President Trump has rightly won praise from medical professionals and public health officials for taking tough action, even against leftist criticism, for effectively protecting the U.S. from the ravages of the coronavirus.

Nations that didn't do that, such as China itself — which hid the crisis, enabling its spread; South Korea — which kowtowed to China; and possibly Japan and Italy, are now reaping severe consequences. Thomas Lifson wrote about the left's criticism here, and I wrote about Trump's sharp recognition of a threat when he sees one here.

As the left continues to heap criticism on Trump, with various claims of "chaos," along with howls about a prayer before a task force meeting, it's pretty obvious they aren't the guys you'd want running anything in a time of crisis.

Exhibit A is President Obama's response to the swine flu crisis of 2009, letting 1,000 people die before any action was taken, and downplaying the matter for political purposes even when it did. Never let a crisis go to waste?

Exhibit B is coming today from the blue cities, where officials are worried that the homeless are going to serve as a massive disease vector for the spread of the virus throughout those cities.

Here's Tucker Carlson last night:

Here's the Los Angeles Times:

Beilenson and others said homeless people present unique risks and challenges for outbreaks of infectious diseases. Though the number of coronavirus cases remains at only a few dozen in the United States, homeless people, in particular, for multiple reasons could be vulnerable to both a quick spread of the illness and to more severe cases. People living outdoors often do so in close quarters and lack the ability to maintain basic hygiene, including precautions such as hand washing. They may also face more danger from serious infection because of existing illnesses or frequent use of drugs or alcohol — factors with the potential to make a case of COVID-19 more severe. Some homeless people also move often, making them both hard to reach for treatment and potentially increasing the spread of the virus if they are carriers. "Unfortunately, we know that people living in crowded, unsanitary conditions are at increased risk for a variety of infectious diseases," said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, professor of medicine and public health at UCLA. "This is definitely a population … with other chronic medical conditions, so should they acquire coronavirus, they are potentially at risk for more serious complications."

Here's the particular worry from Seattle, the city of Starbucks, a company that, along with its host city, has famously accommodated them in ways to encourage rather than discourage homelessness. The Seattle Times reports:

King County, which has seen the highest number of deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has the third-highest homeless population in the country. More than 5,000 people were counted as living unsheltered in a one-night count of homelessness within the county last year, including more than 1,200 living in tents or unsanctioned encampments. This week, officials are scrambling to figure out how to contain the illness if it spreads to people in shelters or living outside.

Homelessness, as it happens, is a big money issue for the left, and as a result, homelessness is proliferating in these places, despite the hottest job market and the lowest unemployment rate in U.S. history. The left's blue cities do all they can to encourage and reward homelessness, amounting to the country's great enabler of homelessness as a lifestyle. Blue cities employ and are expanding gargantuan bureaucracies dedicated to "servicing" the homelessness, which encourages a hunt for more "clients." San Francisco alone spends $77,000 per homeless "client." They also refuse to enforce quality of life laws, such as those against vagrancy, public camping, drug use, public alcohol consumption, prostitution, and public urination and defecation, promoting homelessness even more. Some are encouraging squatting on private property. Others are permitting the homeless to take over public parks and spaces. Some, such as Bill de Blasio's New York, are secretly busing the homeless to other cities to keep them from creating problems in their own cities. It's a massive tax on those who own the overpriced homes in those cities, but taxes are the left's bread and butter. It's a money merry-go-round, all done in the name of "compassion." What it isn't, though, is effective.

Now public officials are concerned about blue cities' vast armies of the homeless becoming de facto disease vectors, perfectly positioned for the spread of the coronavirus.

This stands in stark contrast to President Trump's swift, decisive, and early action on the coronavirus, shutting down entryways to the U.S. to protect the U.S. population.

The left seems to be threatening that by enabling homelessness. We don't see this pattern in non-blue cities, where vagrancy laws are enforced and those in need of help are taken to some place where they can get help, even involuntarily.

Trump has spoken of federal intervention to halt the squalor and chaos of blue cities, and it's likely it's a live threat to the blue cities' keep-on-keeping-on ethos, given that California's Gov. Gavin Newsom has improbably praised the Trump administration's response on coronavirus. Maybe he had to, given the distinct possibility of federal intervention. What's obvious enough for now is that Trump is effective at halting the spread of coronavirus. The blue cities of the left are not, and worse than not, they're showing all propensity to to make things worse. Care to have these people running the entire country?

Image credit: Absolute Security Alarms via YouTube, screen shot.