tRrump dismantled NSC pandemic Unit -- I told this to a MAGAt -- the Response:

[TruckFump]

The MAGAt's reply was, in essence, that tRump did not do this, but transferred the unit elsewhere. Never found out where the unit was allegedly transferred.

Anyone have any info on this? First time I heard this MAGAt claim. IMO, it is as with most tRump supporters a bunch of BS from Faux Snooze.

[hlthe2b]

1. Look for it where Trump stores all the other lies he's made the past 3 1/2 years.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. It is a lie.

[blm]

3. Tell them to prove it.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. My friend simply refuses to believe this.

Doesn't have any evidence to prove Trump didn't do this. Then where is the pandemic unit, I asked. Where did it go?

[catbyte]

5. Yeah, he transerred the unit to the Unemplyment Office.

Morans.

[leighbythesea2]

6. Im going with no

But nice try magat. Who among his administration that was "let go" was in reality transferred somewhere else.
Can only think of one.

[underpants]

7. Look they got right out on him not saying "hoax"

They will believe anything and they repeat it as told.

Here at DU we've had discussions about whether he said it or did he say it directly. To me, yes he said it under the topic of "politicizing the virus".

[malaise]

10. I asked earlier this morning

What exactly was the hoax because the virus is real and the necessity to raise alarms about it was also urgent.
The Con and ReTHUGS tried to cover this up for weeks

[underpants]

16. Unfortunately for them it right at the beginning of that PERFECT ad

And it is perfect.

I don't care about taking the high road when it comes to facts vs. perception is reality and branding. Screw them. They created this sandwich, take a bite.

[malaise]

19. +1,000

Eat it

[Azathoth]

8. This was circulated aggressively by the right wing

The idea is that Trump dissolved the panel and dumped their responsibilities onto another part of NSC, so that means he really didn't "abolish" the panel.

It's the same as the boss saying "I had two employees, I fired one but added his responsibilities to the other's, so you can't say I abolished his role." It's bullshit.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Lie after lie after lie after lie. Especially when we have had people who have worked in this ...

unit from what I understand actually say that it did happen (dismantled).

This reminds me of the stupid jokes of 'how many people does it takes to change a light bulb?' etc. mode. In this case it's how many damn lies does it take to finally get through to these nuts and freaks that rump is lying through his blank blank blank fake teeth!?

[rurallib]

11. So if he transferred them, why didn't he find them and put them into action?

I would imagine even a colossal idiot could have figured that out.

[TruckFump]

14. That was my response to the MAGAt.

So, if it still existed, why did it not take action???

I sent a link to this thread to his phone...I asked him to send me a link to prove the unit was not disbanded.

"Crickets."

[JHB]

18. The answer would be: "He did, and they're doing great! They'd be doing even better...

...if Dumbocrats and NeverTrumpers would stop playing politics with an emergency like this."

I would imagine even a colossal idiot could have figured that out.

No fault to you, but I think your imagination falls short on just how colossal the idiocy is.

[brewens]

12. I think Trump said reasigned. Still there under different titles. Okay. What have these people done?

They weren't just sitting around were they? That was Trump's excuse for getting rid of the team he didn't really get rid of, or something like that.

[TruckFump]

17. More bullshit from MF45.

Gawd, the blood of those who have died -- it's on his hands, the Motherfucker!

[SCantiGOP]

13. TRUMP ADMITTED IT

Sorry for the caps, but wanted to break through the noise.
Several months ago he was asked about dismantling the team, and he said that, as a businessman, he had downgraded several offices that had people sitting around doing nothing. I remember the end of his statement (when the virus was still a small but worrisome event in one area of China) was that, if we ever did need them again, we could get the team back together in a matter of days.

I remember thinking at the time that this would be like the Mayor laying off the entire Fire Department because they had been sitting around for over a month without a single fire, and saying, “If we ever need them again we can get them all back in a matter of days.”

[TruckFump]

15. Did not work out too well, did it!

So, his euphemism is "downgrade" for disbanded?

[SCantiGOP]

22. Not exactly

He said he didn’t abolish the office, he just laid everyone off. That way it could be revamped if needed.
I believe Obama had tripled its budget and doubled its staffing, since it was supposed to be an active, ongoing effort to be prepared to work with other countries, the states and the private sector in case of the sudden emergence of a new threat. That global orientation, along with Obama’s fingerprints on it, assured that Trump would demolish it.

This is just semantics; the Prez doesn’t have the authority to abolish an agency or office created by Congressional Act, but he can lay everyone off, which has exactly the same result.

[gibraltar72]

20. And the guy who was actually in China monitoring this

was let go. There were 47 offices around the world he cut it to ten.

[SCantiGOP]

23. I think you're right

He laid off the Obama expansion part of the office here in the US, which crippled its ability to plan and respond.

[underpants]

21. Part 2. Fired epidemic expert IN China in July 2019. Part 3. Ignored transition briefings

on lessons learned from Ebola and the pig flu at which Ross, Perry, Carson etc attended.

3 strikes.

[SCantiGOP]

24. Three strikes

We’re out.

[csziggy]

25. Every source I can find says "dismantled" or "disbanded" not transferred

Trump disbanded NSC pandemic unit that experts had praised
By DEB RIECHMANN March 14, 2020

<SNIP>

The NSC directorate for global health and security and bio-defense survived the transition from President Barack Obama to Trump in 2017.

Trump’s elimination of the office suggested, along with his proposed budget cuts for the CDC, that he did not see the threat of pandemics in the same way that many experts in the field did.

<SNIP>

It’s impossible to assess the impact of the 2018 decision to disband the unit, she said. {Beth} Cameron {Beth Cameron, the first director of the unit} noted that biological experts remain at the White House, but she says it’s clear that eliminating the office contributed to what she called a “sluggish domestic response.” She said that shortly before Trump took office, the unit was watching a rising number of cases in China of a deadly strain of the flu and a yellow fever outbreak in Angola.

“It’s unclear whether the decision to disband the directorate, which was made in May 2018, after John Bolton became national security adviser, was a tactical move to downgrade the issue or whether it was part of the White House’s interest in simplifying and shrinking the National Security Council staff,” Cameron says.

The NSC during the Obama administration grew to about 250 professionals, according to Trump’s current national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. The staff has been cut to about 110 or 115 staffers, he said.

More: https://apnews.com/ce014d94b64e98b7203b873e56f80e9a

[Anon-C]

26. See 25: Not that facts will matter to your friend:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/

[Botany]

27. They were transferred right next to Saddam's WMDs

BTW we have Trump on tape from this Feb. (I think) saying that closing down the pandemic
response unit was "a smart business move" and he could "just hire 'em back" if needed. rough quotes

A 2018 Washington Post article covered the firing of the response unit.

[Shanti Mama]

28. My "fact driven" brother quibbled with me about this.

I think it's really important for us to present facts correctly. I sent him this. Please don't shoot me.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-trump-fired-pandemic-team/partly-false-claim-trump-fired-pandemic-response-team-in-2018-idUSKBN21C32M

CONCLUSIONS
There is disagreement over how to describe the changes at the NSC’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense in 2018. The departure of some members due to “streamlining” efforts under John Bolton is documented. The “pandemic response team” as a unit was largely disbanded.

VERDICT​
Partly false: The Trump administration disbanded the “pandemic response” team, but some of the team members were reassigned to roles that included pandemic response

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking work here .

[Mister Ed]

31. Thank you. I appreciate factual accuracy as well. The proof is in the pudding, though...

...and it's clear that, although some individuals who had been members of the pandemic response team were reassigned to roles that involved similar duties, we no longer had a functioning pandemic response team when the pandemic arrived.

If we did, then the pandemic response team would have, well...responded.

[Shanti Mama]

33. I agree with your analysis completely.

But when trying to communicate with idiots it's best to be as accurate as possible.

Thanks for tempering your response!

[gratuitous]

29. Use whatever word you want

The end result, whether the unit was disbanded, transferred, or shot out of a cannon, it wasn't up and running at the crucial time we needed it. And it happened on Trump's watch.

[Strelnikov_]

30. They were transferred . . . to the corn field n/t

[ornotna]

34. It's good that he did that. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

32. If he transferred it then they should still be actively doing their assigned work. Right?

[Liberal In Texas]

35. Transferred to the unemployment line.

These people live on another planet.