GOP Circle The Wagons To Defend Trump (UPDATE ADDED)
[guest post by Dana]
We knew it would happen. Prominent leaders in the GOP were bound to jump into the fray and defend Trump after previews of Bob Woodward books were released. The portion at the center of the firestorm reveals that the President said, on tape, that he intentionally downplayed the virus.
Here is a roundup of reactions by Republicans desperately trying to downplay Trump’s downplay:
Sen. Thom Tillis, a vulnerable Republican who is up for reelection, said he wants to see “the full context” of Trump’s comments before fully weighing in. But he added: “When you’re in a crisis situation, you have to inform people for their public health but you also don’t want to create hysteria.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican also up for reelection, pointed to Feb. 29 comments that Dr. Anthony Fauci made on the “Today” show where he said that there was “no need” for people to change their lifestyles “at this moment,” though Fauci also warned about the threat of “community spread” from the coronavirus and cautioned that the risk level “could change.”
“I think it became clear that the human transmission was greater than originally thought,” Graham told CNN.
“So when the President shutdown the economy in March I think that was a bold decision because he took the hottest economy in decades and shut it down. I think that was the decision of consequence, shutting the economy down.” (The White House left the decisions to states to decide whether to shut down their economies.)
Graham added: “I don’t think he needs to go on TV and screaming we’re all going to die.”
Asked again if he was OK with Trump admitting that he played down the threat, Graham said: “His actions of shutting the economy down were the right actions. I think the tone during that time sort of spoke for itself. People knew it was serious”
Other Republicans offered similar defenses:
“I’d argued since day one that we put this in proper perspective: I have not been in favor of these overall shutdowns, have been devastating to the economy, devastating to people’s health in other ways,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told me, when asked about Trump’s comments to Woodward.
Johnson added: “It’s been a difficult thing to manage, and I’ve tried not to be critical of any government officials having to make really tough decisions with imperfect information, that includes governors and the President. So I understand what he’s saying. I don’t think it’s an illegitimate point to make.”
This is my favorite one – a straight-up denial of reality:
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): These gotcha books don't really interest me that much.
CNN's Pamela Brown: He's on the record. He's on the record.
Kennedy: These gotcha books don't really interest me that much.
Brown: He did 18 interviews with Bob Woodward … He's recorded. pic.twitter.com/GGuAZkw4KO
— The Recount (@therecount) September 9, 2020
And here is Trump’s press secretary lying about the President’s lies:
"The president has never lied to the American public about COVID," White House press sec. Kayleigh McEnany says in response to reports that Pres. Trump admitted he deliberately played down coronavirus threat in an interview with Bob Woodward. https://t.co/Ud65CGPMjB pic.twitter.com/j2odpoNA7n
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 9, 2020
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted at a White House briefing Wednesday the president “never lied to the American public on COVID” but rather “was expressing calm.”
Despite Trump’s saying on the March 19 audio recording obtained by CNN that “I wanted to always play it down” and “I still like playing it down,” McEnany said: “The president never down played the virus. The president expressed calm and he was serious about this.”
Anyway, I could go on and share Fox and Friends’ defense of the President, Laura Ingraham’s, Sean Hannity’s, etc., but you pretty much almost always know what they’re going to say before they say it…
Here’s a question I had but didn’t consider it as much as this guy (whom I don’t normally read, but I think he’s onto something in his observations):
So Trump has confirmed in his own voice that he was not self-deluded about COVID. He knew the danger – and still opted to do nothing and instead belittle the risk in public.
The question that then follows …What on earth did Trump expect to happen next?
I get the utility of the “lie your way out of it” approach to scandals and crimes.
But you can’t cover up an epidemic!
So *why* was he so passive? Action might have saved him, even the appearance of action. Instead, nothing. Why?
This question I think casts light on Trump’s habitual lying.
At some deep level of his psyche, he imagines that words can change reality.
He has no idea eg how to run a business. But if you keep saying your business is “tremendous,” bankers lend you money you need not repay.
His hotels and resorts are 2nd-tier at best. But keep insisting they are “classy” – and people who don’t know better may be duped to regard the Trump brand as somehow equivalent to Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons.
So when a virus materialized, Trump did the only thing he knew how to do: try to talk his way out of it.
He kept promising Americans the virus “would go away” as he once kept promising creditors that the check was in the mail. Maybe something would happen to save him!
Talk, talk, talk, never stop talking, refuse to be interrupted, overwhelm your creditors/customers/wives with words … and so long as you kept talking uninterrupted, nothing too very bad could happen. Or so Trump had learned to believe.
Any true plan of action against the virus would have required Trump to cede control and attention to someone else, someone who possessed the expertise and competence Trump lacked. That course was truly radically intolerable to the narcissistic Trump.
So instead he chose the only course of action he had the know-how to execute: try to out-talk the virus.
He talked and talked and talked. He contradicted himself, he lied, he made false promises – but he ballooned himself over the landscape on a great gush of hot air. He felt safe so long as he floated up there, above the people who got sick on his watch, above the dead and dying, above the shuttered businesses, above the lost jobs, above the interrupted educations … words words words, the only thing he knows how to produce.
He surely could see the air leaking from his balloon of blather. He could feel the basket slowly losing altitude, anticipate the shock of the crash … and so he kept pumping more words, hoping if he could only stay above the tree-line until voting day, he might yet survive.
It was never a good plan. But any other plan was either intellectually impossible for Trump (do a good job) or psychically impossible (yield power and attention to someone who could do the good job Trump couldn’t). So … he yammered and trusted something would save him.
Maybe the virus would fall only on the blue states. Maybe sugar tablets would cure it. Maybe he could push enough people back to work to revive the economy without killing too many of them. Maybe Putin’s vaccine would work. Talk talk talk, never pause.
And so here we are. The trick that more or less worked through so many bankruptcies and relaunches failed to work. Almost 200,000 Americans are dead. He’s facing electoral defeat – and probably massive civil liability and criminal exposure post-defeat.
Still… all things considered, it was a pretty good run, wasn’t it? When it’s all over, what will be hard to explain will not be, “What went wrong?” but “How did such a transparent fraud dupe so many people? And how did the fraud continue even as everything crashed into ruin?”
Those are questions for the future. For now, the immediate problem is, how do we save from the wreckage a country where two-fifths of the population prefer to suffer death and disaster rather than admit a mistake?
–Dana
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Trump says he hid the true facts about the seriousness of COVID-19 to prevent feelings of panic.
But facts don’t care about your feelings.
UPDATE #2 BY DANA: Trump defends himself when confronted about downplaying the virus:
.@jonkarl: "Why did you lie to the American people? Why should we trust what you have to say now?"
President Trump: Such a terrible question and the phraseology. I didn't lie."
Full video here: https://t.co/EYGgLk4KMP pic.twitter.com/T5dmwDNIP0
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 10, 2020
“Why did you lie to the American people, and why should we trust what you have to say now?” ABC News correspondent Jon Karl asked during a news conference, referencing the president’s comments in audio recordings from February that COVID-19 was “deadly” even as he publicly minimized the threat of the virus.
“That’s a terrible question and the phraseology,” Trump said. “I didn’t lie. What I said is we have to be calm. We can’t be panicked.”
“The way you phrased that is such a disgrace,” Trump added. “It’s a disgrace to ABC Television Network. It’s a disgrace to your employer.”
Karl pressed Trump, noting that he told Woodward in early February that COVID-19 spread through the air and was more lethal than a “strenuous flu” even as he publicly compared the emerging outbreak to the common flu.
“What I went out and said is very simple. I want to show a level of confidence, and I want to show strength as a leader and I want to show our country is going to be fine one way or the other,” Trump said. “There was no lie here. What we’re doing is we’re leading, and we’re leading in a proper way.”
Good morning.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:18 amUPDATE BY PATTERICO: Trump says he hid the true facts about the seriousness of COVID-19 to prevent feelings of panic.
But facts don’t care about your feelings.
Patterico (115b1f) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:29 amAnd good morning to you!
Patterico (115b1f) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:30 am“ During an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Dr. Fauci disputed the notion that Trump ever downplayed the coronavirus. According to Fauci, Trump’s public statements were no different than sentiments expressed during White House Task Force meetings.
“In my discussions and the discussions of other task force members with the president, we were talking about the reality of what was going on, and then we would get up in front of the press conferences … he really didn’t say anything different than we discussed when we were with him.”
“I didn’t really see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him in what he ultimately came out publicly and said.”
“Did you get a sense that [President Trump] was or wasn’t playing this down?” Fox News’ John Roberts asked.
“No, no, I didn’t. I didn’t get any sense that he was distorting anything,” Fauci replied. “In my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that to him. When he would go out, I’d hear him discussing the same sort of things.”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/09/09/dr-fauci-defends-president-trump-from-woodward-attack-says-trump-told-public-the-reality-of-what-was-going-on-n911707
__ _
harkin (cd4502) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:36 amCV19 doesn’t care about your feelings either.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:38 amAlmost every day, I wake up and wonder why and how a fraud like Trump has convinced millions to his point of view. We are in Bizarro TrumpWorld. Maybe this election will get us out, but maybe not. The battleground-state margins are too close for comfort.
Great post, Dana.
nk (1d9030) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:38 amTrump says he hid the true facts about the seriousness of COVID-19 to prevent feelings of panic.
Which apparently didn’t work, given the panic buying of food, paper towels, guns, and toilet paper. A rational President would have conducted FDR-type fireside chat speeches, laying out what science knows/doesn’t know, and what measures would be taken.
You can’t handle the truth!-Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) in A Few Good Men
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:42 amGood analysis of this administration’s “wall of talk” approach to every issue.
John B Boddie (bd03e4) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:42 amRegarding Fauci, he guardrailed his comments to personal observances of Trump in meetings and briefings. Trump rarely attended task force meetings, and Fauci was not invited to a number of briefings.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:44 amFauci wasn’t in the room when Trump said that anyone who wants a test, gets a test.
Fauci wasn’t in the room when Trump said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
Fauci wasn’t in the room when Trump said, “Well we pretty much shut it down coming in from China…Getting along with China. Getting along with Russia.” That was on Hannity.
Fauci wasn’t in the room when Trump said, “A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat—as the heat comes in.”
I could go on.
Excerpts from Woodward’s book, cherry-picked by the partisan press, don’t convince me of anything. It was possible on Feb 1 to think that 1) Covid-19 was a bad thing and 2) that Americans did not need to worry. That’s what WHO and the Chinese were saying. I am not going to jump to conclusions based on snippets chose by people with an axe to grind. I understand that folks here are reading this through partisan lenses but I urge you to read the book first. Some of this will prove to be distorted or out of context.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:47 amPaul now throws Fauci under the bus. Interesting parallel to Trumpist treatment of former aides.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:50 amPaul, The “Trump never downplayed the virus” Defense as highlighted in Harkin’s link, is a strange one, since he clearly did and admitted it on tape.
Fauci chooses his words very carefully and doesn’t over explain himself when doing so would be bad for him.
Some people I’ve worked with will answer you question honestly, and assume you asked what you wanted to know. I think Fauci is a bit like that, but at his level he knows that’s not all there is to communication.
Time123 (457a1d) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:53 amThe president cares deeply about preventing public fear and panic.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:54 amExcept I didn’t. Fauci is very precise in what he says. I just wish Trump’s adoring defenders can realize the same thing.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:54 amBecause you love Trump and hate the libs? It looks like you’ll twist yourself into a pretzel to find a way to conclude that he wasn’t saying what he clearly said, even when what he clearly said lines up with what everyone saw him doing. You’re really smart, but I just don’t get your take on this.
Time123 (457a1d) — 9/10/2020 @ 8:56 am@4, 9:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:01 amMore about Fauci and Trump:
Did Fauci endorse hydroxychloroquine, like Trump has?
Did Fauci endorse taking bleach or other disinfectants internally as a cure? (Trump later claimed he was trolling reporters, but some people took him seriously).
Has Fauci trolled reporters, like Trump has?
Did Fauci promote Pepcid as a COVID-19 cure?
Did Fauci promote internal use ultraviolet light as a COVID-19 cure?
I could go on and on and on and on……
All the President’s Lies About the Coronavirus
Through August 31st.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:10 amOff-topic: Homeless shelters in Los Angeles cost far more than expected.
The average cost of building a single unit of housing for the homeless in Los Angeles has risen to $531,000, according to an audit from the city controller, who recommends that L.A. rehab motels and open dormitory-style buildings to save money and get people off the streets quickly.
Controller Ron Galperin, in a report due Wednesday, also cited two projects whose costs soared to nearly $750,0000 per unit and assailed delays that he said have driven city-funded homeless construction expenses up from initial projections of $350,000 a unit.
I will point out that you could buy two 2000sf houses in NM for $531K. I suspect that L.A. apartments don’t cost $531K to build. There’s a lot of graft and/or special dealing (e.g. $700 faucets from Cousin Phil) going on here. I doubt anyone will call them on it though.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:23 amThe first 2 paragraphs should have been quoted in the above
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:24 amIt’s long past time that someone invented the word bepretzel (verb, tr.).
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:36 amIt’s as if Trump defenders can’t conceive of any public relations approach somewhere between false assurances and wild eyed panic, even though most other leaders in most other countries managed.
But I guess we really are an exceptional country. Simple clear honest messages don’t work that well.
Victor (661f31) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:38 am“ Simple clear honest messages don’t work that well.”
__
Lots of people gave up on clear honest messages when actual doctors declared white supremacy dangerous enough to abandon social distancing and the Dems and media jumped on the bandwagon.
harkin (cd4502) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:44 am__
“Liberate Michigan!”
Bite it!
nk (1d9030) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:51 amHe said that in March.
And they didn’t believe him.
https://apnews.com/dbddbcf6cb4b17420e4a08820b73d4be
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:55 amOf course, as I am reminded, nobody, but nobody except Trump is responsible for the hydroxychloroquine nonsense. But conflating true criticisms with unverified ones is counterproductive.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 9:59 amNote: I think there may be a problem with any coronavirus vaccine. They are looking for a too strong immune response, and that creates problems. Astra Zenica stopped a trial on Tuesday.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:02 amYou wanna go there?
Okay… let’s go.
“Downplaying” didn’t mean Trump didn’t take COVID seriously.
“Downplaying” was to keep things calm to reduce the sense of panic. Anyone arguing otherwise is simply gaslighting or at worst, being a hack simply because of Orange Man Bad.
Here’s some facts(via https://twitter.com/rustyweiss74):
A lot of people, from pundits to scientists to politicians got this virus wrong from the beginning.
Hence why its classified as a NOVEL virus… we were learning as we went, and adapting as we understood the virus.
I’d argue that not a single thing would have been done differently from a functional perspective than what happened.
You just don’t like Trump or his rhetoric.
But in terms of what the government ACTUALLY did, there’s nothing that would have been done differently.
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:02 am@27 actually, I take that back. Nothing would’ve been done different once the government was engaged.
The Obama administration’s handling of the swine flu was near non-existent.
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:06 amTrump reveals existence of super secret nuclear weapons system ‘even Putin doesn’t know about’ a claim that Woodward said he confirmed with sources.
Your black hole tax dollars at work.
Bastards. God bless President Trump for the tell! Tell the people who pay the bills more!
“Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn’t you tell the world, EH?” – Dr. Strangelove [Peter Sellers] ‘Dr. Strangelove’ 1964
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:09 amThere was a lot more lying going on about dangers in the Truman and Eisenhower adminisrations.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:13 amWe didn’t test people coming from areas with CV.
we didn’t develop an effective testing plan.
We didn’t ask for QT for people comeing from areas with CV.
We didn’t set up contact tracing for people coming from areas with CV.
We didn’t plan and communicate the end of travel from Europe.
We created national guidelines for a shutdown, but Trump backed away from them.
Trump and his admin just didn’t do much. You can put his actions into a long and somewhat silly list to make it look like we did things. (Payroll Tax Cut? Travel Ban from Iran?) But and the end of the day results speak for themselves.
-We had panic
-We had a disjointed response across the nation
-We didn’t have a unified resource plan for too long.
-We have one of the highest deaths per-capita, and cases per-captita of any nation
If you look at results, Trump Failed.
Time123 (235fc4) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:15 amIf you look at actions it’s easy to see how.
If you look at the man it’s easy to see why.
His silly list is dumber than I thought
Plans? They didn’t do it, they just made a power point about it.
Time123 (235fc4) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:17 amObama did a reasonably good job with the swine flu,
https://www.propublica.org/article/no-president-trump-the-coronavirus-is-nothing-like-h1n1-swine-flu-either
Trump defenders efforts to claim otherwise is simple gaslighting.
And why exactly was it a problem for Pelosi to suggest that going to American Chinatowns, full of American citizens was a problem. Is the claim now that parts of U.S. cities were full of infected people at the time? Shouldn’t Trump have done something about it?
Or is the theory that the virus is somehow only a problem for people of Chinese descent, so let’s not worry, after our mostly ineffective China travel restrictions, on people coming from Europe.
Victor (661f31) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:17 am4.
Except that Trump knew better than the experts. He suspected they were wrong, or too slow to call out what it was, and it would spread.
In fact, in one of his early statements, he said we were lucky.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:18 am““Downplaying” was to keep things calm to reduce the sense of panic. Anyone arguing otherwise is simply gaslighting or at worst, being a hack simply because of Orange Man Bad.”
Trump is lying when he says he was downplaying to reduce panic. He was downplaying because he didn’t want something making him look bad.
Davethulhu (4c5c2a) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:21 am4. The problem with Faauci;s defense of Trump – that Trump never said anything that hadn”t been said to him – is that Trump knew better than the experts. He said so himself – he always knew – that is before others – that it was pandemic. And Woodward has him on tape proving he knew better than the experts. And we can see it n an early quote:
From the New York Times article in MArch that attempts to prove that Trump was lying about knowing early:
Trump calls the United States lucky.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:26 amIt’s weird that so many people insist on ignoring that fundamental fact about Donald Trump, even though he frequently reminds us how much importance he places on getting praise and adoration.
Also, the people who had a habit of saying “What matters is results” have now largely resorted to “He tried his best. Give him a break!”
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:33 amwas he saying anything different, while you all had the impeachment bone in your teeth, have we heard from romney, sasse, who missed the fisa debrief,
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:37 amrage no frustration is a more accurate account,
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/09/trump-playing-down-coronavirus-to-avoid-panic-is-deja-vu-all-over-again/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:39 amodd how woodward missed this story,
https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/10/carter-pages-book-shows-how-the-left-will-ruin-patriots-to-get-power/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:42 amLOL, Carter Page the patriot who passed information to known and later convicted Russian spies, in hopes of getting a lucrative oil deal.
Dave (1bb933) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:47 am@ Kevin M,
It really doesn’t matter if they were “cherry picked” or not. The fact is, he made the comments and later confirmed that he said them.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:54 amSomeone should do a chart showing what COVID deaths would have looked like had Gov. Cuomo (D) had not turned NY nursing homes into COVID death camps.
Hoi Polloi (093fb9) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:55 amMan, I bet the FBI got the goods on Page with all the FISAs they had on him. Wait…they found nothing? Who knew?
Hoi Polloi (093fb9) — 9/10/2020 @ 10:56 amGood morning, Dana. Or good afternoon, depending on the time zone. If it is a good morning, or afternoon, which I doubt.
So, it’s the blame game now, is it?
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/09/10/tucker-carlson-lets-face-woodward-book-fiasco-sort-lindsey-grahams-fault/
Of course it is. Who green lighted Trump interviewing with Woodward? Trump did. It’s that simple. Trump did, because his narcissism is so pathological he thinks he can talk his way out of anything. Only this time, he talked himself into something, and it isn’t pretty. Now all his sycophants, butt gerbils all, are in a rage. Pointing fingers, naming names, blaming everyone, anyone other than Trump. It is truly pathetic.
In Greek there is a saying, carpe diem, seize the day. That is what leaders do in a crisis. That is what Churchill did in WW II, when the Nazis were bombarding London. He spoke the truth, made the British people resolute and indefatigable, and ultimately they not only survived but won the war. Along with the help of Eisenhower, of course. The one quote I remember most from Churchill is, “The American people will always do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other alternatives.”
Trump had the opportunity to seize the day. He could have easily quelled this pandemic, by informing the American people of the threat they were facing, made them resolute and indefatigable, came up with a national plan, thwarted the infection. The American people would have followed him then. Instead, he held rallies and played golf, and lied.
The result is 200,000 dead. The United States now leads the world in infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Other world leaders quelled the disease in their nations, but not Trump. Why?
It’s almost as if he wants to kill America. Millions infected, a thousand dying every day, businesses shuttered, schools closed, economic collapse, civil turmoil, protests, riots, vandalism, arson, murder on the streets. It’s horrific.
And his response is to have a para-military force use force, shield, batons, pepper spray, and yes tear gas, to clear a path so he can awkwardly hold up a Bible, upside down and backwards, in front of a church?
This is your “law and order” president. People are dying, from a disease that could have been prevented. Businesses are being closed, never to be reopened; jobs are being lost. Schools are being shut down, quarantined. The American people are suffering greatly.
And all he can think about is holding a rally?
At some point, the American people must come to a realization that this idiot is unfit for office. And he should be prosecuted for multiple crimes once he leaves office.
But that’s the ticket, isn’t it? Waiting for the statute of limitations to run out. His cultists will defend him all the way, until the final day.
Shame on them.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:03 amIf the question is who I’m going going to believe, the Trump administration or my own lyin’ eyes, I have to go with my eyes, not the Deceiver-In-Chief.
@27 I notice that you skipped all the “Trump spreads disinformation about Covid19” incidents in your line up, which is, after all, the actual thing we are talking about.
You know who actually told us what we needed to know? Other people. You know who took most of the direct actions to stop the spread of the virus? Governors.
@38 Are you saying that the President of the United States had to choose between focusing on an issue that would effect the lives of millions of people vs one that was about saving his single individual skin, and he chose to focus on saving himself? No! He would do such a thing?! Oh my goodness!
@40 Alexander Vindman. An actual patriot. Who got run over by the Trump administration.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:03 amOK, yeah, 200k dead, Trump lied about Covid so some number of those >0 fall directly at his feet. Cool.
But also this week…
There’s a whistleblower complaint against Chad and Ken (really?) pushing for the DHS domestic threat assessments and analysts to change their findings to support Trump’s rhetoric. Fine, fine, it’s not like Trump would lie about something knowingly for effect…he said forgetting the Covid thing above.
The Treasury department just sanctioned Rudytooti’s Ukrainian pal for election interference in 2019 and 2020 for the things he was doing with Rudytooti, Ron Johnson, and Devin Nunes. Things the Treasury specifically says are conspiracy delusion malarkey. Johnson and Nunes are still trying to use it to drum up some sort of congressional investigation on a Biden, any Biden…that the Trump Treasury department has already said is tofurkey bologna.
Trump was bragging to Woodward about a new nuclear weapons system that is so “powerful” and “no one has ever seen before” that was so classified people would be put under the jail if they’d breathed a word about it. Wait, it’s fine, fine, Trump can declassify anything for any reason, his reason, he wanted to brag. Just because it isn’t illegal doesn’t make it stupid.
That’s what came out this week that isn’t the other scandal that would have been administration ending for anyone else. It’s Thursday on a holiday shortened week.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:23 amYeah, it did, whembley. Your timeline shows very little of what Trump actually did. Bottom line, if he had taken it seriously, he would’ve lit a fire under CDC/FDA to fast-track testing. Instead, he was reticent about testing from the get-go because the numbers could make him look bad.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:23 amPaul, who said that testing would make him look bad? I’m sure whoever said that is definitely an idiot, whoever it could be. Seriously, whoever could it be?
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:26 amOK
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
US is 62.69 deaths per 100K
Florida is slightly better than US average at 55 deaths per 100K
It would still be one of the worse performances in the world
Time123 (457a1d) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:31 am@48
IT. WAS. A. NOVEL. VIRUS.
NO ONE KNEW EVERYTHING AT THE TIME.
You’re engaging in a hackish Monday Morning Quarterbacking heavily here.
…add to the fact that we had to deal with the disinformation from China and the incompetency of the WHO organization.
The impeachment hearing was happening at the same time. If he was so callous as you seem to believe, he could’ve gone berserk, like he normally does, to drive down the news impact of the impeachment hearings. Instead, he literally formed that task force and took action based on their recommendations.
I’m not saying Trump’s and his administration response was perfect…. far from it actually.
But to say that the CDC/FDA wasn’t engaged at the start is gaslighting, or at worst, wantonly lying.
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:32 am@50
Speaking of deaths per 100k:
And the NY vacancies of nursing home is pretty damning:
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:36 amhttps://www.empirecenter.org/publications/nursing-home-vacancy-rate-soars-hinting-at-a-higher-coronavirus-toll/
I’m so glad the NFL is starting up today. Three hours of non-political (I hope) football-watching bliss.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:40 amBlame all 32k deaths in NY on Cuomo, the Federal government had zero responsibility…and?
That leaves 160k others, so far. Cuomo made changes, but fine.
Here’s the thing, don’t vote for Cuomo for president, is he running, I don’t know. Did Cuomo say he had no responsibility? No, actually he said it was his responsibility, good, don’t vote for him.
Who said he had no responsibility? You seem to think that you’re defending Trump, but you’re making him look worse, not better.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:43 amI agree, but it’s no excuse screw up testing for so long. Trump did nothing in that regard, hardly took a meeting from Azar, and the buck stops you know where. This is on his watch.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:48 amHis attitude about testing was pretty obvious when he refused to allow cruise ship passengers onto shore because the numbers would make him look bad, which is beyond selfish and self-serving.
Also, I don’t accept the impeachment excuse. Presidents should be able to multi-task, and his lawyers did the heavy lifting. All Trump was doing at the time was watching FoxNews and tweeting up a storm during his extended “executive time”.
Do we know more now? How has Trump’s rhetoric changed? He still pushing for less testing, he’s still pushing to get people to do less social distancing, he’s still pushing for less mask wearing. He’s still primarily planning for a magic cure to pop up…magically.
He has learned nothing, magic isn’t a plan, Harry Potter will not save anyone. Do you know why? Think on it and get back to me.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:53 am@51 The Woodward book is talking about what Trump did know at the time, and what Trump knew doesn’t match what he was telling us.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:11 pmGee, Paul:
Woodward knew; Bob Woodward is responsible for ‘the deaths of tens of thousands of your fellow citizens.’
He sat on the information until now- just weeks before the general- to sell books.
Reaganomics. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:13 pm@42. ‘It really doesn’t matter if they were “cherry picked” or not.’
OMG! Dana channeling Hillary Clinton– amidst a pandemic? 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:16 pmWe knew we needed testing.
We knew we needed a contact tracing process.
We knew we needed guidelines on how to respond.
Trump’s admin failed to deliver all three of those things.
Also, Trump was part of the team selling that Chinese disinformation.
Time123 (457a1d) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:19 pmWhat exactly was Trump doing during his impeachment, other than obsessively watching t.v., that would detract from his ability to deal with the virus?
And again, do the Trump defenders see any middle ground between hysterical panic and lying? How does it reduce panic if the country gets the increasing sense it’s being lied to for the political benefit of the president?
Victor (661f31) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:27 pmWe knew we needed testing. We knew we needed a contact tracing process.We knew we needed guidelines on how to respond. Trump’s admin failed to deliver all three of those things.
Bob Woodward knew.
And Woodward failed to report the American people– just to make a sensational buck- like a good, honest, fair and balanced jpournalist should. He didn’t like Nixon; he concludes his latest book opposing Trump.
“Woodstein!” – Ben Bradlee [Jason Robards] ‘All The President’s Men’ 1976
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:27 pmThen by all means, impeach Woodward, don’t vote for him for president. Is that an option?
What point are you trying to make exactly? Be specific.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:31 pmHere’s a snapshot of Trump’s mentality on testing as of March 6, 2020:
A president who took the virus seriously would’ve been “thinking about this”.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:34 pm@63. Is it really that hard for you to grasp?
Tomorrow: Woodward reveals Trump eats peas with a knife…. and worse, drinks whole milk, not skim, from the carton!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:38 pmThat’s some stellar logic, DCSCA, and it’s a two-fer, you resorting to that stupid blame-the-messenger schtick.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:38 pmQuestions: Which branch of government is Woodward in? What police power does he have? Which departments was in charge of for dealing with CV19?
Another fun example of the shining example our president sets for us, his clear refusal to collaborate with evil and his unwavering support of religion:
https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/trump-woodward-i-saved-his-ass-mbs-khashoggi-rage-2020-9?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter
The 400 billion # is of course a lie.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/oct/23/donald-trump/donald-trump-touts-nonexistent-450-billion-saudi-o/
Victor (661f31) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:39 pm@66. Stellar, indeed; actually, Paul, the phrase in ‘quotes’ is yours- from another thread.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:44 pmI listened to it, I read it, what on earth is this supposed to mean, monuments, power, or oil and power, or oily religion and power, or power, or something.
WTF is this guy talking about, he’s either lying or incoherent, sometimes he’s lying incoherently, but he’s never coherent and truthful, how can the only moderately understandable mumblejumble always only be the lies, even if he was speaking the lord’s honest truth, how could you know?
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 12:46 pm@69 It means he doesn’t care if they are lying, they have money and power and they are spending some of that money in the US. He is actually being vaguely truthful AND vaguely coherent there. I mean, it’s a vile sentiment, but it seems to be what he really thinks.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:03 pmThat’s a lie. Once you change my quote, you own it. It’s yours, and you owe me an apology for stuffing your words down my throat.
And while you’re at it, you can blame Woodward for not disclosing Trump’s giving cover to MBS for the sheik’s murder of Khashoggi.
But what’s a little murder when MBS around and buys “over $400 billion” of stuff from the US. I blame Woodward.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:24 pmSo am I to gather that you hissing Trump haters would have preferred panic? Man, I’m only beginning to understand how Pat could entertain the thought of voting for a clinically demented Democrat.
Gryph (f63000) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:29 pmWe got panic anyway.
We just got incompetence and failure along with it.
But if his lies can ‘own the libs’ while he loses I guess that works for you.
Time123 (457a1d) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:33 pmI’m so glad the NFL is starting up today. Three hours of non-political (I hope) football-watching bliss.
Don’t count on it.
Sources: NFL planning extensive social injustice content for Week 1 of season
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:36 pmThe Special Counsel staff got infected by Hillary Clinton’s “wipe it with a cloth” infection…
https://www.justice.gov/oip/foia-library/general_topics/communications_strzok_and_page_09_04_20/download
Anyone wanna calculate the actual probabilities of more than a dozen top Mueller officials all “accidentally” wiping their phones or accidentally putting them in airplane mode, locking them, and “forgetting” their passwords so the DOJ OIG couldn’t access and examine them?
Anyone?
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:38 pm@43-
Someone should do a chart showing what COVID deaths would have looked like had Gov. Cuomo (D) had not turned NY nursing homes into COVID death camps.
Wait, wasn’t that part of the plan?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:42 pmInitially, Trump ignored early CDC warnings about lockdowns and later he rejected CDC guidance on reopenings. This was and is The Trump Show and, to Trump, the government is there solely to support him.
DRJ (aede82) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:45 pmSo am I to gather that you hissing Trump haters would have preferred panic?
I would have preferred honesty.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 1:49 pmStock market dropped almost 50%, panic buying of toilet paper and meat in the US. Canada, Europe, South Korea, not so much, and their leaders leveled with them.
So, what would the panic look like if competency had been the order of the day? When Americans saw what the rest of the world was doing and saying, and our leaders were saying the exact opposite, that people went “Oh ship, maybe it’s time to panic”? so Charmin was unavailable for a month, that’s panic.
But hey, nobody knew about Covid, there’d never been an infectious virus before, there wasn’t a plan that covered that…except there had been and there was, and experience and planning were ignored…hence the US response was a disgrace.
Trump was downtalking it, minimizing it, and planning on a magic solution TODAY!!!, almost 8 months later, today.
It was disgraceful then, it’s criminal now, and that is only one of 4 things this week that he’s done to prove he’s unfit.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:05 pm@72 It was not a binary choice between Truth+panic or Lies+calm. He could have told the truth and not caused panic. Telling the truth probably would have caused less chaos because not as many people would have spent time believing his disinformation and shouting at people who were less inclined. And maybe fewer people would have died if there had been a unified truth message instead of some people trying to deal with the reality while trump tried to suppress it.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:08 pmTrump, on the other hand, failed to rally Americans to fight a common enemy and failed to lead by example. It was not only a missed opportunity to get Americans from all sides of the political to come together and be a unified front against the virus, but by failing to do that, he lost a golden political opportunity that would have served him well in the run-up to the election. Vaccine or no vaccine, if he had generated serious momentum in every American, regardless of their political affiliation, led by example (wearing a mask, social distancing and reinforcing that to Americans regularly), remained focused on managing the pandemic while giving medical experts the necessary platform and room – sans Trump – to communicate directly with the American public, his poll numbers would have been impressive. As it is…
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:14 pmNow do a post about media and the democrats circle the wagons to protect Biden.
1DaveMac (b2b831) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:14 pmnk @ 6,
Thanks. I needed that today.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:17 pmI would answer that question this way:
This disease was novel and its treatment/cure was and is unclear. The situation was confusing so people would feel panic no matter what Trump said or the government did. But honesty would have helped Trump and the government earn public trust as the pandemic unfolded, and it would have created more public unity. Our system works best when it is based on trust, not force.
DRJ (aede82) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:20 pmTrump’s lapdog says Trump was ‘straight’ with Americans on coronavirus threat
Comedy gold!
Rip Murdock (2f4209) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:23 pm@75 Did you read your link?
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:31 pmMerkel told Germans the truth, and they didn’t panic. Rather, government and citizens took it seriously, they started testing early, they contact-traced, and deaths from the virus dropped to a trickle last June. The virus is contained while we’re failing.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:34 pmThere are plenty examples of other countries not “panicking”. I thought the US was exceptional, that Americans could handle whatever comes before them, that we’re resilient. Instead, Papa Trump decided to lie because us fearful souls would freak out, and that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. That, and it’s Woodward’s fault for not calling out his lies right after they happened.
I’ve updated the post with Trump defending himself after Jon Karl confronts him about “downplaying” (i.e. lying) about the virus.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:34 pmWell said, Paul Montagu.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:35 pm@71. That’s a lie. Once you change my quote, you own it. It’s yours, and you owe me an apology for stuffing your words down my throat.
Except it’s not; your post; your quote.. from your throat:
“@98. No, you’re once again making invidious overgeneralizations, because Americans loyal to Trump took him at his word and behaved accordingly, and political sycophants fell in line with Trump instead of the CDC. If you want to go on this personal responsibility jag, Trump is personally responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of your fellow citizens.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/9/2020 @ 6:55 pm”
No need for you to apologize to me. Just stop diggin’ when you’re in a hole, fella.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:36 pmIt should also be noted that the experts at the CDC screwed up nearly completely. Not only did they refuse the WHO tests, their own test kits were broken and even if they weren’t they were set up to run DOZENS of tests a day, nationwide. Just like they did with SARS.
Every criticism Trump (or any barfly) has made of CDC is deserved and the entire upper management should be cashiered.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:37 pmIf you want to go on this personal responsibility jag, Trump is personally responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of your fellow citizens.
This is the kind of hyper-partisan hyperbole that makes people skip your comments, Paul.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:38 pmSuch an important story that Bob Woodward and anybody else that knew what he was writing didn’t bother mentioning it for months. Coming on the heels of the “suckers and losers” story, I’m going to guess there are more shoes to drop, about one per week until the election unless I miss my guess. What will be the next bombshell to fall? An old story about a Trump business deal in Russia from 2004? A story about Trump cheating on a college exam? A story about Trump secretly being 3 ducks in an overcoat? It doesn’t matter what the story is or how ridiculous it is or how easily debunked it is, the purpose of the story is to force the GOP to play defense, to knock them off their game, to spend more time defending Trump than attacking Biden and the Left. And the GOP is just that stupid, they’ll happily attack the tarbaby the Left has set out for them, happily go chasing the chaff while ignoring the target. Trump, on the other hand, is a master troll, he may not be so easy to trick into chasing the ball the Left has pretended to throw. This should be fun to watch. Troll against troll and may the trollier troll win.
Jerryskids (702a61) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:38 pmWhat do you think that this email chain means? Be specific.
My guess is you found it somewhere but don’t understand how Mobile Device Management, records retention, mail archiving, or iMessage storage works.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:39 pmI think any president who was a true statesman and decent communicator, with whom the majority of people had faith in because they had seen him in action, could have rallied the public together in a unified way despite the fears of the virus.
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:40 pmSources: NFL planning extensive social injustice content for Week 1 of season
Next week in TV trade journals: “Week 1 football viewership drops abruptly at half-time. NFL and networks mystified.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:41 pmMerkel told Germans the truth, and they didn’t panic.
Germans are fairly famous for following orders.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:42 pmTrump deflected Karl’s disrespectful slam w/Woodward’s own indifference.
Brilliant. Our Captain knows how to manage the media.
Wonder if Karl would have asked Reagan why he lied to the American people about Iran-Contra- and accepted Ronnie’s excuse that his mind and heart told he did not trade arms for hostages, the facts told him otherwise.
Reaganoptics. Trump knows how to use I well.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:44 pmEvery criticism Trump (or any barfly) has made of CDC is deserved and Trump’s entire upper management should be cashiered.
Fixed it.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:45 pmI agree, but it’s no excuse screw up testing for so long. Trump did nothing in that regard, hardly took a meeting from Azar
It was the experts screwing up, not Trump. What did you expect? Trump rushing down to the labs and telling people how to titrate a solution?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:45 pmThe early government testing plans were flawed, Kevin M. They refused to allow private labs, hospitals and universities to participate, which was a mistake. Hiwever, IMO that is not germane to Trump’s response to the pandemic since he opposed more testing.
DRJ (aede82) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:45 pmJerryskids,
You might want to read this which address your concern. But while this may or may not help, the fact of the matter is: We are currently still in the midst of a pandemic, we are still losing American lives to it, and Trump is still the President of the United States. Everything he has said and done with regard to the pandemic is timely, relevant, and should be made known to the American people, to whom he answers. This especially as he is asking us to trust him leading the nation for the next four years!
Dana (292df6) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:46 pmWho’s on deck to release a Trump-tell-all-book next week?
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:46 pm@103-
Who’s on deck to release a Trump-tell-all-book next week?
Source
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:50 pmIf you’re in Moscow or Beijing– or just SPECTRE, K.A.O.S. and Dr. Evil– what does this all tell you about how to bring Amerika to its knees?
… and Putin smiled.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:52 pmStill waiting to see how the western wildfires will be blamed on Trump.
Squandering needed resources on absolutely preventable riots looking even worse considering so many out here pitching in to deal w fires.
harkin (cd4502) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:56 pm_
It wasn’t the book, Trump is talking, it’s his words. Read Dana’s update, he’s doing it TODAY, this isn’t a story from Woodward, this is an ongoing story written by Donald Trump, spoken by Donald Trump, tweeted by Donald Trump.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:57 pmOff-topic: Reports of Antifa types setting fires in OR and WA. Just anecdotal hearsay for now, but I expect the MSM to studiously ignore this if true.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 2:59 pmEvery criticism Trump (or any barfly) has made of CDC is deserved and Trump’s entire upper management should be cashiered.
Fixed it.
It has been, several times.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:01 pmStill waiting to see how the western wildfires will be blamed on Trump.
Challenge accepted. When the President is criminally stupid, incompetent, unpatriotic, and irresponsible, citizens will see no reason not to likewise be criminally stupid, incompetent, unpatriotic, and irresponsible. “Gender reveal!” Goof grief! (No, don’t tell me different, I still want to believe it was a sonogram.)
nk (1d9030) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:03 pmThe early government testing plans were flawed, Kevin M.
That’s one way to put it. You could also say the were laughably inadequate AND broken.
They refused to allow private labs, hospitals and universities to participate, which was a mistake.
Also, they refused to let companies with vast experience in home testing get involved — and they still refuse — despite the terribly inadequate throughput of “private labs, hospitals and universities” to conduct the current tests. They complain that the home tests miss the virus in the first few days, something the labs are able to catch. Even if it takes them a week to tell you the results. Although money seemingly gets results faster.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:07 pm@110 It was, in fact, about a forthcoming baby, so a sonogram was definitely involved.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:09 pm“Gender reveal!”
Mommy one and Mommy two: “Darling, are you a boy or girl?”
Infant: “Gaa Gaa”
Mommy one and Mommy two: “It’s a GIRL! Let’s schedule the surgery.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:10 pmThank you, Nic!
nk (1d9030) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:15 pmThis is pretty long but…
March 19th
March 20th
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:18 pmI learned we were going to have a daughter on 9/11, THE 9/11, but it was a couple of hours after the “fireworks” had already occurred.
nk (1d9030) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:18 pm@86
Yes. Did you?
Looks like a whole lotta coordination to prevent the IG from investigating the SCO prosecutor’s communications. (now, the tech wiz may be able to recreate some conversation if they contacted others who weren’t wiped, but the SCO communications between prosecutors are likely lost).
For those who don’t own iPhones… it takes a LOT of work to permanently lock the phone for unsuccessful password entries. (if I remember right about 3 hours).
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:20 pmMarch 17th
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:22 pm“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”
“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”
@117 Here’s the ultimate irony.
Weissman lead the prosecution over Author Anderson’s case (the Eron one) for the allegation of document destruction. (obstruction of justice, that was overruled by SCOTUS eventually).
Yet Weissman and crew in the SCO coordinated communication destruction to prevent oversight. It’s the same act that Weissman would’ve prosecuted anyone else (he has a “pitbull” reputation after all).
Oh… Fvck Weissman. He’s a disgrace to his profession.
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:24 pmSomewhere between 3 seconds and 40 seconds actually. Plus, the MDM policy for DOJ is to lock the device after 3 attempts, or by clicking a button. Plus there’s the off-device storage, do you think you’re iPhone is an island? It’s not for a general private individual, for an enterprise it is less so, not more so.
Again, you didn’t actually read it, or you don’t know what it means.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:27 pmAlso, what does an device management have to do with Trump lying about Covid?
Were there pictures of…SQUIRREL…
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:29 pmyou are iPhone, hah!
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:30 pmWildfire/Arson info from more or less reliable source: https://heavy.com/news/2020/09/oregon-fires-antifa-arson/
Apparently no one has been arrested in conjunction with any of the wildfires, certainly no Antifa members. But some fires are clearly arson. Neither bunked nor debunked.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:31 pmReading more closely, there have been some arrests, mostly stupid people playing with matches. No coordinated arson attacks as some report.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:34 pma totally fraudulent investigation carried out by at best incompetent officials, with mueller, with weissman, we’re talking criminal malice based on his record, was the predicate for three years of harassment, that culminated on february 7th
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:40 pm@117 (87 pages of device return procedures)
So you noted, then, the conversation that verizon has records of texts from those phones, which could be retrieved within a limited amount of time and records that there were texts that could be retrieved for up to a year. Also, even with a factory reset the data isn’t actually deleted, it isn’t readily accessible, but it can be retrieved and you don’t have to be an expert techie to do it. In order to fully delete data you have to use special software that basically overwrites all the memory in a given device. A factory reset does not do that. I am reasonably certain that the FBI has people who can manage to retrieve data after a factory reset.
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 3:59 pmTrump lands in Michigan. AF1- 747- trundles up to yuuuuge hanger crowd.
SHOW TIME!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:05 pmOh…
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:13 pmMaybe politicians and non-medical people as a whole should leave medicine and treatment of Covid to the doctors and the patient involved. Hydroxychlorquine has been banned by many states based on what….. that Trump liked it? Hydroxychloroquine has been around and safely used for over 50 years. It doesn’t kill people. What it does do is save money as it is very cheap compared to the high dollar Remdesivir that Gilead is pushing. Money drives a lot these days.
I have two neighbors who have both had Covid-19. One was terribly sick, on day 2 was gasping for breath and running high fever. They were threatening the hospital but the doctor gave them hydroxychloroquine, azithoimycin, and zinc. Two days later he was mowing his lawn. The other neighbor was having mild symptoms but was given the same mix. Recovered extremely fast and without problems. Many doctors in our area are using it without problems and I believe saving lives. It is being used all over the world as this link shows. EARLY use of it shortens the disease and lessens symptoms and is showing to lower death rates.
Countries that Use Hydroxychloroquine may have lower Covid death rates
I will trust my doctor, not a politician for my medical care.
Marci (405d43) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:27 pmIt hasn’t been “banned” for things that it’s used to treat. Covid isn’t one, it’s useless, without efficacy, no benefit, nada, zero, zilch, plus potentially causes other issues.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:31 pmThe President would go on to blame Woodward after being asked by Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker about why he didn’t go public about his COVID-19 concerns, given that he told Woodward on Feb. 7 that he knew that the novel coronavirus was airborne and deadly.
Trump pointed to China’s early assertion that COVID-19 was an airborne disease “earlier than the statements I made,” before going on to argue that “there has to be a calmness.”
“You don’t want me jumping up and down screaming there’s going to be great death and really causing serious problems for the country,” Trump said.
Trump then suggested that Woodward should’ve taken it upon himself to alert authorities after stating his private concerns on COVID-19 to the legendary journalist.
After Rucker attempted to interject by mentioning that “Bob Woodward is not the President,” Trump rambled on by insisting that Woodward “said he didn’t think it was bad” before reiterating that the journalist should’ve gone public with the President’s COVID-19 concerns sooner.
“He actually said he didn’t think it was bad. The only one that said its bad were the fake news media because they take it and they try and put it a certain way,” Trump said. “If Bob Woodward thought it was bad, then he should have immediately gone out publicly, not wait four months. He’s had that statement for four months, maybe five months. He’s had it for a long time.”
The President then added that he did a series of “quick” interviews with Woodward on the phone “out of curiosity because I do have respect.”
“I wonder whether or not somebody like that can write good,” Trump said. “I don’t think he can, but let’s see what happens.”
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:32 pmAll of this.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/the-lefts-reaction-to-woodwards-coronavirus-scoop-is-revisionist-history/
Word.
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:38 pmTell that to my two neighbors who are walking proof otherwise.
Marci (405d43) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:40 pmAnd all the people in other countries that are successfully being treated with it. Hmmmmmm……
Marci (405d43) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:42 pmBut I get it. Trump like, Trump bad. Bad medicine. It’s okay. You, nor Trump are in charge of my medical care.
@130
Anecdotally, it’s still being prescribed for early covid treatment where I’m at. Not as widespread when it started as dexamethadone (DECADRAN), a corticosteroid is now the preferred treatment for early infections.
The idea isn’t a “cure” for the disease, it’s to prevent the body from going into immuno shock (cytokine storm).
Interestingly, it *is* widely used for covid around the rest of the world. It’s just a matter of effectiveness and tradeoffs (as is the case of any medicinal treatment plans).
whembly (c30c83) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:45 pmone might further note, that what has been practiced from virginia to maine, washington to california, was the beta test for ezekiel’s plan,
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:45 pmCool story bro.
I’d be happy to. 97% of people who get Covid survive, 80% of the hospitalized survive. Congratulations, your neighbors were among the 98%. They’re walking proof of that at least.
I bet they also had some chicken during that time period, drank some fluoridated water, probably watched some Netflix, other things that didn’t cure them of Covid.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:50 pmWhich ones are that, be specific?
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:50 pmif there is no hope, you can sign away all your liberties indefinitely, this is how you can be arrested in your own home, in victoria province, how they’ve post poned the election, in new zealand, supposedly for a month,
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:53 pmmitch/lindsey/toilet/2020
mg (8cbc69) — 9/10/2020 @ 5:01 pm130. Thank you
Gryph (f63000) — 9/10/2020 @ 5:01 pmDoctorColonel, Sir. As a decades-long advocate of “right-to-try,” I think that should be between a doctor and his/her patients. Off-label prescriptions are made all the time for many drugs with potentially dodgy side effects, including some controlled substances. The only reason HCQ should be any different is because politics.Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
·
Video: Here’s just a sample of the back-and-forth between Fox News Channel’s @BretBaier and TJ Ducklo from the Biden campaign. Baier repeatedly asked the simple question of what Biden would have done differently on COVID, and Ducklo accuses him of being a Trump campaign stooge.
https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1304187394455937029?s=20
__ _
Josh Jordan
@NumbersMuncher
This is a brutal exchange.
Biden’s team should be better prepared for these kinds of questions because they aren’t going to magically go away.
__ _
Muscles Rothschild
@MusclesRoth
·
Why would they be prepared for them when 99% of the media is working with them to get Joe elected?
__ _
Non Hispanic White
@EmJayHix
·
They don’t have to be prepared for anything. Bidens team knows the media had them covered and the next “Trump bombshell” is coming in a day or two.
They don’t actually have to do any work cause no one will ever question them. They’ll just say orange man bad and j*rk off together
—-
JD
harkin (cd4502) — 9/10/2020 @ 5:07 pm@skidoosh10
·
It wasn’t even a hard question, but this will last all of four hours before something else replaces it in the media’s attention span.
__
Yeah, he takes it seriously.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 5:37 pm@143 What I really want to know is who they let choose the music? Fortunate Son? 2 Big Gay Anthems? And Tiny Dancer? Most of the people in the crowd looked to be mid 30s to late 40s and that is NOT our music, TYVM.
(also the speech was terrible, all over the place, and it doesn’t seem like even the crowd was following it very well.)
Nic (896fdf) — 9/10/2020 @ 5:47 pmWhembly so many deceptive statements in this.
This is deceptive. The steps to handle the flu like pandemic are pretty well known. Testing, Contact Tracing, and QT to slow the spread.
Again deceptive as it implies we couldn’t afford to keep being prepared. It’s an excuse.
Deceptive in many ways.
The UK tried for herd immunity early on and their system started to get overwhelmed so they switching to lockdown. They’re at 63 deaths per 100K. Sweeden is at 57.
The US is at 58. Just behind Sweeden.
Germany is at 11.
New Zeeland is at 0.5
Bottom line, We’re among the worst in the world for CV19 fatalities.
Stopped it? No, but I think we should have been able to do about as well as Germany, with 1/6 our deaths. But we didn’t and much of that has to do with decisions and mistakes in the executive branch.
Time123 (441f53) — 9/10/2020 @ 6:16 pmI provided the links for a reason, Kevin, and I categorically reject your opinion.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:34 pmIt happened under Trump’s watch, Kevin. Trump didn’t lift one finger to fast-track testing. That’s just a fact.
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:37 pmDonnie Calm, tamping down the “panic” in 2014…
When will most of the American people realize that this guy is a total fraud?
Paul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:58 pmIt was only a publicly debated opinion: Is the coronavirus a greater danger than flu, which we have every year, or not? Trump told Woodward that it was (or had agreed with that to give himself more credibility with Woodward) while saying in public that it was not.
Part of the problem was that the mortality from the flu had been overstated, and was nothing more than, at best, a crude estimate which the CDC never altered and never changed from year to year.
Here’s something interesting: seems to be from about 2005)
https://aspe.hhs.gov/cdc-%E2%80%94-influenza-deaths-request-correction-rfc
his was the CDC response:
https://aspe.hhs.gov/cdc-%E2%80%94-influenza-deaths-hhs-response-rfc
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 2:23 amPaul Montagu (ad6b35) — 9/10/2020 @ 11:58 pm
When the Democrats start being honest in their criticisms or the popularly circulated anti-Trump arguments fade into history.
It will take between about eight and thirty years.
Remember, you said “total” fraud. By that I assume you mean the things he likes to repeat. Even when they are 70% true he says things that include things that are wrong.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 2:30 amColonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 9/10/2020 @ 4:50 pm
It’s closer to 99% really (or even more) If you include undiagnosed cases.
t was Dr. Vladimir (Zev) Zelenko who brought hydroxyxhloriquine to the attention of high level Republicans. He is still very much for it, but says this is only helpful at the beginning of the infection and should be given as soon as there is suspicion of Covid – no clinical physician should wait for a test result. He says that giving hydroxychloroquine, azithoimycin, and zinc practically eliminates deaths. Other doctors substitute the less toxic antibiotic doxycycline for azithoimycin.
here are other off label treatments as well. BTW, Marci’s neighbors didn’t just survive, they got better quickly. And convalescent fluid. It’s difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 2:44 amAlthouse defends Trump.
DRJ (aede82) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:19 am@152, That’s one of the silliest excuses I’ve seen yet.
Time123 (c9382b) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:46 amTrue numbers set you free!
Marci (405d43) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:52 am152. I don;t think Trump believed, as Ann Althouse did, (and she had the same data Trump had – he was telling Bob Woodward no secrets – THAT 11.5 MILLION AMERICANS WOULD DIE.
Or even 5 million.
His public health experts were telling him they could keep it out of the United States. And I think Trump was somewhat skeptical about that.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:54 amThe 5% mortality rate for Covid was the product of limited testing, and the 1% death rate for flu was a very bad crude estimation, which the CDC never changed and had deliberately made as high as possible in order to encourage people to take the flu vaccines, which only had limited effectiveness.
Neither number dealt with what percentage of the population became infected.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:59 am@154, Texas has had over 15,000 excess deaths so far in 2020.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 9/11/2020 @ 7:59 am@155, Can’t know what Trump believed or not. Can only know what he did and didn’t do and what the results are. By those measures he failed.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:00 amMarci @154
Can the (Democratic) officials in Harris County really have been so stupid – can everybody involved have been so stupid – as to not realize how they were exaggerating the number of new cases of Covid? (by reporting them as of the day they were notified, often over 30 days old, and not the day of the test
Were they stupid, or just lazy or maybe partisan?
I think you can be too lazy or budget conscious to correct the numbers but you have to be either stupid or partisan to use the bad numbers like they were real.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:13 amTrump failed (a little) because he listened too much to the public health experts.
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:16 am@157. The video had nothing to do with deaths. It was about real current infections and the truth of real data to open schools.
Data is constantly being manipulated so that many might even argue your link claiming 15k plus deaths in TX.
Our neighborhood private school has 497 students. They gave the parents a choice of in person or online. 495 students and their parents chose in person. Our public school is in person in a modified schedule for the first six weeks. Parents are increasingly vocal about the improved health of their children mentally in being in school. This school board In the video, located in the Houston area, was discussing using real numbers, not inflated or delayed data to make well informed decisions. I believe real numbers provide freedom if only in peace of mind.
Marci (405d43) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:16 am@159
I say stupid. You’d have to understand the debacle of the last county judge election where a totally inexperienced grad student ride a Beto wave into victory over an experienced man who had done excellent work on numerous hurricanes, issues etc. Judge Lina Hidalgo is drunk on power and it shows.
Marci (405d43) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:20 am@159. And definitely partisan
Marci (405d43) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:21 amNo, it’s not political.
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/09/10/la-county-schools-health-barbara-ferrer-election-reopen/
“We don’t realistically anticipate that we would be moving either to Tier 2 [of California’s reopening plan] or to reopening K-12 schools at least…until after the election, after, you know, in early November. If we just look at the timing of everything, it seems to us the most realistic approach to this would be to think that we’re gonna be where we are now…until…we are done with the elections.”
beer ‘n pretzels (cc02f0) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:40 amThey dont care marci, nor putting o rourke the fake latino in any position of responsibility.
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:49 amYes lina hidalgo is the judicial version of cortez.
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:56 am911 dispatchers slammed with calls about QAnon-backed false claims about wildfires
lurker (d8c5bc) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:06 amThis is what QAnon is. And Trump endorses its candidates, compliments its followers’ love for their country, and of course welcomes their fawning adoration of his Orange Highness. All of which is to say, if you support Trump look in the mirror. The face staring back at you is a QAnon supporter.
But hey, I don’t mean to imply QAnon is Trump’s only base of support. There are lots of very fine people who know a white knight when they see one (even if he happens to be orange).
lurker (d8c5bc) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:14 amAll of which is to say, if you support Trump look in the mirror. The face staring back at you is a QAnon supporter.
Duh.
Yeah, and Biden quoted Mao and has a Mao admirer as an advisor. And, Biden staffers bailed out rioters.
So, look in the mirror Biden supporter. The face staring back at you is a Commie/Antifa anarchist who hates ‘Merica.
beer ‘n pretzels (fc7939) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:14 amI’d say that, whether in absolute terms or relative to Biden or in American history, Trump’s fraud and corruption stand out, Sammy.
Paul Montagu (8ade62) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:19 amI’ll wager that, like how Patterico came to his senses on Cruz, five years from now a vast swath of Americans are going to ask themselves, “what the hell was I thinking”.
169.
Don’t pull a muscle pretzeling yourself into that false equivalence.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:27 amhttps://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-world-trade-center-attacks-memorial-20200911-36cg3w4wnbe35cyssrxqjf4k2y-story.html
At the reading of the names I noticed one or two things different.
First every small list of reading by two people no longer ended “and my father” or “and my brother” or cousin or son or whatever it might be but the names were just read in alphabetical order.
2. If a pregnant woman was mentioned, her unborn child was mentioned too.
This may have been done ll the time: A bell was rung five times not just for the two planes crashing into the World Trade Center buildings and when the buildings came down but also fr Shanskville (and I assume the crash into the Pentagon)
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:30 amMs. Althouse is either innumerate or not being honest.
Paul Montagu (8ade62) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:39 amTrump also said to Woodward that CV19 is five times more lethal than flu (the WSJ had it at 5 to 10 times more deadly). The mortality rate for common flu is 0.1%, not 1%, so Trump got the percentages jumbled.
Althouse cherry-picked the jumbled and ignored “five times”.
Like when he ignored the April 3rd CDC masking recommendations, and when he went against his experts when he pushed governors to prematurely reopen?
Paul Montagu (8ade62) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:45 amCircling the wagons to protect fake news:
https://twitter.com/JozefColomy/status/1304465032055488518?s=20
harkin (cd4502) — 9/11/2020 @ 10:44 am_
158. Time123 (52fb0e) — 9/11/2020 @ 8:00 am
The issue isn’t whether he failed. The issue is whether he told a lie that caused more deaths.
he issue also is how much he failed. Because he could have done better and he could have done worse. Also, How does it compare to an average president
Sammy Finkelman (b66da2) — 9/13/2020 @ 11:08 amPaul Montagu: When will most of the American people realize that this guy is a total fraud?
When the Democrats start being honest in their criticisms or the popularly circulated anti-Trump arguments fade into history
170. Paul Montagu (8ade62) — 9/11/2020 @ 9:19 am
His intellectual frauds are notable for being close to original with him, although he piked up on some ideas that have been circulating for some time.
He is notable for telling what amount to completely wrong crazy lies. Lies that sometimes, if you change this, and you change that, can amount to something that is valid. The tenor of the political discussion in the United States is such, that it isn’t really noticed. It’s not like his opponents stick to the facts. Their rebuttals usually don’t stick to the facts. (because they don’t want to admit, that if you this instead, then what he said would be OK. No, Trump must be wrong wrong wrong. )
He isn’t corrupt – that’s just not true, although he tries to lay off legal expenses on the government or on the Republican Party.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/us/politics/trump-campaign-funds-legal-bills.html
That doesn’t mean he cares mostly only about his money.
Sammy Finkelman (ccce11) — 9/14/2020 @ 11:49 amNo, because nobody who knows a great deal thinks Trump is great. Anyone who thought so, didn’t know a lot, and/or focused on one or two things.
Yes, people revise opinions. Somebody named Scott I think on Powerline blog was very impressed by Mitt Romney in January, 2007.
I think this is the same person this year:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/category/mitt-romney
Sammy Finkelman (ccce11) — 9/14/2020 @ 11:53 amThe Democrats specialize in inventing false attacks against their opponents and have been doing that Nixon. A lot of the attacks during Watergate were not true. They also specialize in infallibility. Sometimes they are infallible because of the sheer quantity (not quality) of “evidence” ;sometimes they are infallible because to deny would be to indulge in a conspiracy theory, and conspiracy theories are supposedly always false; sometimes they are infallible because of credentials of people they cite in support, often without naming them, and sometimes they just rely on name calling.
There is also a network – I don;t know who originates these things – that makes up usually half true attacks against Democrats that gets repeated on all sorts of talk radio shows. They never claim infallibility but they claim to have obvious proof. These are never rebutted factually because to do that would admit of something not good. A point or two may be seized upon by the defenders (although there are a few sites like justsecurity.org, that pretend to be comprehensive)
Sammy Finkelman (ccce11) — 9/14/2020 @ 12:06 pm