Jason Smith: President Trump's leadership has us close to defeating COVID-19

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

The mainstream media has a dilemma. While they want to inform the American people about the progress on finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, they are also met with the harsh reality of violating their biggest rule: don’t say anything nice about Donald Trump. 

It’s been their mantra since he announced his candidacy for president, and in the years since they have demonstrated time and time again that they will not hesitate to focus on any negative thing they can tie to President Trump. 

However, even the most left leaning of media outlets is having trouble finding ways to not report on the President’s successes in finding a cure for the coronavirus. Just this week, The Washington Post—perhaps second only to The New York Times in their loathing of President Trump—had to finally write an article acknowledging the record pace we are on to find a vaccine and the fact that two different drugs have gone into final stages of human trial. 

Unfortunately, they couldn’t muster the energy to mention our President’s name more than once in the entire story, even though the reality is we are on a record setting pace to deliver hundreds of millions of doses of a new vaccine to the American public by January 2021.

Since the start of this year, when Washington Democrats were distracted with their obsession to impeach President Trump, we have gone from having never heard about COVID-19 to just on the cusp of defeating it. 

This achievement is the result of painstaking work to meld the innovative brilliance of American ingenuity, spirit and entrepreneurialism, the knowledge and expertise of the scientific community, together with the power of the American public. 

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, the President has committed himself to harnessing the full power of the public and private sectors to deliver a safe and effective vaccine quicker than ever before. The operation—Operation Warp Speed—set out with the highly ambitious goal of making 300 million doses of a safe and effective vaccine available by January 2021. 

Given the United States is already in the final stages of human trials, the President’s leadership and laser focus on this issue deserves the lion’s share of credit for getting close to achieving this lofty goal. 

This week, on the heels of the great news about vaccine development, even the media’s lauded alarmist—Dr. Anthony Fauci—noted that a vaccine answer for the American public is possible this fall. President Trump has made this possible by cutting through the red tape often associated with the slowdown of cures and medicines. He has allowed for the manufacturing of millions of doses of potential vaccines even before final medical approval, meaning once lifesaving medicines and treatments are approved, they will be ready in an instant for the American public.

Additionally, just because there are two human vaccine trials in final stages, does not mean President Trump is easing up. He continues to remove regulations which were hurting rural Americans from communicating with their doctors during these difficult times, such as now allowing telehealth over the phone, something I directly spoke with his Administration about. 

Additionally, he is using all available means to ensure other therapeutics and diagnostics are developed, manufactured, and distributed to the American public in unprecedented time and scale in response to the coronavirus. 

One example is his decision to launch the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program which is getting new treatments to patients as quickly as possible. A number of promising therapies, including Remdesivir, have been identified and are already in use. It’s clear the President’s leadership deserves more credit for the successes in finding a vaccine and other cures than the left leaning media, already working on their Biden-Obama endorsements, will ever give our President.

Unlike the head in the sand, hide in the basement approach from Democrat leaders, President Trump wants to get the American people back on the path of success. Let’s not forget that before this coronavirus arrived on our shores from China, President Trump had ushered in the greatest economy in two generations. 

His business skills and unrelenting deregulation agenda helped to unleash our economy that was bound under the weight of the bloated bureaucracy of the Obama-Biden administration. Those same former White House heads now say that if they are back in power their first act will be to raise taxes on 82% of middle-class families by over $1,000, while also increasing small business taxes by 20%. That’s not the direction we want or deserve for our country. We want our country to move forward, not fall behind.

Under President Trump and his Operation Warp Speed, the United States is rounding the corner on defeating the coronavirus. I’m comforted knowing President Trump is in charge of our nation’s recovery. 

He has consistently shown his willingness to defy Washington’s preconceived notions and fight for the values he believes in. Whether it’s the economy, trade deals with adversarial nations, global institutions, or the coronavirus, President Trump has always put the American people and their priorities ahead of political and corporate interests. That’s the story the mainstream media doesn’t want you to hear, but that I’m committed to fighting for.