Dana Milbank is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, where this article appeared:
It was a life-or-death decision, and President Trump chose . . . himself.
To end the pandemic, there must be widespread vaccination among a public already skeptical about inoculations. If Americans think the covid-19 vaccine has been rushed for political reasons, tens of millions won’t take it — and herd immunity won’t kick in.
But Trump just couldn’t help himself. “So we’re going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date,” he teased at a news conference Monday, suggesting vaccination could begin in October. “You know what date I’m talking about.”
Um, Halloween?
Full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic
If timing a vaccine to Election Day weren’t political enough, Trump also claimed that the Obama administration wouldn’t have had a vaccine for three years, if at all, and that political benefit could “inure” to him.
Such careless, selfish talk confirms Americans’ worst fears about a vaccine. According to a new CBS News poll, just 21 percent of voters said they would get a vaccine as soon as possible, even if it were free, down from 32 percent in July. Two-thirds said they would suspect that a vaccine rolled out this year had been rushed through without sufficient testing, and only 34 percent said they trusted Trump to make sure a safe vaccine is available.
Administration scientists fought mightily Wednesday at a Senate hearing on the vaccine rollout to undo this damaging perception, caused largely by months of Trump’s public pressure on scientists.
“Please hear me now: The rigor of the scientific evaluation on safety and efficacy will not be compromised,” said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. He urged Americans to “take the information they need from scientists and physicians, and not from politicians.”
Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed the plea: “There will be no shortcuts. This vaccine will be safe … or it won’t get moved along.”
But senators on both sides were wary. “The president has accused FDA officials of being ‘deep state’ operatives, he’s tweeted conspiracy theories about covid-19 deaths, and he has implicitly tied vaccine development to his reelection campaign,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) observed.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said her state needs “assurance that, yes, this vaccine is going to be safe, that this vaccine has not been subject to political initiatives that would speed it up in any such way that would cause it to be less effective.”
We are interested in hearing about how the struggle to reopen amid the pandemic is affecting people’s lives. Please tell us yours.
It’s all essentially a rerun of what happened at the beginning of the outbreak. Thanks to audio recordings of Trump released by Bob Woodward along with his new book, we know that Trump on Feb. 7 privately confided that the new virus was “deadly stuff.” But instead of preparing the country for such, he publicly claimed it would “disappear” and was no worse than the flu. “I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward.
That, too, was a life-or-death decision, and Trump chose political expediency.
Now, weeks before the election, this administration has become a government of the Donald, by the Donald and for the Donald. The Justice Department Tuesday intervened in a defamation lawsuit against Trump brought by E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her years ago. Trump’s DOJ wants the United States to be the defendant in the case instead of Trump because, it claims, he was “acting within the scope of his office as President” when he denied the assault.
Attorney General William Barr claimed Wednesday that DOJ’s action was “routine” and is “done frequently.”
Uh-huh.
Also routine: trashing the South Lawn of the White House and the Rose Garden with a political convention, appointing a big-time political donor to disrupt service at the U.S. Postal Service on the eve of an election that will rely on mail-in voting, canceling intelligence briefings for lawmakers about foreign attempts to interfere in the election, having the Justice Department back Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about antifa and election fraud, making federal law-enforcement officers serve as Trump’s political paramilitary and using the federal government to damage Trump’s political opponents and boost his business properties.
Now, Trump is trying to use a vaccine rollout to revive his political fortunes. The result is lost faith in the vaccine — which inevitably will mean more suffering and death.
“What a heartbreak that would be,” Collins told senators Wednesday at a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, “if we go through all of this, we come up with a vaccine that is safe and effective, we have already lost 190,000 people, and we can prevent many more deaths, and yet people are afraid to use it. We can’t let that happen.”
AD
But it’s already happening, because the head of government has spent four years demonstrating that he cares only about his own interests.
The way forward, the way to better health, is for Americans to reclaim Trumpland as their America. Pull down the Trump signs and vote for America. Vote for health. Vote for your country.
Amen
To this very minute, I struggle to understand how sensible-minded citizens choose to support this dysfunctional President.
The fact of Trump is bizarre, but we’ve always known that there were such twisted, sick people among us. But I’m with you, the fact of his widespread support–that truly is shocking.
I’m in contact with one Trump supporter. If I send any facts to her from The Atlantic, NYT, WaPo, CNN or any other credible media source, she claims, “Fake news” or “They’re lying.”
There is NO getting through to them with facts that come from any source that doesn’t tell how miraculous the Orange Monster is. They simply DO NOT get facts. They get material that propagandizes, lies and smoothes over anything that would damage his reputation.
They are NOT aware of the indecencies, chaos, lying that is done to completely cover up for him.
One other Trump lover was talking yesterday about possibly buying a gun. She lives in a suburb of Chicago in a large home in a wealthy neighborhood. She is afraid that the rioters and looters will come and destroy her house. She mentioned that ‘machine gun mama’ [my name for her] and her husband who stood with guns outside their home while peaceful protestors walked past. They spoke at the RNC and must have made an impact of fear. I’m sure Fox is not reporting that this couple is now under investigation.
“Only Trump can keep peace.”
………………………….
St. Louis lawyers who confronted protesters with guns under investigation
The St. Louis lawyers who pulled weapons on protesters marching past their home are being investigated for possible criminal charges, the city’s lead prosecutor has revealed.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey — who went viral after brandishing an AR-15-style rifle and a silver-colored handgun, respectively — were the only ones to lodge a police report over Sunday’s confrontation, insisting they were “victims” of threatening trespassers who entered a gated community, the St. Louis American noted.
But the husband-and-wife lawyers are being probed by police and prosecutors for possible threats against the crowd, authorities announced Monday.
“I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protestors were met by guns,” St. Louis Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner said, also condemning a separate “violent assault” in the city.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/30/st-louis-lawyers-who-waved-guns-at-protesters-under-investigation/?utm_source=email_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Carol,
Remind your friend of two things:
Woodward got Trump on tape, lying about the severity. Of the COVID
The rioting and vandalism is helping o n Trump’s watch.
Have you read the interviews with Bob Woodward about his newest book “Rage”? What Woodward reveals in his book from recorded interviews and letters with Trump is worse than Trump saying the troops are losers and suckers.
“Trump Admits Playing Down Coronavirus’s Severity, According To New Woodward Book”
President Trump is defending himself after interviews from a new book by legendary reporter Bob Woodward reveal that Trump acknowledged the deadliness of the coronavirus in early February and admitted in March to playing down its severity.
“This is deadly stuff,” the president told Woodward in a Feb. 7 conversation, according to the book, which is called Rage. “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/09/911109247/trump-admitted-to-playing-down-the-coronaviruss-severity-per-new-book
The book is called RAGE by Bob Woodward
If people need Bob Woodward to “reveal” that Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and knew he was doing so, we are doomed.
Since Trump always says that any criticism of him is “fake news,” and since his loyal base believe him, don’t you think it is useful to have Trump on tape, admitting that he lied to the public to avoid “panic”? We know Trump likes to avoid panic and fear and chaos, don’t we? I’m grateful to Woodward for getting a Trump to say on tape that he lied about the danger to keep the public calm.
I didn’t say it was not useful.
Just that if people need Woodward to “reveal” what should be obvious to any person with more than one neuron, we are doomed.
Woodward is complicit: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/bob-woodward-made-himself-complicit-in-trumps-coronavirus-crime-against-humanity
So does that mean we should not pay attention to his reporting or to the audio tapes he released where Trump admitted that he purposely downplayed the danger of the pandemic? Is Woodward’s reporting now suspect?
I realize that history older than 15 years, logic and real world pragmatism are foreign concepts (being as diplomatic as I can be) are anathema to our resident commentator, but a couple of things come to mind. It has been documented that the last Woodward interview took place as little as 30 days ago. So let me use a historical analogy.
As some of you know, I am no fan of Churchill, so it may surprise you that he did one thing of great importance that showed pragmatic, excruciatingly difficult leadership. England had cracked the code of the Nazis (thanks to Alan Turing and his colleagues). They knew that the a bombing of Coventry was planned by the Luftwaffe, but had they warned the citizens and evacuated the city, the Germans would have figured out their code had been broken, endangering the ability to continue to break the code. Thousands of people died, a city was laid to waste. But it led to the ultimate victory of he deadliest war in history. A short term atrocity that was known to happen soon was allowed to happen with the expectation that more lives would be saved. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, I wish I knew what it was.
Everyone who normalized Trump and devoted themselves to repeating right wing talking points defending Trump like impeachment is a “nothingburger” and the Mueller Report totally exonerated Trump is complicit. Everyone who decided that preventing Trump from appointing lifetime Supreme Court Justices and federal judges was just not as important as trashing the entire democratic party and defeating them is complicit.
That makes Jacobin Magazine complicit. They sure do have a lot of chutzpah though.
Who is more complicit than those who make it their personal mission to change the subject every time any criticism of Trump or William Barr is made because they believe it is their sacred duty to demonize and undermine Trump’s critics because Trump is just a normal politician.
Yes, Woodward is a selfish and greedy author. His concern for himself over all the people being harmed by Trump makes him just as complicit as those who sit by silently and allow Trump to be re-elected because African American voters didn’t listen to their “orders” to vote for Bernie and not Biden.
At least Woodward has stopped being complicit. Some of the Jacobin writers who still devote more time to trashing Biden than trashing Trump are still complicit.
dienne77 says: “Woodward is complicit”
Why is it that these posts always mirror a right wing talking point?
I saw Trump at a news conference trying to turn the focus to be on Woodward “knowing” that Trump was lying and not telling anyone about it!
I’m quite sure that jacobin magazine isn’t on Trump’s reading list, but I do suspect that writers at jacobin — and their “helpers” who post links at blogs like this to amplify the message — get their talking points from the same place as Trump.
There should be a drinking game — how long before something that appears at jacobin or one of the other “news” sources who specialize in undercutting any negative story about Trump to criticize the messenger — is repeated by Trump himself or one of his minions?
There are more “complicit” people than Woodward around who are helping push whatever narrative helps Trump and demonizes Trump critics.
Yes, NYCPSP, the usual suspects are all on the same page:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-bob-woodward-rage_n_5f5a26ebc5b6b48507fcbd07
What a co-in-key-dink!
“Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. He urged Americans to “take the information they need from scientists and physicians, and not from politicians.”
Wiser words were never spoken.
People should NEVER listen to politicians over doctors and scientists.
The latter are the smartest and most trustworthy and the former are dumbest and least trustworthy.
And, unlike the political toadies hopping around Trump, Francis Collins is an actual trustworthy scientist of impeccable reputation. He has no need to kowtow to Trump and is one of those long-time public servants who will do their job regardless of who is in charge politically. When he says we have a safe vaccine, I’ll be the first in line to receive it.
I’ve been experiencing ambivalent feelings about Collins lately, someone I’ve greatly admired for two decades. This might interest you:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nih-director-trump-supporter-masks-alien_n_5f5b4da3c5b67602f603c230
GregB: Director Dr. Francis Collins knew that I was not severely mentally ill after I was thrown out of the NF2 Natural History Study in November 2012.
I had sent him a copy of a rebuttal written by a licensed psychologist who had stated that the reason I was thrown out was because the Western Medical Establishment doesn’t recognize healing.
He did nothing and nobody ever apologized for my being treated that way. If you felt doubts about him, continue to do that.
Unfortunately for all if us, herd immunity has already kicked in.
The Trump herd is immune to logic, reason and good sense.
lol
Heard Immunity
I heard it from Fox News
The virus has the blues
The people are immune
Since May or early June
The opposite of narcissism is, of course, empathy, being able to put one’s self in another’s shoes. Here, a little essay on that topic, ranging over such subjects as high school, film, propaganda, and acting: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/film-propaganda-and-the-human-condition/
Trumpathy
The antonym of empathy?
It surely must be Trumpathy
Cuz Trump is narcissistic
And often quite sadistic
A Big History perspective on the appeal of the wannabe strongman (Trump): https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/the-most-astonishing-anthropological-fact-that-i-know/
Trump Must Go. He Knew. He Lied.
By Michael Moore, Michael Moore’s Facebook Page
10 September 20
Trump —
Quit.
Leave.
You knew.
You lied.
You’re not stupid. You’re not incompetent. You’ve always known EXACTLY what you were doing. Which makes you a psychopath. Which makes what you’ve done a criminal act. You had the power to save a hundred thousand lives. But it was more fun to see how many you could just let die. You held the power of life and death in your hands and it made you God-like and it felt good. You were once that troubled boy who liked to see what happened to the fly as you plucked its wings off, one by one. The power felt exhilarating. Power! It’s always been such a rush, hasn’t it? Forcing women to have sex with you. Humiliating your sons in front of others. Telling the public on TV what a great fuck your daughter would be. Denigrating and making fun of the disabled. Getting 63 million Americans to vote for you not because they support your policies (you have none), but because you were going to be the last old white man to sit in the Oval Office and you were promising to wreak as much havoc on Black America as you could. You promised the rich a two-trillion dollar tax break and they got it. You put hundreds of new wacko right-wing judges on the federal bench. You’ve decimated the EPA. You’re now trying to rig the vote by gutting the post office.
And for some unexplainable reason, you woke up this morning — and you’re still in our House! What the fuck are you doing there?! Get the hell out! NOW! If the Dems had any real guts, they’d impeach your ass by the weekend. If the Republicans in the Senate had any integrity, they’d escort you to the Florida state line. They all need to go. We the people continue the uprising and all Trump enablers are on the block.
Trump — Save us all the trouble. Leave today. Do NOT stay there tonight. The 200,000 dead all have family and friends. QUICK. LEAVE. Throw Pence in the back with the Andrew Jackson portrait and haul ass out of town.
Here is a recording of Trump saying on Feb. 7, 2020 that this virus is more deadly than the flu. Then later gives a public statement totally contrary to what he knew.
I wonder if this obvious lie will in anyway affect people’s views about the LYING IDIOT. Will Fox have the nerve to present this information?
………………………………
Trump acknowledged coronavirus was worse than flu, three weeks before publicly comparing it to the flu
On February 7, President Trump called the coronavirus “more deadly than… even your strenuous flus” in a call with journalist Bob Woodward, then three weeks later likened it to the flu in a press conference. Sunday on 60 Minutes, Woodward reveals more details from his conversations with the president.
SEPT 9, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-acknowledged-coronavirus-was-worse-than-flu-three-weeks-before-publicly-comparing-it-to-the-flu/
Comment by my brother when I sent him the audio and video put out by Woodward: That’s what he was told by Farci, I think I spelled his name right. I know I’m not going to believe anything you send me, it’s all communist propaganda. We’re not going to vote for Joe Biteme!
…………………………..
On February 7, President Trump called the coronavirus “more deadly than… even your strenuous flus” in a call with journalist Bob Woodward, then three weeks later likened it to the flu in a press conference. Sunday on 60 Minutes, Woodward reveals more details from his conversations with the president.SEPT 9, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-acknowledged-coronavirus-was-worse-than-flu-three-weeks-before-publicly-comparing-it-to-the-flu/
Your brother doesn’t believe Trump himself!
Diane: No. This is how strong his followers are. NOTHING gets through. Not even audios and videos of Trump speaking.
This was the response to him sent 8 hours ago:
Listen to the audio and the video!! There is nothing to read and it isn’t propaganda.
You’ll hear exactly what Trump was saying two times. It’s in his own voice. How can you NOT believe it.
Unbelievable.
I just sent my brother the photo that I have of Biden and myself that was taken in 2012 and sent a long comment telling what I think of Trump.
He currently isn’t speaking to me [except in emergencies] because I didn’t ‘learn something’ by listening to Hannity and Rush L. My brother knows that I’ll be going to hell because, according to him, I don’t believe in Jesus. He has no idea of what I believe because he tells me what I believe…doesn’t ask.
Other than that, he’s a nice fellow.
carolmalaysia,
Tell your brother that you respect his view that Trump tells the truth.
Then ask him whether he will allow you and your friend who works directly with COVID-19 patients to come for a visit to his home and tell him that because you respect him so much, neither of you will be wearing masks and the three of you will be holding hands and singing religious songs together in a tiny circle facing one another. You will also bring some Trump-approved botanical extract oleandrin for him just in case.
Many Trump supporters don’t like having their bluff called. They don’t really believe Trump – they just find it useful to pretend they do when they think they will personally benefit.
NYC public school parent: My brother lives in a different state. Any emails that I send come from ‘fake news’. This time I didn’t realize that what I sent was communist influenced.
He gets stranger every time he emails.
Obama was killing people in FEMA camps. Wonder why Rush L never said anything about that? Well maybe he did and the main stream media didn’t pick up on it. Did Fox know that Obama was killing people in FEMA camps? Why isn’t Trump commenting about how Obama killed people?
I get it. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for killing people in FEMA camps.
US Coronavirus Deaths May Exceed 410,000 Under Current Restrictions, IHME Model Predicts
By Arthur Villasanta
09/10/20 AT 9:59 PM
The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 could range from 410,000 to 620,000 by the end of the year, according the latest statistical model, as officials fear colder fall and winter weather will keep more people indoors where the coronavirus thrives.
The dire prediction comes from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. The latest IHME models also estimate the U.S. death toll could rise to some 2,600 per day in December compared to the more than 1,000 daily deaths being reported today.
IHME, which accurately estimated the nation’s current pace toward 200,000 deaths by October 1, based its latest projections on different assumptions: a most likely scenario, a worst-case scenario and a best-case scenario.
The most likely scenario sees COVID-19 leading to the deaths of 410,450 people by the end of the year if current restrictions continue. The worst-case scenario projects up to 620,028 deaths assuming states ease distancing restrictions and mask wearing. The best-case scenario, which is based on a yet-to-be issued universal mask mandate, predicts 288,380 people in the U.S. will die from the disease by New Years Day 2021…
https://www.ibtimes.com/us-coronavirus-deaths-may-exceed-410000-under-current-restrictions-ihme-model-3043826
This may seem ridiculous to ask, but can anyone tell me exactly what for/why Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?
retiredbutmissthekids: I don’t remember much either. I know that Obama spoke eloquently but after getting into office didn’t fulfill all that he had said.
………………………………………………………..
Inspires Hope for a Better Future
Barack H. Obama, the 44th President of the United States, had been in power for less than eight months when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Among the reasons it gave, the Nobel Committee lauded Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. Emphasis was also given to his support – in word and deed – for the vision of a world free from nuclear weapons.
Even before the election, Obama had advocated dialogue and cooperation across national, ethnic, religious and political dividing lines. As President, he called for a new start to relations between the Muslim world and the West based on common interests and mutual understanding and respect. In accordance with a promise he made during his election campaign, he set in motion a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. occupying forces from Iraq.
During his first year in power, President Obama showed himself to be a strong spokesman for human rights and democracy, and as a constructive supporter of the work being done to put effective measures in place to combat the climate crisis. This is in line with his appeal: “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges”.
Copyright © The Norwegian Nobel Institute
That was always a puzzle (why Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize). I think he wondered why also.