The medical people are fighting an internal battle against a American President (a serial liar) that does NOT like or respect ‘experts’….
The president has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would “miraculously” disappear in the spring. He has given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate estimate, substituting a much lower figure and citing a “hunch.”
On Wednesday night, Trump made an uncritical reference to people who continue to go to work while infected with the coronavirus — placing himself at odds with doctors who have strongly urged those with even minor symptoms to stay home.
“If, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by sitting around, and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in which he disputed the WHO fatality rate.
On Thursday morning, Trump said his comments were misconstrued and blamed the Democrats and the media. “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work,” he tweeted.
The president’s running commentary about the coronavirus, untethered to script or convention, indicates that the Trump administration’s greatest obstacle to sending a clear message about the outbreak may be Trump himself…..
Time: “Since January, epidemiologists, former U.S. public health officials and experts have been warning, publicly and privately, that the administration’s insistence that containment was—and should remain—the primary way to confront an emerging infectious disease was a grave mistake.”
“The administration was using all its resources to blockade the doors, they warned, but the enemy was likely already in the house.”
“When it finally became indisputable that an outbreak was underway in Washington state, the administration were slow to catch up. There were not enough COVID-19 testing kits, hotlines were overwhelmed, and hospitals and public health departments were hobbled by a lack of reliable statistics on the spread of the disease. Experts say the U.S. response is now likely weeks—if not months—behind schedule.”…
Ezra Klein
@ezraklein
Trump’s tendency to treat real problems as PR problems to solve through misdirection and lying is on very dangerous display as COVID-19 worsens.
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Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
Trump tries to find a silver lining to the coronavirus during Fox News town hall: “I have to say, people are now staying in the United States, spending their money in the US — and I like that.”
Political wire headline tonight:
Graham Urges Trump to Pay Attention to Science
Yeah good luck with that.
The Science of how u do what HE wants?
I said it before, the Coronavirus is the one thing that may get some people that support him see him for what he is…a con artist and a Narcissist…If it isn’t about him, it isn’t news worthy…the Coronavirus and the real threat to people’s lives is something you can’t make about yourself and therefore he doesn’t know how to respond to it…his hunches and what a lot people are saying don’t work when people here the numbers of those infected increase exponentially…And let’s be clear, if Granny or Grandpa die over this virus and this idiot is still talking shit…he will lose in November…People will be angry with him worse than any current policy he has made…the economic impact will be the next big issue with the coronavirus, but a family member is number one issue…
Hope so bdog….
But some of his supporters reportedly think the Democrats went to China and started this whole thing to get their guy fired…
Crazy shit!
He ain’t REALLY doing a damn thing though…
The man only cares about himself
I opined acouple of weeks ago about this.
Yes, I agree that if this virus begins to result in lots of deaths Trump is going to be hurt.
As to the point about his diehard supporters?Theyre irrelevant to this discussion. Sure they will literally go to their graves for this piece of crud.Such is the nature of mindless fanaticism.
However to the marginal Trump supporters ( maybe as high as 25% or so) ,they are going to be quite upset.Maybe not enough to vote Democratic but surely enough to just not vote.
Despite the talk here,Trump has a fairly narrow path to reelection.He can’t afford much slippage.
Having said the above,
I hope nothing so dire as thousands or millions of deaths result from this virus.Yes, Trump and his entourage are a host of incompetent boobs ,but I would much rather this thing turn out not to be a major pandemic as some are forecasting, than any political advantage that could result from such a catastrophe.
There are all sorts of issues out there on which to defeat Trump.I certainly don’t wish for anyone ,whatever their political persuasion, to suffer ,even though the political benefits might flow in a way to assist getting rid of Trump.