How much money was Rump paid personally for the 17 tons of PPE sent to China?

[Eliot Rosewater]

Someone needs to find out, please.

Also, GOP states are under-reporting the infection rate.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/29/1932338/-Republican-Governors-appear-to-be-suppressing-COVID-19-data?utm_campaign=trending


ps Rump FACILITATES nothing unless there is something in it for him.

[jberryhill]

1. That's an easy one, but you aren't going to like it

You mean the 17 tons from early February referenced here:

https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/the-united-states-announces-assistance-to-the-novel-coronavirus/

February 7, 2020

This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials. These donations are a testament to the generosity of the American people.

Key words: "facilitated the transportation" and "donated medical supplies"

Here you go:


https://www.directrelief.org/2020/02/protective-gear-bound-for-cities-in-china-with-most-coronavirus-patients/

U.S. Private Sector Backing China’s Coronavirus Fight
FEBRUARY 6, 2020

With the backing of many U.S. private sector companies and foundations, Direct Relief today sent a major shipment of personal protective gear to Chinese hospitals at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, including 250,000 N95 masks and other requested items.

Since Jan. 27, Direct Relief has sent to hospitals in China a total of 572,000 N95 and surgical masks.

The recipients in China include the largest hospitals in the three cities with the highest reported incidence of coronavirus—Wuhan, Xiaogan and Huanggang. The three cities are all located in Hubei Province, where more than 19,000 cases of novel coronavirus have been reported. Items in Thursday’s shipments will also be directed to local agencies in neighboring Chongqing.

A number of prominent U.S. private sector companies and foundations are channeling their China assistance through Direct Relief. The HP Foundation on Monday donated $1 million to the effort, with other large cash donations coming from Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Grandstream Networks. 3M and Amazon have donated large quantities of personal protective gear.

Here's a picture of the gear in question:



The latest shipment of personal protective equipment, including surgical masks and N95 respirator masks, departs Direct Relief's warehouse Thursday, bound for medical facilities in China.

--------------

Those were supplies donated by a range of private donors.

The only thing the State Dept. did was "facilitate the transport" - i.e. cutting red tape involved in exporting goods to China, with whom we have a trade war.

Among all the dumb things the administration has done, this one seems to be a popular falsehood circulating on social media.

I'm always fascinated by how that happens. Trump shits the bed, but the "shiny object" turns out to be something that he didn't do. Almost as if there were people who put that stuff into circulation on purpose.

[dalton99a]

2. +1. 250,000 is 1/80 of China's daily N95 production

Their factories were making 20 million N95 masks PER DAY at the time of the Wuhan outbreak. It's fairly certain that they had plenty of stuff on hand in hospitals

Trump is an asshole, but he gave nothing from our national stockpile to China or anyone else for that matter.