Andrew KimmelVerified account

“There was some coming to grips w/ the problem & the true nature of it. The 13th of March is when I saw him really turn the corner. It took a while to realize you’re at war. That’s when he took decisive action that set in motion some real payoffs.” -@LindseyGrahamSC

Trump spent weeks shuffling responsibility for leading his admin response to the crisis, putting Azar in charge of the task force at first, relying on Pottinger, the deputy nat’l security adviser, for brief periods, before finally putting Pence in the role toward the end of Feb.

Others emerged to help right the US’ course. But even as Fauci, Azar & others sought to assert themselves, Trump was turning to others w/ no credentials, experience or discernible insight in navigating a pandemic. Foremost among them was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. #TrumpKnew

A team reporting to Kushner took space in the HHS building to pursue a series of inchoate initiatives. One plan involved having Google create a website to direct those w/ symptoms to testing facilities that were supposed to spring up, but never materialized. #KushnerIsAnIdiot

Another idea was advanced by Oracle chairman Larry Ellison to use software to monitor the unproven use of anti-malaria drugs against the coronavirus pathogen. So far, the plans have failed to come close to delivering on the promises made when they were touted in WH briefings.

The Kushner initiatives have interrupted the work of those under immense pressure to manage the response. Current & former officials say that Fauci & others have repeatedly had to divert their attentions from core operations to contend with ill-conceived requests from the WH.

Azar - who once ran the response - has since been sidelined, with his agency disempowered in decision-making and his performance pilloried by a range of White House officials, including Kushner. #KushnerIsAnIdiot

“Fauci is trying to roll out the most ambitious clinical trial ever...”, said a fmr sr admin official in frequent touch w/ fmr colleagues. Yet the nation’s top health officials “are getting calls from the WH or Jared’s team asking, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to do this w/ Oracle?’”

If the virus has exposed the country’s misplaced confidence in its ability to handle a crisis, it also has cast harsh light on the limits of Trump’s approach to the presidency — his disdain for facts, science and experience. #TrumpKnew

After months of dismissing the severity of the virus & resisting calls for measures to contain it, Trump brands himself a wartime president. 03/31: “It’s absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It’s a matter of life & death.”