In the middle of a pandemic Trump threatens to de-fund the World Health Organization
While the World Health Organization (WHO) has applauded the USA's response to the pandemic, it has been critical of Trump's odd behavior in delaying a response. So, our spoiled brat "so-called" president does what he always does - retaliate. (No. I didn't do a bad job. You did.
)Yesterday from NPR;
In response to:
Trump Criticizes WHO And Threatens To Pull U.S. Funding
April 7, 20207:43 PM ET
Laurel Wamsley at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
November 7, 2018
In a White House press briefing on Tuesday, President Trump criticized the World Health Organization's coronavirus response and threatened to cut its funding.
President Trump assailed the World Health Organization on Tuesday, and indicated that he will consider putting a hold on funding it.
In a media briefing at the White House, Trump twice stated that the United States funds the majority of the organization's budget. According to the WHO, the United States provided 14.67% of its funding in 2018-2019.
The WHO has been the most prominent global organization leading the strategy to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But on Tuesday, Trump criticized the WHO as slow to respond to the crisis, and repeatedly said the organization has been "China-centric." He complained that the WHO "receives vast amounts of money from the United States" and that the organization "called it wrong."
"They could have called it months earlier," he said. "They would have known and they should have known and they probably did not. So we'll be looking into that very carefully."
Trump at one point said "we're gonna put a hold on money spent to the WHO," before backtracking later in the briefing and saying "we're going to take a look at it."
Trump was asked what he meant by calling the WHO "China-centric."
"I don't know, they seem to come down on the side of China," Trump replied. "'Don't close your borders to China,' they don't report what's really going on. They didn't see it, and yet they were there, they didn't see what was going on in Wuhan. They didn't see it. How do you not see it? They didn't report it. They must have seen it, but they didn't report it."
The WHO has opposed travel bans, mainly due to the economic damage they cause.
The U.S. is the single largest contributor to the WHO. Its assessed contribution is 22% of the total members' assessed contributions. The U.S. pays considerably more than the assessed contributions in additional voluntary contributions. That 22% assessed contribution has been stable for many years, but the voluntary contributions have fluctuated depending on health crises and U.S. political priorities.
The WHO is funded not only by nations, but also nonprofit organizations, foundations, companies, universities and governmental alliances. After the U.S., the next three largest WHO funders in 2018-2019 were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GAVI Alliance, and the United Kingdom.
Trump Criticizes WHO And Threatens To Pull U.S. Funding
April 7, 20207:43 PM ET
Laurel Wamsley at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
November 7, 2018
In a White House press briefing on Tuesday, President Trump criticized the World Health Organization's coronavirus response and threatened to cut its funding.
President Trump assailed the World Health Organization on Tuesday, and indicated that he will consider putting a hold on funding it.
In a media briefing at the White House, Trump twice stated that the United States funds the majority of the organization's budget. According to the WHO, the United States provided 14.67% of its funding in 2018-2019.
The WHO has been the most prominent global organization leading the strategy to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But on Tuesday, Trump criticized the WHO as slow to respond to the crisis, and repeatedly said the organization has been "China-centric." He complained that the WHO "receives vast amounts of money from the United States" and that the organization "called it wrong."
"They could have called it months earlier," he said. "They would have known and they should have known and they probably did not. So we'll be looking into that very carefully."
Trump at one point said "we're gonna put a hold on money spent to the WHO," before backtracking later in the briefing and saying "we're going to take a look at it."
Trump was asked what he meant by calling the WHO "China-centric."
"I don't know, they seem to come down on the side of China," Trump replied. "'Don't close your borders to China,' they don't report what's really going on. They didn't see it, and yet they were there, they didn't see what was going on in Wuhan. They didn't see it. How do you not see it? They didn't report it. They must have seen it, but they didn't report it."
The WHO has opposed travel bans, mainly due to the economic damage they cause.
The U.S. is the single largest contributor to the WHO. Its assessed contribution is 22% of the total members' assessed contributions. The U.S. pays considerably more than the assessed contributions in additional voluntary contributions. That 22% assessed contribution has been stable for many years, but the voluntary contributions have fluctuated depending on health crises and U.S. political priorities.
The WHO is funded not only by nations, but also nonprofit organizations, foundations, companies, universities and governmental alliances. After the U.S., the next three largest WHO funders in 2018-2019 were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GAVI Alliance, and the United Kingdom.
Comments (62)
But, I won't say it isn't possible. Regardless, one can't speculate that ALL would.
Furthermore, where would they reproduce before Earth ? And how would they last in space so long ?
This current one can't even last on metal, or cardboard a week.
U.S. funding for the WHO IS withheld during a review of the organization ...
Totally agree with you on this and anyone with a lil grey matter between the ears can see this. And that's said without pointing fingers.
Well, it's an interesting theory. I don't believe anyone discovered any RNA nor DNA on asteroids
Though I might also consider ...
Bill Gates has criticized President Donald Trump's decision to cut US funding for the World Health Organization, arguing that the timing is dangerous.
"Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds," the Microsoft cofounder tweeted.
"Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever."
Though the tweet did not name Trump, it came hours after the US president announced plans to halt the US's $400 million to $500 million contribution.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters he was suspending the funding for weeks, pending a review of the group's role in what he phrased as "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
He accused the organization of allowing China to cover up the true extent of the coronavirus, which has now infected more than 600,000 Americans and killed at least 26,000. There are close to 2 million confirmed infections of the virus worldwide.
US Democratic lawmakers have also criticized the move, while WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said now was not the time to "politicize" the pandemic.
Gates, who has long warned against a pandemic, has pledged $100 million toward fighting the coronavirus outbreak via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Questions are raised starting @ 19:00 --
If they need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, then so be it. (Both from an animal welfare perspective, and for the safety of the wider world). At any rate, we CANNOT afford another plague, like covid.
That seems to be what you're saying. How about something less unattainable like 'prohibit live animals in wet markets'
FF - that sounds like a good idea. Perhaps, knowing what we do now, how about if we start with eliminating bats from markets ?
Do you think some of that travel is to meet with world leaders to discuss methods for fighting disease ?
Somebody has to get hold of that guy and voters need to remove him from office.
It seems to me, that this is just an effort to distract from Trump's own inadequacies and failure to prepare the country and obtain equipment.
But, again, I am all for an investigation to learn whatever the truth is, AFTER the pandemic is over.