Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[ati87]

The only two things I can think of is the 'Deliberately making sure Urban/Liberal areas become and/or remain high risk sick zones' conspiracy theory, or Trump trying to keep reported infected numbers from rising so it helps his election chances.

Ah but that doesn't really work like that. A pandemic does not care about who your are voting for, how rich you are or the colour of your skin.

[Xyonai]

Even though the second part may be true - it doesn't make sense.

It's currently April. The primaries are virtually decided (assuming candidates stay election), so there is no real election until November, which is more than half a year away. If you test less now there will be more cases the following months and more deaths; and people will notice the deaths - and they are also likely to spread to rural areas by then.

Hiding the deaths don't work well when it's the leading disease in terms of deaths.

Trump's shortsighted enough that it really doesn't have to make sense. If it makes him look good now - or close enough to now - he can just say he won and roll with it then proclaim the rising death tolls are 'unrelated' or 'fake news' like he always does when his incompetence causes more issues.

[Belize]

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Very simple.

You can blast propaganda that there weren't that many infected when you don't test for it.

No, no, don't worry about the hospitals being massively overloaded and creating separate wards for people with Covid-19 symptoms. They're not confirmed cases.

It's some real basic baby's first authoritarian dictator propaganda shit.

[Spectral]

Keyword "in vitro". Basically all they have done is petri dish testing. The prior guidance from CDC under pressure from the president was only to use it on serious cases. However, assuming the Chinese study, by a biomolecular engineer and computer scientist who model viral and cell molecules, is correct, the treatment is best used at the very early stages. The treatment is pretty useless when used at the middle and late stages of the disease as previously recommended by the CDC. Here is a layman explanation of the paper. Again, we are assuming that the petri dish test results actually translate to corresponding "in vivo" test results.

Right, caution is always in order order with any sort of optimism that comes out of in vitro testing. All sorts of goofy, irrelevant shit works pretty well in a cell culture context that is entirely irrelevant to what we see in actual organisms, hence why developing drugs is a long, expensive process where most things fail most of the time. I don't want to run around claiming that this is totally going to work, I basically expect that it either won't work well or won't work at all. What I object to is the exact verbiage that it "cannot help" because the targets are parasites rather than viruses; there's certainly a plausible mechanism of action for it to wind up being a useful tool in the kit even if we exercise due pessimism.

As I heard someone say recently, it's a pretty bad intellectual mistake to think that Trump=stupid implies that the inverse of whatever Trump says is smart. Not that you're doing that! I want to encourage people to not make that mistake though.

[Breccia]

Our Ruling

[Louisiana Governor] Edwards said of the coronavirus threat, "there was not a single suggestion by anyone, a doctor, a scientist, a political figure, that we needed to cancel Mardi Gras."

New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations began early January and ended Feb. 25. PolitiFact reviewed public comments from Trump, federal and state health officials on and before Feb. 25 and did not find suggestions that large public events be cancelled. At that time, there was no report of community spread of the virus.

Edwards’ statement is accurate. We rate it True.

Hmm. Edwards is Democrat. And I can't help but notice that he's shifting the blame. It's an interesting tactic. LA has seen hundreds of deaths, not Katrina level, but like 400 or more. And their governor is pointing at Team Trump for his inaction.

Incidentally, you can tell the truth, and also have made the wrong decision. Yeah, hindsight and all that, but Edwards technically didn't need to wait for Trump's say-so to advise against large gatherings. Mardi Gras is an enormous amount of business for New Orleans, I get it. But as someone who's been to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, I know some things are worse for business.

Let's hope the Crescent City recovers faster this time.

[PhaelixWW]

CNN: Obama to mayors on coronavirus: "Speak the truth. Speak it clearly."

Former President Barack Obama addressed a group of mayors organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies on Thursday, telling the group that "the biggest mistake any us can make in these situations is to misinform."

"Speak the truth. Speak it clearly. Speak it with compassion. Speak it with empathy for what folks are going through," Obama said, according to a press release on the virtual meeting.

Obama also pushed the mayors to bring in as many smart advisers and experts as possible.

"The more smart people you have around you, and the less embarrassed you are to ask questions, the better your response is going to be," Obama said.

Reading this, all I can wonder is if Trump can feel that bitchslap rebuke stinging his cheek. Obama's not saying this directly to Trump, and yet... he unquestionably is.

[Acidbaron]

CNN: Obama to mayors on coronavirus: "Speak the truth. Speak it clearly."

Reading this, all I can wonder is if Trump can feel that bitchslap rebuke stinging his cheek. Obama's not saying this directly to Trump, and yet... he unquestionably is.

Well in his talk about Sanders he was wondering where Obama was and why he hasn't talked or spoke of Biden. Guess he got his wish.

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...33612212195328

WSJ editorial board put out a piece criticizing the handling of the daily briefings by Trump and recommending he remove himself from them to allow them to actually focus on the virus and response, not his political temper tantrumps and attacks on journalists.

Trumps response? He's miffed they didn't mention how great the ratings are.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/09/media...ivvvv8VopKNcVg

After CNN broke the story that Pence was stonewalling government health officials from going on CNN, CNN is breaking the story that Pence is reversing course following the articles and will once again allow government health officials on the channel to be interviewed.

This is my favorite part of this story.

A CNN spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

Who says a little bit of public shaming never worked.

[lockedout]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...33612212195328

WSJ editorial board put out a piece criticizing the handling of the daily briefings by Trump and recommending he remove himself from them to allow them to actually focus on the virus and response, not his political temper tantrumps and attacks on journalists.

Trumps response? He's miffed they didn't mention how great the ratings are.

I haven’t cared to check but how great are his ratings currently.’?

[Acidbaron]

I haven’t cared to check but how great are his ratings currently.’?

So i guess that's what people talk about when they try to depict supporters having fun with American deaths?

Than again black communities are being hit hard in the US, so it really is not all that surprising.

[Zan15]

I haven’t cared to check but how great are his ratings currently.’?

Lets see.. @Ghostpanther is not posting polls...so I am going to guess worse than 45% overall and below majority on handling the virus...maybe 46%



eeek almost nailed it

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...oval-6179.html

[lockedout]

So i guess that's what people talk about when they try to depict supporters having fun with American deaths?

Than again black communities are being hit hard in the US, so it really is not all that surprising.

Did you care to read what I quoted? Shocker you didn’t.

[Xyonai]

I haven’t cared to check but how great are his ratings currently.’?

Who even cares, honestly? Ratings don't solve a Pandemic, manage our country's medical supply chain, or keep people from becoming homeless during the looming recession.

[Acidbaron]

Did you care to read what I quoted? Shocker you didn’t.

Your focus on ratings says enough, than again not being able to get over the fact you had a black man as president also says a lot.

[Blur4stuff]

Trump had a brief and small boost in approval that would have been three times more under any other decent president, republican or democrat. That's gone now and he's back to having the support of people that live in an alternate reality and a handful of folks that are completely clueless about current events and say whatever happens to be in their head at the time.

[Breccia]

Trumps response? He's miffed they didn't mention how great the ratings are.

Indeed. Let's say how that played out. It's time for Guess the Speaker!

This is a ridiculous tweet. He could get his views across without bragging, endlessly repeating himself, and getting into petty squabbles with the junior varsity players in the WH press corps. And he could stop talking much sooner to give Pence, Fauci, Birx and Giroir more time

"Ah, clearly someone from WSJ."

No.

"Then it's clearlly Fake News CNN."

No.

"NYTimes, NBC, ABC, CBS, NPR/PBS, Bloomberg, TIME, Newsweek, WaPo, that reporter from Hong Kong, the disabled guy, or any of the other media outlets Trump directly insulted?"

Actually yes, it's FOX News.

Trump bragging about being the only thing people watch while they're locked in their houses is like bragging about winning an uncontested RNC seat.

[D Luniz]

Indeed. Let's say how that played out. It's time for Guess the Speaker!



"Ah, clearly someone from WSJ."

No.

"Then it's clearlly Fake News CNN."

No.

"NYTimes, NBC, ABC, CBS, NPR/PBS, Bloomberg, TIME, Newsweek, WaPo, that reporter from Hong Kong, the disabled guy, or any of the other media outlets Trump directly insulted?"

Actually yes, it's FOX News.

Trump bragging about being the only thing people watch while they're locked in their houses is like bragging about winning an uncontested RNC seat.

I would have guessed some conservative outlet with that "jv players" dig

but Fox saying that is like someone in the XFL(the 1st version) talking trash about a 3rd string player in the NFL

[Breccia]

I haven’t cared to check but how great are his ratings currently.’?

Not ideal.

Trump approval dips as Americans question his handling of coronavirus crisis

President Donald Trump's job approval has taken a negative turn as a growing number of Americans harbor doubts about his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

After seeing a late-March spike as the pandemic ravaged the United States, his approval ratings have fallen back to the mid-40 percent range, where they were before the death toll and jobless claims exploded. The figure dovetails surveys showing the president narrowly trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, who this week became the apparent Democratic nominee to face him in November.

The latest numbers suggest the surge in job approval ratings that presidents tend to enjoy during a crisis was modest and short-lived for Trump. New polls this week by Quinnipiac, Reuters and CNN all find disapproval of Trump's handling of the coronavirus rising to a majority of Americans.

It's a reversal of fortune for a president who benefits from a committed minority of supporters but has never quite managed to win over a majority of the country. And it comes after his spike in approval had significantly lagged U.S. governors and world leaders, as well as previous American presidents during a crisis or a war.

Also known as "what @Zan15 said to your face".

[Paranoid Android]

The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...212195328?s=19

He is just a piece of crap.

Didn't Trump just copy/paste this. The one above is 4 hours ago.