As the Trump administration takes heat for their bungled response to the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus, Fox News and conservatives are working overtime to deflect from the reality that the Trump administration appears unprepared for a pandemic. From big budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to disbanding a U.S. pandemic response team to appointing Mike Pence to head a coronavirus team at the White House, this is a growing disaster in the making, something the markets are telling us even if the White House won’t.
The appointment of Mike Pence to lead the U.S. response team is particularly alarming because of his history in Indiana. After all, this is the same man who once published an op-ed saying "smoking doesn't kill." This is a man who refused to recognize the cause of an HIV outbreak in Indiana while he was governor and didn’t take action until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came into the state to investigate. He’s not someone who Donald Trump appointed because of his scientific knowledge and ability to manage a healthcare crisis. He’s someone who was appointed to be buffer between Donald Trump and negative press if this situation gets worse.
When the announcement was made that Mike Pence would be leading U.S. COVID-19 efforts, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did what a lot of people did, she went to Twitter to call out the wrong-headed appointment of Pence, citing his complete lack of competent experience. She said, “Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic. This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have.”
Enter Ted Cruz. After spending Thursday afternoon at the ultra-conservative CPAC conference telling the audience that Democrats are “elitist” and look down on Republican voters, Ted Cruz used Twitter to act like an elitist asshole, questioning AOC’s scientific knowledge with a level of smugness that oozed through the screen.
You see, Ted Cruz loves to bash on AOC because she’s a former bartender. He assumes she doesn’t know anything about science. In fact, AOC won numerous awards for her scientific work, specifically her work in microbiology. And she struck back so hard at Ted Cruz that I could hear the slap landing all the way in my living room in Kansas City.
When will these conservative men learn to stop coming for AOC? I’m starting to think they enjoy the pain.
