Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[D Luniz]

*snip*
Everyone has a number. At some point, each leader will look at what's happening in their area and say "Okay, now I have to act". As we've seen, some numbers are lower than others. We haven't gotten to Trump's yet. I don't know what that'll take, we've hit that 134k number and there's no signs of slowing down. But even if Trump said today "Wear a mask, or the Army will execute you on the spot" and enforced that (somehow), cases and deaths are still going to increase for the predictable future of 1-3 weeks. Hopefully, actions of a more reasonable bent will be taken at the state and local levels while we wait for Trump to finish golfing.

Trump doesn't have a number
remember, MALIGNANT NARCISSIST,

the ONLY way he truly cares, is if He got it, and actually felt sick from it, or someone that he cares about in his fam....lets just say he'll only care if either he or Ivanka ended up at death's door from this.

Otherwise, he'll wear a mask a day or two, then he'll try to pick a culture war fight on twitter before defaulting back to his status quo views

[Breccia]

DeVos's best allowance is a flare up happening for a few days letting the school do distance learning.

"a few days"

(looks at Florida)

Yeah, no.

Besides, the real issue is that it's not just the kids. Oh, the kids' health is important, no question. But so are is their parents'. Also, the teachers, admin, coaches, and service staff. And the incubation time isn't going away. By the time you hear your kid's friend is symptomatic, your kid might have it, their teacher might have it, and you might have it.

And to add to that: DeVos suggested swapping to distance learning for a few days. This is not a simple on/off switch you can flip. My school kicked everyone out of the classroom for spring break, and they never returned. I had a week to transition, and I've taught online before, just not these classes. Now take that same idea, only the teacher is sick, their sub now has to pick up their syllabus and lesson plans, except put it online and it starts tomorrow.

I tell you what: the default can be "fully open" as long as the White House has the same rules.

[Breccia]

Trump doesn't have a number

Actually I think he might have two.

One number high enough that, assuming he still wants to win of course, "forces" him to take action, because otherwise his poll numbers would drop.

(checks news)

I mean, even lower. Like, right now, he's probably hiding behind "the polls were wrong in 2016, everyone loves me, just look at those rallies I used to have!" A number high enough that he doesn't get booed in the streets, for being called a failure by the people he used to get applause from. Basically a number high enough that he could get away with killing 135,000 people.

The second number, however, is a number so high that it forces him to give up. A number so high, so many Americans out of work, sick, or dead, that it's no longer possible for him to win -- and he admits this. At which point, he'll make up an unrelated excuse why he isn't running ("ow, ow, my bone spurs") and basically leave the Party of Trump without Trump, and forced to run the Mike Pence/Kanye West ticket. But more importantly, instead of being a lame duck for 2 months, he'll be a lame duck for however long he has left -- and he'll use the power he'll never see again to do untold damage to the United States, and do whatever he has to to block himself from any consequences of his actions.

I hope we never see that second number, because not only would it be a massive death toll directly, but Trump could legit start a war or stop feeding the kids he keeps in dog cages or sign an E.O. stopping all social services from being provided "to save money" and walk away while the courts/Congress try to put out the fires.

And go golfing.

[Hinastorm]

NASA has always returned more money on investment than it has taken in. Moreover, NASA's budget comprises less than half of one percent of the US' total budget.

As such, yeah... that is one of the few things Trump has done right: Give money to a self-contained government agency that oversees itself and not beholden to his petty interests. Because NASA will use it to serve their ends which extend far beyond Trump's presidency, rather than use it to serve Trump's ends.

Talking small %'s when we're talking about trillions of dollars is meaningless.

And I find your first point incredibly hard to believe, i'll look it up sometime. Even if true, I don't see how wasting billions of dollars to put a human on mars will pay off.

It's a vanity project, full stop. We'll learn some stuff, sure, but not 3 billion worth, or w/e it would cost.

Our society is not at a point where we can justify spending vast amounts of money on space exploration.

[Draco-Onis]

Talking small %'s when we're talking about trillions of dollars is meaningless.

And I find your first point incredibly hard to believe, i'll look it up sometime. Even if true, I don't see how wasting billions of dollars to put a human on mars will pay off.

It's a vanity project, full stop. We'll learn some stuff, sure, but not 3 billion worth, or w/e it would cost.

Because overcoming these types of challenges have led to trillions in GDP due to innovations, the applications and advances made to overcome these difficulties have multiple applications. To call these "vanity projects" is being very short sigthed.

[Paranoid Android]

My mom is a teacher so I've been pretty focused on the terrible work DeVos is doing. The 20 minutes of her repeating, "The default should be schools are fully open," and, "Districts should adapt based on their current situation," in an alternating fashion really highlights her complete lack of understanding. Someone gave her a script, she could only manage to memorize a few lines of it, and then we see what we saw. Every time she speaks for an extended period of time it's a complete embarrassment and shows how badly we need to invest in education. And not the bullshit "school choice" that they're pushing so rich people can send their kids to private schools for cheaper. Actual investment in the public education system to bring it up to at least top 10 in the world.

She just doesn't give a bleep. I mean her total thing is to privatize education. It is the shittiest concept ever. But hey Trump actually got people who besides being inept really hate the department they are heading. I don't know where we have gotten were people who vote for idiots who actually don't want government to work and destroy it. I know I'm preaching, but these people voting against their interest with just the schools.

[Hinastorm]

A lot of money in USA could be spent much better, for example, military contracts. NASA has been underfunded for decades. Yes, decades, under both Democrat and Republican goverments. So when would be this "good" time? Seems like it was never "good". Gotta start somewhere.

A good time is when we don't have half the population in massive debt, and spending 50% or more of their meager incomes on rent. Not to mention all the covid related unrest, and more to come when evictions and higher taxes start to kick in.

Why do we gotta start somewhere? Whats the rush?

To be clear, I don't think NASA is a total waste, but I do think expensive manned missions are overly expensive vanity projects. I get that people are eager to advance our stalled space exploration, but I just don't see how it can be justified.

Funny thing about predatory capitalism/conservatism, we're never going to be in a place to advance while it still exists.

- - - Updated - - -

Because overcoming these types of challenges have led to trillions in GDP due to innovations, the applications and advances made to overcome these difficulties have multiple applications. To call these "vanity projects" is being very short sigthed.

Are those innovations helping the 10's of millions of us stuck in cities for one reason or another paying 50% or more of our income in rent?

This is what needs to come first.

Of course we could solve all of our problems if we'd lower the military budget and tax the rich.

[Benggaul]

As expected numbers are down due to the weekend...however they are still horrible.

58,349, more than 10k over the previous Sunday's total. A couple states and several of the larger counties from California and Texas haven't reported, so I suspect the real number is probably over 60k. As everyone has already mentioned, Florida hit 15k which is higher than New York ever reached (their pinnacle was around 11.5k). California is at about 7.7k and Texas is reporting 6k. No other new records that I see offhand, but the usual suspects from the previous week continue to hit high numbers. I expect tomorrow will be more of the same and Tuesday will likely see a massive correction as normal.

Deaths are, again, higher than previous Sundays. 380, the highest Sunday total in a month. Arizona reported their third highest total deaths ever at 86. Florida reports 45. Fuck Florida.

Next week is likely to be grim. Brace yourselves.

Stay safe, folks.

[Kaleredar]

Talking small %'s when we're talking about trillions of dollars is meaningless.

And I find your first point incredibly hard to believe, i'll look it up sometime. Even if true, I don't see how wasting billions of dollars to put a human on mars will pay off.

It's a vanity project, full stop. We'll learn some stuff, sure, but not 3 billion worth, or w/e it would cost.

Our society is not at a point where we can justify spending vast amounts of money on space exploration.

Because the innovations required to put a human being or the moon or send a robot to Mars have wide-ranging applications for aerospace development, communications, computer science, materials fabrication, robotics, and a myriad of other scientific fields, as well as the people employed by those fields that benefit from such development.

Trump was prepared to write a blank check to build a wall in the middle of nowhere. He even depleted funds from the military to do so, to the tune of billions of dollars. What's that wall doing? Nothing. Illegal immigrants that come over usually do so legally, in airplanes, and then overstay their visas. And that, of course, assumes that the wall, which due to geography can't be a contiguous wall, can't actually run entirely along the border and has to periodically cut back into the United States, and therefore has to actually bisect lands owned by American citizens, would even effectively stop tresspassers anyway, which, of course... no wall in history has ever done.

Investing in the future of humanity sounds like a far better investment than Trump's multi-billion dollar token gesture to demonstrate that he's "tough on illegals" that wont actually do anything.

[gaymer77]

Trump political campaign ad recently released


Interesting that he would choose to show footage of ACTUAL TRUMP AMERICA while saying that this is what it would be like under Biden..

[Edge-]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/...le-commutation

The National Review is very upset that Trump commuted Stone's prison term. They still don't agree with the libs, but they're very upset!

At least until tomorrow, probably. Then back to Trump being amazing.

Their comments section has...thoughts though. Mostly the same thought, that NR are just another group of RINO's and TRUMP DID NOTHING WRONG BECAUSE HE HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DO SO, never once asking if having the authority to do something instantly makes whatever you do just fine and immune from criticism.

[Breccia]

At least until tomorrow, probably.

I can't wait until President Biden pardons a bunch of people and the GOP shrugs and says "well, he's within his rights, I guess we'll let this go without comment"

[Benggaul]

Maryland's Governor Hogan (R) seems to be one of the only other GOP who refuses to snuffle Trump's taint, this time saying Maryland is not going to be rushed into opening schools when it's not safe to do so. He's butt heads with Trump a few times before, and I have to imagine it's instances like this that demonstrate why he survived the blue wave of 2018 to govern firmly Blue Maryland.

[cubby]

Yeah, I'm kinda concerned by the picture because I grew up in NYC, and while it was horrible to see, I couldn't help but think it was expected. Not sure if you recall seeing a picture of a NYC subway in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, but the picture made it out to look somewhat full. Having grown up there, I can attest that even that picture was hardly "full" compared to the amount of people that I've been packed in with in the past, and that was over 20 years ago.

All that said, I'm starting to wonder if the incubation period of two weeks wasn't a bit more optimistic, and possibly the incubation period could be a week or two longer, giving covid even more chance to spread undetected for so long...(this last sentence is PURE speculation of course)

Either way, I'm afraid to think of how bad Florida will end up looking in the next month

We also have to take into account that many scientists are saying that COVID-19 is now airborne - and if so, all those events and openings and such are going to impact people that much more.

If [fuck] Florida is showing record breaking daily count numbers NOW, it's only going to get worse. MUCH worse.

And Trumps administration is just pushing forward on schools opening and state's "getting back to normal".

[Azadina]

Actually I think he might have two.

One number high enough that, assuming he still wants to win of course, "forces" him to take action, because otherwise his poll numbers would drop.

(checks news)

I mean, even lower. Like, right now, he's probably hiding behind "the polls were wrong in 2016, everyone loves me, just look at those rallies I used to have!" A number high enough that he doesn't get booed in the streets, for being called a failure by the people he used to get applause from. Basically a number high enough that he could get away with killing 135,000 people.

The second number, however, is a number so high that it forces him to give up. A number so high, so many Americans out of work, sick, or dead, that it's no longer possible for him to win -- and he admits this. At which point, he'll make up an unrelated excuse why he isn't running ("ow, ow, my bone spurs") and basically leave the Party of Trump without Trump, and forced to run the Mike Pence/Kanye West ticket. But more importantly, instead of being a lame duck for 2 months, he'll be a lame duck for however long he has left -- and he'll use the power he'll never see again to do untold damage to the United States, and do whatever he has to to block himself from any consequences of his actions.

I hope we never see that second number, because not only would it be a massive death toll directly, but Trump could legit start a war or stop feeding the kids he keeps in dog cages or sign an E.O. stopping all social services from being provided "to save money" and walk away while the courts/Congress try to put out the fires.

And go golfing.

Yeah...The only problem is, that the number is about the same Stalin had in mind when he was asking himself "how many of my peons would I be willing to sacrifice before I surrender to Hitler"

Hint: ALL OF THEM

[Draco-Onis]

Are those innovations helping the 10's of millions of us stuck in cities for one reason or another paying 50% or more of our income in rent?

This is what needs to come first.

I highly suggest you look up the number of consumer goods that have come from these types of innovations. These things have nothing to do with one another as the tax cuts for the rich and the PPP money that went to hate groups, churches and Trump's wealthy friends show we have plenty of money. The GOP only cares about fiscal responsibility when it comes to poor people even if the NASA budget went to zero none of the money would go to regular people.

[Paranoid Android]

Trump says private border wall built by supporters "only done to make me look bad" https://t.co/c0SCvjegOk https://t.co/XZHZqMjhmO

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1...585722371?s=19

I love when he throws his Trumpkins under the bus!

In a tweet, the president claimed that he had never supported efforts by a private contractor to build a section of border fencing along the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge despite Washington Post reports indicating that Trump himself had pushed for the company to win approval for funding from the Defense Department.

For those following this is the guy from North Dakota who went on Fox News and lobbied for the job. Trump even considered corruption, excuse me government contracts to this guy.

In a shocking turn the wall is not up to standard and multiple places of erosion. Doesn't say in article but I think Fisher Gravel has a history of questionable work.

[Felya]

In a shocking turn the wall is not up to standard and multiple places of erosion. Doesn't say in article but I think Fisher Gravel has a history of questionable work.

Is Trump saying “only done to make me look bad” his new slogan or catch all reply? He said the same thing about schools not reopening.

[lockedout]

We also have to take into account that many scientists are saying that COVID-19 is now airborne - and if so, all those events and openings and such are going to impact people that much more.

If [fuck] Florida is showing record breaking daily count numbers NOW, it's only going to get worse. MUCH worse.

And Trumps administration is just pushing forward on schools opening and state's "getting back to normal".

Yeah but protests are ok right?

[Felya]

Yeah but protests are ok right?

It looks like being outdoors and wearing masks, prevented protests of 10s of thousands, from becoming a super spreader event... like the indoors, mask fearing, Trump Tulsa event. I believe Arizona has more cases since the protests, than Washington and NY combined.

Now... imagine Trump’s leadership being as effective on his supporters taking precautions, as the protestors... I bet there would be no travel ban on US.

Edit: Now that the infection numbers are in, to see the results of protests on said numbers. I really think it’s a flawed tact in defending Trump’s covid response, to compare it to the covid response of protestors. Protestors are proving, if Trump was a leader that mandated or even asked people to wear masks and not hold in door events, the US would not be this fucked... Protestors infection numbers are showing his ill equipped to handle corona, Trump really is...