Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Xyonai]

Well, the Trump administration seems to have finally settled on a message for the American people about the pandemic: Live with it.

Total abdication of leadership on Trumps part because doing what we need to do to combat the pandemic hurts his reelection chances and that is all that Trump cares about.

What a bold strategy of doing absolutely nothing by ignoring the problem then somehow still managing to give up on even that.

[Zaydin]

What a bold strategy of doing absolutely nothing by ignoring the problem then somehow still managing to give up on even that.

Mark this date. July 3, 2020 was the date that the Trump administration formally surrendered to COVID-19 because Trumps reelection was more important to them than saving American lives.

[D Luniz]

Mark this date. July 3, 2020 was the date that the Trump administration formally surrendered to COVID-19 because Trumps reelection was more important to them than saving American lives.

I wish I was good at photoshop.

Id put trump and Nurgle signing terms of surrender

[Benggaul]

I don't think all of the numbers are in yet from California, but I'm working my way through The Talos Principle to take my mind off shit and I don't feel like waiting anymore for the update.

It's NOT a new record.

It IS still bad.

Nearly 55k new cases. Florida passed New Jersey as predicted to take over the 4th spot in total cases and is within 12k of overtaking Texas for 3rd. They reported 9.5k cases today and more than 60 deaths for the second day in a row--which is astonishing considering their reticence to come clean about mortalities.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Ohio all set new records. Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and Florida all had days in their top 5--most in the top 2 or 3--and most of those all came in the past week with the exception of Louisiana which does seem to be going through a second wave while the rest of the nation is still going through the first.

I want to say that California's numbers have dropped dramatically from the previous week (even though it's still currently 4.5k), but I get the feeling there will be a last-minute update from them tonight that might add a couple thousand. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. Of course, it might just get added to tomorrow's total instead...

The bottom line is things are looking pretty fucking awful going into a holiday weekend and most of the areas where it's going the worst are probably also the ones that are full of people who are going to ignore the warnings and get together in big groups to celebrate. Without masks. Because "MUH FREEDUMB".

Some of those places, like (FUCK) Florida and Arizona, are already struggling with their surges.

Stay safe, folks.

[D Luniz]

We've talked, off and on, about China "buying" friends in South America and China through infrastructure projects and the like.

We've also talked, mostly on, about the US losing its clout on the world stage.

In case you weren't sure where things were going, Axios just posted this, and the headline/map tells the story just fine.
*snip*

can a veto over ride be done by voice vote?

cause Im not convinced that if the GOP members have to put their name to it, they'll go against Trump for this (or anything honestly)

[Breccia]

can a veto over ride be done by voice vote?

A voice vote seems mostly used for unanimous consent. So maybe?

cause Im not convinced that if the GOP members have to put their name to it, they'll go against Trump for this (or anything honestly)

Well, the vote they just did seems like more of a warning than anything else. Plus, Trump is probably okay with punishing China for Trump's failures. Wouldn't be the first time.

[RaoBurning]

Some of those places, like (FUCK) Florida and Arizona, are already struggling with their surges.

Stay safe, folks.

We (Arizona) pushed back out school opening a couple weeks, but I don't see things getting better anytime soon, still. My money says it doesn't last the whole semester. Kids may be **less** affected, sometimes, but our teacher population remembers when dirt was young, and they don't get paid enough to die for the job.

Hell, I barely get paid enough to live for the job. Not a teacher, but I digress.

[Benggaul]

We (Arizona) pushed back out school opening a couple weeks, but I don't see things getting better anytime soon, still. My money says it doesn't last the whole semester. Kids may be **less** affected, sometimes, but our teacher population remembers when dirt was young, and they don't get paid enough to die for the job.

Hell, I barely get paid enough to live for the job. Not a teacher, but I digress.

If and when school starts back up masks are going to have to be mandatory to attend. That's just one of many new rules that's going to have to be put in place to safely make it through the next year before the vaccine is ready. Smaller classes, possibly staggered class days/rotations, mandatory hand sanitizing stations and heavy, heavy monitoring among several other considerations. It will cost a fortune and therefore won't be implemented, so if the US isn't already in a second wave by the time school starts it will be within a month or so after.

[kaelleria]

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/...ry?id=71604361
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, tests positive for coronavirus



Oops...

[RaoBurning]

If and when school starts back up masks are going to have to be mandatory to attend. That's just one of many new rules that's going to have to be put in place to safely make it through the next year before the vaccine is ready. Smaller classes, possibly staggered class days/rotations, mandatory hand sanitizing stations and heavy, heavy monitoring among several other considerations. It will cost a fortune and therefore won't be implemented, so if the US isn't already in a second wave by the time school starts it will be within a month or so after.

I can confirm that my district has purchased tons of masks (and reusable water bottles, as the fountains are shut down) and has plans on rotating arrival/lunch/departure times to help maintain distancing. My school in particular has had trouble enforcing basic rules in the past, like "no running in the halls" (one teacher had her arm broken after a student knocked her down), and with how well the kids take care of their laptops on average, I don't have high hopes for anything we buy for them.

But, we'll see I guess.

I also live in Arizona, and while I saw a lot of people with masks on today (a very recent trend here), I still see A LOT of cars and people out and about like nothing is wrong. The local park was full of people, all the shopping center's parking lot almost full with cars, where if I didn't know any better I would say everything was normal and just a normal day.

I spent a week in Cali recently, and it seemed like even the homeless people had masks on. Coming back our our lazes-faire mask policy after seeing how seriously another place took it was weird. Ducey punting responsibility to the mayors really didn't help things.

Here's hoping we don't end up the new Texas.

[Breccia]

Trump issues Executive Order to create park of monuments to American heroes.

The executive order, which President Trump announced during a Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore, comes as the nation grapples with calls to tear down Confederate statues across the country and address other racist iconography.

“These statues are silent teachers in solid form of stone and metal. They preserve the memory of our American story and stir in us a spirit of responsibility for the chapters yet unwritten. These works of art call forth gratitude for the accomplishments and sacrifices of our exceptional fellow citizens who, despite their flaws, placed their virtues, their talents, and their lives in the service of our Nation,” reads the executive order, which was disseminated by the White House.

The executive order establishes the Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes, which will be empowered to use funding from the Interior Department to establish the site. The task force has 60 days to submit a report to the White House detailing options for the creation of the National Garden, including potential locations.

The executive order says the garden will include statues of John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln,

"That sounds like a knee-jerk reaction to the many justified criticisms aimed at him. But at least--"

The garden will also “separately maintain a collection of statues for temporary display at appropriate sites around the United States that are accessible to the general public.”

".,..um..."

“To destroy a monument is to desecrate our common inheritance. In recent weeks, in the midst of protests across America, many monuments have been vandalized or destroyed. Some local governments have responded by taking their monuments down,” the order reads. “These statues are not ours alone, to be discarded at the whim of those inflamed by fashionable political passions; they belong to generations that have come before us and to generations yet unborn.”

"This sounds awfully suspicious."

There's a few ways this could end. Yes, it's possible to move some monuments here of Americans who are generally regarded positively but happened to be slave owners. Or, going entirely by Trump's words and actions and the base he's trying to rile up, it could be a federally-sanctioned site to put up a bunch of Confederate statues.

[DarkTZeratul]

A voice vote seems mostly used for unanimous consent. So maybe?

Essentially, yeah. A veto's no different from any other vote, so if they want to unanimously override it with a voice vote they can.

[Breccia]

By the way, in case anyone is even thinking about questioning the last post:

Trump on Friday during a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore lambasted protesters calling for the removal of Confederate statues, accusing them of wanting to “overthrow the American Revolution” and fundamentally change the country.

“There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. Not going to happen to us,” he told a packed crowd.

“Make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence and hunger and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery and progress," he continued. "To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol and memory of our national heritage.”

He later said the protesters' goal is to "end America."

"Yeah but--"

“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said to the crowd while discussing protests nationwide against police brutality and racism. Trump more specifically called out those tearing down statues of Confederate leaders and other figures who have faced renewed scrutiny in recent weeks.

"The violent mayhem we have seen in our streets and cities are run by liberal Democrats in every case is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism and other cultural institutions," he said. "Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it weren't heroes, but villains. The radical view of American history is a web of lies."

By the way, yes, that was Trump saying someone else was engaging in fascism-like zeal that you obey their every whim. Trump said that of someone else.

Meanwhile, while the COVID-19 numbers continue to climb, this NBC News article details Trump's message pivot to

'We need to live with it': White House readies new message for the nation on coronavirus

After several months of mixed messages on the coronavirus pandemic, the White House is settling on a new one: Learn to live with it.

Administration officials are planning to intensify what they hope is a sharper, and less conflicting, message of the pandemic next week, according to senior administration officials, after struggling to offer clear directives amid a crippling surge in cases across the country. On Thursday, the United States reported more than 55,000 new cases of coronavirus and infection rates were hitting new records in multiple states.

At the crux of the message, officials said, is a recognition by the White House that the virus is not going away any time soon — and will be around through the November election.

As a result, President Donald Trump's top advisers plan to argue, the country must figure out how to press forward despite it. Therapeutic drugs will be showcased as a key component for doing that and the White House will increasingly emphasize the relatively low risk most Americans have of dying from the virus, officials said.

For nearly six months the administration offered a series of predictions and pronouncements that never came to fruition. From Trump promising that "the problem goes away in April" and predicting "packed churches all over our country" on Easter Sunday to Vice President Mike Pence's claim that "by Memorial Day weekend we will have this coronavirus epidemic behind us" to Jared Kushner's pronouncement the country would be "really rocking again" by July because Americans were "on the other side of the medical aspect of this."

This all followed the White House's initial message in January that the virus wasn't a threat at all. Asked if he was worried about a pandemic, Trump said at the time, "It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

Bolded for emphasis. I didn't even need to quote it this time.

The message then morphed to the idea that the virus would be swiftly crushed by a robust federal response. "WE WILL WIN THIS WAR," Trump tweeted in March.

Soon after, the president demanded governors open up their states and said he had the authority to force them to do so. "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA," he wrote on Twitter in April. Within days he decided to shift responsibility for the pandemic to the governors, saying, "The federal government will be watching them very closely and will be there to help in many different ways."

In recent weeks, the message has been that the country is back, face coverings and social distancing are optional, even as the number of coronavirus cases across the country surged.

"We have to get back to business. We have to get back to living our lives. Can't do this any longer," Trump said in an interview with Axios last month before his campaign rally in Tulsa, where almost no one socially distanced and few wore masks. "And I do believe it's safe. I do believe it's very safe." A number of Trump’s own campaign staffers and Secret Service agents contracted COVID-19 in Tulsa.

Eager to move forward and reopen the economy amid a recession and a looming presidential election, the White House is now pushing acceptance.

"The virus is with us, but we need to live with it," is how one official said the administration plans to message on the pandemic.

One of the officials indicated that coronavirus task force meetings and public briefings will be more frequent — a shift already underway this week. Those meetings and briefings were daily for much of March and April, but they tapered off when Trump pivoted to focusing on the need to reopen the economy. Nearly 20 million Americans are now jobless and the unemployment rate remains in the double digits, despite a record drop in the past month.

Recent public briefings from the task force, so far, have taken place outside the White House complex. Members of the coronavirus task force, led by Pence, have taken questions from reporters five times in five different places, ranging from the Department of Health and Human Services to various Sun Belt coronavirus hot spots.

One official said moving the briefing locations is an attempt to minimize questions from the White House press corps. Another said it was also designed to prevent Trump from being tempted to take over the briefings.

The odds of 137,000 or under dead by August is looking increasingly slim. Even Texas and Florida are trying to back off. And yet, this pivot will surely be one of many Trump moves where we'll hear in a week or two "I always said it was dangerous, the Democrats never did" and other blatant falsehoods.

If the bolded and orange wasn't proof enough of Trump's known incompetence, as yourself this: at the 4th of July at Mt. Rushmore, were masks used? Was social distancing used? Is Trump taking this seriously, or is he still allowing the citizens he's supposed to be protecting die due to his inaction?

Let's have a quiz. Today, seven states hit new COVID-19 case records. Guess how many of those states voted for Trump.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama. How close were you?

- - - Updated - - -

Throw it on the pile: Trump uses Neil Young's music without permission.

Our first Black president was a better man than you are

-- Neil Young to Trump, in response.

[Captain N]

Watching a man who said nothing about bounties being put on the heads of American soldiers defending Confederate monuments really says all there needs to be said about him.

[DarkTZeratul]

I spent a week in Cali recently, and it seemed like even the homeless people had masks on.

Depends on what part of California. The San Francisco Bay Area is doing great. Southern California is failing hard.

[pathora44]

By the way, in case anyone is even thinking about questioning the last post:



"Yeah but--"



By the way, yes, that was Trump saying someone else was engaging in fascism-like zeal that you obey their every whim. Trump said that of someone else.

Meanwhile, while the COVID-19 numbers continue to climb, this NBC News article details Trump's message pivot to

I love that he is calling Confederate leaders American heroes because fuck off they were not American heroes. They were fucking traitors who killed American troops so they could continue to own slaves. Like the typical Trumpster/Republican they blame Democrats and anyone left of them for the exact shit they themselves are doing. Saying we are changing our history by removing Confederate statues when they are changing history by calling them heroes.

- - - Updated - - -

Watching a man who said nothing about bounties being put on the heads of American soldiers defending Confederate monuments really says all there needs to be said about him.

Well they fought to own and beat black people sounds about the Republican dream right there.

[Toppy]

Watching a man who said nothing about bounties being put on the heads of American soldiers defending Confederate monuments really says all there needs to be said about him.

You seem to be under this mistaken expectation that people who follow Trump would turn on him if they knew how racist or anti-american he is.

His supporters ARE racist and anti-american. To many people go into these expecting that maybe if the other side just had some clarity. No. They are well aware of what he thinks and are all for it.

[Breccia]

So, let's talk about Trump's Nobel Prize.

It's fucked.

NK turns directly to the camera and says meeting Trump is pointless.

We do not feel any need to sit face to face with the U.S., as it does not consider the DPRK-U.S. dialogue as nothing more than a tool for grappling its political crisis

Wow. The epic troll continues to regenerate 3hp/round because Trump has no fire.

[Xarkan]

Wow. The epic troll continues to regenerate 3hp/round because Trump has no fire.

But he is pretty acidic.. sure that doesnt help?

[Breccia]

But he is pretty acidic

You've heard him speak, you've seen his tweets. He basic.