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Trump sent Putin covid tests in 2020 - why is this bad?

Trump sent Putin covid tests in 2020 - why is this bad?

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There are plenty of links, but just to provide one...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33vjjg8k3yo

A) I don't get why Trump is treating this as an accusation and going into tantrum mode to deny it.

B) If true, why is it a bad thing? I mean even a little bit of a bad thing?

Weren't tests supposed to help control the spread? Does covid spread stop at borders? Were we supposed to root for the Russians to get and spread more covid?

Of course, this was also before the Ukraine war when Putin, while certainly a bad guy, was hardly Public Enemy #1 like he is now.

Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?

1 edit

@sh76 said
There are plenty of links, but just to provide one...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33vjjg8k3yo

A) I don't get why Trump is treating this as an accusation and going into tantrum mode to deny it.

B) If true, why is it a bad thing? I mean even a little bit of a bad thing?

Weren't tests supposed to help control the spread? Does covid spread stop at borders? Were we ...[text shortened]... y, was hardly Public Enemy #1 like he is now.

Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?
Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?

Maybe things were a bit slow in the BBC newsroom that day. Frankly, I don't care if Trump sent covid tests to another country. I do care that there is a 50% chance that despite all his legal baggage, this (little tin god) will get reelected.

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This was concealed, giving a surface-level appearance of impropriety. Like a husband hiding he had lunch with a female coworker.

As of now, this is a non-story.


@sh76 said
There are plenty of links, but just to provide one...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33vjjg8k3yo

A) I don't get why Trump is treating this as an accusation and going into tantrum mode to deny it.

B) If true, why is it a bad thing? I mean even a little bit of a bad thing?

Weren't tests supposed to help control the spread? Does covid spread stop at borders? Were we ...[text shortened]... y, was hardly Public Enemy #1 like he is now.

Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?
I see nothing wrong with it providing that the Americans had enough for themselves. What concerns me is the 7 or more conversations they had after Trump was out of the White House. They seem to be quite chummy, and with Putin being a Dictator, the optics just don't look good.

-VR

3 edits

One reason why it could be a scandal: Trump and his supporters constantly denied Covid was an issue and even cut funding for it.

He told the public Dems were blowing the issue of out proportion; sending Covid tests to Putin probably would've been used against him in some way, especially since it was an election year. That could be why Trump concealed it.


@vivify said
One reason why it could be a scandal: Trump and his supporters constantly denied Covid was an issue and even cut funding for it.

He told the public Dems were blowing the issue of out proportion; sending Covid tests to Putin probably would've been used against him in some way, especially since it was an election year. That could be why Trump concealed it.
And at that time, there was a shortage of tests to go around in the US. I think this is the bigger issue.


@Suzianne said
And at that time, there was a shortage of tests to go around in the US. I think this is the bigger issue.
Exactly. There was a shortage of tests in the US. And on the same day the message was recorded, trump was on TV telling the US public that tests were over-rated and pointless.


@sh76 said
There are plenty of links, but just to provide one...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33vjjg8k3yo

A) I don't get why Trump is treating this as an accusation and going into tantrum mode to deny it.

B) If true, why is it a bad thing? I mean even a little bit of a bad thing?

Weren't tests supposed to help control the spread? Does covid spread stop at borders? Were we ...[text shortened]... y, was hardly Public Enemy #1 like he is now.

Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?
Excerpt from the article:

quote:

In War, Woodward writes that while the former president was in office, Trump “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use”.

Putin was reportedly anxious about falling ill with the virus, according to the retelling of Woodward's book in US media.

The report adds that Putin had asked Trump not to publicly share that he had sent him the tests, fearful that it would damage Trump's reputation.

“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin reportedly told Trump, according to the book cited by the Times.

Trump reportedly said: “I don’t care. Fine.”

end quote

What's wrong with this?

a) Trump was and still is entirely too chummy with dictators.

b) Sending ANYTHING in secret to a foreign head of state is a lot like "emoluments" only in reverse, and should be strictly forbidden. "Presents" to foreign heads of state should be transparent and accounted for.

c) Sending medical equipment to a foreign head of state should run through the Dept. of State &/or Dept. of Health, not privately.



3 edits


-Removed-
What did Trump receive in return might be the salient question.

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@sh76 said
There are plenty of links, but just to provide one...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33vjjg8k3yo

A) I don't get why Trump is treating this as an accusation and going into tantrum mode to deny it.

B) If true, why is it a bad thing? I mean even a little bit of a bad thing?

Weren't tests supposed to help control the spread? Does covid spread stop at borders? Were we ...[text shortened]... y, was hardly Public Enemy #1 like he is now.

Anyone want to help me on why this is even a story?
It was deliberately concealed to the public and denied by Trump's campaign. I think that at least trump must think it's bad.


-Removed-
The whole thing about trump is that everything is fryable.

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