Thread: President Donald Trump

Trump’s coronavirus ban on travel from the EU is backfiring already | Jonathan Freedland | Opinion | The Guardian

Such is the reverse Midas touch of Donald Trump, that his attempt last night to face facts, steady nerves and reassure the public succeeded in spreading panic, sowing confusion and ratcheting up the anxiety.

The fact that Trump delivered a rare, live televised address to the nation should, by itself, have induced calm. It suggested that the president was moving out of fantasyland, abandoning the denial that had led him to promise a miracle was on the way and that the threat of coronavirus was likely to recede as soon as next month, when the weather got warmer. (As recently as Tuesday, he was saying, “It will go away, just stay calm.”) That he was ready to deploy one of the US presidency’s most powerful tools, usually reserved for moments of war or disaster – a TV address from the Oval Office – seemed to signal that he was, at last, facing reality.


Sure enough, when he referred to the virus as a “horrible infection”, after weeks spent dismissing it as a glorified cold or flu, it fed the hope that Trump might finally be ready to acknowledge that his approach up until this moment had not worked – that this was not a problem that could be dealt with in the usual away, swatted aside with a tweet or by hanging a comic nickname around the neck of one of his enemies.


But no sooner had that hope appeared than it faded away. For in the course of nine minutes, Trump swiftly reverted to type. He described Covid-19 as a “foreign virus”, and took pains to point out that “a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe”. His doctrine of “America first” – a phrase he used once again – forever pits the US against the world, with its implication that America’s purity is permanently under threat of contamination by alien hordes. Trump has used that imagery in the context of immigration for more than four years; it should hardly be a surprise that he uses it now in the context of disease.


Equally in character was his preference for the vast, sweeping edict over the detailed, calibrated policy response. What the US needs most is a serious, extensive programme of testing. Currently, the US is bottom of the global league table for coronavirus testing, at a rate of just five people in every million. (South Korea is testing 3,692 people per million.) But that kind of announcement would require too much work, not least because Trump shut down the dedicated Obama-era, White House unit that had focused on preparedness against a global pandemic. It would be too dull and plodding for the man who made his name issuing orders on The Apprentice. Trump prefers the kingly diktat that makes instant headlines and good TV. In the 2016 campaign it was his call for a “total and complete shutdown” on Muslims entering the US. This time it was a ban on travellers from 26 European countries in the Schengen area, starting on Friday. Once again, the would-be medieval monarch was ordering the drawbridge pulled up against the foreign menace.


He surely hoped his subjects would be soothed by such a decisive show of leadership. But because this is Trump, his short speech was riddled with errors that had to be rapidly corrected – thereby spreading confusion rather than clarity. One example: he announced that his Europe ban would “apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo” across the Atlantic, prompting the White House to rush out a statement explaining that the president had got it wrong, and that the new policy would, in fact, only apply to people, not goods. If the plan was to project a White House coolly capable in the face of a crisis, that mix-up and Trump’s halting discomfort in front of the teleprompter conveyed the precise opposite.


Above all, the new policy lacked rhyme or reason. Why keep out almost all Europeans, as if this problem is exclusive to Europe (and China), rather than global, and when the US has a rising infection problem all its own? And why exempt the UK, which is hardly coronavirus-free? There was no explanation, so speculation filled the vacuum. Could it be a politically motivated swipe at the EU, which Trump once said he regarded as the US’s greatest “foe”, pointedly giving preferential treatment to Brexit Britain? Was it driven by a motive as base as the fact that Trump has golf courses in the UK (and Ireland), and he didn’t want to harm his own businesses? Or did it spring from a crudely racist worldview that divides the globe into a clean, acceptable Anglosphere set against a tainted, diseased “abroad”?


Whatever the explanation, the address did not work. The clearest proof came in the metric Trump understands best and that terrifies him most, because he believes it holds the key to his prospects of re-election. The headline this morning: “Stock markets tumble as Trump’s Europe travel ban shocks investors”. Truly, he is Midas in reverse.

Originally Posted by raycarey

for the cynics and ignoramuses who say that there's no difference between the democrats and republicans....




McCarthy: Republicans to oppose Democratic coronavirus bill - POLITICO

The Hyde amendment.

Trump declares national emergency over coronavirus
The declaration allows the federal government to tap up to $50bn (£40bn) in emergency relief funds.

Great to see Donald taking control of the problem.
Americans should be proud of him ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

Great to see Donald taking control of the problem.

That’s how you take control of the problem...


'I Don’t Take Responsibility At All': Trump Passes Buck On Coronavirus Testing Mess

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-coronavirus-national-emergency_n_5e6ba653c5b6bd8156f65d1a

Trump has golf courses in the UK and hotels in Eastern Europe in countries which are not in the EU, so no surprise that he has closed the US down to...visitors from the EU.

It looks like a mistaken move, as his own hotels are a clear and present danger...

Second person to visit Mar-a-Lago tests positive for coronavirusThe Washington Post has reported that second person who visited President Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago estate last weekend has tested positive for coronavirus, according to emails from Republican party officials to other guests who were present.


That’s the second person in as many days who’s had coronavirus and been near the president. A Brazilian official who met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend also tested positive for coronavirus.


The unfolding health crisis appears to be edging closer to Trump, a widely reported germaphobe.

‘I Don’t Take Responsibility at All’


Trump: ‘I Don’t Take Responsibility at All’ - The Atlantic



January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”


February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”


February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”


February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”


February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”


February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”


February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”


February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”


February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”


March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”


March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”


March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”


March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”


March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”


March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”


March 6: Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”


March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”


March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”


March 7: “We’ll hold tremendous rallies...I’m not concerned at all.”


March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on coronavirus.”


March 9: “This blindsided the world.”


March 10: "Our CoronaVirus Team has been doing a great job. Even Democrat governors have been VERY complimentary!"


March 11: "I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!"


March 12: "108 countries are dealing with the CoronaVirus problem, some of which we are helping!"


March 13: "To this point, and because we have had a very strong border policy, we have had 40 deaths related to CoronaVirus. If we had weak or open borders, that number would be many times higher!"


March 13: "Today I am declaring a national emergency. Two very big words."


March 13. "No, I don't take responsibility at all. Because we were given a set of circumstances, given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasn't meant for this kind of an event, with the kind of numbers that we are talking about."

The funny thing is that a lot of his supporters, old dudes, are most at risk from COVID-19.

However the tragedy is that it will effect real people too, not just Trumptards, and the lies and incompetence from this bumbling oaf and conman could well literally kill people.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Trump has golf courses in the UK and hotels in Eastern Europe in countries which are not in the EU, so no surprise that he has closed the US down to...visitors from the EU.

It looks like a mistaken move, as his own hotels are a clear and present danger...

Who is so naive enough that such a decision can be made solely by the POTUS - whoever currently it is - without all the good guys behind him?

'Oh f***': Trump caught on hot mic before announcing unprecedented travel ban over coronavirus | The Independent

555

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."- FDR


"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."- JFK


"I don't take responsibility at all."- Trump

there's a tweet for everything....

awesome tweet, the guy got talent for them

Interesting read


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/peter-wehner-trump-presidency-over/607969/

Trump finally takes the Coronavirus test.


I think we all should think positive, for a favorable result.

We need to quarantine Donald Trump: He's confused, ignorant and afraid | Salon.com

You might not like Salon but the author Lucian Truscott is solid.

Donald Trump tests negative for COVID-1
🌄

^^^

Is that the sun shining out of the snake oil salesman’s arse ?

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

Donald Trump tests negative for COVID-1


I knew he’d find a way to fuck even that up!

I like this


The Trump Presidency Is Over
It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain.

MARCH 13, 2020
Peter Wehner
Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC

When, in January 2016, I wrote that despite being a lifelong Republican who worked in the previous three GOP administrations, I would never vote for Donald Trump, even though his administration would align much more with my policy views than a Hillary Clinton presidency would, a lot of my Republican friends were befuddled. How could I not vote for a person who checked far more of my policy boxes than his opponent?

What I explained then, and what I have said many times since, is that Trump is fundamentally unfit—intellectually, morally, temperamentally, and psychologically—for office. For me, that is the paramount consideration in electing a president, in part because at some point it’s reasonable to expect that a president will face an unexpected crisis—and at that point, the president’s judgment and discernment, his character and leadership ability, will really matter.

“Mr. Trump has no desire to acquaint himself with most issues, let alone master them” is how I put it four years ago. “No major presidential candidate has ever been quite as disdainful of knowledge, as indifferent to facts, as untroubled by his benightedness.” I added this:

Mr. Trump’s virulent combination of ignorance, emotional instability, demagogy, solipsism and vindictiveness would do more than result in a failed presidency; it could very well lead to national catastrophe. The prospect of Donald Trump as commander in chief should send a chill down the spine of every American.

It took until the second half of Trump’s first term, but the crisis has arrived in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s hard to name a president who has been as overwhelmed by a crisis as the coronavirus has overwhelmed Donald Trump.

To be sure, the president isn’t responsible for either the coronavirus or the disease it causes, COVID-19, and he couldn’t have stopped it from hitting our shores even if he had done everything right. Nor is it the case that the president hasn’t done anything right; in fact, his decision to implement a travel ban on China was prudent. And any narrative that attempts to pin all of the blame on Trump for the coronavirus is simply unfair. The temptation among the president’s critics to use the pandemic to get back at Trump for every bad thing he’s done should be resisted, and schadenfreude is never a good look.

That said, the president and his administration are responsible for grave, costly errors, most especially the epic manufacturing failures in diagnostic testing, the decision to test too few people, the delay in expanding testing to labs outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and problems in the supply chain. These mistakes have left us blind and badly behind the curve, and, for a few crucial weeks, they created a false sense of security. What we now know is that the coronavirus silently spread for several weeks, without us being aware of it and while we were doing nothing to stop it. Containment and mitigation efforts could have significantly slowed its spread at an early, critical point, but we frittered away that opportunity.

“They’ve simply lost time they can’t make up. You can’t get back six weeks of blindness,” Jeremy Konyndyk, who helped oversee the international response to Ebola during the Obama administration and is a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, told The Washington Post. “To the extent that there’s someone to blame here, the blame is on poor, chaotic management from the White House and failure to acknowledge the big picture.”

Earlier this week, Anthony Fauci, the widely respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases whose reputation for honesty and integrity has been only enhanced during this crisis, admitted in congressional testimony that the United States is still not providing adequate testing for the coronavirus. “It is failing. Let’s admit it.” He added, “The idea of anybody getting [testing] easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that. I think it should be, but we’re not."

We also know the World Health Organization had working tests that the United States refused, and researchers at a project in Seattle tried to conduct early tests for the coronavirus but were prevented from doing so by federal officials. (Doctors at the research project eventually decided to perform coronavirus tests without federal approval.)

But that’s not all. The president reportedly ignored early warnings of the severity of the virus and grew angry at a CDC official who in February warned that an outbreak was inevitable. The Trump administration dismantled the National Security Council’s global-health office, whose purpose was to address global pandemics; we’re now paying the price for that. “We worked very well with that office,” Fauci told Congress. “It would be nice if the office was still there.” We may face a shortage of ventilators and medical supplies, and hospitals may soon be overwhelmed, certainly if the number of coronavirus cases increases at a rate anything like that in countries such as Italy. (This would cause not only needless coronavirus-related deaths, but deaths from those suffering from other ailments who won’t have ready access to hospital care.)

Some of these mistakes are less serious and more understandable than others. One has to take into account that in government, when people are forced to make important decisions based on incomplete information in a compressed period of time, things go wrong.

Yet in some respects, the avalanche of false information from the president has been most alarming of all. It’s been one rock slide after another, the likes of which we have never seen. Day after day after day he brazenly denied reality, in an effort to blunt the economic and political harm he faced. But Trump is in the process of discovering that he can’t spin or tweet his way out of a pandemic. There is no one who can do to the coronavirus what Attorney General William Barr did to the Mueller report: lie about it and get away with it.

The president’s misinformation and mendacity about the coronavirus are head-snapping. He claimed that it was contained in America when it was actually spreading. He claimed that we had “shut it down” when we had not. He claimed that testing was available when it wasn’t. He claimed that the coronavirus will one day disappear “like a miracle”; it won’t. He claimed that a vaccine would be available in months; Fauci says it will not be available for a year or more.

Trump falsely blamed the Obama administration for impeding coronavirus testing. He stated that the coronavirus first hit the United States later than it actually did. (He said that it was three weeks prior to the point at which he spoke; the actual figure was twice that.) The president claimed that the number of cases in Italy was getting “much better” when it was getting much worse. And in one of the more stunning statements an American president has ever made, Trump admitted that his preference was to keep a cruise ship off the California coast rather than allowing it to dock, because he wanted to keep the number of reported cases of the coronavirus artificially low.

“I like the numbers,” Trump said. “I would rather have the numbers stay where they are. But if they want to take them off, they’ll take them off. But if that happens, all of a sudden your 240 [cases] is obviously going to be a much higher number, and probably the 11 [deaths] will be a higher number too.” (Cooler heads prevailed, and over the president’s objections, the Grand Princess was allowed to dock at the Port of Oakland.)

On and on it goes.

To make matters worse, the president delivered an Oval Office address that was meant to reassure the nation and the markets but instead shook both. The president’s delivery was awkward and stilted; worse, at several points, the president, who decided to ad-lib the teleprompter speech, misstated his administration’s own policies, which the administration had to correct. Stock futures plunged even as the president was still delivering his speech. In his address, the president called for Americans to “unify together as one nation and one family,” despite having referred to Washington Governor Jay Inslee as a “snake” days before the speech and attacking Democrats the morning after it. As The Washington Post’s Dan Balz put it, “Almost everything that could have gone wrong with the speech did go wrong.”

Taken together, this is a massive failure in leadership that stems from a massive defect in character. Trump is such a habitual liar that he is incapable of being honest, even when being honest would serve his interests. He is so impulsive, shortsighted, and undisciplined that he is unable to plan or even think beyond the moment. He is such a divisive and polarizing figure that he long ago lost the ability to unite the nation under any circumstances and for any cause. And he is so narcissistic and unreflective that he is completely incapable of learning from his mistakes. The president’s disordered personality makes him as ill-equipped to deal with a crisis as any president has ever been. With few exceptions, what Trump has said is not just useless; it is downright injurious.

The nation is recognizing this, treating him as a bystander “as school superintendents, sports commissioners, college presidents, governors and business owners across the country take it upon themselves to shut down much of American life without clear guidance from the president,” in the words of Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.

Donald Trump is shrinking before our eyes.

The coronavirus is quite likely to be the Trump presidency’s inflection point, when everything changed, when the bluster and ignorance and shallowness of America’s 45th president became undeniable, an empirical reality, as indisputable as the laws of science or a mathematical equation.

It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain. The president, enraged for having been unmasked, will become more desperate, more embittered, more unhinged. He knows nothing will be the same. His administration may stagger on, but it will be only a hollow shell. The Trump presidency is over.
Peter Wehner: The Trump Presidency Is Over - The Atlantic

Originally Posted by Storekeeper

We need to quarantine Donald Trump: He's confused, ignorant and afraid | Salon.com

You might not like Salon but the author Lucian Truscott is solid.

How about cut and pasting the article so we don't have to subscribe.

Must be China Cujo, I can read it here in the LOS just fine..

Originally Posted by aging one

Must be China Cujo, I can read it here in the LOS just fine..

Thanks for the cut and paste then.