Donald Trump is in charge of the nation’s response to the coronavirus, which may or may not become a global pandemic. He oversees the Centers for Disease Control, whose spokesperson warned that it was no longer a question of if but when the virus would affect the U.S. Trump sought to reassure the public by putting VP Pence in charge of coordinating federal agencies that are involved, despite the fact that Pence has a long record of belittling and ignoring science.
At a rally in South Carolina, Trump said the coronavirus is a hoax invented by Democrats and the liberal media to make him look bad.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — President Donald Trump on Friday night tried to cast the global outbreak of the coronavirus as a liberal conspiracy intended to undermine his first term, lumping it alongside impeachment and the Mueller investigation.
He blamed the press for acting hysterically about the virus, which has now spread to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy and the U.S, and he downplayed its dangers, saying against expert opinion it was on par with the flu.
The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They’re politicizing it,” he said. “They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa. No, they can’t. They can’t count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax.”
Then Trump called the coronavirus “their new hoax.”
Trump’s comments came as the White House has struggled to adequately respond to and contain the coronavirus’s increasingly sweeping path. At the rally — held here on the eve of the Democratic primary in South Carolina — he sought to manage Americans’ expectations about the White House’s ability to fight it.
By undermining the news reporting on the virus and by trying to hold liberals responsible for a potential public health crisis that has little to do with politics, Trump did what he often does best: He sought to deflect blame at a time when many Americans sought leadership and scientific facts.
Trump portrayed his efforts to close the southern border as the best response to coronavirus, even though the virus originated in China.
His treatment of the coronavirus as a political issue whipped up by Democrats contradicts the judgment of every international public health organization and guarantees that he has no plan or personnel to prepare for the spread of the disease. Actual people are dying. But Trump has repeatedly cut the budget and personnel of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health. He thinks he is still playing the host of ”The Apprentice.”
Trump is not only a danger to democracy but a danger to our lives.
I was listening to Trump’s son complaining about the democrats trying to “take Trump down.” A probably-naive question:
Do any of Trump’s base or his compatriots ever think there may be good reason for wanting him out of office? Do they think they’re not going to feel it when democracy dies?
Oh . . . I forgot . . . “good reasons” went away with truth and reality. What was I thinking . . . CBK
The DUMP family are all alike…treasonous liars.
Your mistake: thinking.
CBK, please report to Room 101 for Rectification.
Bob See you there! CBK
LMAO.
Diane: Thanks! I forgot! CBK
YES indeed … he sure is: “Trump is not only a danger to democracy but a danger to our lives.”
He’s INCOMPETENT and Moron-in-Chief. He can’t read, write, do math, knows nothing about history and science.
He’s disgusting and Making America GRATE.
He works for Putin, his money bag.
COVID-19 issue resolved. Trump orders Dense Pence to sharpie “No Viris” onto U.S. map
Dense Pence and Mother will join in prayer and lay some hands and all will be good in the world again.
Whew. Thank Jeebus! I was worried there for a minute.
Of course, as with everything, when faced with the possibility of a pandemic that might kill thousands of Americans, Trump’s first thought was not for the safety of those people but for Trump. Oh no! This is affecting the stock market! It might tank the “best economy ever” he has been chortling about and expecting to run on so that he can stay in office and not go to jail for some number of the literally hundreds of criminal charges waiting in the wings to be brought against him.
And, of course, in his usual reality-challenged manner, Trump convinced himself that there was nothing to worry about. No problem. Nothing a Sharpie won’t fix.
And, of course, he put in charge of the response Mike Pence, whose record with regard to health is that he dragged his feet in Indiana, refused to authorize a needle exchange program, and let HIV spread and kill people. Perhaps Pence and Mother will call up Franklin Graham and they can pray to Trump’s god Mammon about it and everything will be okey-dokey. Ever dutiful, Pence immediately got to work. That very evening he went on the Fox Official State Propaganda Network to echo the boss to Sean “the Sycophant” Hannity. It’s all overblown. It’s the Democrats. There’s no problem.
And, of course, Trump sought to silence anyone in his misadministration who might suggest that in such a situation, the precautionary principle apples: better safe than sorry.
Electing a narcissistic moron President of the United States has consequences.
Is it misadministration or maladministration?
Great catch, Diane. On analogy with misfeasance (legal action done wrongly or harmfully) versus malfeasance (intentional and harmful illegality), maladministration would be correct.
Thanks for the edit!!!
he should know about hoaxes.
LOL. Exactly! Don, King Con.
And Don King had better hair!!
LOL. I would say that the two sets of hair are equally amusing.
Very true.
The Trump administration has slashed funding for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its infectious disease research. For fiscal year 2020, Trump proposed cutting the CDC budget by US$1.3 billion, nearly 20% below the 2019 level.
Trump is a hoax invented by Republicans to make our country look bad.
And they are succeeding.
The man is a clear and present danger to this country, it was obvious in 2016 and a million times more obvious now with this latest obscenity from his maw. I’ll vote for whomever (Democrat) is in the general election, even Bloomberg. Trump must be dumped electorally and by a huge margin.
The first person to die of coronavirus on American soil died today in Washington State.
He/she did not know it was a hoax.
No hoax.
This dolt fired the pandemic response team in 2018 to cut costs. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
Well, the public whistleblower in China was censored and they delayed acknowledging the virus existed for almost a month. Hundreds of lives could have been saved and the spread controlled. Sadly, he was not only censored and the country left in the dark, he died. BUT we all know whistleblowers are bad actors according to the U.S. president which is why he salivates over dictator tactics including censorship and loyalty oaths.
As, for blaming a disease on a political party, that’s not only stupid, it’s ignorant. Then again, he doesn’t believe in science. And, he’s already appointed the Designated Scapegoat: VP Pence. And we all know his track record in health emergency.
The Don, Cheeto “Littlefingers” Trumpbalone, aka The Teflon Don 2.0, does like his loyalty oaths. Requires these of everyone who steps foot in the now Offal Office of the Now Whiter House, also known as the Ravenite South.
And then there’s this:
This is another example of Dems trying to politicize issue rather thAn work together
Make It A Great Day ❗️
>>
Once in a while, I have to post one of your idiotic Trump-loving comments.
Trump cut the budget of Centers for Disease Control and fired the global pandemic team.
Do you agree that coronavirus is a Democrat-liberal hoax?
Tell that to the family of the person who died today in Washington State.
it is weird to see jscheidell claiming that Democrats should work with Trump and the Republicans to “prove” that the coronavirus is a “hoax” just like jscheidell’s beloved President Trump says.
Everyone who agrees with jscheidell and President Trump that coronavirus is a hoax and supports jscheidell and President Trump in cutting budgets at CDC and other health organizations should vote for Trump and the Republican party demand that no money go to this “hoax” (as President Trump calls it).
Anyone who cares about their family’s lives and doesn’t agree with jscheidell and his Republican party that the coronavirus is a hoax (because Trump says that) should vote for any Democrat. ]
If Republicans like jscheidell are now saying that not accepting Trump’s claim that the coronavirus is a hoax is “politicizing” something, then clearly everyone who doesn’t want to cut money from the CDC like Trump and the Republicans want should vote for Democrats.
Trump says it is all a hoax and jscheidell is angry that Democrats won’t “work with Republicans’ to prove that it is all a hoax?
It would be very sad if Trump supporters believe the C virus is a hoax Eva use their Master said so. If they took no precautions to protect themselves. What a shame.
What? First, how did the dems politicize the issue?
The problem you blind loyalists have is that when your president says “I (not we, not U.S. – “I”) am budgeting $2billion to save the day” and “I am implementing a travel ban” you think that’s leadership.
His bragging, his scapegoating, his giving a racist the medal of honor and the same racist now claims the virus is just a cold, his putting Pence in charge so he can blame him and kick him of the ticket? THAT is “politicizing” an issue. And, he does it counting on you folks lining up for the kool aid.if things go wrong.
Policy and Politics is not “politicizing.”
China censoring the Doctor who announced the virus, made his sign a loyalty statement, and hid the virus for a month is politicizing.
This country solved a whole lot of problems and kept us safe working across the aisle on key issues. Your boy doesn’t think anyone in the WH, government offices, and universities is as smart as he is.
EVERY decision and action he takes is filtered through how it makes him looks, how big the crowd is, how many ways he can stick it PRESIDENT Obama – and he knows there are the blind silent loyalists in the Senate who are scared to speak up. And you let him get away with it.
I guess this poster is one of those who have been infected with drumpkavosky(a.k.a. post-truth/alternative fact disease). It’s a kind of virus appeared right after 2016 election. Like coronavirus, it’s highly infective and toxic. Its treatment is unknown.
Yes, Ken. I’ve seen cases of this. It’s very sad. Loss of most cognitive functioning. Hysteria. Drooling. Compulsive watching of Hannity and Carlson.
I think you might be in over your head here, jscheidell.
I have just been waiting for either Trump or MSNBC to blame Bernie Sanders for the corona virus.
But now that Trump has called it a hoax, I guess it’s up to MSNBC (Chris Matthews or Chuck Todd) to blame Bernie for the actual virus, saying it is a Nazi plot hatched by the Sanders campaign (since Matthews and Todd seem stuck in the Sanders as Nazi theme)
No worry, SDP. The Trump campaign will be Based on the “Bernie is a Commie” theme.
Actually Chris Matthews is ahead of Trump on that one too.
He wondered whether if Fidel … I mean Bernie was elected that there might not be executions in Central Park.
It would seem that Matthews has the Nazi AND Commie bases covered.
https://www.newsweek.com/chris-matthews-sanders-nazi-france-1488613
https://www.newsweek.com/msnbc-host-chris-matthews-ties-bernie-sanders-fears-socialist-executions-central-park-fidel-1486375
I wonder what’s left. Comparing Bernie to David Duke and the KKK?
Well, they didn’t blame Sanders for the corona virus, but a host on CNN did even better: he effectively equated Sanders with the corona virus, wondering if either could be stopped.
Cuz as everyone knows Bernie is just like a virus.
Sure. Whatever CNN says.
And Fox. And MSNBC. And NpR. And Washington Post. And nY Times.
The “news” media in the US are just pathetic.i ts no wonder that people are so illinformed on both sides of the political aisle.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/03/01/plutocracy-strikes-back-cnn-compares-bernie-sanders-coronavirus
The real Marburg-Ebola-Rabies-HIV-Smallpox-Hantavirus-Influenza-Dengue-Rotavirus-Hybrid plague to destroy the environment and all life on the planet is already living in the White House complaining about the lack of gold-plated toilet seats.
Lloyd Lofthouse: “We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers, and other elements of bathrooms,” Trump says. “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”
Makes me wonder what exactly he does on those gold-plated toilet seats. Good grief. He has to flush it 15 times?
And having to flush 15 times.
I doubt if Trump is the one doing the flushing.
“Eric, get in here. I’m done. Flush it 15 times, and do not make that face. My shite does not stink.”
Trump asserted his administration has taken the “most aggressive action in modern history to confront this disease.”
Just thought you’d like to be reassured.
With Pence in charge, what could possibly go wrong?
lots of prayer will cure the sick.
Pence will pray in a sanitized, filtered environment far from the sick. I doubt that we will ever see him visit hospitals (unless he is wearing a hazmat suit), and kneeling by the beds of the sick to pray for them (unless he is wearing a hazmat suit). If Trump visits a hospital for a “photo shoot”, expect him to be wearing the kind of spacesuit used for spacewalks outside the international space station.
Lloyd, there is another possibility. Pence and Trump will have the staff build a simulated hospital room with actors as patients. Or they will rent a room at a local hospital and hire actors. They will then show that Coronavirus is a hoax by hugging them, shaking hands, and showing the public that there is nothing to fear. The “patient” or “patients” will then pray together with Trump and Pence. Pence will know the words, Trump won’t.
And then Trump will brag about the ratings for his secret reality show through Twitter revealing the hoax he cooked up. When the media reports Trump revealing his hoax through a tweet with misspelled words, Trump will say that the reports of his tweet revealing the hoax is fake news.
This his staff will send out a press release that says Trump was only kidding and it was all sarcasm.
Trump’s deplorable followers will believe it all and his poll raitings will spike for another day before they quickly fall back to where they usually are, underwater by 5 percent or more.
Trump is too stupid and ignorant to know that the majority of Chinese that enter the United States from another country other than China do not do it from Mexico but from Canada.
Now that you mention it, we need a 100 foot tall ice wall along the US Canadian border.
Like the one they tried — and failed — to use to keep the ground water from inundating the melted reactors at Fukushima.
We could put the Eskimos to work cutting and stacking ice blocks — a mind of Eskimo jobs program.
Trump could use it for his derelection bid.
Trump would love the ice wall, and if it melted due to global warming, he’d just say, “It was caused by the sun.”
The Fukushima wall was refrigerated ,(they apparently planned to keep it refrigerated for hundreds of thousands of years.)
If one did that with the ice Wall along the US Canadian border, one would not need to sorry about global warming.
Plus, one could stick to enviros by using lots of electricity for AC (and burning lots of fossil fuel).
Of course, we would have to ban the sale of ice axes and crampons to Canadians and everyone else in Canada .
Otherwise, they could easily scale the wall.
Or maybe put a 200kv electric fence at the top.
Hey, that should do it.
To whom will agree with me:
Do I have Alzheimer if my brain is intermittent or if some of my synapses in nervous system fluctuate on its own?
No, I am still very sharp in analysis skills. For instance, can anyone have a solution to eliminate addiction instantly with blood transfusion? We acknowledge that all bright fireflies love to be killed in fire. Similarly, alcohol, cocaine, sweetness attract alcoholics, drug users, and diabetic people regardless sickness like lung cancer, blood cancer, and kidney malfunction,. Most of all, all addicted people are willing to sell their souls to devils to satisfy their addictions. Money, lust, power lure addicted people to harm themselves, their loved one and their countries together with all sentient beings.
What can we do? Forgive them to kill us? Terminate all or genocide like Hitler in German , or Red Khmer in Cambodia or Mongolian Genghis Khan killed many tribes in his time.?
Who can have the best solution? KARMA. Yes, people will pay their guilt plus interest = years or reincarnated lives of sufferance. Earth is truly a school of trials and errors for us to redeem all unknown bad deeds until we can achieve the true enlightenment. Amen. Namaste. we can not cheat our heart and mind. Back2basic
Coming to a rally near you: Dog Whistle Don and the Supremacists
Fresh from their sold-out performance at CPAC!
Looks like the appointment of Pence as coronavirus czar isn’t working out very well.
WaPo:
‘Complete chaos’: Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis
Interviews with nearly two dozen administration officials, former White House aides, public health experts and lawmakers portray a White House scrambling to gain control of a rudderless response defined by bureaucratic infighting, confusion and misinformation.
Trump has a long (with emphasis on the word “long”) life as a micromanager. I’ve read that even in his hotels, he had to approve of the drapes that he ordered and never paid for, in full.
Trump is a spotted rump that can not change his spots. As president, he cannot trust anyone but brown nosers to run the federal agencies, because he still a micromanager.
To defend his failures, and they are legion, he blames other people in his administration and fires them, or blames the democrats, or blames a conspiracy or …
Most important to remember about Mike Pence. He doesn’t believe in science. He is probably scheduling daily prayer sessions in his office and inviting officials from the CDC to join him.
The thing that has perversely amused me over the past few days is the shock that never Orange Catastrophe’ers display about the politicization of science in response to the soon-to-be pandemic. I’ve stopped watching any news. MSNBC is as bad as Fox these days in that it’s the tool of the useless Democratic party establishment. Last week I watched 5 minutes of Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt expressing shock about this. Have they forgotten (they haven’t, they’re just lucky the vast majority of Americans are too stupid to pay attention) the past thirty-plus years of science denial in which they were prime advocates and strategists of this farce? Hypocrites all. They deny all forms of science and evidence for short term political and economic gain. Go down the list: climate change, women’s health, consequences of fracking, etc., etc., etc. We are f#%*ed.
It depends on your age. Not all of the current generations are f#%*ed. Just the ones that will live long enough to see the end of our species.
I expect at my age, I’ll be long gone before then. But I’m still going to vote against Trump and the Republican Party for the rest of my life and hope the Democrats offer us candidates willing to fight back against short-term profits and faux-religious dogma. If the majority of the younger generations do not turn out to vote, then that’s all she wrote, the end of humanity’s story.
However, it is possible that a country like China will start to build underground cities for maybe a segment of its population and they will become vegans by turning to verticle indoor farming (the Chinese have already started to do this, the vertical indoor farming using LED lights). The Chinese are also planning to build bases on the moon and colonize Mars and maybe some of the other planets and moons in our solar system. If any country can do it, it will be China. The Great Wall. The Grand Canal. The largest dam in the world. The largest underground tunnels ever built to move water thousands of miles from south to north. Planted billions of trees in the north in an effort to fight desertification (more than any country in the world), responsible for contributing to 90 percent of global poverty reduction in the last thirty years, et al.
No matter what anyone thinks of the CCP, that autocratic one-party rule gets things done and does not waste time arguing about it. And when someone gets caught lying and cheating, they throw them in prison, no matter how rich they are, and sometimes shoot them in the back of the head. If Trump had been born in China, he would have been executed decades ago.
Wouldn’t it be beautiful to have both Trump AND Pence quarantined in Antarctica with no access to a phone or computer!!!
………………………….
CDC Director Says Coronavirus Effort Could Be Helped by Quarantining Pence
By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
29 February 20
The article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column, “The Borowitz Report.”
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that significant progress in battling the coronavirus could be achieved by quarantining Mike Pence.
Speaking to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the C.D.C. director said that, given Pence’s record as a science denier who mishandled an AIDS outbreak while he was the governor of Indiana, an immediate quarantine of the Vice-President was “an essential first step.”
“Mike Pence should be sealed off in a secure area, where he will have no access to a phone or computer,” the director said. “That will go a long way toward containing the harm he might otherwise cause.”
The C.D.C. chief added that there were a number of places ideal for quarantining Pence, all of them in Antarctica.
Shortly after the C.D.C. director’s testimony, Pence forcefully took issue with the assessment. “The threat I pose to the nation has been wildly overstated, and I do not know how to use a computer,” he said.
It is certain that if coronavirus comes to the US that it will overwhelm our current medical facilities. There is chaos and uncertainty regarding how to proceed. Trump, as usual, only cares about the stock market OR how the fallouts from this disease will affect him in the polls.
Pence is running around the question, “You don’t think that Democrats want millions of people to die from this disease?”
……………………………………………….
Mike Pence defends Donald Trump’s Jr. claim that Dems want millions to die of coronavirus
Mar 1, 2020
Raw Story
There is a nice sturdy noun to describe this: idiocy.
I had a back and forth ‘conversation’ with a Trump supporter yesterday on The Hill who attempted to convince me that Trump, by his actions, had prevented the coronavirus from coming to the US. No new cases had been announced was his proof. [We all know that WaPo is fake news.]
…………………………………..
Live updates: **Coronavirus defies travel curbs; markets stage cautious recovery on stimulus hopes
The coronavirus has prompted school closures across Idaho, Oregon and Washington state, as local education officials look to contain an outbreak in the Pacific Northwest amid traveling students and a rapidly spreading virus.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/02/coronavirus-live-updates/
Good thing we are several months away from the election in November. How long can Trump’s supporters continue to agree with their serial-lying demon god that the coronavirus isn’t spreading throughout the U.S. by then?
Trump has also said the coronavirus would go away when Summer arrived and not be a threat anymore. Trump repeats whatever Limbaugh or Hannity tell him.
It’s official from the WH: “President Trump’s quick, decisive response has saved lives”
………………………………………..
1600 Daily
The White House • March 2, 2020
Watch: President Trump gives Coronavirus update
President Trump welcomed Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez to the White House earlier today. Before taking questions in the Oval Office, President Trump gave an update on the federal government’s Coronavirus response.
President Trump provides update on the Coronavirus response
“Our country is doing very well. Our professionals are doing, really, an incredible job,” the President said. “We’re also working with other countries to help them because they really have a fear of the unknown.”
The President also met this afternoon with pharmaceutical companies that are actively working to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, discussing how the federal government can help accelerate their vaccine development.
Vice President Mike Pence, who President Trump tapped to lead the Administration’s Coronavirus response, met with a number of America’s governors today to give an update on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “We’ll continue to coordinate closely with state & local leaders as we respond,” he wrote after the meeting.
A live briefing from Vice President Pence and Ambassador Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus response coordinator for the White House, will begin at 5 p.m. ET.
Watch live at 5 p.m. ET: Vice President and Amb. Birx give Coronavirus briefing
🎬 President Trump’s quick, decisive response has saved lives
Trump, with the brain of a slow learning fourth grader, tries to explain something about the flu. He gets a wild applause for this? Do people ever LISTEN to what he says?
TRUMP: “Over the last long period of time, the flu, the common flu — you know this, right? From 27,000 to 70,000 people get infected [it’s actually millions, but whatever], and many people die. Think of it — 27,000. You lose 27,000 people to the common flu. It can be much more. One year was much higher than the 70,000 number. Those people die. So when you lose 27,000 people a year. Nobody knew that. I didn’t know that. Three, four weeks ago, I was sitting down, I said, ‘What do we lose with the regular flu?‘ They said about 27,000 minimum. Goes up to 70, sometimes even 80, one year it went up to 100,000 people. I said nobody told me that. Nobody knows that. So I actually told the pharmaceutical companies, you have to do a little bit better job on that vaccine.” [Wild applause]
I read that he suggested that the flu vaccine should be used for coronavirus. Did they laugh or just stare in wonder?
I like Bernie.
………………………
Coronavirus Cold Open – SNL
Mar 1, 2020
Vice President Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) holds a White House press conference to update the American public about the coronavirus and fields questions from Democratic presidential candidates Michael Bloomberg (Fred Armisen), Bernie Sanders (Larry David), Elizabeth Warren (Kate McKinnon), Joe Biden (John Mulaney), Pete Buttigieg (Colin Jost) and Amy Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch).
Whoop! Whoop! Trump is getting political PR for donating his salary. How much money has he made from being president? He isn’t losing any money. When is Stephanie Grisham going to start having press conferences?
…………………….
Stephanie Grisham
@PressSec
President
@realDonaldTrump
made a commitment to donate his salary while in office. Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to
@HHSGov
to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus.
Image
We the taxpayers have underwritten his weekly golf trips to the tune of $130
Million and we pay for Eric andDons business travel
With a two-percent death rate (current numbers according to several reliable sources like the BBC), this Trump coronavirus FAUX HOAX has the potential to kill 156,000,000 people worldwide and 6,000,000 would die in the United States.
And if this pandemic comes to pass, Trump will NEVER admit he was wrong. He will blame the fake news media, Biden, Hillary, maybe Pence, and anyone else he can sling his cascade of lies at.
I’m sure all of the scientists at NIH are thrilled to learn from Trump that they are doing a fantastic job.
………………………..
President Trump held a roundtable briefing yesterday afternoon with experts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland. “I know you’re working around the clock. I know you’ve made some great finds already,” he said. “Fantastic job.”
Trump knows much more than the World Health Organization. WHO now is putting out ‘false numbers’ just to make Trump look bad. If Trump says something on Fox, then it has to be the truth. /s
……………………
TRUMP SPLITS WITH WHO OVER CORONAVIRUS DEATH RATE — The president publicly questioned the World Health Organization’s global death rate estimate of 3.4 percent, calling it a “false number” on FOX News and suggesting — without evidence — that the actual figure is below 1 percent.
Trump contended that many milder cases remain uncounted, and that the rate would drop over time — something the WHO itself said may happen as more data comes in.
— But there’s no proof the rate will be below 1 percent — take Pence’s admission about the uncertain scope of the crisis, for example — and Trump’s assertion only serves as another example of him downplaying the growing outbreak. “I think we’re going to be in great shape, and this will go and this will pass,” Trump said Wednesday night.
carolmalaysia Don’t you know that WHO is a part of the deep state?
CBK
The Deep State=Experts in the field.
Who knows more about science? Trump or the World Health Organization?
Exactly–it’s the STATE–a well-differentiated and tested state with tried and true protocols for excellence in each field and position. The conflict isn’t between Trump and the “deep state,” but between Trump and the truth, which manifests in the massive difference between swearing an oath to the Constitution and kissing ring of the leader. CBK
Catherine King; I just found a certificate in a file that was ‘signed’ [stamped] by Ronald Reagan. [The President of the United States awards the certificate of Outstanding Achievement to CARE. For continued, demonstrated vision, initiative and leadership in the effort to achieve a world without hunger.”]
What in the world was I doing in October 1985 to alleviate world hunger?
I think I was as effective in that endeavor as Jared is in creating peace in the Middle East. Oh well, we both try so hard. /s
Roundtable: Coronavirus Is Best Case for Medicare for All
DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER: Well, we won’t have a vaccine for a while. We may find that some antiviral drugs are a little bit helpful. These can be very expensive, and it’s really critical that they be paid for for everyone. We’ve been talking a lot about vulnerable populations, like poor people, like immigrants, but the lack of Medicare for All is forcing us to fight this epidemic with a hand tied behind our back, and that threatens everyone, including wealthy people and people with insurance. You know, 25% of cab drivers don’t have health insurance in this country, 12% of home health aides, 15% of cleaners. So, rich people cannot avoid coming into contact with this epidemic just because they’re rich. No matter how much money you have, you cannot buy your way out of this epidemic. We’re going to have to conquer coronavirus together. And that’s the whole idea behind Medicare for All…
ELISABETH BENJAMIN: So, it seems to me what’s sort of shocking in this $8.3 billion that’s coming through Congress is, for one, I think when it hits the Senate, they’re going to basically allow pharmaceutical companies to charge whatever they want, whatever treatments, whatever vaccine they develop. If I was president for a day or, you know, a week or month or through this thing, I would say, “Oh my goodness, we need a Manhattan Project right now for the coronavirus.” Now, when we did a Manhattan Project for the bomb, we didn’t privatize it. We didn’t let a bunch of companies have the bomb. We shouldn’t let a bunch of companies be in control of a vaccine that could be life-saving, or any drugs to treat it. This stuff — you know, we have to use private — I agree, we have to use private companies to help develop this, but — you know, and pay them well, but then it should be government-owned. We can’t afford to have the kind of price gouging we see with insulin, with the EpiPen. You know, we just can’t see that for coronavirus.
AMY GOODMAN: And the $8 billion, where it goes?
ELISABETH BENJAMIN: Where does it go? Good question. I mean, it isn’t necessarily going to pay for paid sick leave. It isn’t going to pay for healthcare for people to pay all their bills. It’s going to prop up the healthcare system — which is important. I agree with Dr. Woolhandler, that’s, you know, important. But it’s too little, too late. And actually, real Americans and real people who live here, residents of America, will not see that money…
And look, the reality is that even though the union movement has valiantly fought for and won paid sick leave, both in Seattle and in Washington state, most workers who need this leave and who are probably the most vulnerable to such cases are the lowest-paid workers, and they don’t dare stay at home, because they feel like they need to go to work. Forty-five percent of Americans don’t have even a single dollar in savings.
And so, we absolutely need to take these emergency steps, but it does bring up the question that looms large, as Dr. Woolhandler is saying, about the urgent need for Medicare for All. And we need to have these stopgap measures, but it really needs to have a serious conversation about Medicare for All and really the need to fight for Bernie Sanders’s campaign, because Joe Biden represents the same status quo that is not going to allow us to have this, because they billionaire class is absolutely opposed to it…
DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER: Physicians for a National Health Program. We’re a group of 23,000 doctors who advocate Medicare for All…
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/5/coronavirus
Better to have people die than let any possible treatment be available at a cost people can afford. Drug companies MUST make profits first. What happens to people who have no insurance? What happens to people who have to go to work when they are ill because they get no sick leave? So what if a vaccine is a year away…what is wrong with saying it should be available to people with no co-pay? Where is the $8.3 billion going? Republicans fight every possible thing that would make life easier for Americans. I hope it comes back to bite them.
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Democrats had pushed for language in the bill that would require any coronavirus vaccines or treatments developed by private companies with federal funding to be priced affordably. But Republicans had argued that could discourage drug companies from investing in potential cures and vaccines.
A source told The Hill that there was also discussion at a leadership level about ensuring Medicare would fully cover copay for a vaccine, but the idea was rejected by Republicans. Government health care experts have said a vaccine is a year to 18 months away.
The bill does state that the Health and Human Services secretary “may” take measures to assure those products are affordable.
Press Briefing by Vice President Pence and Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We just completed another meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. It’s been a very busy and productive day here at the White House.
President Donald Trump has no higher priority than the safety and health of the American people. And the President has directed our task force — employing the full resources of the federal government, in full partnership with state and local health authorities — to make that priority a reality.
As I stand before you today, we have more than 100 coronavirus cases in the United States. That is counting domestic cases and cases of coronavirus of Americans that were returned from China or the Diamond Princess. I’m pleased to report that most of those who contracted coronavirus within our care are continuing to recover. But, sadly, we received word today that another American has passed away and their family has our deepest condolences.
That being said, thanks to the President’s strong leadership and the professionalism of all of our federal agencies — Health and Human Services, CDC — and state and local health officials all across this country, the risk to the American public of contracting the coronavirus remains low…
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-vice-president-pence-members-white-house-coronavirus-task-force-2/?utm_source=link
how do you spell “sycophant”?
Sycophant: P-E-N-C-E. Sycophant. CBK
Trump himself has emerged as the administration’s greatest obstacle to sending a clear and consistent message about the coronavirus. Leading public health experts from across the government have found their messages undercut, drowned out and muddled by Trump’s push to downplay the outbreak with a mix of optimism, bombast and pseudoscience, Toluse Olorunnipa reports: “The president has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would ‘miraculously’ disappear in the spring. He has given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate estimate, substituting a much lower figure and citing a ‘hunch.’ On Wednesday night, Trump made an uncritical reference to people who continue to go to work while infected with the coronavirus — placing himself at odds with doctors who have strongly urged those with even minor symptoms to stay home.”…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2020/03/06/daily-202-most-of-trump-s-own-supporters-think-he-s-self-centered-his-coronavirus-response-helps-show-why/5e61d737602ff10d49ac475f/
Trump is probably upset because he cannot weaponize the virus to only infect democrats and “anti-trumpers.” My guess is that he at least thought about withholding help to California because it’s “blue” and defiant to Trump’s demands. I ask you: would anyone who has watched Trump think that such withholding is an implausible idea? CBK
Trump has convinced his loyal followers that HE kept the virus from coming into the States. I’m concerned that we aren’t getting accurate facts as to how many have contacted this coronavirus. Many won’t get tested, assuming that some time in the future these tests are available, because they don’t have health insurance, can’t afford the deductible or co-pays or can’t take time off of work. This virus is showing people just how backward the US is.
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The U.S. Isn’t Ready for What’s About to Happen
7:00 AM ET
Even with a robust government response to the novel coronavirus, many people will be in peril. And the United States is anything but prepared.
…If Americans conclude that life will continue mostly as normal, they may be wrong. The United States is far less prepared than other democratic nations experiencing outbreaks of the novel coronavirus. Low case counts so far may reflect not an absence of the pathogen but a woeful lack of testing….
Even if the United States were far more ready for COVID-19, the consequences could still be grievous. In my field, adequate preparation means having the plans, money, equipment, and expertise in place to avert all but a tiny percentage of the harms that might otherwise occur. Yet because of the nature of pandemics, even a level of preparation that looks robust to homeland-security experts could still fail to prevent thousands of deaths….
A threat as dire as the new coronavirus exposes the weaknesses in our society and our politics. If Americans could seek testing and care without worrying about co-pays or surprise bills, and if everyone who showed symptoms had paid sick leave, the United States could more easily slow the spread of COVID-19. But a crisis finds a nation as it is, not as its citizens wish it to be….
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his administration have vacillated between ignoring the threat and making wildly unrealistic promises about it. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence promised 1.5 million coronavirus tests, but The Atlanticreported Friday that, according to all available evidence, fewer than 2,000 had been conducted in the United States. Trump himself is simply lying about basic facts about the COVID-19 response; despite the testing kit shortfall, he has publicly stated that everyone who wants to get tested can get tested.
China’s aggressive containment of the new virus in the early weeks of this year gave other nations time to ready themselves for what was inevitably going to come: a shortage of test kits and personal protective equipment for a virus that spreads as quickly and causes as many deaths and hospitalizations as COVID-19 does.The United States wasted that opportunity. Trump’s initial impulse to downplay the risk, at least until the stock market took note, wasn’t just fanciful; it was dangerous. He has consistently minimized the number of sick, blamed Barack Obama’s administration for a shortage of test kits, and publicly mused about the potential of a vaccine being found quickly. The American response to the new disease should be based on something more than hunches and magical thinking….
JULIETTE KAYYEM, a former assistant secretary for homeland security under President Obama, is the faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She is the author of Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/us-isnt-ready-whats-about-happen/607636/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share
I was a hospice volunteer at St. Anthony’s starting in 2010. I’d watch nurses who were constantly running to keep up with the number of people in rooms in each wing that needed care. There was one nurse for each wing. What will happen when there is an influx of patients due to coronavirus? Most likely, the overworking of staff is what is occurring in most hospitals. St. Anthony put money into redecorating their lobby, painting all the walls in the hallways and repainting the offices. The hospice wing was closed because it wasn’t earning enough money. [I believe someone totally incompetent was in charge. Other hospitals weren’t having a shortage of patients.] It was all fluff to make the hospital look attractive but the increase of personnel didn’t occur.
Trump wants to reassure people that HE made the decision to keep infected people out of this country. He doesn’t want us to learn an accurate number because it would make him look bad. We have a lunatic running this country. He is not equipped to make rational decisions.
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The Next Big Coronavirus Worry: Can Hospitals Handle The Influx?
..U.S. hospitals currently have about 45,000 intensive care unit beds, according to a report from Eric Toner and Richard Waldhorn at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
In a moderate outbreak, about 200,000 Americans would need ICU beds, the report says. And in a severe outbreak, the researchers say, that number would soar to 2.9 million.
On the one hand, those are total numbers, for the duration of the epidemic. Even under the most dire scenario, it’s unlikely that 2.9 million people would need ICU beds all at once. On the other hand, ICU beds in the U.S. are already pretty full, thanks to the normal crush of patients with influenza and other major medical problems.
As a result, hospitals are routinely at capacity, forcing backups of patients “boarding” in emergency departments for hours or even days, waiting on the beds there until inpatient slots become available. And that’s before any influx from COVID-19.
The supplies that matter include devices like ventilators but also more mundane pieces of equipment like masks and gowns.
If we knew ACTUAL prevalence in the population … we could do a great job at planning for this…..Howard Forman, Yale University
Hospitals keep their own supplies and the federal government keeps an emergency reserve, including 30 million gauze surgical masks and 12 million of the special N95 respirator masks, according to Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services. (Azar originally said there were 30 million of the respirators, but later corrected the figure.)
Eventually, the U.S. could need as many as 300 million. Already, there’s anecdotal evidence of shortages as hospitals trying to replenish their supplies, as they regularly do, struggle to find them on the market.
As for staff, even with precautions, health care workers may get sick or at the very least show symptoms, forcing them to stay at home. That can cause shortages of personnel, at all levels, from the physicians seeing patients in the emergency department to the environmental service workers who clean patient bays.
Those shortages can create more backlogs, even when supply shortages don’t exist. Indeed, when it comes to ventilators, some experts think the real problem isn’t going to be a lack of enough machines but a lack of enough people to run them if and when the epidemic forces large numbers of personnel to stay at home.
“In a severe pandemic, we certainly could run out of ventilators, but a hospital could just as soon run out of respiratory therapists who normally operate these devices,” Toner told National Geographic…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-outbreak-hospital-icu-masks-shortages_n_5e6521f9c5b6670e72f9b902?ncid=engmodushpmg00000006
Never fear. Dr. Trump is in charge.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
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23h
We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!
Love this, such a good read!! Could you possibly read my post on the history of pandemics? I’m new to blogging and was hoping I could get some feedback. https://kspoliticsandnews.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/pandemics-in-historical-context-economics/
Chicago Tribune:
Coronavirus deaths greater where Fox News viewers watched ‘Hannity’ more than Tucker Carlson, says U of C study
TUESDAY, APR 21
A new study published by the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics makes a claim that will strike many as incendiary: “Greater viewership of ‘Hannity’ relative to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ is strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic,” says the paper.