I now have MAGA telling me Bolton shuttered NSC pandemic office because they were incompetent

[procon]

15. "The Trump administration's botched coronavirus response, explained"

This in-depth article should be enough to sober him up. As with many decisions Trump makes, it seems like his primary reason for shutting down the pandemic defense office was because Obama set it up. Belatedly, long after the fact, Trump tried to make it a cost saving gesture, because endemic diseases don't visit the USA.




"When Bolton became Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, he quickly moved to disband the White House National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which President Barack Obama set up after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak to lead federal coordination and preparation for disease outbreaks.

In April 2018, Bolton fired Tom Bossert, then the homeland security adviser, who, the Washington Post reported, “had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks.” Then, that May, Bolton let go the head of pandemic response, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, and his global health security team. The team, the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, was never replaced.

At the time, the Trump administration and Bolton argued the cuts were needed to streamline the National Security Council.

Trump, for his part, has defended his record, arguing, “I’m a businessperson. I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.”


https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/14/21177509/coronavirus-trump-covid-19-pandemic-response