “luck” that more people didn’t die because they did “every possible thing wrong.”
Mike Pence Wipes the Floor With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Coronavirus
Hillary Clinton also made news for remarks on COVID-19 back in April, when she decided to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden. She urged Biden not to let the coronavirus crisis go to “waste,” hoping he would capitalize on it by guaranteeing abortion and pushing America in the direction of “universal health care” a.k.a. socialized medicine. Clinton ran against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Castro-was-great) in 2016 opposing Sanders’ Medicare for All socialized medicine plan, but it appears she has changed her tune — and Biden was chomping at the bit to agree with her.
“This is also a really high-stakes election,” Clinton said at the time. “Every form of health care should continue to be available, including reproductive health care for every woman in this country [read ‘abortion’] and then it needs to be part of a much larger system that eventually — and quickly, I hope — gets us to universal health care. So I can only say ‘Amen’ to everything you’re saying.”
“But also to again enlist people that — this would be a terrible crisis to waste, as the old saying goes,” she added. “We’ve learned a lot about what our absolute frailties are in our country when it comes to health justice and economic justice, so let’s be resolved that we’re going to solve those once you’re elected president.”
“I promise you that’s going to be my objective,” Biden replied.
Hillary Clinton says that "this would be a terrible crisis to waste" as she politicizes the coronavirus pandemic to push for socialized health care. pic.twitter.com/pyBec4arYZ
— MRCTV (@mrctv) April 28, 2020
When it comes to not “wasting” the crisis, Biden was actually ahead of Hillary Clinton. When Senate Democrats blocked the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus compromise bill and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed her alternative liberal wish list complete with Green New Deal standards on airplanes and voting “reforms” that would make the system vulnerable to the kinds of fraud that help Democrats, Biden was there cheering on the obstruction.
Echoing Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) — who said of coronavirus, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision” — and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) — who said Democrats were stalling extra funds for the Paycheck Protection Program because they feared “giving away leverage now without getting some of the priorities that we need” — Biden has called the coronavirus crisis a “wake up call” on climate change and an “opportunity” for “structural change” on voting and climate change.
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Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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