Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Belize]

Houston

Can that wait until after Wednesday?

I gotta fly out from Bush Itnl airport for a vacation I've been planning for a while.

[Breccia]

Number of cases of unknown origin is now four. Washington and Oregon are the two new ones.

Okay, four is still manageable. "Unknown" is a little concerning, I'll be honest, but at least it's not eight hundred thirteen additional cases like South Korea.

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Also, just throwing it out there: Trump just signed a deal with terrorists. Not the Afghan government, the Taliban, signed that "we promise to behave this time" paper.

Trump's week was so bad, Trump was so desperate for a win, he negotiated with terrorists. Pompeo flat-out admitted that in public.

I have a team on the ground right now trying to negotiate with the Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan.

The Taliban are the group responsible for our invasion in the first place, shielding Osama bin Laden from justice after he murdered two thousand American civilians. We are pulling troops out of the country based on their pinky swear that they won't harbor terrorists any more.

And don't bother with "the US never declared them". First, Vietnam wasn't declared a war, but it was a war. Second, the Taliban have been threatening, attacking, and murdering voters for the last decade or more. That's literally the definition, whether you pick a dictionary at random, or US law on the topic.

Trump's been working with dictators for years. Now he's working with terrorists. It's sickening. And it's unAmerican.

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Oh and just so we're all clear, the Afghan government did not sign anything. I'm not even sure if they were present.

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Trump nominates Rep. Ratcliffe for DNI --

"You already posted that. In July."

Yeah...it's complicated.

1) Trump nominated Ratcliffe in July.
2) Multiple GOP members called him unqualified in public.
3) Ratcliffe backed out in August.
4) And Trump said nominating Ratcliffe would expose Ratcliffe to "months of slander and libel."
5) And now, he nominated him again.

"Why would he do that?"

We haven't had a DNI in nearly a Constitutionally-prevented long time. Trump's acting DNI is set to be kicked out in March, by law, because he's been sitting there for too long, with no Congressional approval, in a really important post.

But, simply by having a nominee, Trump's acting DNI gets to stay until the nominee is voted on. Or, you know, backs out again. This allows Trump to continue to stock his Cabinet with people that should have Congressional approval but won't ever get it. It's a blatantly transparent move to avoid checks and balances.

[Orbitus]

Trump nominates Rep. Ratcliffe for DNI --

"You already posted that. In July."

Yeah...it's complicated.

1) Trump nominated Ratcliffe in July.
2) Multiple GOP members called him unqualified in public.
3) Ratcliffe backed out in August.
4) And Trump said nominating Ratcliffe would expose Ratcliffe to "months of slander and libel."
5) And now, he nominated him again.

"Why would he do that?"

We haven't had a DNI in nearly a Constitutionally-prevented long time. Trump's acting DNI is set to be kicked out in March, by law, because he's been sitting there for too long, with no Congressional approval, in a really important post.

But, simply by having a nominee, Trump's acting DNI gets to stay until the nominee is voted on. Or, you know, backs out again. This allows Trump to continue to stock his Cabinet with people that should have Congressional approval but won't ever get it. It's a blatantly transparent move to avoid checks and balances.

Trump probably nominated him, not because he stroked Trump's ego during the impeachment hearings where he made a fool of himself, but because no other Intelligence professional would be stupid enough to work for Trump, especially knowing that Trump will just ignore what they say and make shit up like he has been for the last 3 and a half years.

[Bodakane]

@Gaidax

"This is their new hoax," he said, apparently referring to Democrats' criticism of the official coronavirus response"

I don't get it, you don't even read what you link? Wipe your foam and re-read what you linked and the read the OP title...

Come on... logic leaps are real.

Yes, I read the link. I read both of them.

Do you or do you not understand the part "apparently referring" is not a quote of Trump but the reporter's fucking opinion?

Trump, flat out says, "THIKS IS THEIR NEW HOAX", the leap in logic you refer to, is the one you're making were you interpreting what this asshole said to have a meaning different than what he said.

[Inuyaki]

"The Dems politicize the Coronavirus. This is their new hoax"
(not verbatim, but basically what he said in short form. Pretty sure that's correct)

So we now can question what he thinks is a hoax? There are only 2 options:
1) The Coronavirus
2) The politicizing

2 makes absolutely no sense. He says that them politicizing is a hoax would mean that he defends the Dems and says it's normal that they politicize it. Does anyone here REALLY think that this is what he wanted to say?
I don't know... imo that only leaves 1.

If I missed something, I am happy to be corrected.

[Clone]

Yes I know, that's why those areas are also more prepared to deal with them, which reduces outbreak probabilities. But places like Omaha, Denver, Houston or Atlanta aren't exactly "the countryside" either but they are certainly less direct travel points for people coming from Asia. Not to say plenty don't, just that they're less likely. Which is the point. If one of those areas "gets hits" it's harder to make the "it's all those damn foreigners!" argument. Which we are all well aware will be levied against anywhere on the West Coast if an outbreak happens.

Houston has been having direct flights to and from Asian for the better part of the decade.

[Breccia]

Speaking of....

So, what happened that he wants to brag about, in the last couple days?

I suppose he could introduce Pence's team. But there's no vaccine, it's spreading here and abroad, the stock market tanked, the WHO upgraded the threat, and...seriously, what's he have to brag about?

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When people start dying, things are going to get dicey from a political perspective.

Officials in Washington state on Saturday announced the first death in the United States from the coronavirus.

"Washington" so, I suspect this is the guy we learned about overnight, one of the two new guys with unknown source.

Shit.

I mean...so far, this isn't that far from the known mortality rate. This is not reason to panic. It is, however, a reason to stop handwaving this.

[cubby]

So, what happened that he wants to brag about, in the last couple days?

I suppose he could introduce Pence's team. But there's no vaccine, it's spreading here and abroad, the stock market tanked, the WHO upgraded the threat, and...seriously, what's he have to brag about?

Trump has already said, at least once, that the coronavirus is a democratic hoax. If he continues that trend today...well, that's a new level of bad, even for him/us.

Officials in Washington state on Saturday announced the first death in the United States from the coronavirus.

"Washington" so, I suspect this is the guy we learned about overnight, one of the two new guys with unknown source.

Shit.

I mean...so far, this isn't that far from the known mortality rate. This is not reason to panic. It is, however, a reason to stop handwaving this.

Crap - that's officially "not good".

[Breccia]

that's officially "not good".

Well, yeah. But, again, based purely on its fatality rate so far, 60+ people infected, this is not really all that unexpected. Sorry if that sounds cold, but that's the numbers so far.

Unfortunately, if I surmised correctly, this is one of the "unknown" cases. Which, in turn, means he didn't have any obvious travel and as such there was no reason for people to be avoiding him. So...yeah. Washington could see a spike.

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The press conference seems to be over.

Honestly, it seems fairly subdued, as well it should be, someone just died.

Trump announced travel bans and said the victim was in poor health, claiming healthy people would be just fine. He then asked people not to panic and didn't blame the Democrats once.

It's as close to an apology as we're going to get, but we're seeing the long, slow side from his Jan 22 "it's one person, we'll be fine" to "please stop panicking". It's amazing how much his tone shifted.

[cubby]

Well, yeah. But, again, based purely on its fatality rate so far, 60+ people infected, this is not really all that unexpected. Sorry if that sounds cold, but that's the numbers so far.

Unfortunately, if I surmised correctly, this is one of the "unknown" cases. Which, in turn, means he didn't have any obvious travel and as such there was no reason for people to be avoiding him. So...yeah. Washington could see a spike.

No sweat re the clinical-ness of the discussion. This first U.S. death (in the U.S.) opens up a major can of panic. The fatality rate is somewhere around 1-2%, conservatively, and a Harvard Expert is out with a study saying 40-70% infection rate. Even in the U.S., that's 2,000,000-5,000,000 deaths. And that's a conservative number, from someone who knows what they are talking about.

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The press conference seems to be over.

Honestly, it seems fairly subdued, as well it should be, someone just died.

Trump announced travel bans and said the victim was in poor health, claiming healthy people would be just fine. He then asked people not to panic and didn't blame the Democrats once.

It's as close to an apology as we're going to get, but we're seeing the long, slow side from his Jan 22 "it's one person, we'll be fine" to "please stop panicking". It's amazing how much his tone shifted.

That was interesting. Seems someone with actual intelligence/facts/science spoke with him and actually got through - two miracles for the price of one.

[Breccia]

Trump openly discusses closing the southern border.

Yes, he said an outbreak in South America would be an excuse.

Um...I was under the impression there are more people with the coromavirus here?

[Elegiac]

Trump openly discusses closing the southern border.

Yes, he said an outbreak in South America would be an excuse.

Um...I was under the impression there are more people with the coromavirus here?

Can anyone say "Reichstag Plague"?

[minteK917]

You guys dont get it, hes closing the border so you scum cant infect mexico with your coronavirus

[Clone]

Well San Antonio has cases too.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/t...outputType=amp

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You guys dont get it, hes closing the border so you scum cant infect mexico with your coronavirus

At this rate they should close their border on the US first.

[derpkitteh]

our border should have closed the moment this was announced.

texas and california need to be forcibly quarantined like china did their provinces, too. you don't fuck around with this shit.

[jeezusisacasual]

our border should have closed the moment this was announced.

texas and california need to be forcibly quarantined like china did their provinces, too. you don't fuck around with this shit.

Americans wont have that shit and the moment it would be tried legal action would force it back and i am sure you know this. China can pull authoritarian shit and no one will bat an eye but if that happens in the west all hell would break loose.

[Breccia]

Well San Antonio has cases too.

Okay, but none of unknown origin.

[Stormspellz]

our border should have closed the moment this was announced.

texas and california need to be forcibly quarantined like china did their provinces, too. you don't fuck around with this shit.

the fact you didn't say Florida or any of the rest of the coastal states is very telling

[Easo]

Funny thing is, since the death happened, even people like Trump understand that the threat is real. Virus does not care about who you are or where you are and Trump, even while he would receive the best medical aid possible, is still an old man and in case of infection his chances to simply die are not that low.
This will make them actually start doing stuff - fear is a nice thing sometimes.

[derpkitteh]

the fact you didn't say Florida or any of the rest of the coastal states is very telling

those are the two places with community infections happening right now, right?

close any fucking state with any infections happening.

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Americans wont have that shit and the moment it would be tried legal action would force it back and i am sure you know this. China can pull authoritarian shit and no one will bat an eye but if that happens in the west all hell would break loose.

that's what pisses me off, people too stupid to let shit get done properly.

goddamn, i hate people so much. i hate the idiocy of the general populace so fucking much, i swear to god.