Trump vs. Pence: The administration contradicts itself on coronavirus
The president’s recent remarks have been at odds with his VP — the man he put in charge of the White House response.
As the novel coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. intensifies, President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about the crisis have been at odds with his own vice president’s — the man he put in charge of the White House response.
After Trump initially downplayed the number of cases in the U.S. and overestimated the availability of testing for the virus, Vice President Mike Pence had to correct the record. And the vice president’s praise of Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee didn’t sit well with the president.
Here are several of the contradictions that occurred within days — if not hours — of each other:
Testing Capacity
The president this week continued to insist health care providers’ capacity to test for the virus has been sufficient. Later March 10 at a coronavirus task force briefing, Pence made clear testing was still a work in progress.
While testing capacity in the U.S. has increased in recent days, less than 10,000 people so far have been tested.
Cruise Ship Evacuees
Last week, the president told reporters that he would prefer people possibly infected with the virus on a cruise ship docked off California not come ashore because it might increase “the numbers” of U.S. cases.
Washington’s Governor
Trump called Gov. Jay Insleea snake. But Pence had complimented Washington state’s Democratic governor about 24 hours earlier at a joint appearance addressing the King County outbreak.
In late February, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee – a former presidential candidate –tweeted that he’d told Pence “our work would be more successful if the Trump administration stuck to the science and told the truth.”
Since Inslee’s tweet, Washington state has emerged as the focal point of the worst outbreak of U.S. coronavirus cases, and increasingly worked with the federal government on its response. Inslee this week banned large gatherings and closed schools in the three counties hit hardest by the virus.
Vaccines
Trump in early March met with drug company executives, and later that night promised a vaccine was coming soon. Pence the next day specified that a vaccine might soon go to trial in humans.
Public health officials have said a coronavirus vaccine is at least a year away.
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Design by Megan McCrink.