Obama ”Protect yourself and your community from coronavirus with common sense precautions: wash your hands, stay home when sick and listen to the @CDCgov and local health authorities. Save the masks for health care workers. Let’s stay calm, listen to the experts, and follow the science.”
584K 10:52 AM - Mar 4, 2020
As compared to what?
Trump closing down flights from China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak? That prevented a larger outbreak proactively, instead of waiting for it to hit us. And many other nations followed Trump's example.
I fail to see how "real leader" Obama did more than Trump. But I can't emphasize enough how Obama in similar circumstances did far less than Trump to protect the country. As I cited in numbers above, an outbreak under Obama was 50 times worse, when Obama began to take preventive measures. And yet the liberal media didn't try to invoke the panic they have under far lesser outbreak conditions under Trump.
There isn’t a lying narrative in having valid criticism over Trump’s almost daily bouts of misinformation on coronavirus. You tell me how it’s good that Trump lies and says anybody can get tested if they want when even Pence is saying we don’t have enough kits?
I don't see any cited facts there, just lying narrative with no specifics to back it up. Trump said that it's inevitable that some people will go to work with the virus knowingly or unknowingly infected. Lying Democrats twist that to say Trump is encouraging them to go to work sick. And I don't see where it's a "lie" for Trump to say that at present the kits are not available everywhere yet, but health officials are working hard to get them produced and distributed to every corner of the U.S., so that in every city doctors and hospitals will be able to test those who might have the virus.
I mean, if I go to a supermarket and the shelves for rubbing alcohol and disenfectant wipes are completely empty, does anyone really believe your lying propaganda that Trump said there are test kits for everyone in America? No. Obviously, they are working to make the test kits available, that are not ready yet. I pay more attention to what the CDC and NIH have to say, than what Trump or his political enemies are saying.
Originally Posted By: M E M
And Obama declared an emergency when just 20 people in this country were infected with something that had a much lower mortality rate than this virus. Oh and guess what your rotten pieces of garbage like Hannity were doing while this country was fighting H1N1?
Total horseshit. I just told you what the numbers were.
Originally Posted By: M E M
“ And what were Sean Hannity and other right-wing media figures doing at the time? They were waging a serious misinformation campaign about the H1N1 flu, the vaccine, and the Obama administration’s response to it. For example, radio host Rush Limbaugh speculated that the administration was “hyping the number” of cases in order to “sell health care” — referring to the administration’s efforts to pass the Affordable Care Act.
How is it that I watched Hannity almost nightly through the Obama years and never saw this? Whereas you, who don't watch Hannity, and get what you "know" about Hannity and Fox News from Media Matters, allegedly know this?
Originally Posted By: M E M
At the time, Hannity fearmongered that a committee recommendation of the priority list in case of vaccine shortages amounted to government rationing against seniors, which had been a common right-wing scare tactic during the passage of the Affordable Care Act. (In the specific case of the H1N1 flu, seniors were less at risk in comparison to young children.)
And even while warning of vaccine shortages and rationing, Hannity in October 2009 hosted anti-vaccine radio personality Deirdre Imus, who insisted it was “misinformation” that the vaccine was even safe to begin with.
The Obama administration did plan "death panels" for Obamacare, to shut out the elderly from care, to make more rationed healthcare resources available for younger people. It was widely discussed that an illegal immigrant in his 40's would qualify for heart surgery, while a taxpaying U.S. citizen in his 70's or 80's would be rejected for the prrocedure. As recently as a week ago, Mike Bloomberg was voicing the same ideas, of denying care to the elderly, to ration more care to be available for the young.
It makes me laugh that the maniacs in your party deny this.
Originally Posted By: M E M
The same month, Limbaugh also publicly boasted that he wasn’t getting the vaccine, defiantly stating, “Screw you, Miss [HHS Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius. I am not going to take it, precisely because you’re now telling me I must.” He also gave voice to conspiracy theories from Louis Farrakhan that the vaccine might have been developed just to kill people. ” I think you know you’re actually the one with the lying narrative WB .
Again, I listen to Hannity almost nightly, certainly all through the Obama years, and I haven't ever heard any of this. And Hannity isn't someone where he says something one night, he repeats himself a lot over many nights and weeks. I trust my own memory of watching Hannity almost nightly since 2008, over the slice-and-dice of what he actually said as spit up by Media Matters or some other liberal blog. Something Media Matters likes to gloss over is when things are saaid as aa joke by Hannity, Limbaugh, Trump or whoever on the conservative side, and fronting that they were dead serious when saying it. For example, when Trump jokes in front of a campaign rally that Russia must have hacked Hillary Clinton's e-mail server, hey, why don't we just ask for the missing e-mails from Russia. And next day in Mediaa Matters and other liberal sites, they are reporting that Trump was secretly conspiring with Russia to get the e-mails from them, rather than just joking about it on TV in front of an audience of thousands. If there is any truth whatsoever to what you allege, I would guess that Rush Limbaugh was just mentioning Louis Farrakhan's conspiracy theories in a joking context, to show that even among far-left liberal circles there was dissent and distrust about HHS secretary Sebelius' credibility on a vaccine. As I recall, Sebelius was the one at the center of the utter and complete failure of Obamacare's launch in 2013, that began with complete chaos and a website that no one could register on for months, along with many hired healthcare registration agents who had previous convictions for fraud and identity theft, and were doing so again with information of peeople they registered. Complete chaos. This may have been the final straw that resulted in her resignation.
It's hilarious to me how Snopes bends over backward to defend Obama against allegations in a PJ Media article of his less proactive measures aagaainst Swine Flu in 2009, than Trump has exhibited in 2020.
They play fast and loose with the fact that there was a pandemic already occurring when Swine Flu cases reached the United States in April 2009. Snopes says a pandemic had not yet been officially declared until June 2009.
Snopes also glosses over that Trump (amidst being impeached without cause, no less!) simultaneously cut off all direct flights from China. And that at no time during the Swine Flu outbreak did Obama take similar preventive action. That ultimately resulted in 12,000 dead in the U.S. from Swine flu, and about 275,000 hospitalized.
None of this gets around the fact that Trump's preventive action prevented tens of thousands more Coronavirus infections, and at the very least has bought the U.S. more time to prepare for further infection by those entering from other infected nations.
Snopes consistently reads like a site that is run by Democrats, that is hell-bent on making the most negative spin possible against Trump and other Republicans. While running cover for Democrats.
From April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010, in the United States, there were 60.8 million cases of swine flu, 274,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated.
and
Quote:
Obama’s acting director of health and human services declared H1N1 a public health emergency on April 26, 2009. That was when only 20 cases of H1N1 — and no deaths — around the country had been confirmed.
H1N1 [a k a, Swine Flu] was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on June 11, 2009. In other words, the Obama administration’s public health emergency declaration came more than six weeks before the pandemic designation.
On Oct. 24, 2009, six months after his administration declared H1N1 a public health emergency, Obama declared it a national emergency. At that point, H1N1 had claimed more than 1,000 American lives, according to the CDC.
Just getting around the carefully chosen language here, I'd say a "pandemic" is occurring when a disease has already spread to over 40 of 200 nations worldwide, and to every continent but Antarctica. When this has occurred, it doesn't matter whether it has officially labelled by WHO or CDC or whoever as a "pandemic", it fucking damn well is a pandemic already, regardless of the official terms.
In the cases of both Obama and Trump, they both for the most part followed the recommendations of their NIH/CDC medical experts. And in both cases they declared emergencies in advance of an official "pandemic" declaration by the WHO or NIH/CDC.
I'd say the leadership that both these liberal sites like to gloss over is that : 1) Trump (amid impeachment, no less) took the decisive step of cutting off flights from China to avoid further spread of the virus. And the liberal media called him "racist" and so forth for taking that pragmatic step to protect Americans. 2) Trump over the previous year had done much to secure the Southern border from illegals (down 90%) that no other president, Democrat or Republican, certainly not Obama or Hillary, would have done.
and 3) Trump had us in a trade war with China for the last year, that had pushed a lot of manufacturing in China to neighboring countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, India and the Phillipines, right before Coronavirus immobilized China. And because of that push of maanufacturing out of China, the U.S. was far less reliant on China and had diversified its suppliers, right before the Covid-19 outbreak began. China's poor handling and steadily lying about the Coronavirus outbreak, will only serve to push even more manufacturing out of China, and for national security and economic independence reasons, much of that manufacturing will return to being domestically produced in the United States.
None of these facts are adequately covered in these Democrat/Obama-favoring "factcheck" listings.
Despite that I learned a lot, and it explores a lot that has nothing to do with Lou Dobbs, it annoys me that they label it as "mostly true" but never cite or even imply anything that Dobbs allegedly got wrong. I watched Dobbs' interview with HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and I frankly thought Dobbs was a bit hard on the guy, end even a bit of a jerk to him, but he did make the point that the secretary was giving assurances of safety, without hard testing data to back up those assurances. Sometimes one has to rattle the person they're interviewing to get an honest answer, and that's what Dobbs did.
It's hilarious to me how Snopes bends over backward to defend Obama against allegations in a PJ Media article of his less proactive measures aagaainst Swine Flu in 2009, than Trump has exhibited in 2020.
They play fast and loose with the fact that there was a pandemic already occurring when Swine Flu cases reached the United States in April 2009. Snopes says a pandemic had not yet been officially declared until June 2009.
Snopes also glosses over that Trump (amidst being impeached without cause, no less!) simultaneously cut off all direct flights from China. And that at no time during the Swine Flu outbreak did Obama take similar preventive action. That ultimately resulted in 12,000 dead in the U.S. from Swine flu, and about 275,000 hospitalized.
None of this gets around the fact that Trump's preventive action prevented tens of thousands more Coronavirus infections, and at the very least has bought the U.S. more time to prepare for further infection by those entering from other infected nations.
Snopes consistently reads like a site that is run by Democrats, that is hell-bent on making the most negative spin possible against Trump and other Republicans. While running cover for Democrats.
Why do you feel it’s appropriate to attack snopes for correcting a conservative website’s misinformation? Are you even pretending you’re for truthful reporting no matter the side? Do you have any bar for honesty with your side? I just don’t see one to be honest. You can’t even acknowledge that the conservative site was wrong. Just like Trump was wrong about anyone being able to get tested. It’s just not true according to not only Pence but the CDC as well. Do you understand that isn’t what a leader should be doing during an emergency?
It's hilarious to me how Snopes bends over backward to defend Obama against allegations in a PJ Media article of his less proactive measures aagaainst Swine Flu in 2009, than Trump has exhibited in 2020.
They play fast and loose with the fact that there was a pandemic already occurring when Swine Flu cases reached the United States in April 2009. Snopes says a pandemic had not yet been officially declared until June 2009.
Snopes also glosses over that Trump (amidst being impeached without cause, no less!) simultaneously cut off all direct flights from China. And that at no time during the Swine Flu outbreak did Obama take similar preventive action. That ultimately resulted in 12,000 dead in the U.S. from Swine flu, and about 275,000 hospitalized.
None of this gets around the fact that Trump's preventive action prevented tens of thousands more Coronavirus infections, and at the very least has bought the U.S. more time to prepare for further infection by those entering from other infected nations.
Snopes consistently reads like a site that is run by Democrats, that is hell-bent on making the most negative spin possible against Trump and other Republicans. While running cover for Democrats.
Why do you feel it’s appropriate to attack snopes for correcting a conservative website’s misinformation? Are you even pretending you’re for truthful reporting no matter the side? Do you have any bar for honesty with your side? I just don’t see one to be honest. You can’t even acknowledge that the conservative site was wrong. Just like Trump was wrong about anyone being able to get tested. It’s just not true according to not only Pence but the CDC as well. Do you understand that isn’t what a leader should be doing during an emergency?
First off, I've established many times that Snopes is partisan-Left, that Factcheck is a branch of the Washington Post, and Politifact is a branch of the Tampa Tribune, the latter two of which source publications are rabidly anti-Trump and anti-Republican. And the Washington Post in particular has been caught endless times in the last 3 years deliberately manufacturing stories and having them blow up in their faces, in their zeal to publish something negative about Trump without verifying their sources.
One example I can think of offhand is when Washington Post tried to allege new witnesses of sexual misconduct a year after Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. The one "source" said she didn't say it, all her friends --interviewed by OTHER MORE REPUTABLE sources -- said she had no memory of such an incident, and the second source was an ultra-Democrat partisan lawyer who had clashed with Kavanaugh during the 1998 Clinton special investigation, who would clearly allege anything to get back at Kavanaugh. The WP reporters involved made a half-hearted apology for their "mistake" after the fact.
I've also clearly established many other times that Factcheck and Politifact choose conservatives for factchecking 75% of the time, and only factcheck/criticize Democrats/liberals 25% of the time, to keep up some semblance of equal criticism and impartiality.
My point was they didn't "correct disinformation". They chose their terms very carefully and hid the true facts, the true facts THAT I CITED.
I love how the liars of the Democrat/Left try to turn it around and accuse Republicans of being liars, to hide that THEY, THE DEMOCRATS ARE THE TRUE LIARS. That's a pattern that plays out over and over.
Democrats are guilty of treason and enablisng Soviet/Russian spies, for decades. They hide this by accusing Trump and other Republicans of treason and "collusion" with Russia. The liberal media, including factcheck sites, fly cover for the Dems. Democrats incite violence against Republicans. They hide this by accusing the Republicans of violent "hate speech" that incites violence. But over and over, it turns out that, after false liberal media reporting of initially calling it a Tea Party or "right wing" shooter, a day or two later it inevitably turns out to actually be a liberal. (George Zimmerman a Democrat, Jared Loughner a Democrat, the Aurora Colorado movie threatre shooter a Democrat, the Sandy Hook Shooter a Democrat, Christopher Darden who killed multiple L.A. police officers a Democrat WHO WAS AN AVID CNN AND MSNBC VIEWER WHO PRAISED MULTIPLE ANCHORS OF THOSE 2 NETWORKS IN HIS ONLINE MANIFESTO, a story invisible to the liberal media. The Breitbart article I've cited multiple times of the over 600 attacks on Republicans for things as minor as wearing a pro-Trump MAGA hat, etc., etc. )
Do YOU have any bar for honesty, M E M? Does ANYONE on your side? Because I don't see it to be honest. I've cited the true facts over and over, you appear immune to them. No matter how many times the liberal media are proven to have misrepresented the facts, over and over, unquestionably. YOUR SIDE are the ones engaging in the most incendiary rhetoric, clearly inciting violence. (Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, against the Covington Catholic High School kids, and just days ago Chuck Schumer threatening the U S Supreme Court, to name just a few examples.) YOUR SIDE are the ones overwhelmingly violently attacking Republicans. I don't know how you can deny it. ( Again, the Breitbart-reported examples, and another article I cited that estimates there have been an average of two Democrat attacks on Trump supporters every day Trump's been president. )
You are alleging something about Trump there is no evidence of, the lie that Trump alleged everyone can get a Coronavirus test right now. That's ridiculous, and spinning Trump out of context. Even if Trump had actually alleged that, the NIH and CDC and Vice President Pence would have immediately clarified and corrected him. You're lyingly fronting that Trump lied, just to undermine him. I trust the NIH and CDC and the Vice President leading the coronavirus task force to cite the most accurate facts, and they say they are expediting mass-producing coronavirus test kits to be made available to every medical facility nationwide. It's illogical that Trump would allege it's already available, when it's clear Trump and everyone else are working to get them manufactured and distributed nationwide.
A president's job, "what a leader should be doing", is to protect the nation from all threats, foreign and domestic. I would say the domestic threat is the Democrat party. Protecting the U.S. is precisely what Trump did from the outset, stopping flights from China, what neither Barack Obama or any Democrat or milquetoast Republican would have had the decisiveness and clarity to do. Preventing and delaying tens of thousands of potential Coronavirus infections.
And your vicious lying party has been obstructing and undermining Trump every step of the way. Your side **WANTS** to destroy this country, to cause maximum damage, just to try and prevent Trump from being re-elected. Whether by disease, or preventing Trump from securing the border as promised, or stoking economic disaster with their Chicken-Little sky-is-falling rhetoric (Paul Krugman, Bill Maher, etc.), the lying Democrats are working every day to make these things happen with their lying talking points. Defeating Trump is their only goal, no matter how much damage they do to the country in the process. I would say that's the proof that Democrats hate America, their eagerness to destroy it just for their own political gain.
I think you sidestepped the whole fact that Obama did declare an emergency when there where only 20 confirmed cases of h1n1 in the US. Even the conservative website corrected their misinformation. And going back to that emergency also reveals how Hannity and other conservatives actually were doing what you’re trying to accuse the other side of doing. Again you spend a lot of time making accusations and hating the other side but that doesn’t undo what the conservative website did or the despicable actions of Hannity and others during that time of crisis.
I think you sidestepped the whole fact that Obama did declare an emergency when there where only 20 confirmed cases of h1n1 in the US. Even the conservative website corrected their misinformation. And going back to that emergency also reveals how Hannity and other conservatives actually were doing what you’re trying to accuse the other side of doing. Again you spend a lot of time making accusations and hating the other side but that doesn’t undo what the conservative website did or the despicable actions of Hannity and others during that time of crisis.
Conservatives at that time weren't trying to impeach Obama. Conservatives at that time weren't deliberately trying to tank the economy just to destroy Obama's chances of being re-elected. Conservatives at that time didn't openly call for tanking the economy as a strategic way to block Obama's re-election (Bill Maher, Paul Krugman). Conservatives at that time didn't gleefully cheer when the stock market tanked as an instrument to bring down Trump's presidency (again, Paul Krugman).
I don't see where Hannity or other conservatives were doing anything "despicable", in spite of you trying to spin it that way. They voiced legitimate concerns about how effective preparations here were to prevent a similar outbreak as was occurring outside the U.S. Anf the reality is, 6 months after Obama's preparations, there were 1,000 dead in the U.S. About 3 months in now, under Trump, there are 21 (aand that's including deaths aboard cruise ships, not technically on U.S. soil).
Trump's comment about tests "ready" was explained by Fauci and Pence as there were test kits prepared and anticipated to be ready at that time, but there was a glitch in producing them that prevented them from actually being ready on time, so a simpler version will be ready on Monday in the hundreds of thousands, and in the millions by the end of the week. You spin that as a "lie" by Trump, despite that in reality Trump was speaking in the moment a few days ago about what was anticipated to be ready at that time. This was thoroughly discussed on Fox News Sunday.
What is "despicable" is how Democrats and their ideological brethren in the liberal media leap at every opportunity, FOR THREE YEARS, to spin breaking news negatively to try and destroy Trump, and who clearly plot and express glee at destroying the nation itself as acceptable collatoral damage, just to get Trump.
No surprise to see such poor rationalization WB. Someday yes we will probably have enough test kits despite shitbag’s declaration that anyone can get tested. This is a man who didn’t want this latest cruise ship’s passengers to be able to dock and be quarantined because it would make the numbers go up. Just plain old evil. And you enable him.
No surprise to see such poor rationalization WB. Someday yes we will probably have enough test kits despite shitbag’s declaration that anyone can get tested. This is a man who didn’t want this latest cruise ship’s passengers to be able to dock and be quarantined because it would make the numbers go up. Just plain old evil. And you enable him.
When you make comments like that, M E M, everyone knows who the real "shitbag" is. And he looks back at you in the mirror every morning.
Your irrational hatred of a president who acted quickly as no other president would, suspending flights that prevented tens of thousands of infected people from entering the country, is just beyond the pale. Your side would never have suspended flights of the infected, never have secured our borders. "Catch and release" has ENDED under Trump. Your side would have continued to let them run wild, just in time to spread the virus.
Trump wanted the safest conditions possible set up before the cruise ship docked in California. AGAIN: multiple outbreaks during Obama and other previous presidents had far higher rates of infection, and diseases far higher ratios of death, such as Ebola, SARS and Swine Flu, made hardly a ripple in media coverage during Obama's and other presidencies. Democrats and their partisan-liar brethren in the media are weaponizing Coronavirus as a political tool to damage Trump's popularity.
In the end, despite the lying Democrats and media, a majority recognize that despite some level of Coronavirus outbreak, Trump has been and will continue to protect this country better than any of the maniacs of the Democrat/Bolshevik Left.
We've seen the contempt that Democrats have for the American people with Demmocrat policies that have created out of control illegal immigration, sanctuary cities, enabled thousands of homeless in the streets in Democrat cities nationwide harassing taxpaying citizens and business owners. Democrat policies that eliminate bail requirements and allow criminals to violently attack taxpaying citizens multiple times in the same day, policies that encourage shootings and attacks on police, Democrat hatred and demonization of white America, and ultimately, Democrats who embrace centrist/authoritarian/socialist/communist mob-rule power grabs that would collapse our Constitutional republic. The only America the Democrat Bolshevik Left loves is one they can radically transform it into.
For all the lying propaganda your side unleashes, the public still recognizes you for the nation-destroying America-hating Bolshevik liars you are.
Trump said he didn’t want the numbers to go up as it pertained to the cruise ship. It’s there in black and white. He’s a shitbag. Name call all you want but your hatred of so many people is truly ugly.
Trump said he didn’t want the numbers to go up as it pertained to the cruise ship. It’s there in black and white. He’s a shitbag. Name call all you want but your hatred of so many people is truly ugly.
With all due respect, M E M, you're a "shitbag" for saying that about a president who is quantifiably the most accomplished president in 50-plus years: In economic growth. In rising wages for the middle class. In re-establishing trade deals with nations worldwide in the U.S.'s favor, that are for the first time truly free and fair trade. In securing our borders. And relative to this topic, taking unprecedented measures to block the spread of Coronavirus. There is absolutely no other 2016 or 2020 candidate, of either party, who would have been able to do all these things, let alone have the desire to.
It's incredible irony that you repeatedly call the president "shitbag" and other labels, and then bemoan namecalling.
And that's just aa sample of Democrat malice and corruption. These are just a few snapshots of the monstrous ideological fanaticism of the Democrat party.
I didn't hate your party in 2000, I didn't even fully hate it in 2004 or 2008. But the fanaticism that was visible then, that could have been temporary, but has manifested itself to have become a permanent change. And the Democrat fanaticism has actually deepened since then: Open borders, de-criminalizing illegal immigration, the anti-police, anti-ICE and anti Border Patrol rhetoric of Ocasio-Cortez and others, that is ranted verbatim by Antifa thugs shooting up ICE facilities. Democrat rhetoric that stokes violence even against police and soldiers, who because of Democrat rhetoric can't even wear their uniforms outside of work without being attacked or killed. Gee, why do I hate the Democrats?
Democrats have become the Bolshevik party, operating on a standard practice of vicious slanders, intimidation, threats and violence.
It is not irrational to hate criminals and thugs. It is not irrational to hate a political party who stoke violence and want to overthrow our Constitutional republic, and replace it with a centralized authoritarian "socialist" government.
When the Democrats' leadership since the Obama administration has openly praised leaders like Mao Tse Tung, Che Gueverra, Castro, the Sandinistas, Hugo Chaves, and in the cases of Berni Sanders and Obama mentor Frank Marshall Davis, and Obama mentor William Ayers, praised Josef Stalin. Are we to believe the Democrats' "socialist" model is Scandinavia, when they've praised the most brutal and genocidal communist leaders of the last century? No. WE KNOW what they would REALLY implement.
And we know what your party of authoritarian criminals routinely does with any power they are given: they weaponize it against their political opposition.
That was the case with Obama and the IRS during the 2012 election.
And emboldened by getting away with that, their even further emboldened power grab using the FBI, DOJ, CIA and FISA court during the 2016 election. And their ongoing coup against the Trump administration, for over three years, ever since.
The Biden Campaign has been praised by James Comey, Susan Rice, Susan Powers, Eric Holder, Sally Yates, and many others of the worst players in the FBI/DOJ/FISA abuses. And has even said Biden would appoint many of these corrupt players right back into power if Biden were elected! Your party is corrupt to the core. Openly endorsed by the Deep State.
And these are the same abuses of power, of weaponizing the IRS and other agencies against political opponents that goes back to Woodrow Wilson, FDR, LBJ, JFK, and LBJ. Your party is corrupt to the core, and since 2000 has become increasingly bold in displaying what it has always been. And what it would eagerly do if it ever regained power.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
Like the Ayers Weather Underground, Sanders camapign staffers are talking about violent revolution, and putting Republicans and other dissenters in "Gulags" and "re-education center" concentration camps.
The only difference between these Sanders staffers and the more "mainstream" Democrats such as Barack Obama, who advised the 2020 Democrat candidates to "discuss these things after the election", is the secretiveness with which the Obama and Hillary cult of the party advance the same ambitions. In other words, Obama and they believe the same things about weaponizing government against political enemies and dissenters and taking away guns and freedoms as a Bernie Sanders or a Beto O'Rourke, but the core of the DNC's strategy is to LIE to the American people, to PRETEND to care about middle class issues and jobs and moderate policy. And then once in office, would do the same fanatical things as the Bernie Sanders wing.
These are truly dangerous people, that should never have political power. There is no separation between them and a Josef Stalin or a Mao, or a Che Gueverra, or Hugo Chaves or Fidel Castro. People many in Obama and Hillary administrations have openly praised. They have telegraphed their intentions, loud and clear.
Trump is a shit bag in a very easy to understand way. The example of him saying he would prefer the people stay on the cruise ship because it would keep the number of infected down. That’s what he really cares about. You let your hatred for anybody not in your cult blind you so your personal and partisan attacks don’t have any bite here.
Trump is a shit bag in a very easy to understand way. The example of him saying he would prefer the people stay on the cruise ship because it would keep the number of infected down. That’s what he really cares about. You let your hatred for anybody not in your cult blind you so your personal and partisan attacks don’t have any bite here.
Again, you only prove that YOU are the shitbag by saying that.
Trump's primary concern is avoiding spread of the virus to 321 million Americans. The ship came ashore, didn't it? In controlled conditions where the military took the infected passengers off for medical treatment (those with symptoms) and quarantine isolation (those without symptoms).
AGAIN: If it were up to the Democrats, there would be 20,000 potentially infected passengers arriving on airline flights every day from China, and the disease would be running wild across America. Dr Anthony Fauci said on Lou Dobbs tonight that Trump's cessasion of flights was "absolutely, without question the right thing to do" and has prevented tens of thousands of infections. As did the delay of taking cruise ship passengers off any sooner. The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few, or of the one.
The Democrat governor of California today thanked President Trump for promising California "whatever they need" to combat the Coronavius outbreak, and then following through and unwaveringly keeping that promise. A lot of Democrats in Hollywood and in Washington DC cheering for a plague outbreak to bring down Trump's presidency will no doubt be hating on Gov. Newsom for that, and be giving him payback for not staying on the DNC script, to never admit that Trump has done anything right, let alone acknowledge Trump displayed exceptional leadership in a crisis.
I think we both know what Trump meant when he said he didn’t want the passengers to get off the cruise ship because it would make the coronavirus numbers go up. No hidden meaning or a gaffe. That is who he is, who he’s always been. A shit bag.
Trump has continued to downplay this threat at the same time whining about democrats and the media. We don’t have enough tests even at this point!
By having the CDC and NIH and V.P. Pence give daily press briefings of the actual facts?
How stupid do you feel right now?
Stupid would be cheering on the bag of shit that downplays or entirely contradicts what even his people are saying during such a dangerous time. We will look back at the lack of tests and preparedness in general, his proposed budget cuts, his nasty partisan swipes and give Trump the credit he really deserves.
Trump has continued to downplay this threat at the same time whining about democrats and the media. We don’t have enough tests even at this point!
By having the CDC and NIH and V.P. Pence give daily press briefings of the actual facts?
How stupid do you feel right now?
Stupid would be cheering on the bag of shit that downplays or entirely contradicts what even his people are saying during such a dangerous time. We will look back at the lack of tests and preparedness in general, his proposed budget cuts, his nasty partisan swipes and give Trump the credit he really deserves.
The most accomplished president in at least 50 years.
The most legislation. The most judges appointed by far. The best economic numbers by far, for every demographic, even blacks, hispaanics and women. Re-negotiated trade deals with Japan, South Korea, China, Central America, Mexico. An unprecedented 90% reduction in illegal immigration, and building a border wall, despite every Democrat attempt to undermine him. Trump has ENDED catch and release of illegals. And now he has contained and limited the Coronavirus outbreak to a number far below what any other president would have been willing or able to. Your useless party would have allowed in millions of infected, just to avoid looking "racist". And they would have left the southern border 90% more open to further infections.
Who else has achieved anything like that? Not Obama, not Bill Clinton, not even Reagan.
I think we both know what Trump meant when he said he didn’t want the passengers to get off the cruise ship because it would make the coronavirus numbers go up. No hidden meaning or a gaffe. That is who he is, who he’s always been. A shit bag.
Yeah. It meant that Trump didn't want to do anything uncontrolled and risk more Americans being infected. That's who he is, a guy who actually wants to protect America, and not take chances with the lives of U.S. citizens.
And you again prove yourself the shitbag by insulting the most quantifiably accomplished president in 50-plus years.
You know who the real "shitbags" are? The Democrats who want to tank the U.S. economy and openly cheer any decline, just because they think it gives them a snowball's chance in hell of defeating Trump. You know who else are "shitbags"? The Democrats, some of them DNC advisors and campaign staffers who openly cheered the Congressional baseball shooting of Rep. Scalese, and on social media called for and cheered on even more shootings of Republicans.
You know who else are "shitbags"? The Democrats posting online that if they got Coronavirus the first thing they would do would be to go attend a Trump rally.
You know who else are shitbags? : Maxene Waters, Joseph Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Howard Dean, for stoking and cheering on violence against their political opposition. You know who else are "shitbags"? YOUR ENTIRE PARTY LEADERSHIP, BECAUSE ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, no U.S. Representative, no U.S. Senator, no DNC party leaders, have condemned any of these calls for violence, EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE CLEARLY RESULTED IN ACTUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST REPUBLICANS. And we're at least 2 years now past the Scalise shooter. Who, by the way, was a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer. Two years later, still no Democrat calls for civility, no DNC condemnation of the violence. Hillary Clinton said no peace can be made with those who threaten her agenda. The Hamilton play actors stabbed Trump in effigy every night onstage for months. Kathy Griffin, a remarkably unfunny comedian, held up a realistic and bloody Trump-head to express her violent hatred and intent.
The attacks on the Covington Catholic High School kids, basically threatened by the maniacs of your party just for being white, conservative, Christian, and wearing MAGA hats. and THIS: https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018...ump-supporters/
Trump’s quote.... “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault,” Trump said. “I’d rather have them stay on, personally.”
That of course sounds like a shitbag. Somebody who sees Roger Stone and the neo nazi who sped his car through a crowd as victims might be willing to spin what he said.
Trump’s quote.... “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault,” Trump said. “I’d rather have them stay on, personally.” That of course sounds like a shitbag.
Again, you only prove YOURSELF to be a shitbag by calling the president that, the most accomplished president in over 50 years.
Originally Posted By: M E M
Somebody who sees Roger Stone and the neo nazi who sped his car through a crowd as victims might be willing to spin what he said.
That's smashing a lot of distorted lies together in one sentence. Roger Stone could not be proven guilty of anything, the Mueller team/FBI could only get Stone for process crimes, that they, the FBI, manufactured. In their vindictive zeal to maliciously prosecute Stone for any crime they could. And they bankrupted Stone so at some point he had to take a plea. Whereas Hillary Clinton, Cheryl Mills, Houma Abedin and other Democrats and their staff were given a free pass, immunity in exchange for nothing, and no depositions, no lengthy bankrupting FBI prosecutions forcing them into similar plea deals, so they could not similarly be prosecuted for perjury, obstruction of justice and destroying evidence, despite actually being guilty of these crimes.
Unlike Stone, who Soviet-style, the crimes were manufactured to get a politically targeted man.
The other part about the driver who killed a girl during the Charlottesville riots is absurd and a complete lie. Trump ABSOLUTELY NEVER voiced sympathy or support for this driver. And more broadly of the violence, Trump only held violent acts by Antifa to the same standard as the violent acts of white supremacist groups. Trump NEVER invited white supremacist leaders to the White House. Obama DID invite Al Sharpton and Black Lives Matter leaders to his White House, AFTER BLM and Sharpton's violent rhetoric stoked the murder of police officers in multiple cities nationwide. And as I said previously, one glance at the Black Lives Matter website, where they talk about slaughtering "white babies" makes clear their virulent hate at least equals that of the KKK and other white ssupremacist groups.
There is no support of Trump for this driver who killed a girl in Charlotte. That is a vicious lie on your part, M E M. Trump specifically said repeatedly of white supremacist groups, "There is no place for that kind of hate in our country."
And more optimistically in his Jan 2017 inauguration speech: "Whether white or black or brown, we all bleed the same red, and share the same hopes and dreams."
Washing your hands, avoiding unnecessary travel and being cognizant of symptoms are some of the most effective ways to ward off potential contraction of the coronavirus. But there is still more that you can be doing, according to Dr. Oz.
Dr. Oz released a “coronavirus survival protocol,” a helpful tip sheet on how people can stay healthy. Apart from the information you’ve likely already seen about the benefit of face masks or throwing away used tissues, the fact sheet provides immunity, dietary, household preparation and other tips that can be beneficial in the midst of this outbreak.
Here are some of the key points to take away from Dr. Oz that you may not have noticed elsewhere: •Improve your air quality by using a humidifier and/or HEPA filters •Meditate, as this may support your immune system •Disinfect surfaces by using sprays and wipes, and let those surfaces remain wet for three minutes prior to drying •Start eating more fruits, vegetables and foods rich in Vitamin D3, and get your annual flu shot •If you’re already sick, eat foods rich in zinc, Vitamin C and beta-glucan. Also take syrup or lozenges four times a day for five days
The fact sheet also notes essential supplies that you should have a two-week supply of in preparation for the virus:
•Toilet paper •Soap •Detergent •Shelf-stable pantry goods •Freezer-friendly items •Medications
The fact sheet also recommends that individuals get the flu shot. This is not because the standard flu shot itself is effective in preventing coronavirus infection and symptoms. Obtaining a flu shot, though, can help ease confusion as to whether symptoms a person is showing are of the seasonal flu or of COVID-19.
Tucker Carlson makes the point that not only did China hide the truth for weeks and allow the epidemic to spread worldwide, but they have made clear they hate America and threatened to withold life-saving pharmaceuticals from the U.S., for the deliberate vindictive purpose of killing Americans. (China, by the way, manufactures about 80% of U.S. pharmaceuticals, a remarkable level of dependence.) That China, to save face and cover for its own lies, is alleging Coronavirus was created by the U.S.
And that the blame-America talking points are being repeated by Democrat leaders and the liberal media. That liberals' first impulse is to blame America. And of course, to weaponize an issue against Republicans.
And just pointing out, a similar paanic and politicization was not orchestrated by the media or Republicans during the "Swine Flu"/H1N1 virus outbreak in 2009-2010, that infected 60 million Americans, and killed about 30,000 in the U.S. Just sayin'.
As of mid-March 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that about 59 million Americans contracted the H1N1 virus, 265,000 were hospitalized as a result, and 12,000 died.
Comparatively, Trump is being demonized for an estimated 1,400 total infections and 38 deaths in the U.S., and about 130,000 infections worldwwide. And Europe, that didn't take similar precaautions of suspending flights from China (Australia and Hong Kong did) is now the epicenter of the outbreak, even as the outbreak seems to have peaked and be receding in China. And Europe is now the source of the new Wuhan Flu cases in the U.S., explaining why Trump last night announced cessation of flights from Europe for 30 days.
A moderate outbreak scenario of Wuhan virus/"Covid-19" in the U.S. would be if it reaches 200,000 cases nationwide. A worst case scenario outbreak in the U.S. would be 1 million or slightly more cases. Both of which would exceed by far the China outbreak, and who realistically believes that would happen, with all the warnings and afdvance preparation? But Democrats and the hate-Trump liberal media are ultra-hyping the zombie apocalypse scenario. And, of course, blaming Trump.
I was speaking of people like yourself who have posted frequently in defense of garbage like Stone and neo nazi guy. And it’s vary valid criticism of Trump (shit bag). He didn’t create the virus but when he was supposed to be a leader we got and still get petty partisan swipes. More importantly he’s spent this whole time downplaying the virus in dangerous ways. Yes there are officials trying to get the facts out but a lot of people where I work are still spouting his version. And not having enough test kits is on him. Classifying briefings and prolonging our response time is on him. The shit bag used a teleprompter last night and still fucked up what he was supposed to say. I’m pissed because I have a lot of loved ones that are at risk from this and he’s endangered them even more.
And it’s vary valid criticism of Trump (shit bag). He didn’t create the virus but when he was supposed to be a leader we got and still get petty partisan swipes. More importantly he’s spent this whole time downplaying the virus in dangerous ways. Yes there are officials trying to get the facts out but a lot of people where I work are still spouting his version. And not having enough test kits is on him. Classifying briefings and prolonging our response time is on him. The shit bag used a teleprompter last night and still fucked up what he was supposed to say. I’m pissed because I have a lot of loved ones that are at risk from this and he’s endangered them even more.
M E M, you're a ridiculous lying talking-points robot for the Chinese/Democrat propaganda machine.
I just cited the numbers, relative to the most comparable recent outbreak of Swine Flu under Obama. You are straining to rationalize that Trump's remarkable leadership, that has resulted in a tiny fraction of the 60 million infected by Swine Flu in 2009-2020, is somehow a far worse than the current Wuhan virus outbreak. And in making that idiot propaganda argument, reveal yourself, no one else, to be a lying shitbag.
It's disgusting how your party is trying to politicize this against Trump, and deliberately tanking the economy over a far lesser outbreak. Disgusting.
WB does it feel good citing stats that you know are low because there hasn’t been enough tests available? Or ignoring that this virus seems to have a much higher fatality rate than swine flu? It’s going to get worse because unlike other countries we’re not doing the rate of testing their doing. Seriously, you can name call all you want but I will keep holding Trump accountable for what he says and does. He’s done a lot of damage and he’s not done.
WB does it feel good citing stats that you know are low because there hasn’t been enough tests available? Or ignoring that this virus seems to have a much higher fatality rate than swine flu? It’s going to get worse because unlike other countries we’re not doing the rate of testing their doing. Seriously, you can name call all you want but I will keep holding Trump accountable for what he says and does. He’s done a lot of damage and he’s not done.
That's horseshit, M E M. The delay in the tests available (as I linked in detail in a factcheck several posts above) is because of an error by the CDC where they made a bad choice on which test kit to produce, and that caused the delay in production. How you somehow spin that to be Trump's personal fault is absolutely demented and illogical. CDC and NIH officials have all said this, and said the testing kits should be produced in the millions by the end of this week, if not already.
And your own argument about the lack of details about the Wuhan virus puts the lie to what you allege about the "far worse" fatality rate. There are projected to be tens of thousands of cases showing very mild or no symptoms in cases worldwide, that if reported would vastly lower the alleged "fatality" rate. And given that medical treatment is far better in the U.S. than in China or Iran, it stands to reason the fatality rate would be much lower in the U.S.
The current death rate in the U.S. (41 deaths, out of 1,758 cases) is about 2.3%, of reported cases. With all the unreported mild cases, it is estimated to be between 0.2% and 0.7%.
How you blame that on Trump, I don't know. If you were logically to blame someone, it would be China, for deliberately hiding the outbreak until it had already spread internationally outside of China. And even then, even up till now, has not allowed U.S. medical experts in to enter China to study the virus and its origins. It was not until the epidemic spread to South Korea and their government shared information about the outbreak that we really began to learn its infectious characteristics to fight it. You should be thanking Trump for taking the unprecedented travel-ban restrictions that contained the spread early on in the U.S. A comparison of its spread in Italy and other European nations, and the spread from there by European visitors to the U.S., is a sharp contrast to how infection spread in countries NOT led by a President Trump. And when that became a visible source of spread, Trump implemented a 30-day suspension of European travel to the U.S.
Further, the fighting of Wuhan virus, or Swine Flu, or SARS or Ebola or whatever outbreak emerges at any given time, is not generally done by presidents. To a large degree, the preparation or lack thereof would be the same under any president, entrusted to medical experts of the CDC and NIH. The biggest difference, the powerfully significant difference, is that Trump intervened and suspended flights from China, and now from Europe. And those moves, as NIH head Dr. Anthony Fauci said 2 days ago, made an enormous difference, as "absolutely the right move" he said, that prevented untold tens of thousands of infections in nthe U.S.
Interesting just to see how the same crisis is reported in the U.K. on BBC. And the Four Corners documentary from Wuhan, China, by Australians stuck there during the worst of the outbreak, is very unsettling. Talk about worst case scenario.
I go back and forth between getting unavoidably jumpy about all the preventive measures in the news, and being assured by all the preventive measures, that will hopefully result in a reduction of new cases.
Worldwide, as of today there are 135,000 total reported cases, and of those 4,900 dead. In China, the illness has already peaked and is in decline to the point that many of their temporary hospitals are now closing already. And of those total worldwide cases, 69,000 are diagnosed as having made a complete recovery.
In the U.S., there are 1,629 reported diagnosed infections, and 41 deaths. And 31 of whom have already recovered. In Florida, 42 diagnosed cases, and 2 deaths. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida was just on TV announcing distribution of test kits to every hospital in Florida, and said all the cases so far are related to international travel. I was aa bit surprised that Broward County was listed as the Florida county with the sharpest rise in reported new cases.
Last week, CNN media critic Brian Stelter struck an ominous chord regarding the spreading coronavirus. “Since the dawn of the Trump presidency, countless experts have warned that the president's lack of credibility would imperil the country in the event of an emergency,” he wrote. “With the worsening coronavirus outbreak, those fears may be coming true. … And the president has been blaming the media for this predicament, reverting to the same tactics that he has employed ever since taking office.”
Even if the Trump administration wasn’t uniquely combative and chaotic, it’s the media’s job to press any administration about preparedness in the face of something as frightening as a lethal pandemic. And leaders undermining trust in media institutions for no specific reason at a time when we need to rely on them for potentially lifesaving information is not helpful, to put it mildly. “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets,” is just one of the things Trump has tweeted recently.
Normally, such intemperate attacks during a crisis would be discrediting. However, the media have also made their own behavior the issue during the last four years, and their coronavirus coverage shows why: A large portion of the media can’t help themselves from making every story about politics.
Some of it is just inappropriately intemperate commentary from opinion columnists. Recent New York Times columns by Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd were headlined “Let’s Call It Trumpvirus: If you’re feeling awful, you know who to blame” and “Trump Makes Us Ill: Going viral is not a good thing this time,” respectively. Suffice it to say, calling a disease that originated in China and spread throughout the world because of China’s grossly irresponsible behavior “Trumpvirus” is hardly fair.
Although George W. Bush fielded skeptical questions from the White House press corps about U.S. preparedness from Avian flu – and Democrats still complain about the speed of the Reagan administration’s response to AIDS, Trump’s predecessors in the White House simply were not immediately blamed from the very outset of public health crises. This doesn’t mean they performed flawlessly. A damning article by Ari Schulman in the journal The New Atlantis in 2015 showed in alarming detail how the Obama administration actively misled the public about the threat posed by the Ebola virus outbreak the year before.
Despite what the Centers for Disease Control told the public in 2014, there is compelling evidence transmission of Ebola was airborne via coughs and sneezes and the virus could be spread by people months after they were no longer symptomatic. Such misinformation was driven primarily by a desire for public reassurance, and this led to questionable public policy decisions regarding the threat. Yet, major newspapers never referred to the disease as “Obola.”
Naked hostility to Trump is so pronounced it has actually impaired some journalists’ ability to impart necessary information to the American people. “Remember this moment: Trump, in South Carolina, just called the coronavirus a ‘hoax,’" the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank tweeted last week. He followed that up with a column that repeated the claim. Watching Trump’s rally in context, it was pretty clear that he wasn’t saying the disease itself was a hoax – he was talking about the news coverage that somehow tried to blame him for it. Milbank would later update his column to note that “Trump said Saturday the ‘hoax’ referred to Democrats’ pinning blame for the virus” – but his misleading tweet is still up.
Speaking of misleading tweets, on Thursday NPR’s Yamiche Alcindor tweeted out this quote from Vice President Mike Pence: "The greatest concern is testing. I am pleased to report we have 2500 kits available that we will distribute. We approved a process that will allow testing at state and university laboratories." She then repeated the number for emphasis “2500.” This tweet, which was liked over 22,000 times, spread like wildfire mostly because of the panic that set in over the mistaken belief that we only had enough coronavirus tests to cover the population of Ashland, Neb.
An hour later, after getting an earful about her tweet, Alcindor tweeted out some important context. Each one of these coronavirus kits can test 500 people, covering 1.25 million Americans. Perhaps that’s not enough, but for a disease that at the time had infected fewer than 100 Americans, it was on the right scale. And it’s far less panic-inducing than the mistaken belief only 2,500 people can be tested. Yet, Alcindor did not delete her tweet, and days later you can find thousands of people reciting the misleading 2,500 figure on social media as if it’s gospel.
Next, the New York Times reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “told associates that the White House had instructed him not to say anything else without clearance.” The report led Joe Biden to later claim that the White House was “muzzling” the doctor during an interview with ABC’s “This Week.” Confronted with this anonymously sourced claim at a press conference, Fauci issued an unequivocal denial. “I have never been muzzled, ever, and I have been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan,” he said. “I am not being muzzled by this administration.”
During a Democratic Party presidential debate, Biden also boasted that he was responsible for saving “millions of lives,” a dubious claim attracted no media scrutiny.
The press show no similar restraint after GOP Sen. Tom Cotton took credit for his early call to quarantine anybody coming from China’s Wuhan region while pointing out that Wuhan contains a laboratory that studies dangerous pathogens and that this laboratory can’t be ruled out as the source of the virus. According to the Washington Post, Cotton was guilty of fanning “the embers of a coronavirus theory that has been repeatedly debunked by experts.”
But the Post excoriated Cotton for something he never asserted, namely, that the virus was a bioweapon engineered and deliberately released by the Chinese. This is not what Cotton said, and experts quoted by the Post to “debunk” Cotton even acknowledged as much.
The suspicion that partisanship colors news coverage is hard to escape. Vice President Pence, whom Trump tapped to head the coronavirus response, has been steady and responsible since the beginning of the outbreak. Yet, during a recent appearance on “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd thought it important to confront Pence about the politics of the issue. In Todd’s telling, GOP claims that Democrats were “weaponizing” the virus to attack Trump were wholly unfounded. “Well, I will tell you, there’s been a lot of irresponsible rhetoric among Democrats and commentators on the left,” Pence said.
“Who is this? Name some names, sir. Because it just feels like gaslighting. Please name some names. We are all big. We’re all big people here. Name some names,” Todd retorted. This wasn’t as difficult a task as Todd seemed to think it was. Pence responded by citing the Gail Collins column calling it “Trumpvirus.” The vice president could have pointed out, but didn’t, how Elizabeth Warren tried to prop up her foundering presidential campaign when she proposed taking “every dime that the president is now taking to spend on his racist wall at the southern border and divert it to the coronavirus.”
Instead, Pence brought the conversation around to where it belongs. “The American people can be confident that we’re going to continue to work this issue,” he said. “We’re going to work with leaders with both parties in Congress to make sure not only our federal agencies have all the resources they need but our state and local governments, health care providers, have the resources and the support to provide the care that every American would want. Remember, Chuck, this is about the lives of the American people.”
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Mark Hemingway is a writer in Alexandria, Va. You can follow him on twitter @heminator.
From media critic Howard Kurtz, about 5 years ago host of a media criticism show on CNN, now the last few years host of a similar Sunday show MediaBuzz on Fox News:
Some criticism of the administration is inevitable and actually healthy. But some of the attacks are so reflexive that it seems those hostile to Trump have simply switched their focus from Russia to Ukraine to the coronavirus.
Any president has to walk a fine line in a public emergency, careful not to scare people (or spook the markets) while also offering a realistic assessment of the threat and the country’s ability to respond.
It does make you wonder, though: Is there any threat to America big enough that it doesn’t become mired in perpetual partisanship? And isn’t that a kind of sickness?
“ President Donald Trump on Friday deflected blame for his administration’s lagging ability to test Americans for the coronavirus outbreak, insisting instead — without offering evidence — that fault lies with his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“I don't take responsibility at all,” Trump said defiantly, pointing to an unspecified “set of circumstances” and “rules, regulations and specifications from a different time.”
The remarks from the president came in response to questions at a Friday press conference about the lack of widespread access to testing, an aspect of his administration's coronavirus response that has been the subject of widespread, steady criticism. Administration officials told lawmakers yesterday that the U.S. tested about 11,000 people during the first seven weeks of the outbreak — roughly as many as South Korea is testing each day.
And Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee on Thursday that “the system is not really geared to what we need right now” in and called the testing system “a failing.”
But Trump, who spent weeks downplaying coronavirus before declaring it a national emergency on Friday, argued that the health care system was not designed for an outbreak on the scale of coronavirus, “with the kind of numbers that we are talking about.” Politico
He’s a shit bag. It’s somehow’s Obama’s fault. We all watched him downplay this with many contradictions from his health officials. The shit bag classified the deliberations and spent almost 2 months griping about democrats and the media while lying about having enough tests. Now that it’s abundantly clear this administration fucked up its time to lie and accuse Obama. What an unfit piece of shit! And yes WB I recognize you hate the media for reporting that doesn’t resemble the state run media Putin gets.
You can feel the Trump-hate from the opening paragraphs.
While a number of these are spun as deliberately misleading when the actual facts were unknown at the time, or spun to be misleading beyond what Trump actually said, the article at least clarifies deeper in what the true facts are.
Taking the points one at a time:
1) That U.S. citizens could still return to the U.S. (once tested) is something anyone could clarify with the U.S. embassy in any nation or U.S. officials. There's a limit to how much information Trump could provide in a brief 10-minute Oval Office address to the nation. I would check the details of what Trump said, or any president, in the print media over the 24 hours after such an address, to clarify the details of that brief overview. It's unrealistic to expect every nuance explained in a 10-minute speech.
2) Trump's explanation of the death rate being far lower is pretty much the same as I've seen from Dr. Anthony Fauci, or Dr. Marc Siegel or others. It's presented here as Trump being absolultely wrong, downplaying, and deliberately mistating the facts, but I've seen that same opinion of what is characterized as Trump's "hunch" by many interviewed medical experts.
3) Trump saying that the Coronavirus will die down once summer hits is also not wrong, every previous major coronavirus strain and major outbreak of the last 20 years has followed a siimilar sharp decline, so again Trump is not lying or deliberately misleading. While the article clarifies that it's possible it won't decline, Trump is not wrong in saying it's a good possibility. I wish he'd emphasized that's a possibility and not an absolute that it will sharply decline come summer, and press the public that it's still very contagious and to act with an abundance of caution to prevent its spread.
4) The lack of ready widespread test kits is the biggest failure, yes. But again, this is not Trump's personal fault, it was an error by the medical staff at CDC in selecting a kit that didn't work, and then had to scramble for a replacement when it didn't. So Trump, like Pence and Dr. Fauci have all given assurances that the tests would be available, based on what they were told by others in CDC. Trump made an obvious gaffe beyond that of Pence and Fauci when he said they were already distributed and anyone could get a test immediately, and not expected in days. But certainly, no one who watches the news doesn't know that they are still laboring to distribute test kits nationwide, despite kits not being ready when the CDC themselves were promised they would be.
5) Regarding "the flu is worse", it's a fact that previous outbreaks have all been surpassed by flu deaths. As I cited above, the 2009-2010 previous coronavirus "Swine Flu/H1N1" infected 57 million people and killed 12,000. And that the flu in that same year killed far more. And that the flu in most years kills "between 27,000 and 77,000". While it is spun as aa Trump lie, it is absolutely true that numerically the annual flu kills more than this and previous coronavirus strains. Currently Wuhan virus has killed about 4,900 and infected 137,000 worldwide. As compared to (in the U.S. alone) 35 million infected by regular flu, and 30,000 deaths in 2018, the most recent statistical year.
While Wuhan flu is believed to have a higher death rate of roughly 1 or possibly 2% death rate, vs. 0.1% for regular flu, the finer details in even this article explain there are possibly hundreds of thousands of mild unreported Wuhan cases that would vastly lower the Wuhan virus death ratio if counted.
6) regarding "a vaccine is coming soon", anyone who watches the news knows that most medical experts anticipate a vaccine is about 12 to 18 months away, and not an option for this season. Even vaccine corporation owners who say they are fast-tracking a vaccine say if it were ready in a month, an unprecedentedly fast vaccine to produce and distribute would be at least 6 months away. One I saw said they have a much faster track because they have already developed vaccine for similar strains of Coronavirus, that will vastly speed up a Wuhan virus vaccine. So again, Trump is not necessarily wrong.
7) The Trump administration had proposed cuts to CDC and NIH pandemic preparation, but in few cases had anything been implemented. Trump has across the board looked for fiscal cuts to every area of the Federal budget. Like every part of the budget, Trump wants to eliminate waste and duplication in CDC. I've seen this fronted by Democrats over the last few weeks, despite that Trump had not cut anything vital. More money doesn't necessarily mean better spent money.
Quote:
An OMB spokesman said that the CDC cuts in the budget request did not affect infectious disease, and said Trump's request included a total of $4.3 billion in funds for Infectious Diseases and Preparedness, in funds that deal with the flu, opioids, and global health security. “The $4.3 billion funds all of the CDC programs that focus on infectious disease and emergency preparedness activities," they said.
"This figure reflects that the Administration is prioritizing funding for infectious disease and emergency preparedness efforts at CDC, compared to non-infectious activities, like studying the health and safety risks of infrequent bathroom breaks for taxi drivers,"
Democrats and the liberal media mislead to allege Trump proposed slashing pandemic response and preparation. Trump's OMB defends the cuts as not coming from outbreak prevention.
Heavy in my mind through all this is how the media has jumped on every scandal unleashed on Trump for 4 years now, and how the media has visibly gotten it wrong over and over and over in their vindictive zeal to bring down Trump. And coverage of the outbreak is just the latest extenson of that.
While Trump has made errors, certainly in this crisis as well, he is held to a standard that no other president of my lifetime is held to. Except for W. Bush, there has been no comparative open bias and hatred of a president by the media. The similar errors by Obama got a complete free pass by the same media.
I think this is the treatment any future Republican president can expect from the media. This is not unique to Trump, but to any Republican who dares to be elected going forward. The same poisonous attacks of "racism" or "stole the election" are now extended to more local elections like Tracy Abrams or Andrew Gillum, or last night Alexanda Ocasio-Cortez (interviewed for the first time on Fox) alleging that Bernie Sanders lost in Michigan because of election fraud. Despite that all the elected officials controlling in Michigan are Democrats.
