CNN's Dana Bash asked Sen. Joni Ernst whether she was willing to level the same criticism at Trump that she had for Obama back in 2014 when she attacked him for "failed leadership" on Ebola, which only two Americans died from. Ernst was probably hoping to filibuster her way out of answering, but finally answered when Bash asked her the second time.
Here's the ridiculous exchange where in the end, of course, Bash gave her a pass on her hypocrisy:
Only two people in the U.S. died from Ebola. Right now there are almost 130,000 Americans dead from coronavirus. So if president Obama showed failed leadership then, do you think president Trump is showing failed leadership now?
Well, I think we all have responsibility in stopping the spread. And certainly I've heard some of the discussions earlier. Wearing a mask is entirely appropriate. Social distancing is entirely appropriate. We have seen, I think, one additional death in the last 24 hours here in Iowa.
So it is something that we absolutely should be paying attention to and we all should do our part to make sure that we are protecting others as well. So this is a virus that is not going to go away soon. We want to make sure that we are watching this and doing everything that we can as a federal government, including the research and development of therapeutics and vaccinations to make sure that we are doing the right thing as a nation.
BASH: So given the fact that one person died there, that's only half the number that died during Ebola, which you said was failed leadership. Is the president right now exhibiting failed leadership?
No, I think that the president is stepping forward and we have vice president Mike Pence that is spearheading the task force efforts on the coronavirus. And so understanding where this came from, how it developed, of course, the push back that we got from the Democrats when the president did try to shutdown travel from some of those hot spots, it was an extremely difficult environment to operate.
And, you know, we know different today than we did at the beginning of the spread of the virus, and we should continually learn from those efforts and make sure we are doing the right thing by moving our nation forward, simple things.
Simple things, wearing a mask, making sure we're washing our hands. But then as federal government officials, making sure we're moving at warp speed to get to that vaccination.
