Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Benggaul]

175,047 new cases; about 13k more than last Tuesday. Still heading up...and it seems like a couple states are trying to make it a race.

Texas: 19,790 new cases (new record); 195 deaths
California: 16,563 new cases; 107 deaths
Illinois: 9,469 new cases; 150 deaths
Ohio: 8,604 new cases; 98 deaths
Fuck Florida.
Michigan: 6,782 new cases; 154 deaths
Minnesota: 6,416 new cases; 38 deaths
Pennsylvania: 6,365 new cases; 84 deaths
Wisconsin: 6,202 new cases; 104 deaths (new record)
Indiana: 5,625 new cases; 103 deaths
New York: 5,478 new cases; 34 deaths
New Jersey: 4,889 new cases (new record); 46 deaths
Arizona: 4,544 new cases; 51 deaths
Missouri: 4,156 new cases; 138 deaths (new record)
Colorado: 4,150 new cases; 50 deaths
Georgia: 3,676 new cases; 6 deaths
Louisiana: 3,243 new cases; 39 deaths
North Carolina: 3,100 new cases; 35 deaths
Iowa: 2,909 new cases; 18 deaths
Nevada: 2,853 new cases (new record); 24 deaths

Other states with new case/death records: North Dakota, Oregon, Alaska and Maine.

I did a little bit of looking around and it doesn't look like California's total yesterday was entirely inaccurate. Maybe a bit of catchup from the weekend but I don't see any notes about it being a backlog from weeks prior. Their total today kind of backs that up. Meanwhile Texas, once again, had to prove that everything is bigger there, brushing up next to 20k in a single day. A new national record. I haven't seen anything to indicate that's a backlog dump either, but again I'll check tomorrow to see if it's been commented on (or locals like @Crissi can let us know).

The entire contiguous US is now listed as "uncontrolled spread" and overall it's the southwest and northeast that are seeing the largest increase in cases over the past few days. If I was in Arizona I'd be REALLY fucking worried right now since numbers are where they were in the Summer when the "death panels" started and the state--along with New Mexico--is right between the two states with the highest number of cases--California and Texas. I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing 200k at least once this week...maybe twice.

2,187 deaths is over 500 more than last Tuesday and brings the total to 265,891. SEVEN states had triple-digit death tallies and Ohio just missed it. Part of that will be a catchup from the weekend but I expect it'll be worse for other states as the week goes on.

Related news:

After months of following COVID-19 guidelines, a Texas family 'let their guard down' for a day. All 12 of them got sick.--I realize pandemic fatigue is a thing, but for fuck's sake...

AOC Says Republicans Holding Stimulus Check Hostage Over Demand for Corporate COVID Immunity--This is something we've talked about before but Trump's insistence that liability protections be in place for businesses is what's largely been responsible for there being no new stimulus for several months now.

White House coronavirus task force calls for 'significant behavior change of all Americans'--As a reminder this is the same administration that wanted "business as usual" for the bulk of the pandemic and also didn't meet at all for a significant period of time.

Stay safe, folks.

[Breccia]

2,187 deaths

And based on recent trends, no reason to believe that's going down much.

[Crissi]

FWIW, its almost the opposite. A couple days ago Dallas county had a lowish (in comparison) day, and it was because of backlogs so it shoulda been even higher, lol.

[cubby]

Wow. Full speed ahead, then!

And something interesting...Trump might be able to Pardon himself (still undecided law), and with that he might be immune from federal charges (with a slim chance to also be immune to state charges - I said thin), but the Trump Organization isn't - at all. And Trump can't pardon a corporation. So no matter what their business holdings are going to be at risk, come Jan 22.

Could you imagine the NYState AG's office and/or the Department of Justice seizing Mar-a-fuckland as assets to be used to pay off debts?

[Breccia]

Swamp Dweller Trump plans to pardon fellow Swamp Dweller Flynn.

[kaid]

Swamp Dweller Trump plans to pardon fellow Swamp Dweller Flynn.

I don't think anybody should be surprised when pardons fly fast and furious to all the various swamp critters that got nabbed for one thing or another.

[Dontrike]

So, Parler just got hacked to the tune of its entire database. Which is funny for two reasons: 1) Parler requires a SSN for some of its services, so a lot of conservatives who rage quit Twitter or Facebook now have their identities stolen, and 2) apparently the hackers got a hold of the DMs of a number of prominent Republicans and they are reportedly quite nasty.

Who the hell would give their SSN to diet facebook?

[Gamevizier]

The rest of the world didn’t leave the Iran peace treaty...

problem is that Israel and Saudi Arabia are co-operating with US warhawks on this and they are very close to Iran in terms of borders than China, Russia or Europe etc. the rest of the world didn't leave the treaty but they didn't do much to stand up to the US either. so now it's a question of how far the US wants to push Iran while the rest of the world doesn't interfere to get on America's bad side. There's China and Russia that are assisting Iran, but that's cuz they play their own games with the US.

See the refugee crisis in Europe? it's gonna get much much worse if the US and Iran go to full-scale war. but people like Trump, Netanyahu or that caveman -heir- of SA don't care about that.

there have been no attempts to mend ties between SA and Iran since Trump became the president, and that's because they were heavily relying on Trump to boss Iran into giving up everything in the region. when you rely on your big friends to bully your rivals instead of talking to them about your problems, there's gonna be a day where the big guy's no longer interested in that, and then you'll be left with your balls hanging. and even now instead of thinking about diplomacy we hear that SA and Israel want to have Trump start a war with Iran to force Biden into a diplomatic corner until another warhawk comes into power.

[Antiganon]

AOC Says Republicans Holding Stimulus Check Hostage Over Demand for Corporate COVID Immunity--This is something we've talked about before but Trump's insistence that liability protections be in place for businesses is what's largely been responsible for there being no new stimulus for several months now.

Honestly at this point give them liability protections against consumers as an olive branch. If I walk into some random business and they employees are all sans mask I can just walk right out, and any reasonable person should be able to make that call.

Liability protections against employees is a bridge too far though.

[pathora44]

Honestly at this point give them liability protections against consumers as an olive branch. If I walk into some random business and they employees are all sans mask I can just walk right out, and any reasonable person should be able to make that call.

Liability protections against employees is a bridge too far though.

I can agree with this as long as employees can still sue for their employers giving them Covid. I get behind this mainly because going out during the pandemic there is a degree of danger you are responsible for putting yourself in and if the employer of the store is fucking around so bad where customers get Covid then it is almost 100 percent guaranteed that the employees got Covid due to their employers fuck up.

[Kaleredar]

I can agree with this as long as employees can still sue for their employers giving them Covid. I get behind this mainly because going out during the pandemic there is a degree of danger you are responsible for putting yourself in and if the employer of the store is fucking around so bad where customers get Covid then it is almost 100 percent guaranteed that the employees got Covid due to their employers fuck up.

Unfortunately that's probably pretty difficult to prove demonstrably. I could certainly see some sort of class action lawsuit being far more compelling (X number of employees at some company all get Covid, especially if it happens across multiple company locations)

Some way for employees to seek recompense from employers that intentionally go against health and safety code stipulations (allowing customers to not wear masks, not sanitizing, not maintaining social distancing, etc) would probably be more in order. But of course thanks to Trump's bungling of the entire situation, those regulations are still pretty ill-defined, especially on a national scale, and would probably make it difficult to legislate from on a national scale.

[Gorsameth]

Over under on how many weeks after Jan that he goes on "vacation" overseas somewhere "weird"..wink wink.

I'd say 4 months

I would not be surprised if he has his passport taken away Jan 21st as a flight risk. So my answer is not, he won't be able to leave the country.
I suspect he might flee on the 19th tho.

As for Barr, why would he be scared? He hasn't done anything actually illegal as far as we know, so he can just retire in safety.

[Ursus]

And based on recent trends, no reason to believe that's going down much.

Oh it will, in fact it's going to go down to 0. I forget how the exact exchange went, but something like this:

Journalist: You said the virus was going to disappear. It hasn't disappeared. Was that a lie?
Trump: It wasn't a lie, the virus is disappearing.
Journalist: The numbers are all going up, you said it was going to go down to 0.
Trump: Eventually the virus will disappear at some point in the future and it will go down to 0. You do know that, don't you?


Just imagine Trump as an oncologist.

Patient: You said my cancer was going away.
Trump: Well you are dying. Pretty sure the cancer will be gone after that. You do know that, don't you?


Or Trump as a firefighter.

Homeowner: Wtf? You said you were going to put the fire out.
Trump: Once your home burns down, the fire will go out eventually. You do know that, don't you?

[Breccia]

Hoo boy.

Israel takes steps in case Trump attacks Iran.

The fact that they think it's a possibility, a strong enough one to react to, is telling.

The Israeli government instructed the IDF to undertake the preparations not because of any intelligence or assessment that Trump will order such a strike, but because senior Israeli officials anticipate “a very sensitive period” ahead of Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20.

The IDF's preparedness measures relate to possible Iranian retaliation against Israel directly or through Iranian proxies in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli officials said.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Trump raised the possibility of attacking Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in a meeting with senior members of his national security team.

Trump raised the idea after being briefed on an International Atomic Energy Agency report about Iran’s growing stockpiles of enriched uranium, but top officials — including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — warned about the risks of regional escalation, per the Times.

Trump seemed convinced that it would be too risky to strike Iran directly, but has considered other options, the Times reports.

- - - Updated - - -

So I just had a nice long conversation with an old friend of mine, a friend whose opinion I trust, about two topics.

1) Leaving Open Skies

This isn't 1985 anymore. We don't have planes flying overhead, the pilots leaning out the window with a Polaroid camera. We have satelites that can read license plates. You know who doesn't? The EU. We share that shit with them if/when it suits us, and if/when we trust them with it. Leaving Open Skies feels like an insult to them ("get your own intelligence") rather than an espionage/tactical move.

2) Pompeo

As we're seeing Biden put together his team, my friend was reminded that Trump picked Pompeo -- who in late Nov 2016 was really not that big of a deal -- to be head of the CIA before Trump picked anyone for anything else. When I asked why, he asked "why have Giuliani run his legal team?" Pompeo is a controllable asset who could, for example, steer the CIA away from investigating Trump's direct collusion with Russia, and would be grateful enough to serve to ask zero to negative questions about it.

[Breccia]

“Perhaps President Trump’s greatest accomplishment is United States Energy Dominance.”

I'm not even sure he can defend that part. Didn't the Russians and Saudis get together to dunk on our oil industry?

[Howel]

Today in "Shit Trump Retweets"....
-snip

Climate Monarchy? What? How? Why? I am thoroughly confused how the heck that even remotely makes sense.

[CastletonSnob]

When you win FL and OH, and still lose the election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_asNhzXq72w

[Rasulis]

Who the hell would give their SSN to diet facebook?

As far as I know, unlike FB and Twitter, there is no way to monetize under Parler. Unless they figure out something quickly, those so-called right-wing influencers are not going to stay there for long.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not even sure he can defend that part. Didn't the Russians and Saudis get together to dunk on our oil industry?

Both Russia and SA are hurting also. Saudi Aramco profit fell 45% 3rd quarter 2020 and failed to generate enough cash to cover its dividend payment. Their net debt went up by 6b to 83b to cover the dividend.

[Zan15]

So, Parler just got hacked to the tune of its entire database. Which is funny for two reasons: 1) Parler requires a SSN for some of its services, so a lot of conservatives who rage quit Twitter or Facebook now have their identities stolen, and 2) apparently the hackers got a hold of the DMs of a number of prominent Republicans and they are reportedly quite nasty.

lol on top of the fact they keep adding to the list of things that are "censored"..... i expect this Parler bump to end just like the one in May....with a thud

[Paranoid Android]

Mnuchin puts $455 billion in COVID-19 relief funds beyond successor's reach

Hey people, Mnuchin is pig feces and so is the Trump Adminstration.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled that he will move $455 billion in COVID-19 relief from the Federal Reserve back into the Treasury’s General Fund, a move that would make it harder for his successor to access the emergency funding.

Mnuchin said last week that he was shuttering a handful of the Fed's emergency lending facilities, a move the central bank opposed in a rare critical statement. Those facilities, though little used during the pandemic, were seen as confidence boosters for capital markets.

So Trumpkins, they are taking over $455 Billion, with a capital B of funds and propping up the market.