President Trump sounded the alarm about the coronavirus threat in the very same speech House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped to shreds after the State of the Union speech.
“Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases,” Trump said during the State of the Union address in early February.
“We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat,” he continued as Pelosi could be seen behind him arranging the papers on the desk in individual stacks so she could dramatically tear them up at the conclusion.
A short time later, as Trump was receiving applause from members of Congress and guests in the gallery, Pelosi tore Trump’s words to pieces to make a political statement.
“The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement afterwards.
The speaker’s statement made no reference to the importance of confronting the coronavirus.
Twenty days after the President raised the issue in the high profile speech, Pelosi continued to ignore the warning signs.
“We want to be vigilant about what is out there in other places,” Pelosi said to reporters during a February 24 walkabout in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
“We want to be careful about how we deal with it, be we do want to say to people, ‘Come to Chinatown. Here we are. We’re careful, safe. Come join us.'”
She added, “Everything is fine here.”
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook.