Post inauguration Trump:

[pietillidie]

[Pi]

I'm sure this has been mentioned several times in here, but Obama actually did institute a pandemic response department that got defunded by the Trump administration in 2018 as part of a cost-cutting endeavour. You can only play devil's advocate on this so far, I think, before you have to acknowledge that there have been serious blunders along the way, and that he needs to take responsibility for that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... 064881002/

according to Reuters that's partially false:

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-fact ... SKBN21C32M

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/

Any response unit would have to ignore the W.H.O advice and close borders at as soon as possible. The current measure of success comes down to doing both of those things ASAP. As in Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore.

The question is; in an alternative reality with Hillary Clinton as president is the result completely different?

The reality is probably not when you consider political opposition to travel bans and border control from various democratic politicians, including "the squad".

Any one done a credible alternative reality on this one?

[pietillidie]

^See my post above for the facts.

[David]

[What'sinaname]

Every time I think he's reached Peak Stupid, he goes one further.

This latest idiocy floored me.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-24/ ... t/12179212

Trump wants to inject disinfectant. Seriously! He is past stupid and well out there into seriously deranged.

Sadly, it's not just what he says, it's how he says it.

Surely he's mentally reta.r.ded. And if so, then kudos to him for become the first President with mental retardation.

[stui magpie]

I'm sure this has been mentioned several times in here, but Obama actually did institute a pandemic response department that got defunded by the Trump administration in 2018 as part of a cost-cutting endeavour. You can only play devil's advocate on this so far, I think, before you have to acknowledge that there have been serious blunders along the way, and that he needs to take responsibility for that.

To be fair, he's said some fkn strange things at his press conferences and there's been a few blunders no argument that there's zero chance in hell he'll take responsibility for. However, his personal level of culpability in my view, while certainly not zero, is very overstated by people who don't like him. Call it confirmation bias, halo effect, whatever. He is a legitimately polarising figure and while I still think he is going to get re-elected I don't necessarily think that's the best thing.

[pietillidie]

The problem is that people aren't going hard enough as with George W. Bush before that fateful second election. What the US needs is someone useless for a while. Just plain useless, rather than mentally unstable and dangerous.

People knew George W. was a dim front for far more menacing forces, but couldn't bring themselves to face the reality of the extent of the failures and the monumental mistake of electing him, and so repeated the latter error a second time.

Now the rest of us have to watch the stages of grieving unfold, with another election win followed by more of the same mismanagement, as wreckage piles upon wreckage. Eventually it will go from an admission of mistakes and personality flaws, and in time he will be disowned as the national disgrace he is.

The risks I think are even bigger this time because if relationships with China, Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world are not reset with haste, it could easily spell sustained depression and war.

Someone moderate will do for now to hold the fort and avoid chaos and destruction. Let's be frank; our assets and futures are at grave risk if he's not removed.

More people need to go hard on this now for the good of the whole.

[stui magpie]

The problem is that people aren't going hard enough as with George W. Bush before that fateful second election. What the US needs is someone useless for a while. Just plain useless, rather than mentally unstable and dangerous.

So they need Biden?

[pietillidie]

^That's what I'm implying, yes. But it's like Abbott versus Moderate Malcolm. Take Malcolm anyday. Sometimes the only choice you have is to buy time and keep the crazies at bay. Useless is far better than chaos and depression. Biden has a stable party infrastructure and he's not twisted, and will make more sound appointments around himself even if ailing. That gives you a functioning government, which is better than having what is essentially a twisted demagogue whom no one can stand working with.

I just can't see them finding an alternative given the time, so go smart, go useless. That should be Biden's slogan. The one term 'stabiliser' sell would have the most merit in the circumstances.

[pietillidie]

You are effing kidding me. More tax cuts for billionaires, this time smuggled inside the coffins of the dead:

As part of the economic rescue package that became law last month, the federal government is giving away $174 billion in temporary tax breaks overwhelmingly to rich individuals and large companies, according to interviews and government estimates.

Some of the breaks apply to taxes have long been in the cross hairs of corporate lobbyists. They undo limitations that were imposed to rein in the giveaways embedded in a $1.5 trillion tax-cut package enacted in 2017. None specifically target businesses or individuals harmed by the coronavirus.

...

The bottom line is that, barely two years after congressional Republicans and President Trump lavished America’s wealthiest families and companies with a series of lucrative tax cuts, those same beneficiaries are now receiving a second helping.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/busi ... virus.html

[pietillidie]

On the moon unit and his moronic medical pronouncements:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nymag.com/ ... eince.html

But he's really smart and it amazes everyone how he gets these things. He just has a gift where medicine is concerned.

Seriously, though, there must be plans to wheel him away to an institution as part of a national security strategy.

[David]

[Tannin]

^ That might be some kind of a record. We seldom see as many obvious mistruths and errors in a single short post.

First, the policy is not, repeat not "do nothing". The Democrats have policies, and we will hear a lot more about them when the time comes - we are many months away from the election, remember.

Second, you are pretending that Biden is a "dummy", which is demonstrably untrue. He is a canny operator with vast experience, and with the ability to pick a quality team. He is also an effective, well-proven communicator.

Third, those who recognise that the Trump administration is catastrophic don't need any persuasion at all.

Fourth, the ridiculous claim that "we already know from 2016 that [simply being nobody and not being Trump] is not enough to win an election. We know nothing of the kind. In 2016, the Democrats went with a candidate who was actively hated by many, and thoroughly disliked by vast numbers of others, including a great many Democrats. Clinton's massive unpopularity resulted in the worst Democrat turnout in a very long time.

Trump polled very poorly indeed - worse even than the failed Romney - but Clinton was so disliked by Democrats that many who wouldn't dream of voting for Trump couldn't face the thought of voting for Clinton either and simply stayed at home. This isn't speculation or being wise after the event, it's the numbers. They are there for anyone to read, and only permit one conclusion: Clinton was a terrible choice and it ended in the disaster we call Trump.

Fifth, Trump has completely failed to increase his supporter base. Time and time again his poll numbers have remained stubbornly below those any president can expect. His highest ever poll result is still well below the average result of all other presidents since 1945.

The Democrats, in contrast, could have increased their vote to a comfortable winning vote by simply running with an empty chair - i.e., anyone except the hated Clinton. But instead, they have gone with an experienced, sensible, middle-of-the-road candidate, who is everything Trump is not.

Personally, I wouldn't have chosen Biden from among the dozen-odd contenders, but Joe will do just fine.

[Wonka]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nymag.com/ ... eince.html

They need to stop showing his daily crap. It's risking public safety.

[Dark Beanie]

Trump is not drinking the Kool-Aid, he prefers Dettol.