Trump vs Coronavirus, A Revealing Retrospective

From David Leonhardt's 3/16 spin-free column, an excellent time-line to date of Trump vs Coronavirus:

Trump made his first public comments about the coronavirus on Jan. 22, in a television interview

“Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?”

“No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

In the weeks that followed, Trump faced a series of choices. He could have taken aggressive measures to slow the spread of the virus. He could have insisted that the United States ramp up efforts to produce test kits. He could have emphasized the risks that the virus presented and urged Americans to take precautions if they had reason to believe they were sick. He could have used the powers of the presidency to reduce the number of people who would ultimately get sick.

He did none of those things.

Trump’s priorities were different: Making the virus sound like a minor nuisance. Exaggerating his administration’s response. Blaming foreigners and, anachronistically, the Obama administration. Claiming incorrectly that the situation was improving. Trying to cheer up stock market investors.

Now that the severity of the virus is undeniable, Trump is already trying to present an alternate history of the last two months.

On the same day that Trump was dismissing the risks on CNBC, Tom Frieden, who ran the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for eight years, wrote an op-ed for the health care publication Stat. In it, Frieden warned that the virus would continue spreading. “We need to learn — and fast — about how it spreads,” he wrote.

It was one of many such warnings from prominent experts in late January. Many focused on the need to expand the capacity to test for the virus. In a Wall Street Journal article titled, “Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic,” Luciana Borio and Scott Gottlieb — both former Trump administration officials — wrote:

“If public-health authorities don’t interrupt the spread soon, the virus could infect many thousands more around the globe, disrupt air travel, overwhelm health care systems, and, worst of all, claim more lives. The good news: There’s still an opening to prevent a grim outcome. … But authorities can’t act quickly without a test that can diagnose the condition rapidly.”

On Jan 30, during a speech in Michigan, he said: “We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”

That same day, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus to be a “public-health emergency of international concern.”

Trump took his only early, aggressive action against the virus on Jan. 31: He barred most foreigners who had recently visited China from entering the United States. But it was only one modest move, not the sweeping solution that Trump portrayed it to be. It didn’t apply to Americans who had been traveling in China, for example.

“Coronavirus,” Hannity said. “How concerned are you?”

Trump replied: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China..."

Trump, for his part, spent these first weeks of February telling Americans that the problem was going away. On Feb. 10, he repeatedly said — in a speech to governors, at a campaign rally and in an interview with Trish Regan of Fox Business — that warm spring weather could kill the virus. “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away,” he told the rally.

On Feb. 19, he told a Phoenix television station, “I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.” Four days later, he pronounced the situation “very much under control,” and added: “We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered.”

Trump seemed largely uninterested in the global virus statistics during this period, but there were other indicators — stock-market indexes — that mattered a lot to him. And by the last week of February, those market indexes were falling.

The president reacted by adding a new element to his public remarks. He began blaming others.

He criticized CNN and MSNBC for “panicking markets.” He said at a South Carolina rally — falsely — that “the Democrat policy of open borders” had brought the virus into the country. He lashed out at “Do Nothing Democrat comrades.” He tweeted about “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” mocking Schumer for arguing that Trump should be more aggressive in fighting the virus. The next week, Trump would blame an Obama administration regulation for slowing the production of test kits. There was no truth to the charge.

Throughout late February, Trump also continued to claim the situation was improving. On Feb. 26, he said: “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” On Feb. 27, he predicted: “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” On Feb. 29, he said a vaccine would be available “very quickly” and “very rapidly” and praised his administration’s actions as “the most aggressive taken by any country.” None of these claims were true.

[Trump] suggested on multiple occasions that the virus was less serious than the flu. “We’re talking about a much smaller range” of deaths than from the flu, he said on March 2. “It’s very mild,” he told Hannity on March 4. On March 7, he said, “I’m not concerned at all.” On March 10, he promised: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”

He also suggested that he knew as much as any scientist:​

“I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

On March 11, Trump gave an Oval Office address... it also continued many of the old patterns of self-congratulation, blame-shifting and misinformation. Afterward, Trump aides corrected three different misstatements.

On Sunday, he used his Twitter feed to lash out at Schumer and Joe Biden and to praise Michael Flynn, the former Trump aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coro...0200316-5qttg56yobfaxidj2f2lvcwspm-story.html

 

Just a GREAT Post.

You've said it all.

Salient Point After Salient Point.

A Perfectly Constructed Case Against the IMBECILE-In-Chief.

"On March 11, Trump gave an Oval Office address... it also continued many of the old patterns of self-congratulation, blame-shifting and misinformation"



Great Stuff, Natty. Exemplary

 

All credit goes to David Leonhardt.

There are going to be major attempts at revisionism - distortions, diversions, denials, obfuscations, etc.

It is essential that an unembellished record of the truth be preserved.

To be added to

https://www.axios.com/everything-tr...ody-b278b592-cff0-47dc-a75f-5767f42bcf1e.html

 

Wow. :smh:

Ol' Capt Bonespurs is Clearly Delusional.

Just like THIS:

I would give myself a TEN! Donald Trump rates his performance as 'top' over response to coronavirus then hastily thanks 'professionals'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8118783/Donald-Trump-gives-coronavirus-response-TEN.html

Talk about DELUSIONAL. Just wow.

 

The encouraging news is that the percentage of Americans infected by Trumpery is falling as they inoculate themselves with knowledge and awareness. after being exposed to Fake Don's execrable performances:

Prolonged exposure to Trumpery appears to be building immunity to the casino operator/reality tv performer who is so deluded that, amidst his pathetic response to the pandemic, publicly pleasures himself by raving,

“I like this stuff. I really get it.
People are surprised that I understand it.
Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’
Maybe I have a natural ability.
Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

If only.



"They were all disloyal. I tried to run the ship properly, by the book,
but they fought me at every turn!
They encouraged the crew to go around scoffing at me,
and spreading wild rumors.
The crew wanted to walk around with their shirt tails hanging out!

I was to blame for Dr Fauci's incompetence!
"Deep State" Fauci was the perfect public servant,
but not the Trump!
Ah, but the strawberries!
That’s, that’s where I had them! They laughed at me and made jokes,
but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt,
and with geometric logic,
that the virus was smuggled across the Mexican border
by rapists and criminals
in a cache of tainted strawberries!"

​

 

The Brotherhood of Trumpery appears to be self-isolating for the duration.

That's a good thing (although there is minimal chance of spreading the blight now.)

 

BEFORE trump was even inaugurated he and his future staff were given verbal and written instructions on steps to be taken in case of a pandemic. As a result of about 2/3 of those people now being gone plus trump being the bumbling idiot it didn't help.

 

So many words that say nothing. Next time just say "Orange man bad" and it will be the same thing. We know you hate Trump so you can cut the malarkey.

 

Your emotional distress has been noted.

You are apparently frustrated by your inability to discredit any of Trump's numerous false, ignorant, and/or deceitful statements quoted that have resulted in so many Americans now ignoring what Trump says.

 

No frustration here. I am just trying to help those with TDS.

 

Your inability to come to grips with your Trump's failing to show leadership in the opinion of most Americans clearly has your is a tizzy.

 

Why would fake news and fake polls have me in a tizzy? Looks like the Trump haters are looking to continue their 2016 hissy fit.