So Mitch McConnell inadvertently admitted that Trump botched the pandemic response. He told Hugh Hewitt:
“It came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment.”
And here we thought the response was “perfect.” But Mitch didn’t come up with this. It’s been bubbling up in the right-wing fever swamp for a while.
Trump did quite a dance when he was asked about it yesterday:
Q Mitch McConnell. Yeah. He said that impeachment diverted the attention of the government. Do you think that, in any way? This was happening and building at the same time. Did it divert your attention or your team’s attention or the Vice President’s attention?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t like to think I did. I think I handled it very well, but I guess it probably did. I mean, I got impeached. I think, you know, I certainly devoted a little time to thinking about it, right?
Q (Inaudible) the pandemic?
THE PRESIDENT: So, but think of it: It was a hoax. It was a total hoax. And when you think that I got impeached only because they had a majority in the House. They didn’t get one — they didn’t get one Republican vote — 196 to nothing. Not one Republican. It’s nev- — I don’t think it’s ever happened. The Republicans stuck together and they stuck together in the Senate — 52 to a half. A half.
So, you know, when you say that — yeah, I think it took a lot of — I see them going and saying about speed. Well, they probably illegally impeached me in the sense that, if you look at the FBI today — with what happened, the horrible things — nobody cares about that now because all they’re thinking about is the virus, and that’s okay with me.
But you look at the report that came out from IG Horowitz; it’s disgraceful what went on. It’s disgraceful. It’s a total disgrace. They got caught in the act. But you know what? We won’t talk about that now. Did it divert my attention? I think I’m getting A-pluses for the way I handled myself during a phony impeachment. Okay? It was a hoax.
But certainly, I guess, I thought of it. And I think I probably acted — I don’t think I would have done any better had I not been impeached. Okay? And I think that’s a great tribute to something; maybe it’s a tribute to me. But I don’t think I would have acted any differently or I don’t think I would have acted any faster.
But the Democrats, their whole — their whole life, their whole being, their whole existence was to try and get me out of office any way they can, even if it was a phony deal. And it was a phony deal. And it turned out — and all you have to do is look today at the FBI reports. Take a look at what the FBI did. Take a look at the people. Take a look at Comey’s report — 78 pages of total kill. Take a look at that. Take a look at the report on McCabe. Just read it and you’ll see how horrible it was. And you know what? I don’t think this country is going to take it if you want to know the truth.
Yes, he was distracted by the impeachment. Also his approval ratings, Sean Hannity, his golf score, his profits, the media, his twitter feed, election polls the usual. In other words, he isn’t actually a president. He’s a celebrity influencer who spends all his time thinking about his popularity. And he’s hired a bunch of sycophantic amateurs who also don’t know how to do anything so they couldn’t take action without him.
Never Trumper George Conway proved that even if he was “distracted” by the impeachment, it doesn’t explain what happened next:
Look at the calendar. The impeachment trial ended on Feb. 5. In reality, it was over before it even started, thanks in large part to McConnell. The only drama was about whether there’d be any witnesses — and that ended on Jan. 31, when the Senate voted not to hear testimony.
This is an important point. Trump knew old Mitch had him covered. He was only obsessed with impeachment because it was about him, not because he feared being convicted. That was never going to happen.
And anyway, he did manage to find time for recreation:
That left plenty of time to deal with the virus. And while some lawyers in the executive branch and Congress were working on impeachment around the clock, impeachment didn’t consume the government. Trump managed to get to Mar-a-Lago at least four times in January and February, working in a few rounds of golf along the way.
He held five campaign rallies around the country during the impeachment trial. Trump even had the bandwidth during the trial to comment on the coronavirus: On Jan. 22, he told CNBC “we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.” On Jan. 24, he tweeted, “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
On Jan. 30, at a speech in Michigan, he said again, “We think we have it very well under control.” On Feb. 2, referring to his administration’s Jan. 31 order partially banning travel from China, Trump told Sean Hannity, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
Most importantly, impeachment didn’t keep U.S. intelligence agencies from warning the president and Congress in January and February about the danger of the virus. In particular, as Josh Rogin wrote, impeachment notwithstanding, “throughout January and much of February, senior Trump administration officials heatedly debated the scope and scale of the coronavirus pandemic.”
He didn’t want to hear it. The economy was doing well, the Democrats were in the midst of a contentious primary campaign and he was excited to be campaigning. The last thing he wanted was to have to be president. And so he ignored it and his people all understood that Dear Leader wanted the numbers to stay low.
And here we are.