While the mainstream media focuses on President Trump telling Vice President Pence how difficult some state Governor’s have been to work with, they ignore the real story that comes out of this. That is, that the VP has stepped into a leadership role like very few American’s have seen a VP take in the modern history of this nation.
As head of the Coronavirus Task Force, which was formed on January 29, 2020, during the heat of the failed impeachment attempt against President Trump, Pence has been asked to lead an effort that many say is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health and Task Force member who, since joining the NIH in 1984, has seen every new disease outbreak including HIV, Ebola, Zika, SARS, MERS, and HINI, and calls the COVID-19 pandemic an “unknown” and “unprecedented event” that we are experiencing. Yet, Pence and team have made incredible strides in understanding the disease, creating private-government partnerships, supporting states when needed and stepping out of the way when prudent.
Pence speaks daily at the 5 P.M. press conferences to discuss the new findings of the day, explain new initiatives and to remind the American public that we must have 15 day of social distancing in order to ‘flatten the curve’ and keep our medical system from being overwhelmed by the number of potential Covid-19 patients.
In yesterday’s presser, Trump stated that he’d told Pence there would be several difficult governor, including Inslee of Washington, Newsom of California among others. Trump praised Pence for calmly contacting various governors and working together to make sure the flow of information and resources goes both ways. Trump went on to praise Gavin Newsom in particular for his commitment to working with the President and the Covid-19 Task Force and for Newsom’s acceptance and praise of the administration’s efforts.
However, several governors continue to defy current best practices, such as allowing compassionate use of hydroxycholoquine to treat Covid-19 patients. Governors of Nevada, Michigan and New York have all implemented bans on the use of this and other drugs that have shown promise as treatments of Covid-19 infection.