Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner is under fire after a new report revealed he had plans to abandon testing plans for the coronavirus because it was mainly hitting blue states and it would “not make sense politically.”
According to Vanity Fair, Kushner reportedly abandoned a national testing plan because it was “politically advantageous” to sit back and let blue states be eviscerated by the virus.
According to reporter Katherine Eban, Kushner put together a team to discuss plans to try and tame the virus.
Eban reported the following:
“Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. ‘The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,’ said the expert.”
That plan has already backfired as the majority of the states that are getting hit the hardest by the virus are red states like Florida and Texas.
Vanity Fair does not that the statements have not been verified, but they did reach out to Kushner to no avail.
Nevertheless, the report did spark outrage and many are calling for Kushner’s ouster.
This is a total outrage. Jared Kushner commissioned and then abandoned a rational plan for dealing with #COVID19 because it would only affect blue states! Or so they thought. Jared Kushner should resign. https://t.co/Ni3JU1Lw7u
— Claire Finkelstein (@COFinkelstein) July 31, 2020
Holy hell. Jared Kushner reportedly abandoned a national testing plan because it was *politically advantageous* to sit back and let blue states be eviscerated by the virus.
The corruption and depravity is simply staggering.
Kushner needs to resign now.https://t.co/lXC0Up2Z8S
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) July 31, 2020
“Imagine the administration had intel on an imminent terrorist attack that would kill over 100,000 people, and chose to do nothing because it was politically easier,” tweeted Matt Duss, foreign policy advisor for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on his personal account. “That’s what we have here. We need to be talking about accountability. For all of it.”
Imagine the administration had intel on an imminent terrorist attack that would kill over 100,000 people, and chose to do nothing because it was politically easier. That’s what we have here.
We need to be talking about accountability. For all of it. https://t.co/wYt6nUAdU1
— Matt Duss (@mattduss) July 31, 2020
“So the White House made the explicit decision that it was a better political call to let people die in the blue states and blame the governors then try to fix the testing situation,” responded Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo.
Others also shared their outrage.
Wajahat Ali, an op-ed contributor to the New York Times, indicated the seriousness of these accusations against Kushner should not be ignored.
“Jared Kushner has blood on his hands,” Ali stated. “And we should talk about this today.”
According to Duss, simply voting Trump out of office in November would not count as holding administration officials responsible for this kind of behavior.
“No, losing the election doesn’t qualify as accountability,” Duss said. “Over 100,000 Americans are dead because of these people’s incompetence and viciousness. I know the idea of prosecuting the previous administration makes some uncomfortable. Time to start getting over that.”
And no, losing the election doesn’t qualify as accountability. Over 100,000 Americans are dead because of these people’s incompetence and viciousness.
I know the idea of prosecuting the previous administration makes some uncomfortable. Time to start getting over that.
— Matt Duss (@mattduss) July 31, 2020
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