The Trump Presidency: Part 20

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

I will be watching. HAVE A GREAT EASTER!
Quote Tweet

Dr. Robert Jeffress
@robertjeffress
What does Easter have to do with the coronavirus? Everything! Join @FirstDallas this Sunday for magnificent music and a live message “3 Reasons The Resurrection Matters” at 10:20am & noon ET at http://firstdallas.org/liveworship. You can also watch at http://foxnews.com at 10:20am ET.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump Tweets

Mail in ballots substantially increases the risk of crime and VOTER FRAUD!

Like so many of Trump's claims this is not based on factual evidence. There is no evidence this is true at all but Trump just keeps repeating it knowing his idiot followers will swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

So now the Fake News @nytimes is tracing the CoronaVirus origins back to Europe, NOT China. This is a first! I wonder what the Failing New York Times got for this one? Are there any NAMED sources? They were recently thrown out of China like dogs, and obviously want back in. Sad!

Ummm....no, idiot. The outbreak in NY was traced back to Europe where the virus was brought in from China. What a moron.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump Tweets

I will be watching. HAVE A GREAT EASTER!
Quote Tweet

Dr. Robert Jeffress
@robertjeffress
What does Easter have to do with the coronavirus? Everything! Join @FirstDallas this Sunday for magnificent music and a live message “3 Reasons The Resurrection Matters” at 10:20am & noon ET at http://firstdallas.org/liveworship. You can also watch at http://foxnews.com at 10:20am ET.

I would love to have evidence that Trump will be watching any religious service on Easter not posed for a photo op. Trump would never admit a higher power than him.

 

[Ladewig]

I would love to have evidence that Trump will be watching any religious service on Easter not posed for a photo op. Trump would never admit a higher power than him.

Even more simply, President Trump listening to someone talk about something other than him for 40 minutes is beyond his abilities.

What am I saying? Listening to someone for 40 minutes is beyond his abilities.

What am I saying? Listening is beyond his abilities.

 

[Aridas]

Like so many of Trump's claims this is not based on factual evidence. There is no evidence this is true at all but Trump just keeps repeating it knowing his idiot followers will swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

Mmm. I'd suggest that it technically is true, honestly? The increase is significant - percentage-wise.

Election experts told us that Trump is exaggerating the amount of voter fraud via mail-in ballots. They say it is more common than in-person voting fraud (something that Trump has repeatedly distorted), but still rare.

“Election fraud committed with absentee ballots is more prevalent than in person voting but it is still rare,” Richard L. Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, and author of “The Voting Wars,” told us via email. “States can and do take steps to minimize the risks, especially given the great benefits of convenience — and now safety — from the practice.”

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Hasen cited a database created by News21, a national investigative reporting project that tracks cases of election fraud. News21 found absentee-ballot ballot fraud was the most prevalent type of election fraud, comprising about 24% of reported prosecutions between 2000 and 2012.

“But the total number of cases was just 491 — during a period in which literally billions of votes were cast,” Hasen wrote. “While certain pockets of the country have seen their share of absentee-ballot scandals, problems are extremely rare in the five states that rely primarily on vote-by-mail, including the heavily Republican state of Utah.”

When the base number is negligible, of course, it takes a lot to make it something of real concern.

With that said, though, there's a more pernicious effect to the rampant voter fraud myth - those who seriously believe it will be MUCH more likely to commit, seek to commit, or even just count voter or electoral fraud as an acceptable tactic, themselves. So when the Republicans are caught red-handed, like in NC, the reaction is to reflexively excuse it and claim media bias against Republicans because the media isn't talking about all the Democrat-side fraud (that's not been caught but can be safely assumed is totally happening).

 

[Lurch]

You actually believe China's official numbers are even remotely close to the truth?

Bwahahahahaha!

Do you posit China's count is 4 to 5 times larger than stated?

 

[Norman Alexander]

Mmm. I'd suggest that it technically is true, honestly? The increase is significant - percentage-wise.



When the base number is negligible, of course, it takes a lot to make it something of real concern.

With that said, though, there's a more pernicious effect to the rampant voter fraud myth - those who seriously believe it will be MUCH more likely to commit, seek to commit, or even just count voter or electoral fraud as an acceptable tactic, themselves. So when the Republicans are caught red-handed, like in NC, the reaction is to reflexively excuse it and claim media bias against Republicans because the media isn't talking about all the Democrat-side fraud (that's not been caught but can be safely assumed is totally happening).

It's a matter of how you report percentages as counts of total votes versus year-on-year.

Let's say there were 200 million votes in an election and 5 of them were fraudulent mail-in votes. That's just 0.0000025% fraudulent votes by count. That's three-fifths of five-eighths of **** all.

Now at the next election the same 200 million vote and there are 10 fraudulent mail-ins. That's now up to 0.000005% fraudulent votes by count. That's still three-fifths of five-eighths of **** all.

But it is a 200% increase in total fraudulent votes compared to the previous election.

So guess which percentage Fox News will roll with.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump Tweets

Mail in ballots substantially increases the risk of crime and VOTER FRAUD!

Mmm. I'd suggest that it technically is true, honestly? The increase is significant - percentage-wise.



When the base number is negligible, of course, it takes a lot to make it something of real concern.

With that said, though, there's a more pernicious effect to the rampant voter fraud myth - those who seriously believe it will be MUCH more likely to commit, seek to commit, or even just count voter or electoral fraud as an acceptable tactic, themselves. So when the Republicans are caught red-handed, like in NC, the reaction is to reflexively excuse it and claim media bias against Republicans because the media isn't talking about all the Democrat-side fraud (that's not been caught but can be safely assumed is totally happening).

The important word in Trump's claim is "substantially" increases the risk of voter fraud.
Mail in ballots were "the most prevalent type of election fraud, comprising about 24% of reported prosecutions between 2000 and 2012.“But the total number of cases was just 491 — during a period in which literally billions of votes were cast,”

Twenty-four percent of 491 is just 117. I don't tjhink that 117 cases of voter fraud out of billions cast is 'substantial' at all. Trump is spewing crap as usual. We all know the real reason he's dissing mail in ballots: Repubs don't do as well as Dems.

 

[Aridas]

Do you posit China's count is 4 to 5 times larger than stated?

Honestly, it wouldn't be a surprise at all, though it's hard to make any accurate estimation without proper evidence. Chinese officials are somewhat famous for and consistent repeat offenders when it comes to trying to hide negative things for the sake of face. The numbers for currently ongoing cases right now are plausible, but, especially relatively early on, the standard response is frequently to try to downplay and hide things that they think might reflect badly upon them. Just think for a moment about the now somewhat famous whistleblower doctor that they immediately took steps to silence and who later officially died because of COVID-19. Bear in mind also that this is a government that is engaging in large scale ethnic cleansing/genocide. Messing with the numbers is many steps less evil than that and can easily be justified as a method to reduce social unrest - which they need to do when the people at the top are pretty much working to become dictators.

To poke elsewhere - Italy's numbers are likely a distinct undercount as well, for much the same reason that NYC's numbers are likely an undercount. Tests are better used on the living, not the already dead. Russia's numbers are definitely an undercount, though by how much is difficult to tell, given the efforts to effectively save face there, too.

 

[Darat]

Shouldn’t that be “recover all of it”?

ETA
D’oh. This is Trump. It should read “recover 130% of it.”

Actually it’s Trump, so it will be how much it is going to cost the other guy. Let’s not forget Trump has a lifetime of not making any money and costing other people a lot of money.

 

[SezMe]

Trump at today's rally: "They develop drugs like the antibiotics. You see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten too brilliant that the antibiotic can't keep up with it."

Contrast that oratory with Obama in 2014 talking about pandemics:

1) It'll make you pine for the good old days when a president could speak coherently.
2) The content has meaning while in Trump's case, .... Well, you know.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump has implied doctors and elected officials say they do not have enough PPE just to get on television.

Acosta referred to doctors and other medical officials who have vented their frustrations about the dearth of essential equipment on CNN.

The president hit back: “A lot of it is fake news.”

Acosta said: “Doctors and medical officers come on our air and say ‘we don’t have enough tests, we don’t have enough masks’.”

Mr Trump chipped in: “Well yeah, depending on your air they are always going to say that because otherwise, you are not going to put them on.”

 

[SezMe]

Trump tweets

“I think the situation is unprecedented, and there is no question about that. It’s whiplash! The economy was moving forward at a rapid pace in terms of growth, jobs and even wage increases, and all of a sudden the pandemic hit and the.... ....economy was shuttered. This is unprecedented, it is unsettling and challenging but, we will rise to meet the occasion.” MACK MCLARTY, Clinton White House Chief of Staff. @LelandVittert @FoxNews Thank you Mack. We will be bigger, better and stronger than ever before!

There's Trump's campaign tactic regarding the economy for the election.

 

[SezMe]

You actually believe China's official numbers are even remotely close to the truth?

Bwahahahahaha!

Indeed. You could put Russia, Japan and Brazil in place of China and still be spot on. In fact, you could put USA in there too and it would still be true.

Oh, hell, what am I saying. Probably no country has a good idea of their infection rate, much less death rate.

 

[SezMe]

Trump Tweets

....

Watching @FoxNews on weekend afternoons is a total waste of time. We now have some great alternatives, like @OANN.

Huh. Our president knows the quality of Fox weekend afternoon programming. Gawd, someone take me out behind the woodshed and put me out of my misery.

 

[Aridas]

Indeed. You could put Russia, Japan and Brazil in place of China and still be spot on. In fact, you could put USA in there too and it would still be true.

Oh, hell, what am I saying. Probably no country has a good idea of their infection rate, much less death rate.

South Korea?

 

[Polaris]

Trump Tweets

Mail in ballots substantially increases the risk of crime and VOTER FRAUD!

So now the Fake News @nytimes is tracing the CoronaVirus origins back to Europe, NOT China. This is a first! I wonder what the Failing New York Times got for this one? Are there any NAMED sources? They were recently thrown out of China like dogs, and obviously want back in. Sad!

This is hardly the first time he's used this expression or something like it. What does he have against dogs, anyway?

 

[Mader Levap]

You actually believe China's official numbers are even remotely close to the truth?

Bwahahahahaha!

Do you really think someone's else screwups excuses screwups of your Orange Fuhrer?

Bwahahahahaha!

 

[alfaniner]

Trump Tweets

Watching @FoxNews on weekend afternoons is a total waste of time. We now have some great alternatives, like @OANN.

I posted that quote on FB (bad idea) with my comment

I'd think The President would have better things to do than watching TV, like running the ******* country!

I immediately got one Like and one response. The response was from someone who has been on my Friend list for some time, but I've only ever heard from her in two instances, both with something politically related.

It read something like "Trump has to watch to see what ******** the media is saying about him. And other Presidents watched TV!"

It surprises me because I know this woman is intelligent. But I knew there was no point in engaging, at this time or any other. I used this opportunity to Unfriend her (a very rare occurrence).

 

[slyjoe]

I posted that quote on FB (bad idea) with my comment

I immediately got one Like and one response. The response was from someone who has been on my Friend list for some time, but I've only ever heard from her in two instances, both with something politically related.

It read something like "Trump has to watch to see what ******** the media is saying about him. And other Presidents watched TV!"

It surprises me because I know this woman is intelligent. But I knew there was no point in engaging, at this time or any other. I used this opportunity to Unfriend her (a very rare occurrence).

When things like this have come up, I ask "why does he have to see what the media is saying about him?"

Trump supporters can never answer.