As Democrats on capitol hill attempt to criticize President Trump for a “slow” coronavirus response, the president has renewed national attention on Nancy Pelosi.
On February 24, Nancy Pelosi visited San Francisco’s Chinatown and encouraged people to still go to shops and restaurants as usual.
President Trump accused Pelosi of deleting a tweet promoting that people ignore social distancing orders.
There are many videos and images that still exist of Pelosi touring the San Francisco Chinatown district.
In January, President Trump restricted travel to and from China.
Nearly a month later, Pelosi was encouraging people to continue eating at restaurants and shopping at stores as though nothing was going on.
President Trump’s accusation shows that the Democrats’ attempt to politicize COVID-19 is hypocritical at best.
More details, including footage of Pelosi in Chinatown, below:
During the State of the Union speech, President Trump warned about the virus that was spreading from China and threatening the rest of the world.
Pelosi famously tore up the speech warning Congress about the spreading pandemic.
Though Democrats are attempting to cast blame on President Trump, it is clear that he has been acting quickly and decisively as new data comes in.
Fox News has more details on Trump's reminder of Pelosi's anti-shutdown antics:
President Trump on Thursday drew renewed attention to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's ill-advised February 24 trip to San Francisco's Chinatown, where she urged residents to flock to shops and restaurants in defiance of the coronavirus outbreak.
Last month, Pelosi charged that people were dying as Trump "fiddles" -- but the video, Trump said, made clear that Pelosi wasn't accomplishing much to halt the virus herself.
"Crazy Nancy Pelosi deleted this from her Twitter account," Trump wrote, showing a local news report of Pelosi's trip to Chinatown. "She wanted everyone to pack into Chinatown long after I closed the BORDER TO CHINA. Based on her statement, she is responsible for many deaths. She’s an incompetent, third-rate politician!"
A day before Pelosi's trip to Chinatown, coronavirus infections surged in Italy and South Korea, and authorities in Italy begin locking down towns.
Internet archives of Pelosi's tweets do not indicate that she deleted any video from her account that had been posted February 24, but the Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale emphasized separately that Pelosi doesn't want "Americans to see what she said then."
Earlier in the day, Trump wrote of Pelosi, "She is totally incompetent & controlled by the Radical Left, a weak and pathetic puppet. Come back to Washington and do your job!"
Pelosi's call for crowds to assemble in Chinatown, which were widely covered by sympathetic local news reports, came the same day that the White House submitted a request to Congress for $2.5 billion in supplemental spending to help combat the coronavirus.
“It’s exciting to be here, especially at this time, to be able to be unified with our community,” Pelosi told reporters. “We want to be vigilant about what is out there in other places. We want to be careful about how we deal with it, but we do want to say to people ‘Come to Chinatown, here we are — we're, again, careful, safe — and come join us.'”
She added that "everything is fine" and "all is well."
The Democrats have routinely accused President Trump of downplaying the severity of the panic.
However, Trump's actions show that while the Democrats were busy with impeachment, he was already taking strong action on the border and forming the coronavirus task force.
Meanwhile, it appears that Pelosi was encouraging people to go to Chinatown in San Francisco.
While there is no evidence that suggests Pelosi actually deleted said tweet, it is undeniable that she was out in Chinatown.
It's this fact that President Trump is trying to draw attention to.
While many in the liberal media are nitpicking at the phrasing of the president's tweet, the heart of the issue is the same: Pelosi was encouraging people to go out in public while Trump was protecting Americans.
Local NBC Bay Area affiliate confirmed Pelosi's Chinatown tour and statements:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi toured San Francisco's Chinatown Monday to send a message. She said there's no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns.
"That’s what we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here," Pelosi said. "Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation."
Pelosi visited The Wok Shop, a temple and the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, which was started 58 years ago by owner Kevin Chan's mother and uncle.
Chan said his business is losing about $500-$800 a day, or about 70% on average. He believes the fear of the virus is racially motivated.
"I think it's because even if I walk out and cough a little bit — my throat is itchy — they look at me, 'Oh,' like this, 'scary,'" he said.
As Pelosi walked from the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory to lunch at a dim sum restaurant, she hugged friends and waved to onlookers. She downplayed the racism issue, saying she understands people are concerned about China – the epicenter of the novel coronavirus.
"But that shouldn’t be carried over to Chinatown in San Francisco," she said. "I hope that it’s not that. But all I can say is, 'I’m here.' We feel safe and sound, so many of us coming here."
Pelosi did say she was concerned that President Donald Trump's budget cuts 19% of funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A strong government response to the COVID-19 pandemic means that all branches of government should be working together.
President Trumps has been decisive and strong in the decisions that he has made, but Pelosi has attempted to put partisan policies into place during the pandemic.
For example, she attempted to shove pro-abortion language into the coronavirus stimulus package.
The record is clear, though, and voters will have the final say in November.
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