Donald Trump and the Coronavirus

[Mountain Man]

They are direct and complete quotes by Donald Trump and on film.

I don't have a problem with Trump's statements, it's CNN's commentary and "analysis" where the bait and switch happens.

[Zara]

This is an unprecedented in recent memory event. We are handling it the best we can. Containment and researching a vaccine are the top 2 priorities right now.

He said, "reasonably expected", not what you've done. It doesn't matter if this is unprecedented in recent memory. Memory is not a standard for preparation. We knew that a pandemic was a major risk to the world, as much as war. Not preparing for one, i.e., stopping it before it gets out of control, is delinquent in ones duty to ones people. It is reasonably expected that you, and the rest of the world, could have planned for such an event. A recent high-risk event was stopped when Ebola was stopped. SARS and MARS too were high risk infections that were stopped.

You've not handled it "as best you could", you've failed to stop it early, the best option, you've failed to slow its spread, the second best option. At the moment you're on a trajectory to a worse outbreak than in Italy. And even if the world manages to get rid of the virus, as it stands, we will have completely lock off the US given your planned 'let it rip' response in a few weeks.

No one is really working together. Countries are closing their borders and investing in their own economies. And I see no other country actually LEADING the effort to contain it worldwide. Except ol' Trumpy.

Yes a failure in international relations because the Wests strongest power is almost completely dysfunctional, due to Trump. He should never have become the President of the US, he lacks the qualities incumbent to the role. Yes, because Trump has spent the past three years trashing his allies, poisoning international relations with a "I have the biggest" attitude and disrespecting pretty much everyone from his allies to his rivals. So, no, your ol' Trumpy has done a terrible job, because he's a terrible President. A tiny fraction of the world foisted this fool onto the world stage, no one is thanking you.

Sorry, but no. The Ebola outbreak was mainly centralized in Africa. It had not reached the US by any significant measure. This is not the same thing.

No kidding, it was stopped in its tracks in Africa. That's the point, you stop viruses, you don't let them spread to your borders. It requires international planning, cooperation and mechanism. Prevention is better than a cure, prevention here means keeping it from getting out of control. The US clearly has lost control of this virus, you didn't even know how many people were infected until recently, you still don't know the full extent. Your key members of government, Rand Paul among them, are infected - that's incredibly dangerous. Do I need to draw you a picture? You failed.

Utter nonsense. Those responsibilities were folded into other existing agencies that handle global catastrophes.

It isn't. The programme was effectively disbanded by that decision. It was made to be dysfunctional. Here is what was said about the decision: "Due to a lack of funds, the CDC had to cut its epidemic prevention programs back by 80% in 2018, terminating its activities in 39 out of 49 countries. The programs were made possible by a one-time emergency package of $600 million from Congress in 2014 to respond to the Ebola epidemic. The Trump administration proposed moving $59 million from other global health programs at the agency instead of replenishing the account. A full replenishment would have required $120 million annually, without reducing the global health budget in other areas.

Accordingly, the CDC chose to focus on only ten countries, cutting epidemic prevention in 39 countries including China, the source of COVID-19, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the center of the most recent Ebola outbreak."

“The problem was how the Chinese handled it,” said Scott McNabb, a former CDC epidemiologist. “What should have changed was the Chinese should have acknowledged it earlier and didn’t.”

They acknowledged it three months ago, they acted to stop it. You think they thought this wasn't a big deal if a country literally starts shutting down entire provinces to stop something? That was the point the world needed to act to stop it. If there had been international cooperation and planning, it could easily have been stopped then. But there wasn't. So it wasn't. Now you, and we, have a MASSIVE PROBLEM. I see MM is back to his "It's not that bad" attitude, since that's pretty much the only option left to the right at this stage.

The issue here is that you people HATE government, it's all bad and MUST BE CUT. Often such cuts are done in a way that leaves what isn't cut in a dysfunctional state, because cuts tend to be ad hoc and don't take their effects into account. This problem required a government and international response, something which your ideology cannot put in place. You and your small minded ideology are the problem.

[shunyadragon]

I don't have a problem with Trump's statements, it's CNN's commentary and "analysis" where the bait and switch happens.

Trump is quoted specifically and in context no "analysis" is needed nor offered.

The BIGGEST Elephant in the room is Trump's failure to proactively deal with the coronavirus for over 2 months.

[shunyadragon]

I don't have a problem with Trump's statements, it's CNN's commentary and "analysis" where the bait and switch happens.

I take it yo have no problem Trump calling the coronavirus a "Hoax" and "the coronavirus is under control." and this takes not "analysis" nor interpretation.

In South Korea and Japan the coronavirus is under control.

[Roy]

Name 10 paramedic’s, over the past century, that killed over 1 million world wide.

Assuming you mean pandemics not paramedics, I can't name 10. But:
- Asian bird flu caused more than 1 million deaths in the 1950s.
- Hong Kong flu may have caused more than 1 million deaths in the 1960s.
- AIDS has caused more than 30 million deaths.

Name 10 wars, over the past century, that killed over 1 million.

WWII (including China-Japan).
Chinese Civil war.
Russian Revolution.
Bangladesh revolution.
Second Congo war.
Vietnam.
Korea.
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
American invasion of Afghanistan.
Biafra.
Sudanese civil war.

Bottom line, there really hasn’t been anything quite like this since your great great grandparents lived.

Bottom line, this is wrong because of Asian bird flu and Hong Kong flu. Also because my grandparents experienced the Spanish flu epidemic.

[Roy]

Are you all illiterate? I already know you low-information types think the US is behind the curve on this, but that's not what I asked. My question is, what other comparable country is handling it better than the Trump administration? So far, it seems that the answer is "no one".

Iran and Italy are handling it worse than the US, though Italy's outbreak was earlier, so that may change. Every other country seems to be handing it better than the US, including China.

Incidentally, your original question didn't include the "comparable country" clause, it was about all other governments* - that's an obvious goal-post move to allow you to arbitrarily exclude any country you want to as being somehow incomparable.

*"which government(s) do people think did a better job handling this than the Trump administration?"

[Roy]

No one is really working together. Countries are closing their borders and investing in their own economies. And I see no other country actually LEADING the effort to contain it worldwide. Except ol' Trumpy.

Ol' Trumpy is doing no such thing. Ol' Trumpy has spent most of the last two months claiming the problem would simply go away by itself.

[lilpixieofterror]

Assuming you mean pandemics not paramedics, I can't name 10. But:
- Asian bird flu caused more than 1 million deaths in the 1950s.
- Hong Kong flu may have caused more than 1 million deaths in the 1960s.
- AIDS has caused more than 30 million deaths.

AIDS took place over 35 years and as I historically recall, for years it was said to be a ‘gay disease’ that most of us don’t need to worry about and the intense fear over it, in the early 80’s, turned out to be misplaced. Even later, when we have a clearer understanding, it really isn’t a huge danger for most of us. The Hong Kong Flu took place when my parents were children and really didn’t impact the west much and the same can be said about the bird flu too. Really, we need to go back to 1917-1920 to see a major disease causing serious problems, to most living in a western country.

WWII (including China-Japan).
Chinese Civil war.
Russian Revolution.
Bangladesh revolution.
Second Congo war.
Vietnam.
Korea.
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
American invasion of Afghanistan.
Biafra.
Sudanese civil war.
Bottom line, this is wrong because of Asian bird flu and Hong Kong flu. Also because my grandparents experienced the Spanish flu epidemic.

Since my post was directed at someone likely born in the 80’s, it would have been my generations great great grandparents or great grandparents, that faced the Spanish Flu. My point is that war has been far more destructive than most diseases over the past century, and a million deaths, world wide or 30 million, over a span of 35 years, is a lot of people, but It really isn’t a lot over the entire population. Truth is, most of the west truly hasn’t faced a deadly killer disease since the Spanish Flu of over a century ago. To most, the Hong Kong Flu, the Avian Flu, or AIDS have been diseases in far corners of the world or a disease that affects those who are not careful. Few westerners, have faced a Spanish Flu like disease and fewer and fewer have the living memory of having faced it.

[Roy]

Since my post was directed at someone likely born in the 80’s, it would have been my generations great great grandparents or great grandparents, that faced the Spanish Flu. My point is that war has been far more destructive than most diseases over the past century, and a million deaths, world wide or 30 million, over a span of 35 years, is a lot of people, but It really isn’t a lot over the entire population. Truth is, most of the west truly hasn’t faced a deadly killer disease since the Spanish Flu of over a century ago.

But most of the West hasn't faced a war in almost as long - there has been no major military action in Western Europe or North America since 1948. War is something that happens to other people.

[Mountain Man]

I take it yo have no problem Trump calling the coronavirus a "Hoax"...

He never called it a hoax. Even Snopes has debunked that one.

What's True
During a Feb. 28, 2020, campaign rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump likened the Democrats' criticism of his administration's response to the new coronavirus outbreak to their efforts to impeach him, saying "this is their new hoax." During the speech he also seemed to downplay the severity of the outbreak, comparing it to the common flu.

What's False
Despite creating some confusion with his remarks, Trump did not call the coronavirus itself a hoax.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tr...-rally-remark/

...and "the coronavirus is under control."

"Under control" in the sense that the administration was aware of the situation and was taking steps to address it.

Come on, man, are you really so gullible?

[Mountain Man]

Incidentally, your original question didn't include the "comparable country" clause...

No, it didn't, which is why I added the clarification in a subsequent post.

[lilpixieofterror]

But most of the West hasn't faced a war in almost as long - there has been no major military action in Western Europe or North America since 1948. War is something that happens to other people.

But we have war vets, by the millions, refugees, by the millions, and millions of people who still remember WW2. Most people alive today, who remembers the Spanish Flu are well north of 100 years old and even refugees among us are far more likely to have run from war than disease. This is important, stuff like disease with the possibility to kill millions, is rare and rare still in the modern west. The closest the west has come, in decades, is the AIDS scare of the early to mid 80’s, but when we learned its only transmitted through body fluids, much of the panic went with it.

[JimL]

No, it didn't, which is why I added the clarification in a subsequent post.

China is more than comparable, and they seem to be doing quite well now in comparison to the U.S.

[Mountain Man]

China is more than comparable, and they seem to be doing quite well now in comparison to the U.S.

It was funny the first time you said it, but jokes tend to lose their punch upon repetition.

[lilpixieofterror]

China is more than comparable, and they seem to be doing quite well now in comparison to the U.S.

Is China at least paying you to carry their water for them or are you doing this for free?