Markets are crashing in large part over the Trump administration’s incompetence and total inability to inspire confidence in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The DOW a few minutes ago was down more than 2100 points, a historic sell-off following a week where the market saw its steepest one-day decline since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is under fire given he is one of the top Trump administration officials directly in charge of any health crisis response. Under his watch the CDC has grossly bungled the coronavirus testing and experts say the U.S, is totally unprepared to handle this disaster.
Reporters were angered by Secretary Azar’s refusal to answer their questions Monday afternoon, pointing out to the HHS chief that he had time for a Fox News interview but would not take questions from the White House press pool – a group far less likely to give him a pass.
Here’s Secretary Azar at 10:35 AM telling Fox News what a great job President Trump is doing, and that the president’s top focus is the coronavirus outbreak. He’s then forced to admit, “I haven’t spoken to the president yet this morning,” which seems to destroy his claim. (Trump spent the morning at a $4 million Florida fundraiser, after spending the weekend golfing.)
Here’s Secretary Azar speaking just outside the White House late Monday morning ditching reporters and refusing to answer their questions.
Those questions included, “Do you still not know how many people have been tested for coronavirus?”, “What’s your plan for the unemployed?”, and “Where are the tests? Have they been delivered?”