‘This is not the time for victory laps…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Former White House national security adviser Susan Rice claimed that it was “ridiculous” to say the U.S.’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has succeeded.
“It’s ridiculous. And it would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious,” Fmr. Obama national security adviser Susan Rice reacts to Jared Kushner calling the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic a “great success story.” pic.twitter.com/FpaRjpsQKy
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) April 29, 2020
The controversial Obama-era figure was recently named as chair of the ReOpen DC initiative—which likely means that the nation’s capital will remain in shutdown mode as long as it is politically practical for the Left.
Rice signaled as much when responding to comments from senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, in which he called the U.S. response a “success story.”
Kushner predicted that “a lot of the country should be back to normal” by June, and “the hope is that by July the country’s really rocking again.”
But Rice admonished the White House for its premature declaration and claimed it was politically motivated.
“This is not the time for victory laps,” she told CNN on Thursday.
“It’s ridiculous. And it would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious,” she said. “I don’t know how anybody with a straight face can call this a great success and declare this a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment.”
Compared with global statistics, the U.S.’s response to COVID-19 was, in fact, a success on many levels.
The White House banned travel to and from China in January and began a national lockdown just six weeks later.
In contrast, the Untied Kingdom, which has seen double the mortality rate of the U.S., didn’t instruct its citizens to remain home until a week after President Donald Trump issued recommended federal guidelines.
Yet, Rice claimed that as long as there are “losses on the battlefield,” we shouldn’t praise our efforts or begin reopening the country.
“We’re either going to continue to take the steps that are necessary to keep Americans safe or we’re going to prematurely declare victory, open everything before circumstances warrant, and we’re going to be right back in the barrel in a worse situation in the months to come,” she claimed.
Critics have argued the opposite: that a total shutdown of commerce has, in fact, extended and exacerbated the suffering of economically vulnerable Americans, who already bore the brunt of the health risk.