Patterico's Pontifications

6/22/2020

Trump All But Admits He Ordered the Slowing of Coronavirus Testing to Lower Number of Reported Cases

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:35 pm



I mean, he did admit it at the Tulsa rally.

But we were told that was a joke.

So he was asked about it this morning. He refused to answer the question. But the way he refused to answer was a screaming admission that it was true.

I’m not going to quote from it. It’s not the pull quote that shows he did it. It’s his demeanor, his complaints about testing; the whole thing. Skip to :42 if you must but you should really watch it all.

There is no question he gave the order. None. He gave it. The only question is whether the people surrounding him followed it.

This is evil. I think it’s the single worst thing he has done as President.

He must be voted out.

134 Responses to “Trump All But Admits He Ordered the Slowing of Coronavirus Testing to Lower Number of Reported Cases”

  1. The purest evil.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. He knows that his base will be satisfied if there are 1) not bodies in the street and 2) the numbers look good. So his goal is to make sure the numbers look good. It’s why he’s so obsessed with the stock market, it’s a number.

    Trump is fundamentally uninterested in reality that lies behinds numbers or pictures or media headlines. It’s part of his narcissism. If he doesn’t personally see it or feel it, or if it’s not a story that affects his reputation he doesn’t care.

    And then of course there are the mini-Trumps. DeSantis is trying to fiddle with how ICU bed occupancy is reported:
    https://floridapolitics.com/archives/342565-florida-changes-icu-reporting

    Victor (a225f9)

  3. I’m not going to quote from it. It’s not the pull quote that shows he did it. It’s his demeanor“
    __ _

    Don’t forget the punchable face.
    __ _

    Meanwhile vote for the party showing the clear and level-headed approach to urban governance.
    _

    harkin (4cf812)

  4. Trump is fundamentally uninterested in reality that lies behinds numbers or pictures or media headlines. It’s part of his narcissism. If he doesn’t personally see it or feel it, or if it’s not a story that affects his reputation he doesn’t care.

    Well said.

    Time123 (235fc4)

  5. Trump’s a moron, he doesn’t actually know that testing doesn’t affect the binary of infected/not, or that testing can tell you things like where it’s bad and do something about it. If it’s a joke, he doesn’t understand the ramifications, if it’s not, same thing. I guess the worst thing would be he does know, and doesn’t care. Is him being a moron letting him off the hook?

    The best hope is he was ignored. That’s the best case in all decisions by Trump, he should always be ignored. The problem is sometimes he’s not ignored.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  6. 3… LOL… when will this sink in!?!?

    Not until the last grifter is lionized and then put down by their masters… if even then.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  7. “That’s the best case in all decisions by Trump, he should always be ignored. The problem is sometimes he’s not ignored.”

    Well, after all, he is still the head of the Executive Branch of the United States of America. It’s probably difficult for the people around him to ignore everything he says.

    Victor (a225f9)

  8. White House delivers mixed explanations on Trump’s vow to slow down testing
    …..
    The president, vice president and White House press secretary all offered different explanations of Trump’s Saturday night remark.

    McEnany said Monday afternoon that Trump had not, in fact, ordered a coronavirus testing slowdown and that his comment to the contrary in Tulsa had been made “in jest.”

    “Any suggestion that testing has been curtailed is not rooted in fact,” McEnany said, claiming Trump was trying to expose the media for reporting increases in coronavirus cases without acknowledging an uptick in testing.

    “It was a comment that he made in jest,” McEnany said.
    …..
    While McEnany said Trump was joking, CBS News reported Pence told governors on Monday that Trump’s testing comments at the rally were “a passing observation.”
    …..

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  9. ‘The U.S. has hamstrung itself’: How America became the new Italy on coronavirus
    ……
    ……Italy announced just 264 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday — the same day that the United States reported nearly 32,000. The European nation opened its restaurants and stores a month ago, albeit under new, national safety measures, even as U.S. states wrestled with inconsistent, hasty reopening efforts that have been blamed for new virus spikes. And Italy’s outbreak has dramatically ebbed from its mid-March peak, while America’s new per capita cases remain on par with Italy’s worst day — and show signs of rising further, with record hospitalizations in states like Arizona, Florida and Texas last week.
    …..
    Public health experts cited multiple factors for why the fortunes of the United States have differed from Western Europe — starting with the intense politicization that worked against a disciplined response, and the federal government’s decision to let individual states take the lead in reopening. The decisions of some states to end their lockdowns as early as possible — at levels of infection considerably higher than those that triggered reopening in Western Europe — appear to have consigned the United States to a far longer battle with the virus.
    ……
    Even basic protections have been politicized in the United States. Trump has eschewed a mask in public and has sometimes mocked others for wearing face coverings — despite requirements that people wear masks in certain states and ample science that they work to prevent the virus’ spread.

    The president also swiped at mask-wearers in a Wall Street Journal interview last Wednesday, suggesting that some Americans are wearing coverings to signal their disapproval with him. He has repeatedly voiced his hesitation about the widespread coronavirus testing urged by public health experts, including controversial remarks at his rally on Saturday.
    …..

    “I think there are going to be states in our country that can replicate Italy,” said Ashish Jha, head of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, noting that New York has made its own dramatic strides in containing the virus.

    “But I would rather spend this summer in Rome with my family than in Phoenix.”

    Italy is not alone in driving coronavirus down to manageable levels. Its Western European neighbors Spain and France grappled with damaging outbreaks that killed tens of thousands and prompted lockdowns, only to drive daily new cases below 500. Meanwhile, Germany was able to fend off the virus with relatively low mortality, which some credit to the nation’s robust test-and-trace strategy. The collective recovery of the European nations — punctuated by Italy’s apparent turnaround — stands in stark contrast to the muddle facing many parts of America, where the death toll has now topped 120,000.
    …..
    But the devastation hit [Italy] in a way that prompted broad acceptance of lockdown measures. Political leaders largely embraced the need for personal protection and have even policed each other. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte regularly wears a mask in public — and when he attempted to remove it to speak to his parliament in April, he was heckled by fellow lawmakers.

    When far-right populist leader Matteo Salvini tried to take a page from the Trump playbook, tweeting accusations that the virus came from a Chinese lab and occupying the parliament in protest of lockdowns, the move backfired. His party, the League, is still the most popular party in Italy’s polls, backed by about 25 percent of voters, but support has dropped since February and its lead over the center-left Democratic party has narrowed considerably.

    “One issue that was amazing about all this: Italians took the quarantine seriously, they collaborated with the central orders and were able to follow the guidelines” despite widespread economic suffering, said Raffaella Sadun, a Harvard Business School professor who advised Italy’s prime minister on the crisis. “This may be the primary point of difference with what we are seeing in the U.S.”
    ……
    When US politics is compared unfavorably to the Italians, we are in trouble.

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  10. This is evil. I think it’s the single worst thing he has done as President.

    Fudging numbers? No.

    Helsinki. Yes.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  11. ““It was a comment that he made in jest,” McEnany said.”

    A real knee slapper.

    Davethulhu (9921df)

  12. Two Trump campaign staffers who attended Tulsa rally test positive for coronavirus
    Two members of a campaign advance team who attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Oklahoma on Saturday have tested positive for the coronavirus, the campaign said Monday.

    The new test results bring the tally of advance team members for the Tulsa event who have tested positive for Covid-19 up to eight.
    …..
    “After another round of testing for campaign staff in Tulsa, two additional members of the advance team tested positive for the coronavirus,” said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh on Monday.

    “These staff members attended the rally but were wearing masks during the entire event. Upon the positive tests, the campaign immediately activated established quarantine and contact tracing protocols,” Murtaugh said.
    ……
    At the Phoenix church event on Tuesday, attendees also will have to sign a waiver for admittance…..
    …..

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  13. Trump’s a moron

    This doesn’t need repeating does it? Although I might debate that he’s maybe a cretin or an imbecile. Pat says he’s purest evil, but I lean toward purest stupidity. What the Brits call “bloody-minded.”

    The absolutely scariest thing — and it should scare everyone — is that the BEST the opposition can come up with is Biden. OK, it might be tied with the GOP rolling over yet again, but really, have the Dems no bench?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  14. Karma would have Trump on a ventilator forthwith.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  15. Trump’s a moron… This doesn’t need repeating does it?

    Ask Walrus Gumbo; or have you purchased his book, too. 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  16. Karma was a stripper he dated.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  17. Pat says he’s purest evil, but I lean toward purest stupidity.

    Didn’t Socrates write that knowledge and moral goodness are closely related? Trump is strong evidence for it.

    Dustin (e3a6ae)

  18. Exclusive: Trump cold on Guaidó, would consider meeting Maduro
    In an Oval Office interview with Axios on Friday, President Trump suggested he’s had second thoughts about his decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and said he is open to meeting with dictator Nicolás Maduro.

    Asked whether he would meet with Maduro, Trump said, “I would maybe think about that. … Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings — you know, rarely opposed to meetings.

    “I always say, you lose very little with meetings. But at this moment, I’ve turned them down.”

    Trump also indicated he doesn’t have much confidence in Guaidó, who has failed to wrest control of the Venezuelan government despite support from the U.S. and dozens of other countries.
    …..
    If Trump meets with Maduro, it would completely upend his administration’s policy on Venezuela.

    Top administration officials, including Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo, have invested a huge amount of energy in supporting Guaidó.
    …..
    A former Trump administration official told me Trump’s comments to Axios tracked with their firsthand experience of the first two and a half years of his presidency, when Venezuela policy was a hotter issue in the West Wing than it is now.
    …..
    The former official said it was a “recurring concern” inside the administration during 2017 and 2018 that Trump would meet with Maduro. “It was really stop and go there for a while,” he said. “And the Venezuelan opposition was beside themselves.”
    ……

    UPDATE:
    Trump’s Maduro comments create political mess in must-win Florida
    President Donald Trump on Monday distanced himself from his own comments that signaled an openness to talks with Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro — but the reversal is unlikely to prevent a political mess in Florida and still complicates the GOP’s 2020 attempt to brand Democrats as socialists.
    ……
    The interview, published Sunday night, immediately sent shockwaves through Florida’s political ecosystem, especially in South Florida, which is home to more than 400,000 Hispanics of Venezuelan origin. Many of those are expats who fled Maduro’s socialist regime. During a briefing Monday, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany clarified that, despite his comments, Trump continues to view Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

    The mere flirtation with diplomatic talks with Maduro could hurt Trump’s standing in the nation’s largest swing state, which he needs to win in November in order to return to the White House for a second term.
    ……
    “No, Senator Scott does not believe President Trump should meet with Maduro — a ruthless thug and dictator who is committing genocide against his people,” said Chris Hartline, a spokesperson for Scott, one of Trump’s biggest Florida allies.
    ……

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  19. You’re all over complicating it. Trump’s time horizon is very short. His number one priority is what people think of him.

    So actions need to make him look good now. If testing will hurt his image now than we shouldn’t do it. It might help down the road but we’ll worry about that when the time comes. Either say something else or blame someone.

    Time123 (69b2fc)

  20. Karma was a stripper he dated.

    Still, not wrong.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  21. Trump is sufferring from Alzheimer’s. It pretty advanced now.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  22. File this under the many things that I completely got wrong about elections in the Trump Age (and, yes, with the caveat that we are still months away from the actual election and a lot could change between now and then), but I was certain that it would be Trump who would enjoy the benefits of running a front porch campaign from the White House and Biden would be the one out on the hustings saying stupid things that would bring him well-earned derision. But here’s the needy President insisting on being front and center, while his opponent wisely stays hidden in his bunker. I would imagine that Biden will eventually have to come out and step into the limelight, but for now his team is really doing a great job by keeping him hidden.

    In fact if Biden wins in November, might it be a brilliant strategy if he just kind of disappears into 1600 Pennsylvania and does not act as the face of the Nation? Let someone younger and more palatable to the intersectionality mob step into that role.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  23. @22, Let someone younger and more palatable to the intersectionality mob step into that role while maintaining top billing so that the more lefty things they say are deniable.

    Time123 (235fc4)

  24. Trump is a marketer, and he’s pretty good at it, so he knows he’s selling the sizzle. The problem is that we are sitting here with what we already know is a really horrible steak in front of us and he’s trying to sell us the same one again. Even the most dedicated carnivore might try the vegetarian pasta under those circumstances.

    Nic (896fdf)

  25. The problem is that we are sitting here with what we already know is a really horrible steak in front of us and he’s trying to sell us the same one again.

    It’s a post digested hamburger, and he’s calling it a perfectly aged tomahawk steak. Don’t believe your eyes, don’t believe your ears, really don’t believe your nose; eat up, delish.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  26. Those rare occasions when Trump accidentally tells the truth are both glorious and terrifying.

    Dave (1bb933)

  27. Comment #9 featured this quote:

    “But I would rather spend this summer in Rome with my family than in Phoenix.”

    Wouldn’t anyone rather be anywhere than Phoenix in the summer?

    norcal (a5428a)

  28. Hey Nic,

    Did you happen to catch my schoolteacher story on the Father’s Day thread?

    norcal (a5428a)

  29. The truly grotesque thing about Trump’s comment is this:

    Every single person who comes anywhere near him is tested, for his protection.

    That’s why he can continue to live a pampered lifestyle, completely oblivious to the disruptions and risks the rest of us face – including, but not limited to, wearing a mask.

    If he wants testing slowed down, why doesn’t he stop testing everyone who comes into the White House? We all know the answer.

    He’s fine with testing to keep *himself* safe, but to hell with the rest of us if testing to help keep *us* safe results in numbers he finds unsatisfactory.

    Dave (1bb933)

  30. Wouldn’t anyone rather be anywhere than Phoenix in the summer?

    I’d rather be in Phoenix in Summer (or any other season) than Winnemucca and a slew of other cities.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  31. SDNY U.S. Attorney Got Fired Because He Didn’t Sign Letter Questioning George Floyd Protests Amid Pandemic: Report
    Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman lost his job over the weekend after he refused to side with a Justice Department move late last week to criticize New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Wall Street Journal reported exclusively just after noon Monday. Yet the actual significance of the temporally-suggestible, potential-smoking-gun incident was unclear, the report says.

    Here’s how it reportedly went down. The DOJ asked Berman to “sign a letter criticizing” de Blasio for enforcing social distancing rules during “religious gatherings” but not during “street protests” that arose after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, the Journal reported, citing anonymous “people familiar with the matter.” Berman “voiced strong objections to the letter, particularly its assertions that Mr. de Blasio imposed a double standard, and described the letter as a political stunt that would strain relations between his office and the city, two of the people said.”

    The letter was reportedly never sent. It was “meant to be signed” by Berman and by Eric Dreiband, who heads the DOJ’s civil rights division.
    …..
    The Journal went on to pen this beauty about the frayed Barr-Berman relationship:

    [T]wo people familiar with the matter said Mr. Berman’s refusal [to sign the letter] aggravated Mr. Barr, who already viewed Mr. Berman as obstinate and difficult to work with. He had been seeking a replacement for Mr. Berman, and when he learned in recent weeks that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton was interested in the top prosecutor’s job he agreed that putting him in that role was a good idea, people familiar with that decision said.

    …………

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  32. Poll shows Duval voters oppose RNC coming to Jacksonville, worry about coronavirus impact
    A majority of Duval voters do not want the Republican National Convention in their city this Summer, according to a new poll.

    The RABA Research poll commissioned by Republican Voters Against Trump found 49% of those surveyed did not support Jacksonville hosting President Donald Trump’s nomination speech in August. Only 39% said they supported it.

    Further, 57% said they were concerned the convention would spur a new COVID-19 outbreak while only 43% said they weren’t worried.
    …..
    “President Trump may be jonesing for adoring crowds, but as we saw this weekend in Tulsa, actual voters are not nearly as excited about attending risky, mass gatherings as Trump is,” said Sarah Longwell, Strategic Director of Republican Voters Against Trump. “These results demonstrate that even in a critical county that Trump won in 2016, voters would rather he stay away.”
    …….
    The poll also suggested Trump’s support in the city is lacking. It put former Vice President Joe Biden eight points above Trump at 51% to 43% with rest undecided.
    ……

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  33. @28 I did. Teenagers are so confused, poor kiddos.

    I thought about making a joke about how teenage girls have been sacrificing, to their detriment, for boys forever. But honestly, there are some boys who are just as googly-eyed and willing to self sacrifice.

    @30 Having been to Winnemuca, I have to agree.

    Nic (896fdf)

  34. Col. Klink, at 5: the problem with ignoring Trump is he’s the President. It’s a *really bad* idea to encourage the bureaucracy to ignore the President.

    But this just goes to show what I said about Trump in 2016: he’s the kind of person who by his very nature will constantly put the administration, and the country, where we are forced to choose between two options (in this case, ignore Trump or don’t ignore Trump) *both of which* are per se harmful to the Republic.

    aphrael (7962af)

  35. 13. What makes you think the Dems need a bench? Even when the Republicans have the presidency and both chambers of Congress, the Dems might as well still be in charge.

    And for those of you who really don’t like Trump, remember that your only alternative is Joe Biden. Which is really not an alternative at all. You might as well decide if you’d rather have your right foot or your left foot chopped off because that’s essentially the choice you’ll be making in the voting booth in November.

    Gryph (08c844)

  36. Kevin M, at 21: if that’s true, then the fact that the cabinet and the veep have not invoked the 25th and removed him from power means they are all massively derelict and their duty, and I think it means that every single one of them should be impeached and barred from government service for life.

    aphrael (7962af)

  37. The claim that Trump was joking is such a patently obvious lie, anybody other than this administration would be ashamed to make it.

    Here’s the “joke” in context:

    And with testing, you know, testing is a double edged sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else. Germany’s done a lot. South Korea has done a lot.

    They called me, they said, the job you’re doing … Here’s the bad part. When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down, please. They test and they test. We had tests and people don’t know what’s going on. We got tests, we got another one over here. The young man’s 10-years-old. He’s got the sniffles. He’ll recover in about 15 minutes. That’s a case, add him to it. That’s okay. That’s a case.

    Dave (1bb933)

  38. Gryph – as a voter in December, it looks like i’m being asked to decide between the old man suffering from cognitive decline who has a history of being politically opportunist (on the one hand) and the narcissistic con man suffering from cognitive decline who doesn’t seem to be able to differentiate between his personal short-term interest and the naitonal interest.

    This is not in any way a hard decision. I wish the opposition were better. But I’ll take what I can get.

    aphrael (7962af)

  39. But here’s the needy President insisting on being front and center, while his opponent wisely stays hidden in his bunker.

    Biden has Covid as a cover for hunkering down, while Trump is sticking his foot in his mouth over Covid testing.

    DRJ (aede82)

  40. aphrael,

    For me, the question is as much about the people surrounding the candidates (who will be making/implementing policy) as the candidates. In 2016, my hope was that Trump would realize how much he didn’t know and how much he needed smart, competent people around him. That clearly did not and will not happen. Now my concern is that Biden will have smart, competent help.

    DRJ (aede82)

  41. If there could be an alternate history of the Trump Presidency, I wonder what might have happened if Chris Christie hadn’t been ejected.

    DRJ (aede82)

  42. You might as well decide if you’d rather have your right foot or your left foot chopped off because that’s essentially the choice you’ll be making in the voting booth in November.

    I will choose your left foot, mine is fine. My feet are just so YUGE and FABULOUS they’re off the table. Your feet, I don’t care.

    If ya can’t be the Orange, just act like the Orange.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  43. It seems to me, DRJ, that in any scenario you have a lunatic with the mental faculties of a toddler in charge. It doesn’t matter who the babysitters are.

    The only alternate history I see that might have turned out different is if Republicans in Congress read him the Riot Act the day after inauguration, and worked together with Democrats to force him to behave like an adult.

    But that was never a realistic possibility in the toxic environment Trump created and exploited.

    Dave (1bb933)

  44. @41

    Well stated, DRJ.

    It’s a conundrum. I have to weigh the policy harms of Biden versus the grab bag harms of Trump.

    norcal (a5428a)

  45. But you don’t know he is the Toddler in Chief until he is in office. You can have gokd ideas what will happen but you can’t know because people can rise to the challenge.

    DRJ (aede82)

  46. Good, not gokd. Sorry for the sloppy typing and proofreading.

    DRJ (aede82)

  47. > But you don’t know he is the Toddler in Chief until he is in office

    agreed that we couldn’t know, but we could have a very strong suspicion based on his previous behavior.

    aphrael (7962af)

  48. Well, we have a pretty good idea that Biden is impaired. I bet a lot of his supporters hope he rises above his limitations and has good helpers. It isn’t very different from what the GOP faced in 2016.

    DRJ (aede82)

  49. But, to be clear, as a conservative I hope Biden and his team are ineffective if he wins.

    DRJ (aede82)

  50. Its not his WORDS, its his demeanor. Right….

    rcocean (2e1c02)

  51. Is Orange Man the worst President ever? He seems to be the most crooked, dishonest, cowardly, mentally ill, Traitorous would-be dictator, that ever held the office. Thankfully, BIden will resume the Wonderfulness of the Obama administration, and make America Great Again. Our long national nightmare will be over.

    rcocean (2e1c02)

  52. @52

    Three out of four sentences correct, rcocean.

    norcal (a5428a)

  53. Is Orange Man the worst President ever? He seems to be the most crooked, dishonest, cowardly, mentally ill, Traitorous would-be dictator, that ever held the office.

    This is 100% correct. You are exactly right, look at you learning things.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  54. Ted Goodman
    @TedCGoodman
    ·
    NEW: President Trump & Biden statistically TIED in Michigan

    46.2% –
    @JoeBiden

    45.3% –
    @realDonaldTrump

    9.5% – Undecided/Other

    This is the same firm who accurately polled President Trump’s 2016 Michigan victory over Clinton
    __ _

    I don’t think the autonomous zones, riots, spike in murders and statue topplings are playing as well as the media stoking machine thinks they are.
    _

    harkin (4cf812)

  55. Trump is to the Presidency what Chelsea Manning is to womanhood.

    Furthermore, he does not give direct orders. He gives passive-aggressive hints. A trick he learned from his store-bought women. That way he retains deniability. And the catamite who wants to remain a favorite in the harem (How are you today, Mr. Barr?) will run to get it done.

    nk (1d9030)

  56. ‘Ridiculous claim’: Trump pushes baseless conspiracy about foreign interference in mail-in voting
    President Donald Trump on Monday claimed without evidence that foreign countries will manufacture fake mail-in ballots in order to rig the 2020 election.
    …..
    ….[T]there are a number of protections in place that make the scenario Trump describes not just difficult, but extremely far-fetched, given the likelihood that the scheme would be discovered, election experts said.

    “It’s a ridiculous claim,” said Rick Hasen, a professor and an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine. “Not because tampering with absentee ballots is impossible, but because what he’s describing would be a ridiculous way to try to steal an election.”
    ……
    “It would be quite difficult for a foreign country to try and make a perfect copy of such ballots. They would have to have accurate voter information including voter identifying information, such as signatures or the last four of people’s driver license numbers,” Hasen said. “There are just so many things that would make it obvious that these ballots would be fraudulent that such a scheme would be easily caught and deterred.”

    In a second tweet Monday, the president also claimed that Americans had voted through two World Wars, seemingly suggesting that the coronavirus — which spreads through close contact and is a different threat entirely — shouldn’t stop in-person elections, either.
    ……
    While it’s true that American elections took place during numerous wars, it’s worth noting that absentee ballots were a huge part of them. Mail voting was created so that Union soldiers could vote in the Civil War and the system was expanded through subsequent wartimes.
    ……

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  57. President Donald Trump on Monday claimed without evidence that foreign countries will manufacture fake mail-in ballots in order to rig the 2020 election.

    No, that is a request for assistance, not a warning.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  58. Silly me, I forget to read the headline. Trump “all but admits”. Which of course means he Did NOT admit. Carry on

    rcocean (2e1c02)

  59. Leftists claim without evidence that Trump admits to wrong doing. And they’ve doing it for 3 years.

    rcocean (2e1c02)

  60. Pence and his wife voted by mail in Indiana GOP primary using old address
    Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, voted by mail in Indiana earlier this year using the address of the Indiana governor’s mansion, Business Insider reported.

    The couple mailed in their ballots for the June GOP primary in their home state of Indiana on April 13, according to voter files obtained by the outlet. They used the address of the governor’s mansion in Indianapolis, where they have not lived since December 2016…..

    Pence’s press secretary Devin O’Malley said in a statement to The Hill that the Pences do not own another home in Indiana, so the governor’s mansion remains their “legally correct” address for registration.
    ……..
    The vice president also voted absentee by mail for the primary and general election in 2018, according to The New York Times.
    …….

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  61. “This is the same firm who accurately polled President Trump’s 2016 Michigan victory over Clinton”

    They also polled that Roy Moore would beat Doug Jones.

    Davethulhu (9921df)

  62. “Oh its a ridiculous claim by Trump”, says Democrat and left-wing professor so-and-so who was contacted by the Left-wing Democrat Reporter to disagree with Trump and help the D’s win the Election

    Thanks Rip. Got any more “reliable” news?

    rcocean (2e1c02)

  63. But you don’t know he is the Toddler in Chief until he is in office.

    We knew enough during the campaign to know that he was a liar, a bully, and a scammer. He was belligerent, attacked people who he perceived had offended him, and was classless. That was enough for some voters.

    Dana (25e0dc)

  64. I don’t think the autonomous zones, riots, spike in murders and statue topplings are playing as well as the media stoking machine thinks they are.
    _

    harkin (4cf812) — 6/22/2020 @ 5:16 pm

    There is a lot of mask slipping. As Trump drops absolute deal breakers, like Berman, or this Chinese concentration camp thing, the more strident left is actively opposing the basic functionality of jails and police departments. They are fomenting a lot of racial division, our nation’s Achilles heel, in what was already a very divided and difficult year.

    If the GOP miraculously gained some sense and dropped Trump for someone who isn’t awful, people will vote for their families to be safe.

    That said, how can I vote for Trump when he’s doing what’s described in this post? Confusing responses by not knowing where there are flare ups is a Soviet type of domestic policy.

    Dustin (e3a6ae)

  65. @63 rcocean-
    Feel free to provide evidence to the contrary. I look forward to reading it. You might find it here.

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  66. Biden has the complete advantage here. He knows that all he has to do is wait for Trump to put his foot in his mouth, and voila, another campaign ad is made. His camp – and Trump’s own campaign team – know that Trump will come through with flying colors. Biden doesn’t even have to work at this.

    Of course, who he selects as a running mate carries more extensive consequences than a younger president. We know that Biden will likely run for just one term, and whoever is his running mate now will be the obvious nominee in 2024. Any of those on the shortlist have what it takes to be a competent and knowledgeable vice president. It’s just a matter of whether he tries to please the far left wing of his party, or the more middle-of-the-road Democrats.

    Dana (25e0dc)

  67. @67

    Dana,

    I hope he chooses the middle of the road, but alas, the desire to fire up the base can be strong.

    norcal (a5428a)

  68. U.S. Soldier Admits Plotting With Neo-Nazi Cult to Kill Fellow Troops
    An Army private confessed to sharing secret information with a satanic neo-Nazi-group in a plot to attack his own unit while it was overseas and cause “the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible,” federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday.
    …….
    Private Melzer, [Audrey Strauss, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan] added, had tried “to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group.”
    …….
    Federal prosecutors said that O9A, which, like other extremist groups, often communicates via encrypted apps like Telegram, espoused “a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence.”

    Experts have said the group, which is based in Britain, overlaps to some degree with better-known neo-Nazi organizations like the Base and Atomwaffen, whose members have also been prosecuted by the federal government. O9A’s followers have expressed admiration not only for Hitler but also for Islamic terrorists like Osama bin Laden, prosecutors said.
    ……
    In April, after he learned that the Army planned to move his unit to a different overseas base, Private Melzer began to plan the assault, prosecutors said. Using Telegram, he provided members of O9A and a related group, the RapeWaffen Division, with sensitive information, including his unit’s destination, its anticipated movements and its surveillance and defensive capabilities.
    …….
    More “fake news”, eh, rcocean?

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  69. norcal,

    It’s hard for me to get a feel today of where the Dems stand as far as the various factions within the party. Two months ago, I would have said that the progressive wing was strong and pulling more allies to their leftism, but now I don’t know. Maybe since Biden has had some time as the nominee, the party has felt the need to unify and rally behind him, while keeping an eye on who fills the running mate slot.

    Dana (25e0dc)

  70. 24. Trump is a marketer, and he’s pretty good at it, so he knows he’s selling the sizzle. The problem is that we are sitting here with what we already know is a really horrible steak in front of us and he’s trying to sell us the same one again. Even the most dedicated carnivore might try the vegetarian pasta under those circumstances.

    Ever heard of Adolf’s Meat Tenderizer?

    Trump has. And so has the pale-faced-brown-shirt-und-lederhosen-crowd marching behind him. 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  71. Utah epidemiologist warns that state’s only ‘viable option’ is ‘complete shutdown’ if cases continue to surge
    Utah’s state epidemiologist warned other officials that the state could be facing a “complete shutdown” if coronavirus cases continue to rise.

    Dr. Angela Dunn wrote Friday to the leaders of the state’s coronavirus response that Utah was in the “acceleration phase” of a covid-19 outbreak in a memo obtained by The Post. As of Monday, Utah has reported 17,906 overall cases since the pandemic began, with 444 new cases reported on Monday. The state has 158 total deaths, with 171 current hospitalizations.

    “We are quickly getting to a point where the only viable option to manage spread and deaths will be a complete shutdown,” Dunn wrote. “This might be our last chance for course correction. Contact tracing and testing alone will not control this outbreak.”
    …..
    Dunn also noted in the memo that Intermountain Healthcare hospitals were forecast to exceed ICU capacity in July. The University of Utah Health could surpass its capacity in “four to eight weeks,” according to her memo.
    ……

    RipMurdock (d2a2a8)

  72. 67. ‘Biden has the complete advantage here… Biden doesn’t even have to work at this.’

    Old, old, habits die hard: plagiarists are intellectually lazy and feed off the works of others.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  73. Dana,

    Keeping a low profile has seemed to help Biden. Similarly, a moderate running mate would further the theme, i.e., not providing a target for Trump.

    norcal (a5428a)

  74. 39. It’s a false choice. The result of your vote will be the same either way.

    Gryph (08c844)

  75. He dismisses masks and encourages large indoor rallies that ignore social distancing. Why wouldn’t he try to impress us with a slowdown in testing?

    noel (4d3313)

  76. Assuming Biden wants a woman of color, Susan Rice may be the best choice.

    Dave (1bb933)

  77. They will be laughing at him for a millennium. The time when the great America gave the nuclear button to this dude.

    noel (4d3313)

  78. He finally comes clean… LOL!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  79. @77. Brown Rice as a side dish?

    ROFLMAOPIP – “Tanks for the memories”:

    ‘Rice was a foreign policy aide to Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential election.’ – source, UncleBen’sLongGrainwiki

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  80. The result of your vote will be the same either way.

    No it won’t.

    If Trump is re-elected, his corrupt, divisive and incompetent approach to leadership will be vindicated.

    If he loses in a landslide, as he should, it will be repudiated. Regardless of what Biden does.

    Dave (1bb933)

  81. If what’s happening (rioting, looting) in these half-century-under-Democrat-control cities is not being perpetrated by Antifa, I guess it’s just your garden variety registered Democrats acting out… heroes that they need to believe they are.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  82. ’78. They will be laughing at him for a millennium. The time when the great America gave the nuclear button to this dude.’

    Reaganoptics:

    “”My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia. We begin bombing in five minutes…” – Ronald Reagan 8/11/1984

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  83. Reagan told a joke. Trump is one.

    noel (4d3313)

  84. I don’t know that much about Val Demings, but she seems like a potentially interesting choice for Biden too.

    An African-American woman who was the police chief of a major city – in key battleground state Florida – sounds too good to be true, if I’m Sleepy Joe.

    She is strongly pro-abortion, but good luck finding an elected Dem who isn’t.

    Dave (1bb933)

  85. Only Oprah can save Biden’s bacon; Aunt Jemima pancakes w/Mrs. Butterworth syrup for dinner tonight, Captain, sir!?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  86. An African-American woman who was the police chief of a major city – in key battleground state Florida – sounds too good to be true, if I’m Sleepy Joe.

    Yeah, she has to be the leader at the turn. Klobachar is the most qualified, but she’s a no go, and she knows it, but she’s finagled herself cabinet slot, probably Harris too if she bows out.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  87. California enacts November mail-ballot law — with surprising GOP support
    Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday bolstered his plan to mail every voter a ballot for the November election by signing legislation that passed earlier the same day with support from several Republicans, belying monthslong criticism of absentee voting from President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders.
    ……..
    By signing Assembly Bill 860 into law, Newsom defused the principal legal argument against the universal vote-by-mail argument. Plaintiffs argued he had exceeded his authority by implementing a sweeping change to election management without consulting the Legislature.

    The bill would not end in-person voting, which by state law must still be available. …….

    Republicans who backed the bill commended language ensuring that ballots will not be mailed to inactive voters who have not participated in recent elections. The Trump administration has seized on a lawsuit finding inactive voters on the rolls to falsely claim California is mailing ballots to ineligible voters.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  88. Maybe lay off the racist tropes, Deezy-Eska?

    It’s 2020, not 1964, and the segregation you remember so fondly has gone the way of the Rockefeller Republican.

    Dave (1bb933)

  89. I worked on a pretty well known and successful Republican campaign over a decade ago and the thing I remember most was the hundreds of racist…. especially anti-Mexican…. comments that accompanied the donations from around the country. It was shocking to me especially since the candidate was not so inclined.

    Maybe it just took Donald J. Trump to expose it fully. To release that beast on us. Right, DCSCA?

    noel (4d3313)

  90. Nah, I was calling Taco Bell “the Mexican telephone company” way before Trump was anything more than a name occasionally heard to me.

    nk (1d9030)

  91. 90. He is the GOP; he is you; he is your creation, spawned and nurtured by 80’s Reaganomics; the Frankenstein who escaped from Trump Tower; the Republican ‘Picture of Dorian Gray.’

    He is you.

    Welcome to 1964.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  92. @91. LOL; Uncle Ben’s makes for a more palatable side than Uncle Tom. 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  93. Church Hosting Trump Says Its Air Filters ‘Kills 99.9% of COVID-19′

    In a video posted to Twitter on Monday afternoon, Dream City Church, the north Phoenix church hosting President Donald Trump on Tuesday, said that it has installed Clean Air EXP, an air filtration system that, according to the church’s leaders, kills 99.9 percent of COVID-19 “within 10 minutes.”
    ……..
    In the video, the church leaders repeated marketing copy from the company’s website, and said that “independent testing” of the local company’s technology, which they say was developed by members of their church, uses ionization to take “particulants” out of the air so that “COVID can not live in that environment.”
    ……..
    “So when you come into our auditorium, 99 percent of COVID is gone, killed, if it was there in the first place” said church pastor Luke Barnett in the video. “You can know when you come here, you’ll be safe and protected. Thank God for great technology and thank God for being proactive.”
    ………
    Since May 26, Arizona has experienced a dramatic uptick in COVID-19 cases, going from roughly 200 to 400 cases a day to 3,246 new cases on June 19, the state’s highest-ever daily toll for newly confirmed cases. As of June 22, Arizona has had 54,586 cases and 1,342 related deaths.
    …….
    Trump should feel right at home with these grifters. If they are so confident, why do attendees need to sign a waiver?

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  94. ‘It’s 2020, not 1964, and the segregation you remember so fondly has gone the way of the Rockefeller Republican’

    ROFLMAO – Ever heard of Rush Limbaugh?

    “The latest thing from Q branch; it’s called a radio.” – James Bond, 007 [Daniel Craig] ‘Skyfall’ 2012

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  95. I used to make the occasional Uncle Ben’s chicken and wild rice, but they either changed the recipe or I got to liking mine better.

    nk (1d9030)

  96. @96. It’s all in the season– or seasoning. 😉

    Next month, beware Hershey, PA: white chocolate vs. dark chocolate is boun to be on the national menu.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  97. Check it out, we’ve finally distilled it, the one, the only…

    “the PUREST EEEEEEVIL”

    Whatever, dude. The people pushing the lockdowns and masks and all that exposed themselves as frauds over and over again throughout the outbreak. They helped China cover it up, they lied about human-to-human transmission, they flip-flopped on masks, did 180s on treatment just to hurt the President, and then finally revealed themselves as utter frauds when they decided that actually social distancing isn’t important if you’re mad about how bad black people have it.

    Compared with that ‘slow down the the testing, we’re already way ahead and our enemies are using it opportunistically against us’ really doesn’t line up even if true. You’re saying you’d rather have someone who WASN’T honest about these everyday statistical dishonesties? You’re saying you prefer stone-faced lies pretending seriously to be truth to winks at the shenanigans we all know go on every day?

    And sure, there’s nobody to replace our expert class. That’s why it’s a crisis. A goober with loud sunglasses and a F*** Your Feelings shirt doesn’t know anything about viral transmission. The problem is everybody who knows something about pandemics (or finance, or medicine, or climate, or…) has been caught using their position of intellectual authority to lie to people for political gain, and now there’s nobody to trust.

    It’s really too bad. I wish they’d stop lying so much.

    Rioting Expert (f19f5c)

  98. Right on, Rioting Expert. Cheers from my coffee cup, brother.

    mg (8cbc69)

  99. Obeying the law must be for suckers.

    mg (8cbc69)

  100. I see that the Putin Panty Sniffer found his way around the ban filter again.

    nk (1d9030)

  101. Is why Moscow pay top ruble.

    Dave (1bb933)

  102. MG, Those experts you’re so mad at worked for Trump.

    Time123 (ea2b98)

  103. Trump tells aides he supports second round of stimulus checks, but White House divisions remain
    President Trump has told aides he is largely supportive of sending Americans another round of stimulus checks, believing the payments will boost the economy and help his chances at reelection in November, according to three people aware of internal administration deliberations.

    However, leading congressional Republicans and some senior White House officials remain skeptical of sending more checks, creating a rift within conservative circles that could have significant consequences for the stimulus package set to be taken up by lawmakers in July. The White House has not officially taken a position on the matter.
    …….
    Internally, the president’s advisers and allies are split. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has advocated sending another round of checks, two people with knowledge of internal deliberations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to frankly discuss matters they weren’t authorized to comment on publicly. Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, is skeptical of sending payments out to as many people who received them in the first round…….

    Other conservative White House officials and influential congressional Republicans oppose the plan, expressing concern with the impact of tremendous levels of new spending on the deficit. ……..

    ………[T]he White House may support a round of stimulus checks that is smaller than the initial package and targeted more directly toward lower-income Americans.
    ………
    ……… Many economists say the $1,200 checks and the increase in unemployment benefits helped shield low-income Americans, with one study finding poverty dropped in April, despite the economic contraction, because of the massive infusion of government cash.
    ……….
    Rioting pays off!

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  104. I think Trump actually said this some time ago, but maybe they didn’t take him seriously, as actually changing anything. Pence also talked about more tests causing the way things looked to being misleading (as a metric) . Of course this all depends on the surrounding facts.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-plays-down-coronavirus-testing-as-us-falls-far-short-of-level-scientists-say-is-needed/2020/05/08/d9241454-913f-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

    May 8, 2020 at 6:29 p.m. CDT

    The president has played down the need for testing as he overrides public health recommendations that would prolong the closures of schools, businesses and much of daily life. Although he is now tested every day with a rapid-result machine, Trump has questioned the value of extensive testing as the gap between available capacity and the amount that would be required to meet public health benchmarks has become clearer.

    Trump’s comments came as a second employee in the White House complex tested positive for the coronavirus, a development that prompted increased testing for staff and other precautions not generally available to most Americans.

    “This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great,” Trump said at the White House, as he confirmed a positive test result “out of the blue” for a top staffer, Vice President Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller.

    It is known that the first time a cruise ship with infected passengers appeared off the coast of the United States, Trump didn’t want to let anyone off the ship for fear it wold make the statistics look bad. (this decision was reversed after a short time, but I think merchant crewmen fom oter counties are still stuck aboard these ships.)

    And then there’s the deportation of infected people, which has supposedly stopped, but they are not doing it in a fail safe way.

    Sammy Finkelman (3102d6)

  105. Trump just said on his chopper walk that he wasn’t kidding, “I don’t kid, we do too much testing”

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  106. Trump just said on his chopper walk that he wasn’t kidding, “I don’t kid, we do too much testing”

    Classic Trump.

    He spends one day unconvincingly going through the motions of damage control, and then saws the limb off behind everyone who crawled out on it to defend him.

    Dave (1bb933)

  107. It makes sense. North Korea has the most effective COVID response in the world, with no cases.

    Their leaders like the president for life thing too. If Trump had to pick a successor, it would be Ivanka.

    This all seems like a ridiculous comparison. Greatest nation in the history of the world compared to the worst one. Life comes at ya fast.

    Dustin (e3a6ae)

  108. I don’t kid, we’ve got too much Trump. Lock’im up!

    nk (1d9030)

  109. 103 Trump didn’t hire them some mf in the past had his head up his azz and gave them a hack job for life Fauci should be wearing tar and feathers

    mg (8cbc69)

  110. There’s always Christian Science, mg. And yoga, if all you need is to realign your chakras. And have you considered sacrificing a bucket of KFC to Chango?

    nk (1d9030)

  111. He wasn’t kidding. So…. Trump followers now will refuse testing along with resisting a mask and disregarding social distancing. This, he says, will reduce cases. Why didn’t you think of that?

    For this, and so much else, he will be remembered for a thousand years.

    noel (4d3313)

  112. I think they should only admit cultists who test positive to his rallies.

    Anyone not infected may have been taking precautions, making their loyalty suspect.

    Dave (1bb933)

  113. Trumpkins already have their heads buried so deep in the sand that only their assholes are sticking out.

    nk (1d9030)

  114. Reagan predicted a different outcome when an invasion from outside of our realm.

    “Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”

    Trump isn’t from our world, or reality, so Reagan was wrong.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  115. Will Kayleigh’s new talking point be that he was “obviously” kidding today, when he said he doesn’t kid?

    Dave (1bb933)

  116. when we used to care about data, good times,

    https://polimath.substack.com/

    narciso (7404b5)

  117. The emperor has no mask.

    noel (4d3313)

  118. “I don’t kid, let me just tell you, let me make it clear,” Trump

    You said you wanted less testing. Then your staff spends two days saying that you were kidding. Finally, you say you don’t kid.

    “let me make it clear”

    noel (4d3313)

  119. I believe Trump wants less testing because he wants Covid to go away, and that seems like the only way to make Covid appear to go away.

    But how much of the testing is in federal control? It seems like the states are taking the lead in testing, but it may be that the federal government controls the supply/approval of the tests. If there is any slowdown or manipulation happening, that is where I would look — not the NIH but the FDA, CDC, or whatever bureaucracy is in charge of tests.

    DRJ (aede82)

  120. You know your governor better than I do, DRJ. I know what Florida’s DeSantis will do. I know what Illinois’s Pritzker will not do. Will Abbott under-test or under-report to please Trump?

    nk (1d9030)

  121. And if Abbott displeases Trump, there’s a DCSCA-scripted scapegoat in the same house pushing his wheelchair (the Texans here will get that reference).

    urbanleftbehind (58b7af)

  122. There are many ways to manipulate the data in a state. Provide more testing in areas that have fewer cases being just one of them. Would Republicans be so stupid as to do it? Well, their leader has been “clear” about his desire to lower the case count.

    noel (4d3313)

  123. Anyone who has see Hannibal with Gary Oldman, too.

    nk (1d9030)

  124. Speaking of Tejas…

    The Trump administration is ending funding and support for local COVID-19 testing sites around the country this month, as cases and hospitalizations are skyrocketing in many states.

    The federal government will stop providing money and support for 13 sites across five states which were originally set up in the first months of the pandemic to speed up testing at the local level.

    Local officials and public health experts expressed a mixture of frustration, resignation, and horror at the decision to let federal support lapse.

    Texas will be particularly hard hit by the decision. The federal government gives much-needed testing kits and laboratory access to seven testing sites around Texas. But in the state, which is seeing new peaks in cases, people still face long lines for testing that continues to fail to meet overwhelming demand.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  125. I know that in Illinois Pritzker took charge of not just the testing but of obtaining the tests. The way he put it was “I hope to get help from the federal government, but I’m not really counting on it.” Maybe that’s why we are the first state to have plateaued (that’s flatlined for you from Rio Linda) for over two weeks now. At roughly 650 cases a day, still a lot, but no spikes of 2,000 – 4,000.

    nk (1d9030)

  126. So the federal government does play a role. Interesting.

    I have no doubt Gov Abbott will continue testing but this will probably complicate testing in Texas for awhile. My region had very little testing at first but it seems to be widespread now. The case numbers are growing rapidly, too, but primarily among the young so our hospitalizations are low (for now, but that will change as the young pass it on to the older people). That is not true in other regions where hospitalizations are high and getting higher.

    DRJ (aede82)

  127. I think federal and state testing is separate from private testing. The expansion in testing in Texas has been almost entirely due to private testing. The public health options are still small and primarily in the biggest cities.

    DRJ (aede82)

  128. Fauci warns of a ‘disturbing’ uptick of infections in some states and contradicts Trump on testing.
    ……
    In a break with President Trump’s relentlessly positive assessments of the pandemic’s trajectory in the United States, Dr. Fauci told the house Energy and Commerce Committee that the picture is a “mixed bag,” with some bright spots but many dark clouds and unknowns. Some states like New York, are “doing very well” in controlling the spread of the virus, he said, but called the surge in other states “very troublesome to me.”

    “The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we are seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and other states,” Dr. Fauci told the panel as he and other leaders of the White House coronavirus task force appeared together for the first time in more than a month to brief Congress.
    …….
    Dr. Fauci contradicted the president, saying that neither he nor any other officials he knew of had been asked by the president to slow testing, and that they planned to do the opposite.

    “In fact, we will be doing more testing,” Dr. Fauci said, adding that more surveillance of new cases would help “understand exactly what is going on in community spread.”

    Later in the hearing, Adm. Brett P. Giroir, once the administration’s testing “czar,” backed up Dr. Fauci, saying that he had not been instructed to slow testing.
    ……
    Shortly before the hearing began, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to complain that he was not getting credit for his response to the virus, noting that Dr. Fauci, “who is with us in all ways,” has “a very high 72% Approval rating.” The approval rating for the president, who is known to track his own popularity closely, is currently 41 percent…….
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  129. …….Mr. Trump took to Twitter to complain that he was not getting credit for his response to the virus……
    H
    Trump is getting credit alrighty, but he doesn’t recognize he’s getting credit for his failures.

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  130. Speaking of failures-
    BREAKING
    E.U. May Exclude U.S. as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus
    European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times.

    That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States……..
    …….
    …… Today, Europe has largely curbed the outbreak, even as the United States, the worst-afflicted, has seen more infection surges just in the past week.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (e7189f)

  131. there’s nobody to trust.

    Barack Obama himself said something very much like that in two commencemet addresses this year.

    He said the curtain has been pulled back and we know the people in charge don’t know what they are doing.

    He wasn’t talking about Donald Trump. Not too many people think of him as the Wizard of Oz even if he attempts to appear that way.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-16/obama-s-2020-high-school-commencement-special-goes-prime-time

    All those adults that you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing? It turns out that they don’t have all the answers. A lot of them aren’t even asking the right questions.

    Sammy Finkelman (3102d6)


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