Sometimes one has to remind oneself, this is the United States of America, and this is the president, the “leader of the free world.” Right now, even though we have information that the leader of the free world has been exposed to the coronavirus, that people around him have tested positive, and that he has taken a coronavirus test as of last night, we cannot get any further information out of the White House as to the results or the plan from here, the White House – the nerve center of American policy.

Rawstory has reported on the fact that a viral assay should be readable (“ready”) within two hours:

“And I would think if the president was tested, it would be a two-hour turn around on the assay,” virologist and epidemiologist Joseph Fair explained on MSNBC.

The New York Times summarized the astonishing development as:

On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s almost casual admission at a White House news conference of his decision to get tested — not because of his interactions with Brazilian officials who later tested positive for the virus, but because of news media coverage — raised more questions than it answered.

The most important of which is WHAT IS THE RESULT OF THE TEST? Which surely should have been read by now, because I started this column an hour ago as I was researching, or one half the amount of time necessary to get a presidential test completed, by what one would assume would be the most competent pathologist on the face of the earth.

And now the White House is stonewalling on even the most basic questions:

Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Trump took the test before or after the release of Dr. Conley’s letter, or why Mr. Trump would have taken a test in spite of the advice of his doctor.

May I repeat? This is the United States of America, the man who has the launch codes to the most deadly arsenal ever assembled has been exposed to a virus that kills people – particularly elderly people (though if you’re in France it is killing younger people, too). We have the best scientists and the most state of the art equipment, and we are also a democracy, with a First Amendment guaranteeing a free press, with a people that have a demand to know.

Why do we not have the results of the president’s test??

How will we determine who is in charge and when, should Trump have to quarantine himself? There is likely no reason he cannot conduct all his duties while quarantined, but it STILL needs to be discussed. This is outrageous.

Of course, we also would have thought it was outrageous that a president could stonewall Congress when seeking his tax returns or in subpoenaing information on a bribe to another country.

This White House’s suppression of information is becoming the norm, not an exception, and it is deadly for democracy. We only hope that the virus going through the White House right now is only “deadly” as a figure of speech.

Where are the results!

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Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom