On Saturday, for the second straight day, Florida crushed its previous record for new coronavirus cases, reporting 9,585 infections. Another 8,530 were reported on Sunday.And:
Seven states are reporting new highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations, according to data tracked by The Washington Post — Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — as the number of infections continues to climb across the South and West.And:
Arizona’s Republican governor shut down bars, movie theaters, gyms and water parks Monday and leaders in several states ordered residents to wear masks in public in a dramatic course reversal amid an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases nationwide.I am not saying that Trump could have prevented the pandemic. What I am saying is that forthright action, based on science and not wishful thinking, would have mitigated a lot of it.
What did Trump do in response to Covid-19? He first ignored it for nearly two months. When it couldn't be ignored anymore, Bunker Boy went on TV daily, turning what was first put forth as a source of information into a daily airing of Trump's grievances and a full-on display of his tendency to act like a spoiled toddler. His daily briefings were so full of lies, half-truths and insanity that most networks stopped airing them. [1]
His actions, such as they have been, have been based on magical thinking (the virus will go away in the heat! it'll disappear in April! We're doing a great job!). When it comes to taking measures that people can do in order to reduce the spread of the virus, wear masks and practice social distancing, Trump has turned those measures into yet another culture war. As in everything else, Trump saw the pandemic as way to turn his base against other people.[2]
A different president, even one as inept at George W. Bush, would have attempted to lead, to get Americans to act together for the benefit of the country. A president who was also a savvy politician would have seen it as a golden opportunity to show those who hadn't supported him that he could indeed do the job and was worthy of their support.
Not Trump. He veered between silence, then being angrily combative on everything while handing off any meaningful response to his Prince of Merde, and then, once most states opened back up and the idiots came out to play, going back to silence. From Trump's inactions in recent weeks, as the coronavirus came roaring back and infection rates began going back up, you'd think that having a couple of hundred thousand more dead people is no big deal to him.
This stadium holds 107,000 people:
Fill that up, twice. That's how many people didn't have to die. That's how many people wouldn't have died if Trump had been good at his job.
Combating the pandemic is not rocket science for a good leader: Listen to the recommendations of the epidemiologists. Acknowledge that this is a new virus and that countermeasures will evolve as our understanding of the virus does. Lead, for God's sake! Urge people to do what can be done to slow down the spread: Wear a mask in public. Practice social distancing. Stay home as much as possible. Don't go into crowded places, especially indoors. Wash your hands.
None of that is difficult to understand. None of that is difficult to communicate. None of that has been advocated by Donald Fucking Trump.
This is on him. This is on his acolytes in the GOP who have been taking their clues from Trump. This is on the Right-Wing Noise Machine, which has been pushing scientific illiteracy for decades.
But first, foremost and most of all, this is on Trump.
And if you vote for him in November, this is on you.
______________________________________
[1] Take a drug that proved to be harmful! Flush your body with bleach! Shove UV lights up your ass! Trump's daily screeds showed that he was listening to the ideas of his similarly batshit-crazy friends and not to those of scientists and doctors.
[2] It may be coincidental that Trump pivoted from "we have to beat the virus" to "we have to open everything up" when reports began surface that Covid-19 was hitting Black and Latinos far harder than white people. But it may not be a coincidence.
But, but, but...Hillary’s emails, Benghazi, Deep State, Fake News....
ReplyDeleteThere is a pretty convincing argument to be made that Donnie’s response shows cognitive decline.
Any politician worth their salt would have capitalized on this one time opportunity to use a common enemy to unite a badly fractured nation. People have been speculating that it would take an alien invasion to get the different factions to band together in this political environment.
ReplyDeleteWell, you got your alien invasion. So what did you do with it?
Well, the countermeasures that were imposed have resulted in millions of unemployed people, thousands of businesses that won't survive, and trillions of dollars in wealth evaporated, as well as trillions of dollars of debt incurred in propping up the economy while it's in a medically induced coma, among other things too numerous to list, all in the service of keeping hundreds of thousands more citizens from dying from a disease we won't have a pharmaceutical response to until next year at the outside.
I'd call that a massive investment, and whether or not it was massive enough, or properly targeted is up for debate.
What is not up for debate is the fact that Fergus and Republican governors have squandered it, leaving us pretty much where we were before any of the countermeasures were taken.
There is no effective therapy or prophylaxis for this disease besides distancing, hand washing, and face coverings, and there remain +/- 300 million uninfected citizens, so what were they expecting to happen?
I'm not a scientist, or even particularly smart about science, but Christ on a pogo stick, they taught us this stuff in ninth grade biology.
I retain, perhaps naively, an expectation that the highest levels of the federal government are capable of operating at a level at or above Mr. Wilcox's science classroom in 1975.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
Well, he got one thing right: I'm sick and goddamn tired of all this winning.
ReplyDeleteYes,the federal government, WHO, and the world at large can respond in a robust way as shown by the outcome in Western Africa; "The last known case of Ebola died on 27 March, and the country was officially declared Ebola-free on 9 May 2015, after 42 days without any further cases being recorded". Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteBut under Trump there is no science leadership at the highest government levels. Fauci has been pushed aside, but at least he is getting some messages out on rational news sites about what to expect if we continue reopening. However, not on FOX, where it really needs to be seen. I watched a Florida Trump supporter shouting at an MSNBC reporter to take his mask off; that the virus was not real. So, I'm not sure messages to wear a mask or use any other safety practices shown on FOX would help anyway. Trump has deliberately muzzled CDC scientists, WH staff, demanded lockstep republican loyalty to his cause, and chosen to make Covid political with lies and useless proclamations. This is the weaponization that keeps his base in line and happy to sacrifice their lives on his reelection alter. His stupidity knows no limits.
Trump is deliberately, after a completely, thoroughly, and inexcusably botched set of televised death panels (AKA President's Coronavirus Response Team), willing to kill his followers in a fireworks display and political rally at Mt. Rushmore. And they are gladly gleefully going to participate shoulder to shoulder without wearing masks. Not to mention the area is under drought conditions, so igniting the pine forest around them is of no consequence either. His insanity knows no limits.
In couple of weeks or less, we'll know the infection results of all the rallys and some states staying open because those healthcare systems are going to be utterly overwhelmed again. Yeah, so much winning.
The forecast curve everyone questioned made sens is not
ReplyDeletemaking itself a reality. Early efforts makes it false
but time and virus wins.
I declare 2020 the Year of the Jackpot,
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Jackpot
Eck!
Not 'wishful thinking', but wilful lunacy. Don't accuse DT of thought, or of something as mild as wishing.
ReplyDeleteForget about the liability waivers that the Trumpers sign before his rally, what such should sign is a disclaimer waiving their access to medical treatment. This tsunami is going to overwhelm, demoralize and then utterly crush our medical people and the infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteStewart, the medical waiver is a fantastic idea.
ReplyDeleteNo need for waiver... Drumpf has the court to kill ADA. Instant waver.
ReplyDeleteNot at all funny...
Considering if he wins anyone that had covid or has the antibody
for it will be considered to have a pre-existing condition.
Republicans that go along with this will be marked as the
party of poverty and death.
Eck!
“Grown men do not need leaders.” – Edward Abbey
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUS1m5MSt9k
Countries do. Coordinated efforts do. It wasn't a loose association of like-minded grown men who put Hitler and his minions in the ground. It's not a loose association of like-minded grown men that built the interstate highway system, built the railroads, dug the canals, developed vaccines, etc., etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteThat video is standard libertarian bullshit.
CM, as my father used to say, there will never be a Baptist Chartes Cathedral.
ReplyDelete