Trump ties coronavirus decisions to personal grievances

[MTAtech]

All of de Blasio’s COVID-19 missteps | CSNY

Here you go. A direct quote showing de Blasio telling people to go out for a drink on March 15th.

From your link: "New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray were photographed taking a walk in Prospect Park on Saturday afternoon, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic." NEWSFLASH: you can walk with your wife and not maintain a 6-ft distance. To suggest otherwise is absurd.

 

[Bucky]

From your link: "New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray were photographed taking a walk in Prospect Park on Saturday afternoon, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic." NEWSFLASH: you can walk with your wife and not maintain a 6-ft distance. To suggest otherwise is absurd.

But she is of higher risk.

 

[MTAtech]

There is still a good chance it could be gone by the end of April.

Only in Wishfulthinkingland. There are no medical experts making that prediction. By the end of April, the virus may die down (for lack of a better phrase) in NY, but will have cropped up in other parts of the country.

 

[dcaraz]

I think he’s absolutely right. If a state official is trashing the federal government why should the feds just help him
Out of his problem?

Jay Inslee spent two weeks proud of noncooperation with Pence, sending out tweets just totally trashing Pence, then as soon as he needs something he wants full assistance (which he’s getting btw) ?

I think trump should deny my state all assistance.

Sounds like you want to crown the spoiled brat who heads our Executive Branch. Give him royal powers to cut off any state that annoys him.
It makes me sick to see Trump line up the sycophants to kiss his ass.
He is so selfless, heroic and incredibly mature when governing on the basis of personal likes and dislikes.
So much like our great leaders Washington, Lincoln, and FDR who faced past crisis.

 

[dcaraz]

There is still a good chance it could be gone by the end of April.

Pay closer attention to the facts.
As of today 16 states with more than 60 million people had placed zero restrictions on business openings or people gathering.
The stellar list includes three of our most populous states: TX, FL and GA.

This great example of leadership by the 16 governors will ASSURE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS.

 

[Bucky]

Pay closer attention to the facts.
As of today 16 states with more than 60 million people had placed zero restrictions on business openings or people gathering.
The stellar list includes three of our most populous states: TX, FL and GA.

This great example of leadership by the 16 governors will ASSURE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS.

Pure speculation.

 

[dcaraz]

The bottom line is that Trump has been parroting George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Both Fox News and Trump pedaled the coronavirus was "a politically motivated hoax." But the number was surely significant. Then, the narrative turned on a dime from their line from "the pandemic is a liberal hoax" to "everyone must unify behind our great leader in his heroic struggle against the Chinese virus, which he has been fighting from the very beginning."

The parallels with George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” are obvious. When Oceania suddenly shifts alliances, and its former ally Eastasia becomes an enemy, everyone knows what to believe: not only was the nation at war with Eastasia, it had always been at war with Eastasia. In Orwell’s vision, however, this mind-set was produced by a totalitarian state whose vigilant Thought Police stamp out any hint of independent thought. America isn’t a totalitarian state — not yet, anyway — yet there are tens of millions of American apparently willing to act and think as if the Thought Police were already up and running.

That is obviously why those of us who question our leaders are so damned concerned.
We all have close friends and family who blindly accept and support whatever the Trump propaganda concocts.

Sadly, it may be the fact that Trump and many governors refused to act by closing down all usual activity
that opens the eyes of blind supporters.

As of today 16 states with more than 60 million people had placed zero restrictions on business openings or people gathering.
List includes three of our most populous states: TX, FL and GA.
This lack of leadership by the 16 governors will ASSURE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS.

 

[Conservative]

That is obviously why those of us who question our leaders are so damned concerned.
We all have close friends and family who blindly accept and support whatever the Trump propaganda concocts.

Sadly, it may be the fact that Trump and many governors refused to act by closing down all usual activity
that opens the eyes of blind supporters.

As of today 16 states with more than 60 million people had placed zero restrictions on business openings or people gathering.
List includes three of our most populous states: TX, FL and GA.
This lack of leadership by the 16 governors will ASSURE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS.

Trump propaganda? What the hell is wrong with you, what good does placing blame now do? Just another of the 24/7 attacks on the President since he took office all to promote your left wing ideology at the expense of the American people. Trump cannot shut down the country as he cannot enforce it, that is state and local responsibility to force people to stay home. Stop blaming the President by showing your ignorance on his Constitutional responsibilities. Your state leads the nation in cases, your state has a liberal gov't and has had it for decades, your state has failed you so blaming Trump is just a diversion from reality

 

[marke]

Yep, and a lot of people are turning this issue of the coronavirus attack into a platform from which to personally laud Mr. Trump in order to give "Republicans" (whatever that means) a better chance of winning in 2020.

The big problem there, as some see it, is that those who want to attack Mr. Trump actually have evidence on their side

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]COUNTRY[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]TOTAL CASES[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]TOTAL DEATHS[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]CASES PER
1,000,000[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]DEATHS PER
1,000,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]CHINA[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]81,554[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3,312[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]57[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]USA
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]190,022
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4,102
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]574
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]CANADA[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]8,612[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]101[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]228[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

while those who want to laud Mr. Trump have to simply accept whatever Mr. Trump says on any given day as being **T*H*E** **T*R*U*T*H** - regardless of whether or not is is the complete opposite of what Mr. Trump said previously and regardless of whether it has any basis in fact.

Total acceptance of what _[fill in the blank]_ says regardless of whether or not is is the complete opposite of what _[fill in the blank]_ said previously and regardless of whether it has any basis in fact is the mark of a "religion" (or a "cult") and is the basis of tyranny.

PS - Of the three data sets above, I have a lot more confidence in the USA and Canada ones than I do of the China one.

PPS - Using just the USA and Canada data sets, a person in the US has (roughly) 10.07 times the likelihood of dying from COVID-19 as a person in Canada does. Since the Canadian and American societies are VERY similar, it is obvious that the Canadians are doing SOMETHING more effectively than the Americans are doing - although I don't know what it is. Maybe the fact that the Canadian government did NOT recommend that gun stores be considered "essential services" could account for it, but I doubt it.

Why condemn or praise Trump for the virus? The virus is not political and politicians cannot stop it from spreading infections and death. If anything should be blamed it should be evolution and natural selection.

 

[MTAtech]

Trump propaganda? What the hell is wrong with you, what good does placing blame now do? Just another of the 24/7 attacks on the President since he took office all to promote your left wing ideology at the expense of the American people. Trump cannot shut down the country as he cannot enforce it, that is state and local responsibility to force people to stay home. Stop blaming the President by showing your ignorance on his Constitutional responsibilities. Your state leads the nation in cases, your state has a liberal gov't and has had it for decades, your state has failed you so blaming Trump is just a diversion from reality

When the president makes false statements where the only possible motivation is self-congratulations and furtherance of his political standing, that's propaganda. Attacking that propaganda and castigating the president for promoting propaganda is indeed criticism of Trump -- but it's a justifiable criticism -- that isn't "left-wing ideology" -- unless the truth is left-wing ideology.

It's laughable that Con, who spent the entire Obama Administration attacking President Obama, now thinks it's unpatriotic to rightly criticize this president.

Moreover, while Con has an 18th Century view of the nation -- one in which the states do most of the heavy lifting, if there was ever a time of federal action it is now. As Gov. Cuomo said, 'the 50 states are bidding against each other for needed supplies. Then, FEMA comes in and outbids the states, like it's Ebay.' The federal government should be buying all the supplies and equipment at a set price and doling out to the states by meritorious need. However, Con needs to defend Trump's inaction and lack of leadership, so he frames this as a STATE issue, not a federal one. Yeah, I know.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

At a campaign rally on Feb. 10, Mr. Trump suggested that the virus would be gone by April, a claim he has frequently repeated, even though his advisers had warned him that much about the virus was still not known.

“I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” Donald Trump March 16

"As of January 30, 2020, a total of 9976 cases had been reported in at least 21 countries,[SUP]7[/SUP] including the first confirmed case of 2019-nCoV infection in the United States, reported on January 20, 2020.". [NOTE 20 JAN 2020]

As of 0001 Z 02 APR 2020, total US cases were 235,747 and total US deaths were 5,620. With approximately 4.45% of the world's population, the US has had approximately 10.94% of the total world deaths from COVID-19 (that total is 51,356 as of 0001 Z 02 APR 2020).

That looks like neither "going away" or "the best record of dealing with COVID-19 in the world" to me.

However, my friend Winston Smith over at The Federal Legal And Civil Knowledge Bureau (publisher of The Current Response And Position Bulletin) says that all of the records show that it is and that Mr. Trump has ALWAYS maintained that COVID-19 was an incredibly serious problem.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

All of de Blasio’s COVID-19 missteps | CSNY

Here you go. A direct quote showing de Blasio telling people to go out for a drink on March 15th.

Strangely enough, if you go to the transcript of the actual press conference and do a search for the word "drink" you will not find it in there.

Strangely enough, if you go to the transcript of the actual press conference and do a search for the word "bar" or the noun phrase "neighborhood bar" you will find

"Those violations come with penalties and we are asking all businesses and that obviously largely means restaurants, bars, all businesses that have a number of people coming in and can become crowded. We can't afford those crowded spaces anymore."

"We'll try and be helpful in any way we can, but we cannot have bars and restaurants at over 50 percent capacity."

"I will also say we are going to take a look at even going farther related to bars and restaurants."

"There's going to be more meetings this evening on additional topics, so in terms of the future of bars and restaurants, that is an ongoing discussion that will continue this evening."

"But we're also going to assess the bigger situation, as I said, with bars and restaurants, it may be necessary to go farther soon. And that's something we'll start to a conversation on in just a few hours."

"Now, I think there are a lot of bar and restaurant owners and employees who have gotten the memo here because they see what we're all seeing nonstop who are not taking it lightly. I have definitely heard reports of bars and restaurants that have spaced out their tables and are doing the right thing. I think there are others that have simply closed because they didn't think they could keep going. I believe as enforcement ramps up and word spreads that it's serious, that will help lock things down further."

"You’re very interested in bars and restaurants, I wonder if this is professional or otherwise – [Laughter]"

"Everything is on the table. If you love your neighborhood bar, go there now – under 50 percent occupancy because we don't know what the future holds. But be only there very briefly and socially distant, go ahead."

"It was my way of saying I cannot guarantee if bars and restaurants are still going to be open in a few days. That's all I'm saying."
​

So you are technically correct when you say that he said "If you love your neighborhood bar, go there now" but you had to take it completely out of context as well as totally ignore the "– under 50 percent occupancy because we don't know what the future holds. But be only there very briefly and socially distant, go ahead." part of the statement in order to claim (by implication) that he was advocating untrammelled bar visits.

And, of course, you had to completely invent the "telling people to go out for a drink" bit.

Go ahead, as me if I am surprised.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

There is still a good chance it could be gone by the end of April.

If you want to put your money where your mouth is, almost any bookie in the country will be pleased to offer you 3 to 1 odds if you want to drop a couple of bigs on "COVID-19 will all be gone by the end of April.".

 

[Bucky]

So you are technically correct when you say that he said "If you love your neighborhood bar, go there now

Thanks for admitting you were wrong.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Pay closer attention to the facts.
As of today 16 states with more than 60 million people had placed zero restrictions on business openings or people gathering.
The stellar list includes three of our most populous states: TX, FL and GA.

This great example of leadership by the 16 governors will ASSURE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS.

I went through "Lockdowns, closures: How is each US state handling coronavirus?" and couldn't come up with the 16 states that you referred to.

Could you please list them for me? Thanks.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Why condemn or praise Trump for the virus? The virus is not political and politicians cannot stop it from spreading infections and death. If anything should be blamed it should be evolution and natural selection.

I neither condemn nor praise Mr. Trump "for the virus" (unlike some of his more devoted followers I do NOT believe that he has such God-like powers that he could have created the virus from mud should he have chosen to do so).

However, Mr. Trump IS "The Leader of the United States of America" and, as such, I judge his actions by their results.

The figures as of 0001 Z 02 APR 2002 are now

[table="width: 500, class: grid, align: center"]
[tr]
[td]COUNTRY[/td]
[td]TOTAL CASES[/td]
[td]TOTAL DEATHS[/td]
[td]CASES PER
1,000,000[/td]
[td]DEATHS PER
1,000,000[/td]
[TD]MORTALITY RATE
D/m / D/m
[/TD][/tr]


[tr]
[td]CHINA[/td]
[td]81,589[/td]
[td]3,318[/td]
[td]57[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[TD]0.0351[/TD]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]USA[/td]
[td]235,747[/td]
[td]5,620[/td]
[td]712[/td]
[td]17[/td]
[TD]0.0238
[/TD]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]CANADA[/td]
[td]11,068[/td]
[td]134[/td]
[td]293[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[TD]0.0121
[/TD]
[/tr]
[/table]​

and those numbers lead me to the conclusion that Mr. Trump is NOT doing "the greatest job of any leader in the world" as he would like you to believe.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Thanks for admitting you were wrong.

I will gladly accept your thanks, the minute you admit that your statement was taken out of context and deliberately intended to be misleading.

And, of course that you simply invented the "telling people to go out for a drink" bit.