NYT: Trump Told Kushner He Didn’t Want Americans Tested For COVID Until They’re In The ER And Vomiting

The New York Times reports:

It was a warm summer Wednesday, Election Day was looming and President Trump was even angrier than usual at the relentless focus on the coronavirus pandemic. “You’re killing me! This whole thing is! We’ve got all the damn cases,” Mr. Trump yelled at Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, during a gathering of top aides in the Oval Office on Aug. 19. “I want to do what Mexico does. They don’t give you a test till you get to the emergency room and you’re vomiting.”

Mexico’s record in fighting the virus was hardly one for the United States to emulate. But the president had long seen testing not as a vital way to track and contain the pandemic but as a mechanism for making him look bad by driving up the number of known cases. “I’m going to lose,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Kushner during debate preparations. “And it’s going to be your fault, because of the testing.”

Read the full article.

Lot of finger pointing and group ass covering, but a really important and well reported story placing the blame primarily on the President, where it belongs. Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him? https://t.co/CJZXA219SZ

— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 1, 2021