All things political. Coronavirus Edition. (4 Viewers)

[Maxp]

I fear we are really going to be in a bad place due to the obvious cuts to the federal agencies that deal with infectious disease, but also the negative effect the Affordable Care act has had on non urban hospitals. Our front line defenses are ineffectual and our ability to treat the populous is probably at an all time low. Factor in the cost of healthcare and I can see our system crashing. What do you think about the politics of this virus?

 

[superchuck500]

I don't fault Trump for being concerned about over-reaction and the need for a deliberate response. I don't fault Trump for not speaking about his belief, in March, that the virus was airborne.

But I cannot accept that Trump privately believed that the virus was deadly and worse than "any flu" while he was regularly talking about how the virus was nothing to be concerned about, like a flu or cold. He led a popular response to the outbreak that seeded complacency for many Americans - and some died because of that complacency.

A smart, qualified leader can navigate the competing concerns. Trump's public statements now appear to be at substantial odds with both the truth, and his own beliefs at the time. There is quite a bit of evidence that his primary concern in overreaction was the stock market - and that's just unacceptable conduct for an American president.

I think Pence is worse. Sitting her now trying to recast what Trump said and make it all nice and shiny? fork you man.

 

[LA - L.A.]

I don't fault Trump for being concerned about over-reaction and the need for a deliberate response. I don't fault Trump for not speaking about his belief, in March, that the virus was airborne.

But I cannot accept that Trump privately believed that the virus was deadly and worse than "any flu" while he was regularly talking about how the virus was nothing to be concerned about, like a flu or cold. He led a popular response to the outbreak that seeded complacency for many Americans - and some died because of that complacency.

A smart, qualified leader can navigate the competing concerns. Trump's public statements now appear to be at substantial odds with both the truth, and his own beliefs at the time. There is quite a bit of evidence that his primary concern in overreaction was the stock market - and that's just unacceptable conduct for an American president.

I think Pence is worse. Sitting her now trying to recast what Trump said and make it all nice and shiny? fork you man.

Yeah. Though they may have some different flaws, I don't think Pence is any better than Trump as an elected leader.

 

[Eeyore]

I remember him shutting down the government during debate over passing a continuing resolution. Is that what he's talking about?

 

[LA - L.A.]

I remember him shutting down the government during debate over passing a continuing resolution. Is that what he's talking about?

I think he's talking about all the times said that it was up to the governors to take care of things.

Then as soon as some of the governors shut things down to take care of things, Trump then started harassing them with demands that they had to open back up or he was going to make them open back up.

I'm pretty sure that's what Pence means when he says to not forget that Trump shut down the entire economy to protect us.

There is not a single lie Trump and the people around him can resist telling.

 

[superchuck500]

Yeah. Though they may have some different flaws, I don't think Pence is any better than Trump as an elected leader.

I think he’s worse -Trump’s value system is all jacked up but at least it’s his own. Pence isn’t even a real person. He would say or do anything.

 

[LA - L.A.]

I think he’s worse -Trump’s value system is all jacked up but at least it’s his own. Pence isn’t even a real person. He would say or do anything.

I see him the same way.

 

[MT15]

Found some tweets talking about the protective aspect of mask wearing. I knew I had read that recent thinking by the medical community is that masking protects the wearer as well as people around the wearer.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I think he’s worse -Trump’s value system is all jacked up but at least it’s his own. Pence isn’t even a real person. He would say or do anything.

Most definitely. If Indiana Republicans were behind Trump to take him as his running mate too keep him from running for re-election, you know he's got to be terrible.

 

[The moose]

Interesting study. The researchers use anonymized cellphone data to calculate the impact of the The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19



Basically what they did was that they used cellphone information to both place a given cellphone at the rally and to determine the home town of the cellphone owner.

http://ftp.iza.org/dp13670.pdf

Yeah I knew it was gonna be bad. Saw something about it on TV don't remember where that said 19% of all cases in the last month were connected to that one event. It is expected that one event is gonna have a 12 billion dollar negative impact on our country.


I love riding a motorcycle and camping like most do at Sturgis.

Everyone could have just went for a ride and camped just not together and we all would be fine.

That was so stupid.

 

[Complex Kid]

Pence's response
=============================

Vice President Pence on Thursday denied that the country's response to the coronavirus was in any way hampered by President Trump repeatedly downplaying the threat from the deadly disease.

"Absolutely not," Pence said on Fox News when asked if Trump's public dismissiveness of the virus limited the ability of the U.S. to contain the pandemic.

"His tone was one of projecting calm and confidence," Pence said. "But I heard him at that podium, I heard him at every setting. We gave the American people the facts."

The remarks come as the White House grapples with the fallout of audio recordings of the president privately acknowledging the threat of COVID-19 as he publicly downplayed it. The recordings were part of numerous interviews Trump gave to veteran journalist Bob Woodward for an upcoming book.

Pence on Thursday framed Trump as a decisive leader during the pandemic and echoed the president's own rationale that he did not want to incite panic by portraying the virus as a serious and imminent threat to American lives..................

MSN

www.msn.com

What alternate dimension is Mike Pence currently living in? It must be nice there.

 

[Eeyore]

Former federal prosecutor: Trump admitted to '2nd degree murder' in Woodward interview

The latest Speed Read,/speed-reads,,speed-reads, breaking news, comment, reviews and features from the experts at The Week

theweek.com

 

[LA - L.A.]

Former federal prosecutor: Trump admitted to '2nd degree murder' in Woodward interview

The latest Speed Read,/speed-reads,,speed-reads, breaking news, comment, reviews and features from the experts at The Week

theweek.com

Assuming that's accurate, then would Trump making statements downplaying the virus while in a state give that state jurisdiction to charge him? If yes, then the possible strategy of resigning if he loses the election so that Pence can pardon him of all federal crimes while president wouldn't matter.

 

[FullMonte]

About two or so years ago, John Oliver DOd a segment on “Last Week Tonight” about diplomacy...and the Trump administrations inability to accomplish it

This article spells that out against the backdrop of the COVID-19 response.

Bob Woodward may have identified Donald Trump's fatal flaw

Trump's failures come from a deep, dark well of fear and cowardice. He doesn't believe in anything, even himself

www.salon.com

 

[Taurus]

In case Faux News has you bamboozled.

 

[MT15]

So the Trump rally in NV last night had no mask mandate, unless you were seated on stage behind Trump. Then you had to wear a mask. There was no social distancing, similar to his Tulsa rally the way it was set up made it impossible. Whereas Trump had lines put on the ground to make sure he kept far enough away so he won’t get infected. It also was held in defiance of state orders about the size of crowds at indoor events. It just couldn’t be clearer that Trump only cares about Trump. He knows how deadly the virus is for people, but as long as he’s protected, he doesn’t care if he endangers others. He needs his rally to feed his ego.

 

[superchuck500]

Is anyone surprised?

The health department’s politically appointed communications aides have demanded the right to review and seek changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly scientific reports charting the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals.

In some cases, emails from communications aides to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials openly complained that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump's optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to emails reviewed by POLITICO and three people familiar with the situation.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...nterfered-with-cdc-reports-on-covid-19-412809

 

[coldseat]

Why didn't the state of Nevada shut down Trump's rally if it violated EO's on gatherings of 50 people max? It's not like they didn't know it was happening with time?

Seems like the state police could have shut them down.

 

[Taurus]

Why didn't the state of Nevada shut down Trump's rally if it violated EO's on gatherings of 50 people max? It's not like they didn't know it was happening with time?

Seems like the state police could have shut them down.

And wouldn't that have been just a perfect 2020 shirtshow? State police vs Trump. I'd pay to see that.