President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

I'd love to go to my local saloon, sit at the bar and have a martini (Beefeaters with olive, thanks). Also I have an intense craving for onion rings. But I'm not about to try to cheat death for either.

 

As long as my supply of covered rubber bands for my pony tail holds out I'm good.

 

Everyone wants the country open. The issue is opening too soon or without a plan - then the next wave is more deadly and hurts the economy more. I don't discount what has happened to the economy in any way. I don't think "reopening" the country magically means the economy is saved. It's saved when people can move about safely, understand that and do not have to worry about a repeat of March's shutdown in November.

 

A few excerpts from a digest:

POLITICO Playbook: Trump’s 46 percent presidency

NYT, A18 … PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN, with a “News Analysis” bug: “Trump Leaps to Call Shots on Combating Coronavirus, Setting Up Standoff With Governors”: “There once was a time when President Trump made clear that governors were the ones mainly responsible for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. But that was Sunday. On Monday, he declared that he was really in charge and would make the decision about when and how to reopen the country. …

-- 20TH GRAF of WAPO story on former FDA Commissioner SCOTT GOTTLIEB, by Laurie McGinley, Josh Dawsey and Yasmeen Abutaleb: “Several weeks ago, after talking to Kushner and others, Gottlieb agreed to submit paperwork for a temporary job working with the task force on strategy. But the paperwork stalled in Vice President Pence’s office, according to administration officials.”

WSJ: “The Coronavirus Economic Reopening Will Be Fragile, Partial and Slow,” by Erich Schwartzel, Alison Sider and Heather Haddon: “The re-emergence over the coming weeks and months will be fitful, fragile and partial—and a bit dystopian, with frequent temperature checks, increased monitoring of employees and customers, and, potentially, blood tests to determine whether workers have likely immunity to the virus. Officials and business leaders predict that operations won’t fully return to normal until an effective vaccine hits the market, estimated at least a year away.

“Some firms may bring office workers back in alternating groups to allow for social distancing in open-plan offices. Restaurant chains may operate at half capacity, installing plexiglass shields between booths, while stores may do away with tester cosmetics and sanitize items after customers try them on. Major League Baseball has discussed a season with no spectators, held in a part of the country where it can essentially sequester players for weeks at a time.”

L.A. TIMES: “Navy battles growing coronavirus outbreak on hospital ship Mercy as 7 test positive,” by Andrew Dyer: “Naval health officials are fighting an outbreak of the novel coronavirus among the crew of the hospital ship Mercy, where four more sailors tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, bringing the total cases among the crew to seven, a Navy official said Monday.

“The affected sailors, as well as those with whom they had close contact, have left the ship and are either isolated or quarantined off the ship, according to Cmdr. John Fage, a 3rd Fleet spokesman.”

DAN DIAMOND: “Public health officials prod Trump’s team for minority data”: “The Trump administration has yet to release comprehensive data about racial and ethnic outcomes in Covid-19 cases, despite the growing concerns about racial disparities and some former health officials urging Medicare to resurrect a similar Obama-era analysis. Medicare chief Seema Verma said at the White House daily briefing last week that her office would be providing such data ‘very shortly’ but two officials in her department told POLITICO that no such release is imminent or has been marked as a priority.

“Meanwhile, former Obama-era officials said they had prepared an analytical tool, based on Medicare billing data, to monitor the 2009-10 H1N1 outbreak, which allowed them to drill down into outcomes by race, ethnicity and gender. They expressed surprise that the Trump administration wasn’t adapting the system for coronavirus.

“‘If we saw disparities in vaccine uptake, or in hospitalizations, it gave us an early warning and allowed us to get ahead of them,’ said Nicole Lurie, who led the health department’s emergency preparedness efforts during the Obama administration. ‘It was a very helpful early warning system, and could continue to be one.’” POLITICO

 

The worst thing about cancer is not that it hits a person the first time. The worst thing about cancer is that it can recur. That's the really cruel part.
The same would be true of this virus. Its return would be worse for national morale and consumer confidence than the original onslaught.
The difference between cancer and the Trumpandemic is that cancer returns for reasons we don't always understand. If this thing comes back, we'll know why. We'll know it came back because we heeded the wrong voices and opened back up too soon.

 

Kindness and care from a Trump. The comments are as expected, with the first NSFW

 

That woman is the walking definition of "sloe-eyed".

 

1. The Racist Traitor in Chief is saying the obvious when he says the country must reopen at some point;
2. I find it fascinating that Republicans who have spent decades doing everything they can to cut the social safety net by claiming "people need to take responsibility for their life choices" are suddenly worried about those very people who are among the 40% (or whatever the number is) who don't have $400 in the bank;
3. I may be wrong about this, but it's my understanding that many (usually blue) states have enacted rent waivers and are also allowing self-employed to get stimulus funds. Elections have consequences;
4. People who support the drastic measures that we've taken in most places – measures which are undoubtedly proving to be effective – want the country to "return to normal" as soon as possible. And that means not just a moment too soon, but not a moment too late as well.

 

It's almost as if the President should have looked at the countries which have done it well, and put more effort into expanded testing.

When does that Google website come online? Anyone know?

 

What's our rigorous national model for testing?