Post inauguration Trump:

[stui magpie]

Wait, what?

The narrative seemed set: After a brief surge of public support for President Donald Trump in the early days of America's fight against the coronavirus, his approval numbers had settled back into the low 40s.

Right? Right.
Except that in Gallup's latest two-week tracking poll, Trump's job approval is back to 49% -- matching the highest it's ever been -- while his disapproval is at 47%.
That marks a 6-point improvement on Trump's approval number from the last Gallup tracking poll. And that improvement comes exclusively from independents -- 47% of whom now approve of the job Trump is doing, the best he has ever done among that group in Gallup polling. (He was at 38% approval among indies in the last Gallup tracker.)

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/poli ... index.html

[Pies4shaw]

Now that Frumpy is out and about and not wearing a mask, greater chance he'll get COVID.

He's not completely stupid (after all, nobody is perfect) - he went out and about in Arizona (probably lower COVID risk there, atm, than in DC). I don't expect to see him in the urban north-east any time soon.

[pietillidie]

You just can't have a situation where people are so rusted on nothing changes no matter how badly the nation is managed. You only want 1/4 to 1/3 of the population mindlessly devoted to each side, leaving 2/3 to 3/4 willing to punish bad governance at any one time (i.e., the sum of the opposing rusted ons and swing voters). That level of discontent would bring bad administrations into line long before elections, keeping things nice and boring.

It really is two countries in one. The best we can hope for is a managed decline that doesn't wreck our lives while they get their shite sorted.

[think positive]

If only they would get their shit sorted. Can’t see it happening soon, and how many will die first? Hell their gun violence hasn’t changed much. It’s bananas in some parts

[Pies4shaw]

https://trumpdeathclock.com/

Here’s a useful little site that specifically estimates the number of people who have died of COVID-19 because of the President’s decisions. As I post, the number is 43,888. That’s about 15 times as many as died from the 9/11 attacks.

It is an interesting aspect of the collective American psychosis that if this many US deaths had been caused by an Islamic foreigner, the US would probably have bombed the foreigner’s country and 15 nearby nations directly into oblivion. It’s kind of touching that they are so forgiving when the murdering is done by one of their own.

[Wokko]

https://trumpdeathclock.com/

Here’s a useful little site that specifically estimates the number of people who have died of COVID-19 because of the President’s decisions. As I post, the number is 43,888. That’s about 15 times as many as died from the 9/11 attacks.

It is an interesting aspect of the collective American psychosis that if this many US deaths had been caused by an Islamic foreigner, the US would probably have bombed the foreigner’s country and 15 nearby nations directly into oblivion. It’s kind of touching that they are so forgiving when the murdering is done by one of their own.

The fault lies squarely with China and its lying and hoarding of medical supplies. Trying to blame a leader who is doing his best in the face of an unprecedented in our lifetime event is disingenuous and sinister politicking.

He banned flights from China while his detractors called him racist. Of course there have been mistakes and they should be analyzed in the wash-up; funnily enough your exact sentiments when it's Chairman Dan who screwed up.

[think positive]

i suggested they bomb the country to blame, and i got told off for it!

[David]

Yep, can't even advocate mass murder on here any more. It's PC Gone Mad!

[stui magpie]

Yep,

back in the old days you could advocate mass murder on here every day and in GD after every loss.

PC gone mad.

[David]

Touche!

[Pies4shaw]

https://trumpdeathclock.com/

Here’s a useful little site that specifically estimates the number of people who have died of COVID-19 because of the President’s decisions. As I post, the number is 43,888. That’s about 15 times as many as died from the 9/11 attacks.

It is an interesting aspect of the collective American psychosis that if this many US deaths had been caused by an Islamic foreigner, the US would probably have bombed the foreigner’s country and 15 nearby nations directly into oblivion. It’s kind of touching that they are so forgiving when the murdering is done by one of their own.

The fault lies squarely with China and its lying and hoarding of medical supplies. Trying to blame a leader who is doing his best in the face of an unprecedented in our lifetime event is disingenuous and sinister politicking.

He banned flights from China while his detractors called him racist. Of course there have been mistakes and they should be analyzed in the wash-up; funnily enough your exact sentiments when it's Chairman Dan who screwed up.

1. There was a problem with following up the 2 April Cedar Meats case. That should be investigated. It was not the consequence of some deliberate political act trying to sweep an event under the carpet. There is no parallel whatsoever between Trump's deliberate decisions that have cost - just checking the clock - 44,063 lives by inaction and delayed action at a high policy level, on the one hand, and a cluster of cases that has arisen because it looks like something that should have been followed up by an official was not.

2. The insinuation that I have special views about Andrews is inapt. You know very well that I have expressed exactly the same support for Morrison's efforts. My general view is that these are difficult times and provided people are doing their best to make reasonable decisions with the interests of their citizens in mind, I don't think political quibbling is appropriate.

3. For avoidance of doubt, taking deliberate decisions that have already killed 45,000 of one's own citizens is not, in my view, "doing their best to make reasonable decisions". It smacks rather of genocide.

4. Every single other country in the world is dealing with consequences of the disease's emergence from China. Many (perhaps even most) of them are doing so reasonably competently and generally to the best of their ability. It is tolerably clear that the only concern Trump has, at the moment, is to get the economy moving again as quickly as he can because the economic downturn has rooted (to use a carefully chosen technical term) his re-election strategy.

5. Trump is only "doing his best" to get himself re-elected. There is no basis whatsoever in fact for even trying to hint that he might be trying to do his best to mitigate the health impacts of the pandemic. To the contrary, his entire style has been to distance himself from responsibility and look for scapegoats. China is merely one among many.

6. The only thing "sinister" here is your continuing defence of the evil and indefensible response of this POTUS.

7. These are not nuances capable of delicate inflection by "politicking". Trump's actions in the face of this pandemic have been - repeatedly and throughout - incompetent, dishonest, contrary to the advice from his own hand-picked scientists and certain to kill people (only a self-deluded moron could assert otherwise). It is no accident that almost every third person on the planet who has caught this disease so far is an American.

8. Meanwhile, the clock has ticked up to 44,078. And 38 separate states in the US have more deaths, as I write, than the whole of Australia. Moreover, while Trump is talking about easing restrictions, the epidemic is ramping up virtually everywhere in his country except New York.

[Pies4shaw]

Sorry, make that 44,088.

[pietillidie]

[Tannin]

^ Great post, PTID. Spot on.

One more thing. Yes, it's hard to excuse the morons who put him in, but the REAL blame here (assuming that we are excusing Trump himself on the grounds of mental illness) has to go to the hard liners in the Republican Party who continue to support him even though they know perfectly well that he is unhinged and destroying the country they swore to protect and defend when they took their oaths.

[Wokko]

This update contains some interesting opinion poll data:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... mpeachment

The best bit of it is this:

"USA Today’s Brad Heath pulled out an interesting tidbit from the details of that poll: nearly half of Republicans agree with the statement, “Nobody on President Trump’s campaign committed any crimes”, despite the fact that many people on Trump’s campaign have pleaded guilty to committing crimes. These include: former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former personal attorney Michael Cohen, and campaign advisers Rick Gates, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulous."

Flynn walks.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/drops- ... Y3NBqx8cvc