The Trump Presidency: Part 21

[The Don]

So Trump is measuring deaths that took place over a periods measured in hours against deaths that are taking place over at least months, if not years.

Gee, Donnie, how does your comparison stack up against Pearl Harbor *and* deaths in the Pacific theater that ensued.

Give it time

420,000 US dead in WW2. If current US numbers are significantly understated and if the US is less than half way through first Covid-19 wave and if there are two or three subsequent waves over the next two or three years then sadly that number could be exceeded.

Certainty exceeding the WW1 death toll of 120,000 is definitely on the cards and may already have happened if the US count is as far under the true total as the Financial Times' analysis suggested the UK number was at the time of the analysis (17k vs 42k).

 

[Aridas]

This kind of claim is BS on two levels.
First is obvious - blaming someone else for his own failures, as usual.
Second is even worse - lets assume this claim is true. That means Trump did nothing to fix that situation. He had 3,5 years to do that.

In any normal company manager blaming his predecessor that quit years ago would be fired.

Both Obama and Trump administrations bought as many supplies as the funds Congress authorized would allow.

Which is to say, not nearly enough.

The difference between Trump and Obama, though, is that Obama actually pushed for more funding. Trump didn't even realize there was a problem, until it was too late.

As a general reminder, any empty shelves were fairly certainly directly the fault of the Tea Party.

That "Mad at China" distraction could lead to a dangerous mob mentality of "Get China" from his low IQ voting base (read: all of his voting base)...

Hold it. Just stop right there. I get it, it's a nice and comforting claim to make. It's just wrong, though. There are a heck of a lot of highly intelligent and highly educated Republicans who end up making up an unpleasantly large portion of Trump's base. Whether it be treating Trump as the price for power, embracing the xenophobia/white supremacism, actively working to benefit from corruption in government, actively working to get rid of all social responsibility that accompanies rights, etc, they have their reasons. Don't ignore them. Don't forget them.

Could have been better:

• Make a point
• Show clip of Trump not taking responsibility
• Make another point
• Show clip of Trump not taking responsibility
• Show a baby in ICU
• Show clip of Trump not taking responsibility
• Show people grieving
• Show clip of Trump not taking responsibility
• Show count of deaths
• Show clip of Trump not taking responsibility

Maybe end with a frame that has the word "leadership" and underneath a quote from Truman saying the buck stops here.

If you think that would be better, feel free to submit your idea to them?

To poke elsewhere...

Arizona health department orders university researchers to ‘pause’ critical COVID-19 modeling

The Arizona Department of Health Services sent an email ordering an Arizona State University and University of Arizona team to “pause” the work they were doing compiling data on COVID-19 cases in the state. The schools were sent this order to stand down just hours after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey announced his grand reopening plans for Arizona, beginning May 8.

At the time, Gov. Ducey told the press that "We're making decisions with the confidence that we are going in the right direction.” The data that Ducey seems to be working off of is FEMA’s secret modeling—which must clearly conflict with the universities’ data. The very robust modeling done by the university team argues that the only potentially safe time to begin reopening the state is at the end of May.

Republicans vs. science, case the nth.

Next...

Top Republican fundraiser and Trump ally named postmaster general, giving president new influence over Postal Service

There's no way that this could end badly, right?

And one more...

How Profit and Incompetence Delayed N95 Masks While People Died at the VA

Federal agencies have hired contractors with no experience to find respirators and masks, fueling a black market filled with price gouging and multiple layers of profiteering brokers. One contractor called them “buccaneers and pirates.”

For example, paying $34.5 million dollars for a guy to buy masks for them and receiving exactly 0 masks for that money.



That's incredible government waste and a stunning indictment of this administration, right there. Honestly, not necessarily an indictment of that actual guy paid, oddly enough, given the sheer abominable mess of things that the Trump Administration *created* on that front.

 

[fishbob]

A grown up with even a smidgen of situational awareness would think, if not say, "It may not be necessary, but as president I think it would be best if I set a good example, not only for all of the cameras but also for the workers and staff here at the plant."

Instead we have "that ****wit" asking for more paste to eat.
And we have 40% of America saying "yeah, we like paste too".

We are so doomed.

 

[Darat]

The problem is too many Americans don't understand the basics of how our government even operates.

Worse still, they have supremely misguided notions about the same.

If that ignorance didn't exist, it could not be played on to such effect.

I think you will find that the preeminent constitutional expert of any generation will tell you that the President’s power is “absolute”.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

So Trump is measuring deaths that took place over a periods measured in hours against deaths that are taking place over at least months, if not years.



Gee, Donnie, how does your comparison stack up against Pearl Harbor *and* deaths in the Pacific theater that ensued.

Pacific theater U.S. personnel killed was ~111,000

We should be there about the end of this month.

 

[McHrozni]

Give it time

420,000 US dead in WW2. If current US numbers are significantly understated and if the US is less than half way through first Covid-19 wave and if there are two or three subsequent waves over the next two or three years then sadly that number could be exceeded.

Certainty exceeding the WW1 death toll of 120,000 is definitely on the cards and may already have happened if the US count is as far under the true total as the Financial Times' analysis suggested the UK number was at the time of the analysis (17k vs 42k).

It is quite possible that the Covid-19 morbidity in the US is already grater than the total US war dead in WW2. The disease can be lehtal even with mild symptoms, the leading cause of such cases is a heart failure. It turns out the virus can also infect the heart, most of those deaths aren't counted as deaths due to Covid-19 and they may be missed entirely.

The number you should be looking at is excess deaths and that paints an ugly picture. In a place like New York, Covid-19 is probably the leading cause of death, by far.

McHrozni

 

[MRC_Hans]

It is quite possible that the Covid-19 morbidity in the US is already grater than the total US war dead in WW2. The disease can be lehtal even with mild symptoms, the leading cause of such cases is a heart failure. It turns out the virus can also infect the heart, most of those deaths aren't counted as deaths due to Covid-19 and they may be missed entirely.

The number you should be looking at is excess deaths and that paints an ugly picture. In a place like New York, Covid-19 is probably the leading cause of death, by far.

McHrozni

In which case, Trump is correct in saying it is worse than Pearl and 911.


... Of course, none of those situations can be compared as other than apples and oranges, but ...

Hans

 

[Aridas]

2 teen fast food workers shot because dining room was closed

**** these criminals and the network that's trying to make it seem like it's okay in any way to shoot kids because they're mildly inconvenienced.

On the topic of Republican crime, though...

Did SCOTUS order Supplemental Briefs in order to Benefit Trump's Case? It sure looks like it.

In particular, the Deutsche Bank and Mazars case. Short version? Sekulow offered up a horrendously terrible argument, so terrible that not even the Trump protectors on the court could stomach them, so it looks like they specifically directed Sekulow to feed them something that they can work with to protect Trump. Potentially something that they specifically set up themselves as a line of argument to potentially defend Trump with in this case.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

2 teen fast food workers shot because dining room was closed

**** these criminals and the network that's trying to make it seem like it's okay in any way to shoot kids because they're mildly inconvenienced.

On the topic of Republican crime, though...

Did SCOTUS order Supplemental Briefs in order to Benefit Trump's Case? It sure looks like it.

In particular, the Deutsche Bank and Mazars case. Short version? Sekulow offered up a horrendously terrible argument, so terrible that not even the Trump protectors on the court could stomach them, so it looks like they specifically directed Sekulow to feed them something that they can work with to protect Trump. Potentially something that they specifically set up themselves as a line of argument to potentially defend Trump with in this case.

Well, someone at least altered the headline that originally danced around the issue.

It now reads: "2 teenage McDonald’s employees shot after 2 customers became angry that dining room was closed, OKC police say."

 

[Craig4]

Well, Black and Brown Americans now have an answer to the question Trump asked them in 2016, "What do you have to lose".

https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race

The answer is, their lives. Trump's plan to reopen the economy is going to kill tens of thousands and a disproportionate number of them are going to be people of color. When dumb **** saw these numbers is probably when the racist bastard decided to move ahead with reopening.

 

[Horatius]

2 teen fast food workers shot because dining room was closed

**** these criminals and the network that's trying to make it seem like it's okay in any way to shoot kids because they're mildly inconvenienced.

At what point do places like this start posting armed guards? Or just closing entirely?

And at what point does someone get shot for coughing in someone else's face, as that's clearly intended as a threat?

 

[alfaniner]

I notice how The PDJT never refers to Covid-19 or the Coronavirus as such (except maybe when referring to his Task Force.) It's always "the invisible enemy" or "the scoooourge" or "the attack". My impression is that it's his not-so-subtle way of not blaming the virus, but China.

I do remember when Obama insisted on always referring to "ISIL" rather than "ISIS". Although it may have been correct, it still always made me do a double-take thinking "Why doesn't he call it what everyone else does?"

 

[Darat]

I notice how The PDJT never refers to Covid-19 or the Coronavirus as such (except maybe when referring to his Task Force.) It's always "the invisible enemy" or "the scoooourge" or "the attack". My impression is that it's his not-so-subtle way of not blaming the virus, but China.

I do remember when Obama insisted on always referring to "ISIL" rather than "ISIS". Although it may have been correct, it still always made me do a double-take thinking "Why doesn't he call it what everyone else does?"

No it is simply he can't remember the correct name when he is spouting his stream of (semi)consciousness.

 

[phiwum]

2 teen fast food workers shot because dining room was closed

**** these criminals and the network that's trying to make it seem like it's okay in any way to shoot kids because they're mildly inconvenienced.

On the topic of Republican crime, though...

I don't think it's fair to presume that all of the COVID-related violence is coming from Republicans. It could be, no doubt, as the right wing seems to be the primary protestors, but we don't know the details of any of these shootings, etc.

Obviously, the McDonald's incident was smack dab in a very red state, so odds are decent. But only 44% of Oklahoma County (where OKC is) is registered Republican and about 62% are registered Republican or Independent. (Democrats are about 37% of the county's registered voters.)

Of course, the president is certainly egging on discontent at the lockdown while also heading an administration that has put out guidelines advising it should continue. This is despicable, but I wouldn't say that these shootings are "Republican crimes" without some clearer evidence. Some of these may just be folks that are in a foul mood and feel they've been personally disrespected rather than part of a movement to reopen the economy.

 

[uke2se]

I don't think it's fair to presume that all of the COVID-related violence is coming from Republicans. It could be, no doubt, as the right wing seems to be the primary protestors, but we don't know the details of any of these shootings, etc.

Obviously, the McDonald's incident was smack dab in a very red state, so odds are decent. But only 44% of Oklahoma County (where OKC is) is registered Republican and about 62% are registered Republican or Independent. (Democrats are about 37% of the county's registered voters.)

Of course, the president is certainly egging on discontent at the lockdown while also heading an administration that has put out guidelines advising it should continue. This is despicable, but I wouldn't say that these shootings are "Republican crimes" without some clearer evidence. Some of these may just be folks that are in a foul mood and feel they've been personally disrespected rather than part of a movement to reopen the economy.

I don't think these are mutually exclusive. The "movement" you speak of seems based on people being in a foul mood and feeling personally disrespected - primarily by being told not to go to the hair-salon in a pandemic.

 

[phiwum]

I don't think these are mutually exclusive. The "movement" you speak of seems based on people being in a foul mood and feeling personally disrespected - primarily by being told not to go to the hair-salon in a pandemic.

I absolutely agree that the probability one feels disrespected is strongly correlated to the degree one thinks the lockdown measures are overreach.

It's totally plausible that most of these shootings are done by Trump supporters. I just think we shouldn't call these Republican crimes unless we have evidence for what we think is totally plausible. (Even then, not sure I'd call it Republican crimes, but I'd say that certain Republicans are exacerbating the problem by fueling the discontent, with Trump the most obvious example.)

 

[Norman Alexander]

So Trump is measuring deaths that took place over a periods measured in hours against deaths that are taking place over at least months, if not years.

Gee, Donnie, how does your comparison stack up against Pearl Harbor *and* deaths in the Pacific theater that ensued.

Don't forget that there were roughly 420,000 deaths of US personnel for the whole of WW2. He has to be pushing to get "his numbers" up about that level or better to be a WINNER!

ETA. Ninja'd by The Don.

 

[uke2se]

I absolutely agree that the probability one feels disrespected is strongly correlated to the degree one thinks the lockdown measures are overreach.

It's totally plausible that most of these shootings are done by Trump supporters. I just think we shouldn't call these Republican crimes unless we have evidence for what we think is totally plausible. (Even then, not sure I'd call it Republican crimes, but I'd say that certain Republicans are exacerbating the problem by fueling the discontent, with Trump the most obvious example.)

The reason for calling them Republican crimes is to trigger the Cons. As we have learned, that is very important. At least when the other side is doing it.

 

[johnny karate]

I absolutely agree that the probability one feels disrespected is strongly correlated to the degree one thinks the lockdown measures are overreach.

It's totally plausible that most of these shootings are done by Trump supporters. I just think we shouldn't call these Republican crimes unless we have evidence for what we think is totally plausible. (Even then, not sure I'd call it Republican crimes, but I'd say that certain Republicans are exacerbating the problem by fueling the discontent, with Trump the most obvious example.)

It’s because of your last sentence that I feel very comfortable laying the responsibility for these crimes at the feet of Republicans.

 

[Horatius]

I don't think it's fair to presume that all of the COVID-related violence is coming from Republicans. It could be, no doubt, as the right wing seems to be the primary protestors, but we don't know the details of any of these shootings, etc.

The reason for calling them Republican crimes is to trigger the Cons. As we have learned, that is very important. At least when the other side is doing it.

I'd say the reason for calling them Republican crimes is that we're done being charitable with these scumbags. We've spent years now giving them the benefit of the doubt, only to see them get worse and worse.

So far, every gun-toting thug we've seen protesting the lockdowns and the requirements of social distancing, like face masks and closed seating areas in restaurants, has been a Republican. I've seen no images and heard no reports of any left-wing people running around with guns, complaining about having to be nice to people during a pandemic. Even the "Antifa" bogeyman has been entirely absent, even from the right-wing blathersphere.

So yeah, these are Republican Crimes until they are absolutely proven not to be. Any Republican who doesn't like that can either **** right off, or start voting Democrat.