Wednesday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards visited President Trump in the White House and met with members of the Coronavirus Task Force to discuss what’s gone right in Louisiana during the pandemic, and what work still remains to be done. Edwards joined Newell on his program Friday morning.
“The President asked me to express to our local leaders and people all across Louisiana his appreciation for the work that has taken place,” Edwards began. “We were increasing in cases faster than anywhere in the country, really anywhere in the world… We have made a lot of progress and there is still work to do but they were very, very impressed with the work that was done, so I wanted to convey to all your listeners what the President told me, and how appreciative he was of everybody at the local level. I assured him as soon as we are able, consistent with the guidelines he put forth, we will begin reopening our economy and easing restrictions.”“The things that we can control are testing and tracing, and he made a commitment to help increase that. What’s your confidence level in that?” Newell asked.
“I’m confident because the president was there with his entire team,” the Governor said. “This was the first string - Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, the Vice President, and others, and they’re going to start getting us 200,000 tests a month starting next month. By the end of next week, we should receive our first shipment. We believe, working with the CDC, that is sufficient for us to be able to get the testing we need, along with contact tracing, to keep a lid on cases as we open up more and more of our economy.”
“The data is the data and it reveals what it reveals,” Newell continued. “There is still a sense that we were a little arbitrary going into this and how we’re going to come out of it. But the President set out these objective guidelines and I think everyone wants to try to meet those. Have you been surprised at the actions of the Louisiana Republican Party in trying to make this a partisan issue?”“Yeah, and this is what I relate it to,” Edwards said. “The President came to Louisiana three times to campaign against me. The Monday after the election, he called to congratulate me, and I assured him then that the campaign was over, the time for politics was passed, and it was time to govern again, and we would resume the good working relationship we always had... So I was really surprised and disheartened to see that paid political consultants had developed talking points about how you undermine my efforts in this public health emergency, especially as it relates to reopening the economy. I assure you, we are following the plan that was put forth by the President! To see this raw, partisan politics raising its head right now is very unfortunate. It doesn’t serve the people well, and it doesn’t keep us focused on the task at hand. The task is to slow the spread, lower the number of hospitalizations, and save lives - that’s how you meet the criteria to reopen the economy!”Later in the program, Newell railed on those elected officials who seem to be twisting themselves into knots over their desire to score political points off the Governor while ignoring that his administration is in lock-step with what President Trump and his team are saying must be done to get Louisianians safely back to work.
“Never did I ever think I’d see the day when those that were advocating for President Trump’s position would be attacked by the President’s party for so doing - but they are!” Newell said. “The Louisiana Republican delegation has put together a coordinated and consistent message for themselves, instead of thinking independently for themselves about what’s best for their own parishes. They sent out this confidential, internal memo advising members of the Louisiana GOP about what words to use and what words to avoid. This is almost like kindergarten material.”“Who are we electing up there?” he continued. ”This is like a tutorial on how to circumvent what the Governor has done, and trying to create confusion. For what purpose? He’s not running for re-election, he’s a lame duck! So is this just for the sake of a fight? Worse yet, they even craft a strategy for how to promote things that are blatantly false. The memo says that Governor Edwards’ order was made against the advice of the Trump White House. Never in a million years did this group of Republican minions ever think that Trump would invite the Governor to the White House to talk about the wonderful things we’ve done here, and congratulate him on the strategy we have had in dealing with COVID-19. I’m sure the follow-up memos will be every bit as entertaining!”
