Finding their newest conspiracy theory about the coronavirus AKA CoV-2 or Covid-19 pandemic, the anti-Trump press promotes the idea that 70-year-old economic adviser Peter Navarro warned Trump before anyone else about the deadly epidemic. New York Times and other anti-Trump print and broadcast outlets are pushing the idea that Trump knew about the dangers of the coronavirus but failed to act in a timely manner. That becomes the Democrats’ latest talking point heading into the 2020 election, that somehow Trump didn’t listen to Navarro. Despised by the press for his hard line on China, Narvarro has become reborn as a medical sage, warning the world about potential deaths and economic ruin from the SARS CoV-2 epidemic. Democrats new story illustrates “fake news” as its best, as if Navarro were advising anyone on global infectious disease pandemics.
Whatever “memos” Navarrao banged out for himself or public consumption were purely opinion pieces without any scientific merit other than the fact that they look like they were a prescient analysis. Navarro warned about the “lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil. Whether wise or not, Navarro, who wrote the controversial book, “Death by China,” has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to infectious disease issues. Criticized enough for his hawkish views on China, Navarro become Democrats new poster boy, proving that Trump was warned on Jan. 27 about the dangers of the impending coronviru of a full epidemic. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” Navarro’s first memo said.
When you consider Navarro wrote the memo on Jan. 27, the Times or other anti-Trump papers can’t possibly believe that Navarro’s warning led to Trump’s Jan. 31 decision to ban all incoming and outgoing flights to China. Instead of the New York Times blaming the World Health Organization [WHO], they find any way to inject Democrat political talking points into their headline stories. Navarro was no more a coronavirus expert that Trump knows anything about off-label medications, like hydroxychloroquine. Trump’s detractors want to prosecute him for practicing medicine without a license. Now the New Yok Times wants to elevate Navarro to Trump’s pandemic sage, as if Navarro were part of the National Institutes of Health [NIH] or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. Navarro expressed his personal concerns about a runaway pandemic wrecking the U.S. economy.
Navarro’s second memo sent Feb. 23 became even more emphatic that the Jan. 27 memo. “There is an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life as many as 1-2 million souls,” Navarro said, expressing grave concerns, much like other lay people not knowing what to expect. Warning about 100 million Americans getting infected show Navarro’s hyperbole, exaggerating what clearly was a growing problem but nowhere the scope he forecasted. Where Navarro was getting his predictions is anyone’s guess. He could have made up his own computer model. Well into the coronavirus crisis now in April, the U.S. has 457,101 cases, and 16,272 deaths, with epidemiologists predicting that the SAR CoV-2 epidemic may be leveling off. Where Navarro got his numbers is a mystery. One thing’s for sure, if Trump listened to Navarro he’d be totally irresponsible.
Clearly, Navarro, who runs Trump’s economic trade office, has nothing to do with the medical team managing the Covid-19 epidemic. From the tone of Navarro’s memos, it’s clear that he, himself, panicked about the growing coronavirus crisis. “This is the first line of defense for our health care workers and secondary workers in facilities such as elder care and skilled nursing,” Navaro’s second memo read. Why Trump economic adviser is talking about “elder care or skilled nursing” is baffling. Certainly the New York Times or any other anti-Trump media outlet can’t possibly think Trump gets his coronavirus updates or plans from Peter Navarro. Using Navarro’s personal emails as some kind of sage warning about an impending disaster is preposterous. To Trump’s detractors, they can’t possibly think that Navarro was advises the president on coronavirus.
Fake news has become so rampant in the U.S. it’s indistinguishable for anything disseminated by hostile foreign governments. While the U.S. intelligence community worried about foreign actors influencing U.S. media, they have no apparent worriy about the domestic press just making things up for political purposes. No where in the world has fake news been so refined, so disguised, so camouflaged, so everyday as the U.S. press. Navarro’s story gives the best illustration possible of how fake news works. Writers take something inconsquetial, like Navarro’s personal musings, turning into a dire warning that Trump ignored. Only yesterday, the fake news media said Trump had vested interest in Plaquenil or hydroxychloroquine, a drug he was asking medical experts to stay open about. Turns out Trump may have owned mutual fund with some Sanofi stock. If that’s not fake news, then what is?
