Yesterday, we discussed how the media has long mocked the theory that the coronavirus originated at a lab in Wuhan that was researching not just coronaviruses but specifically naturally occurring bat-based viruses.  Some have been discussing the obvious possibility that the lab, not the nearby market, was the source.  Recently, it was disclosed that embassy officials in January 2018 alerted U.S. officials of serious problems in the lab which was conducting risky research on bats, the very source of COVID-19. China is known to have concealed the outbreak and arrested doctors trying to alert the world.  Now key players in the diplomatic and intelligence community believe that indeed the Wuhan lab was the original source.  There is however one member who continues to maintain that this crisis is due not to China but President Donald Trump: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn).

Sen. Murphy declared on Anderson Cooper: “The reason that we’re in the crisis that we are today is not because of anything that China did, is not because of anything the WHO did. It’s because of what this president did. It’s because he didn’t take this virus seriously. We weren’t going to be able to keep every case out of the United States, but we didn’t have to have tens of thousands of people dying.”

What is clear is that China cost the world weeks of preparation when travel restrictions and enhanced production of material might have saved thousands of lives.  There is certainly room to criticize the President for his early comments on the virus. However, there is a bizarre desire to shift the primary blame for this crisis from China to Trump.  Given the cost of tens of thousands of lives and millions of cases, it is highly disturbing to read such comments.

Millions have contracted a virus because China not only arrested those who wanted to warn the world but buried needed research on the origins of the virus.  That is putting aside the concern that the virus may have been released from the lab.

Once again, there is a legitimate debate if the White House did enough on the virus.  I am still trying to work through those criticisms because it seems like we are speaking about a relatively short period of a couple weeks.  However, none of that justifies the narrative that this is a crisis caused by Trump as opposed to the regime in China.