Trump jumped on the Ebola outbreak in 2014 to try to affect the mid term election that year and there is plenty of evidence that it was effective.

I don’t think people appreciate just how bad Donald Trump was during the Ebola outbreak of 2014. Here’s a short list of the things he said, which were amplified (rather inexplicably) by the media. (Seriously, what was the reason for that?)

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

He infamously insisted that the U.S. could not allow those infected back into the country, saying that had to “suffer the consequences” -- including doctors who’d gone to treat patients.

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

Ebola is much easier to transmit than the CDC and government representatives are admitting. Spreading all over Africa-and fast. Stop flights

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2014

And he just kept hammering the CDC in subsequent media appearances.

“They couldn’t control their own labs a month ago. What would they know [about Ebola]?"

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

He chastised Obama for appointing a point person (@RonaldKlain) to oversee the response across agencies?

"It's the wrong person," Trump said. "Do we need more people? Do we need more bureaucracy?"

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

Then he said the government couldn’t be trusted to deal with it at all.

“Why would anybody trust our government to handle this crisis?”

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

Finally, he called out Obama for playing golf during the crisis, which seems quaint now. https://t.co/cGamkuWgv8

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 25, 2020

You can see why he’s nervous now. He knows what he did. And he knows it worked. The difference today is that unlike President Obama, who handled the Ebola outbreak by the book, Trump has destroyed the US response to pandemics and the government is now scrambling to do even a minimal response.

We may come through this ok. But it will no thanks to Trump. Of course, we can expect him to claim he single-handedly cured it if it is contained but that’s the price we will have to pay for having the good luck to escape disaster. And that’s what it’s going to take: luck.

Published with permission of Hullabaloo