Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

https://theweek.com/speedreads/90638...-30-golf-carts

So the Secret Service signed an "emergency order" apparently.

For golf cart rentals.

They won't say who it's to protect, just a "dignitary", but it just also happens to be at one of Trump's favorite courses.

I'm glad Trump has his priorities right. Pandemic facing the nation? Meh. Might not be able to go golfing for a weekend? WE MUST ADDRESS THE INJUSTICE IMMEDIATELY.

- - - Updated - - -

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...utpacing-trump

In a poll conducted by the National Opinion Research Center for the Associated Press, 57 percent of Americans said they approved of the response to the virus being mounted by their state governments. Just 38 percent approved of the federal government's response.

Unsurprising. But how's he faring in some of the battleground states he needs to win?

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has seen her job approval rating jump to 60 percent, according to a Marketing Resource Group poll, and just 22 percent disapprove. Whitmer's approval rating is 15 points higher than Trump's in the battleground state; Trump dismissively referred to "that woman from Michigan" after Whitmer complained about the lack of support from the federal government.

So...not great. Almost like being a shitshow and shitting on a pretty popular governor isn't a great electoral strategy.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

The South of America, places like Florida mark my words will be an absolute disaster. People keep forgetting about the three week incubation of this virus to finally rear its ugly head.

NY is an easy target now and it is being attacked to distract people from his actions, it is once more to cause some confusion and doubt about how the state is handling things and he profits from that situation as was seen in the past, but who is he going to blame in Florida who's governor was essentially following his word to the letter.

He will blame the Florida governor. Trump is only loyal to party when party is benefiting him. If he needs to save face by executing an attack on a Republican governor to cover his own ass make zero second guesses to that governor being toss right under the wheels of the bus. Georgia and Louisiana will probably be right there with Florida as well. Both have enough urban space to rapidly spread to a large population. Which could open the door to "Democrat mayors letting their people down" since in a lot of these cities it isn't a Republican mayor. No bug is to small to blame for the fall of a nation as long as it isn't Trump to Trump.

[Zan15]

I wonder if this administration will ever get down to investigating regional gas price gouging?

normally gas sells for about 1.22-1.66x times the spot price of Gasoline on the open market

1/3 for instance it was 1.46
2/3 - 1.66

But then the virus hit, the oil war hit...poof...

3/3- 1.58
3/16- 3.18
3/30- 3.73

Some parts of the country have seen gas prices nearing 1.25 and some regions are still above 2.00+

Even when you factor in gas tax differences the totals are still 2.5-3.5x the spot price of gasoline in some regions of this country.

right?

Welp kiss sub 2.00 gas goodbye in a lot of America by next week.

"there's a lag time in gas prices at the pump to reflect oil prices"

cough bullshit cough.

anyone want to bet the national price of gas jumps this week and next if SA/Russia don't say anything negative. Wouldn't be surprised we don't see some regions spike today.


Even though it should still be dropping for the next 30 days based on their long standing excuse that gas prices lag oil prices by a month-ish

- - - Updated - - -

Those are some bigly numbers

Those are record numbers, the best numbers, the greatest numbers....numbers like no one has seen before....people tell me they are wonderful numbers, some say maybe the best ever (they sure are the highest ever)….

[Milchshake]

Welp kiss sub 2.00 gas goodbye in a lot of America by next week.
"there's a lag time in gas prices at the pump to reflect oil prices"

cough bullshit cough.

anyone want to bet the national price of gas jumps this week and next if SA/Russia don't say anything negative. Wouldn't be surprised we don't see some regions spike today.

Even though it should still be dropping for the next 30 days based on their long standing excuse that gas prices lag oil prices by a month-ish

Those are record numbers, the best numbers, the greatest numbers....numbers like no one has seen before....people tell me they are wonderful numbers, some say maybe the best ever (they sure are the highest ever)….

Thank God! Our prayers have been answered. Keeping the oil and gas industry in our thoughts!


Donald J. Trump
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!


Trump shot populism in the middle of 5th Ave ! <again>

Yet the contrarian shitheads will still claim "bothsides" or that Trump is "outflanking the libs".

[Edge-]

Thank God! Our prayers have been answered. Keeping the oil and gas industry in our thoughts!


Donald J. Trump
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!


Trump shot populism in the middle of 5th Ave ! <again>

Yet the contrarian shitheads will still claim "bothsides" or that Trump is "outflanking the libs".

OF course he's good friends with a guy that orders the murder of a journalist in his own embassy by a group of guys with hacksaws.

[D Luniz]

I would love to see that as well.

Would just go to a 5 min word salad about how he's polling great and real Americans are so happy.

[Edge-]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/u...-campaign.html

A reminder of Trump's loyalty. Sessions WAS one of his earliest and strongest supporters, and remained loyal to the end. He still remains loyal.

So he's trying to get re-elected in the Senate based off his relationship with Trump.

The Trump campaign though...not so keen on the idea.

“The Trump campaign has learned that your U.S. Senate campaign is circulating mailers like the one I have enclosed, in which you misleadingly promote your connections to and ‘support’ of President Trump,” Michael Glassner, the Trump campaign’s chief operating officer, wrote in the letter, which was sent on Tuesday.

Just a reminder that this is how Trump repays loyalty.

[xenogear3]

I thought oil will run out soon.

Should it go to $200 instead of $20?

[Martymark]

Just a reminder that this is how Trump repays loyalty.

Not great, but probably better than being murdered by Hillary Clinton for being loyal to the Clintons.

[Belize]

Not great, but probably better than being murdered by Hillary Clinton for being loyal to the Clintons.

Poe's Law is strong here.

[Tenlo]

Not great, but probably better than being murdered by Hillary Clinton for being loyal to the Clintons.

Assuming you aren't kidding, and if you are damn you poes law!

But is that the best you got? 'Yea that stinks BUT IRRELEVANT PERSON DOES THIS!"

[Rasulis]

Thank God! Our prayers have been answered. Keeping the oil and gas industry in our thoughts!


Donald J. Trump
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!


Trump shot populism in the middle of 5th Ave ! <again>

Yet the contrarian shitheads will still claim "bothsides" or that Trump is "outflanking the libs".

He does realize that 10M bpd is more than 40% of SA and Russia oil production combined? That's twice of all of Texas oil production. That's 77% of the entire US oil production and 10% of the global oil production.

Probably not.

[Edge-]

Thank God! Our prayers have been answered. Keeping the oil and gas industry in our thoughts!


Donald J. Trump
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!


Trump shot populism in the middle of 5th Ave ! <again>

Yet the contrarian shitheads will still claim "bothsides" or that Trump is "outflanking the libs".

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/...-prince-a69850

On this again, Putin says it didn't happen.

And I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he's the honest on in this exchange. It would hardly be the first time Trump made up a conversation, even on behalf of someone else, with a foreign head of state.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.propublica.org/article/i...ical-equipment

With the coronavirus outbreak creating an unprecedented demand for medical supplies and equipment, New York state has paid 20 cents for gloves that normally cost less than a nickel and as much as $7.50 each for masks, about 15 times the usual price. It’s paid up to $2,795 for infusion pumps, more than twice the regular rate. And $248,841 for a portable X-ray machine that typically sells for $30,000 to $80,000.

This payment data, provided by state officials, shows just how much the shortage of key medical equipment is driving up prices. Forced to venture outside their usual vendors and contracts, states and cities are paying exorbitant sums on a spot market ruled by supply and demand. Although New York’s attorney general has denounced excessive prices, and ordered merchants to stop overcharging people for hand sanitizers and disinfectant sprays, state laws against price gouging generally don’t apply to government purchases.

With little guidance from the Trump administration, competition among states, cities, hospitals and federal agencies is contributing to the staggering bill for fighting the pandemic, which New York has estimated will cost it $15 billion in spending and lost revenue. The bidding wars are also raising concerns that facilities with shallow pockets, like rural health clinics, won’t be able to obtain vital supplies.

Just a reminder.

Failure of leadership matters. It has consequences. Not just people dying due to inaction, but it creates the situations that allow for this. States, and the federal government, all competing for the same limited resources and driving prices up. Because states are "on their own".

If the Trump administration were to actually do their jobs and be the primary organizer of logistics, this could be considerably less of an issue. But they're not, so the states, and their citizens, must pay these inflated prices.

We should send Trump a thank you card.

[TigTone]

I’m calling it now trump and republicans are going to end up getting killed by their own supporters.

And I’m not talking about the dumb blind supporter who couldn’t find their way out of a McDonalds paper bag.

They are going to lose it once people they care about start dying.

[Shadowferal]

I’m calling it now trump and republicans are going to end up getting killed by their own supporters.
And I’m not talking about the dumb blind supporter who couldn’t find their way out of a McDonalds paper bag.
They are going to lose it once people they care about start dying.

They'll kill their own faster than others.

[Zan15]

He does realize that 10M bpd is more than 40% of SA and Russia oil production combined? That's twice of all of Texas oil production. That's 77% of the entire US oil production and 10% of the global oil production.

Probably not.

and the market gobbled it up for a fast 20% bump that probably won't hold if there is no word from either real adult involved.

[Acidbaron]

I thought oil will run out soon.

Should it go to $200 instead of $20?

There's too much oil to go around, the US drills up more than it can realistically use and so do the OPEC nations who screw back their production to manipulate the price.

And with the economy now being at an all time low there's even less of a demand for it.

[Rasulis]

and the market gobbled it up for a fast 20% bump that probably won't hold if there is no word from either real adult involved.

Yes!

Why do they keep harping about SA and Russia anyway? Anybody with half a brain know that they have basically nothing to do with the current problem, which is the demand crash. The market was roughly producing 3M bpd in excess of demand in December 2019. Which was normal. December is always slow time. Demand since then has fallen by almost 30M bpd. Chew on that a bit.

Both SA and Russia threatened to increase production by 2M bpd. But that’s only talk. SA can’t even find buyers for what they are currently producing.

When storage fills up, the price of newly-pumped crude will be zero. Lease rate on storage is up 100% so far. Some wells require minimal production to maintain the well or it will be ruined for good. Pretty soon they will have to pay someone to take those crude.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with SA and Russia. It's all about COVID-19.

[Breccia]

Americans could wait up to 20 weeks for mailed stimulus checks: Democratic memo

The checks are coming from the Treasury, not Congress. This is an Executive Branch issue. To be fair, I imagine most people use direct deposit, but 20 weeks is far too late to be helpful.

[Grimbold21]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/02/e...rus/index.html

Can someone help me interpret the graph?

They're putting the total unemployment request numbers at 10 million.

On the week ending on March 21st, 3 mil were made. On the one ending in March 28th 6mil were made.

I just want to know if the calculation is made so that the 6 million are entirely new requests, counted from 0, or if there's a mistake here and instead 3 million were added upon the numbers from the previous week.