3/14/20
Trump’s Speech Shows He Has No Idea What to Do About the Coronavirus
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/trump-speech-coronavirus-travel-ban-europe.html
"The cliche about Trump’s presidency is that it is malevolence tempered by incompetence. His haplessness would undermine his corruption and authoritarianism. But now, finally, the country faces a crisis in which Trump’s incompetence will not save us from him. His wholesale unfitness was on bright display from the Oval Office. It may be the most unsettling moment yet of this bleak era."
"The cliche about Trump’s presidency is that it is malevolence tempered by incompetence. His haplessness would undermine his corruption and authoritarianism. But now, finally, the country faces a crisis in which Trump’s incompetence will not save us from him. His wholesale unfitness was on bright display from the Oval Office. It may be the most unsettling moment yet of this bleak era."
The Worst Outcome
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/trump-ensuring-worst-possible-outcome-coronavirus-crisis/607867/
"What he is responsible for is his failure to respond promptly, and then his perverse and counterproductive choice of how to respond when action could be avoided no longer. Trump, in his speech, pleaded for an end to finger-pointing. It’s a strange thing for this president of all presidents to say. No American president, and precious few American politicians, have ever pointed so many fingers or hurled so much abuse as Donald Trump. What he means, of course, is: Don’t hold me to account for the things I did. But he did do them, and he owns responsibility for those things. He cannot escape it, and he will not escape it. More people will get sick because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. More people will suffer the financial hardship of sickness because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. The medical crisis will arrive faster and last longer than if somebody else were in charge. So, too, the economic crisis. More people will lose their jobs than if somebody else were in charge. More businesses will be pushed into bankruptcy than if somebody else were in charge. More savers will lose more savings than if somebody else were in charge. The damage to America’s global leadership will be greater than if somebody else were in charge. There is always something malign in Trump’s incompetence. He has no care or concern for others; he cannot absorb the trouble and suffering of others as real. He monotones his way through words of love and compassion, but those words plainly have no content or meaning for him. The only thing that is real is his squalid vanity. This virus threatens to pierce that vanity, so he denied it as long as he could. What he refuses to acknowledge cannot be real, can it? And even now that he has acknowledged the crisis, he still cannot act, because he does not know what to do. His only goal now is to shove blame onto others."
"What he is responsible for is his failure to respond promptly, and then his perverse and counterproductive choice of how to respond when action could be avoided no longer. Trump, in his speech, pleaded for an end to finger-pointing. It’s a strange thing for this president of all presidents to say. No American president, and precious few American politicians, have ever pointed so many fingers or hurled so much abuse as Donald Trump. What he means, of course, is: Don’t hold me to account for the things I did. But he did do them, and he owns responsibility for those things. He cannot escape it, and he will not escape it. More people will get sick because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. More people will suffer the financial hardship of sickness because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. The medical crisis will arrive faster and last longer than if somebody else were in charge. So, too, the economic crisis. More people will lose their jobs than if somebody else were in charge. More businesses will be pushed into bankruptcy than if somebody else were in charge. More savers will lose more savings than if somebody else were in charge. The damage to America’s global leadership will be greater than if somebody else were in charge. There is always something malign in Trump’s incompetence. He has no care or concern for others; he cannot absorb the trouble and suffering of others as real. He monotones his way through words of love and compassion, but those words plainly have no content or meaning for him. The only thing that is real is his squalid vanity. This virus threatens to pierce that vanity, so he denied it as long as he could. What he refuses to acknowledge cannot be real, can it? And even now that he has acknowledged the crisis, he still cannot act, because he does not know what to do. His only goal now is to shove blame onto others."
It’s now or never for the U.S. if it hopes to keep coronavirus from burning out of control
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/09/its-now-or-never-us-if-it-hopes-keep-coronavirus-burning-out-control/
"The best way to put out the fire is a vaccine, but that is over a year away. In the meantime, we must focus on reducing the height of the outbreak curve. This requires coordination and implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions. School closures, isolation of the sick, home quarantines of those who have come into contact with the sick, social distancing, telework and large-gathering cancellations must be implemented before the spread of the disease in any community reaches 1 percent. After that, science tells us, these interventions become far less effective. Simply put, as evidence of human-to-human transmission becomes clear in a community, officials must pull the trigger on aggressive interventions. Time matters. Two weeks of delay can mean the difference between success and failure. Public health experts learned this in 1918 when the Spanish flu killed 50 million to 100 million people around the globe. If we fail to take action, we will watch our health-care system be overwhelmed."
"The best way to put out the fire is a vaccine, but that is over a year away. In the meantime, we must focus on reducing the height of the outbreak curve. This requires coordination and implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions. School closures, isolation of the sick, home quarantines of those who have come into contact with the sick, social distancing, telework and large-gathering cancellations must be implemented before the spread of the disease in any community reaches 1 percent. After that, science tells us, these interventions become far less effective. Simply put, as evidence of human-to-human transmission becomes clear in a community, officials must pull the trigger on aggressive interventions. Time matters. Two weeks of delay can mean the difference between success and failure. Public health experts learned this in 1918 when the Spanish flu killed 50 million to 100 million people around the globe. If we fail to take action, we will watch our health-care system be overwhelmed."
Trump’s Dangerously Effective Coronavirus Propaganda
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/03/trump-coronavirus-threat/607825/
"The administration’s response to the outbreak has drawn some comparisons to that of the autocratic regimes in China and Iran, where information about the virus was tightly controlled to the detriment of the local populations. But what Trump has actually shown is that he doesn’t need to silence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or censor the press to undermine politically inconvenient information about a public-health crisis—he can simply use his presidential bullhorn to drown it out. Scholars who study modern disinformation tactics have identified this approach as “censorship through noise.” (Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist, has described the strategy in blunter terms: “Flood the zone with sh*t.”) As I reported in my recent feature on the Trump campaign, the purpose of this sort of propaganda blizzard is not to inspire conviction in a certain set of facts; it’s to bombard people with so many contradictory claims, conspiracy theories, what-abouts, and distortions that they simply throw up their hands in confusion and exhaustion. Spend some time wading through the coronavirus content that’s spreading through the MAGA ecosystem, and it’s easy to see the strategy at work."
"The administration’s response to the outbreak has drawn some comparisons to that of the autocratic regimes in China and Iran, where information about the virus was tightly controlled to the detriment of the local populations. But what Trump has actually shown is that he doesn’t need to silence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or censor the press to undermine politically inconvenient information about a public-health crisis—he can simply use his presidential bullhorn to drown it out. Scholars who study modern disinformation tactics have identified this approach as “censorship through noise.” (Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist, has described the strategy in blunter terms: “Flood the zone with sh*t.”) As I reported in my recent feature on the Trump campaign, the purpose of this sort of propaganda blizzard is not to inspire conviction in a certain set of facts; it’s to bombard people with so many contradictory claims, conspiracy theories, what-abouts, and distortions that they simply throw up their hands in confusion and exhaustion. Spend some time wading through the coronavirus content that’s spreading through the MAGA ecosystem, and it’s easy to see the strategy at work."
The Administration* Screwed Up the Coronavirus Response From the Jump and Is Now Covering Its Ass
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a31405286/house-oversight-coronavirus-witnesses-summoned-white-house/
"The administration* screwed this up from jump and now is engaged in an all-out effort to cover its ass, not only on its original bungling, but also on the continuing consequences of that bungling. And any charge that this particular administration* is blocking congressional oversight is prima facie true at this point. Reuters helpfully connects a few more dots in that regard. The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus. Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said. “We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.” The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification. “This came directly from the White House,” one official said. There is no good reason for this policy except to keep inconvenient information from the public. If this were just another crooked emoluments deal, that would be one (really bad) thing. But it’s not easy to think of anything concerning the public health in the middle of a global pandemic that you would want to keep from the general public unless it was for political reasons, which would be completely inexcusable in the current context. They really don’t know what they're doing."
"The administration* screwed this up from jump and now is engaged in an all-out effort to cover its ass, not only on its original bungling, but also on the continuing consequences of that bungling. And any charge that this particular administration* is blocking congressional oversight is prima facie true at this point. Reuters helpfully connects a few more dots in that regard. The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus. Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said. “We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.” The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification. “This came directly from the White House,” one official said. There is no good reason for this policy except to keep inconvenient information from the public. If this were just another crooked emoluments deal, that would be one (really bad) thing. But it’s not easy to think of anything concerning the public health in the middle of a global pandemic that you would want to keep from the general public unless it was for political reasons, which would be completely inexcusable in the current context. They really don’t know what they're doing."
NIH's Fauci wishes Trump hadn't disbanded global health unit
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/nih-s-fauci-wishes-trump-hadn-t-disbanded-global-health-n1155866
"When it comes to responding to the coronavirus outbreak, one of Donald Trump's most important missteps came before anyone had even heard of COVID-19. As we discussed on Monday, the president's first error came back in 2018. It was two years ago when Trump ordered the shutdown of the White House National Security Council's entire global health security unit. NBC News had a good report on this recently, noting that the president's decision "to downsize the White House national security staff -- and eliminate jobs addressing global pandemics -- is likely to hamper the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus." But now that the public-health response is underway, is the president's 2018 decision having a practical effect? Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was unexpectedly candid on this point today. In fact, Dr. Fauci took some of his most direct swipes at the White House since the outbreak began. When [Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly] asked him about the 2018 eradication of the global health unit on the White House's National Security Council, he answered, "It would be nice if the office was still there." The NIH leader added, "We worked very well with that office." Remember, Trump has struggled to explain why, exactly, he disbanded the global health security unit. As we talked about the other day, the president originally argued, "I'm a businessperson. I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly." As it turns out, the administration cannot actually reassemble such a team "very quickly," though Trump, still unfamiliar with how much of the executive branch works, may not have known that."
"When it comes to responding to the coronavirus outbreak, one of Donald Trump's most important missteps came before anyone had even heard of COVID-19. As we discussed on Monday, the president's first error came back in 2018. It was two years ago when Trump ordered the shutdown of the White House National Security Council's entire global health security unit. NBC News had a good report on this recently, noting that the president's decision "to downsize the White House national security staff -- and eliminate jobs addressing global pandemics -- is likely to hamper the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus." But now that the public-health response is underway, is the president's 2018 decision having a practical effect? Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was unexpectedly candid on this point today. In fact, Dr. Fauci took some of his most direct swipes at the White House since the outbreak began. When [Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly] asked him about the 2018 eradication of the global health unit on the White House's National Security Council, he answered, "It would be nice if the office was still there." The NIH leader added, "We worked very well with that office." Remember, Trump has struggled to explain why, exactly, he disbanded the global health security unit. As we talked about the other day, the president originally argued, "I'm a businessperson. I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly." As it turns out, the administration cannot actually reassemble such a team "very quickly," though Trump, still unfamiliar with how much of the executive branch works, may not have known that."
Why Donald Trump Can’t Just Tweet Through the Coronavirus
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/coronavirus-crisis-trump-spin-fail.html
"Because the administration is built on sycophancy, the officials who should be spending their time and energy on the public’s health are instead wasting valuable effort on strenuously maintaining Trump’s fiction. The surgeon general—who is in his mid-40s—said on Sunday, absurdly, that Trump “sleeps less than I do and he’s healthier than what I am.” The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, began his remarks to the American people by praising Trump for his “decisive leadership.” “I think that’s the most important thing I want to say,” he said. Trump nodded. This Trump-pleasing weakness in government isn’t just superficial lip service—it’s having real effects. We now know that health officials at the CDC wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans avoid flying on commercial airlines. The White House ordered that the air travel recommendation be removed, endangering the very people the virus is likely to affect most severely. CDC officials couldn’t explain why they refused to use the World Health Organization’s coronavirus test and instead tried to develop one that failed. Trump himself has been quite forthright about wanting to cultivate ignorance on the number of infected Americans: Not knowing the real number is as good as the number not existing. There is a silver lining here—not because it’s good news but because it’s useful to have clarity in alarming and confusing times, when different sources are saying different things. It’s this: The least trustworthy president in recent memory should be understood as a film negative during this crisis. The truth is an almost perfect inversion of what he says. He told the country it was OK to go to work with coronavirus. His economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed on Friday that the virus was “contained.” White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News viewers the virus was “contained,” and all thanks to Trump’s quick action, too!"
"Because the administration is built on sycophancy, the officials who should be spending their time and energy on the public’s health are instead wasting valuable effort on strenuously maintaining Trump’s fiction. The surgeon general—who is in his mid-40s—said on Sunday, absurdly, that Trump “sleeps less than I do and he’s healthier than what I am.” The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, began his remarks to the American people by praising Trump for his “decisive leadership.” “I think that’s the most important thing I want to say,” he said. Trump nodded. This Trump-pleasing weakness in government isn’t just superficial lip service—it’s having real effects. We now know that health officials at the CDC wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans avoid flying on commercial airlines. The White House ordered that the air travel recommendation be removed, endangering the very people the virus is likely to affect most severely. CDC officials couldn’t explain why they refused to use the World Health Organization’s coronavirus test and instead tried to develop one that failed. Trump himself has been quite forthright about wanting to cultivate ignorance on the number of infected Americans: Not knowing the real number is as good as the number not existing. There is a silver lining here—not because it’s good news but because it’s useful to have clarity in alarming and confusing times, when different sources are saying different things. It’s this: The least trustworthy president in recent memory should be understood as a film negative during this crisis. The truth is an almost perfect inversion of what he says. He told the country it was OK to go to work with coronavirus. His economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed on Friday that the virus was “contained.” White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News viewers the virus was “contained,” and all thanks to Trump’s quick action, too!"
Top Infectious Disease Expert Warns: “It Is Going to Get Worse”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-comments-worse-trump.html
"Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top immunology official, contradicted the White House’s statements on the novel coronavirus in a hearing on Wednesday and asserted that the coronavirus outbreak will get far worse in the U.S."
"Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top immunology official, contradicted the White House’s statements on the novel coronavirus in a hearing on Wednesday and asserted that the coronavirus outbreak will get far worse in the U.S."
How soap absolutely annihilates the coronavirus
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/11/21173187/coronavirus-covid-19-hand-washing-sanitizer-compared-soap-is-dope
"You’re not just washing viruses down the drain. Soap annihilates the coronavirus, a chemistry professor explains."
"You’re not just washing viruses down the drain. Soap annihilates the coronavirus, a chemistry professor explains."
Our health systems aren't built to handle a national crisis. That's why these early days are vital
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/9/1925933/-Our-health-systems-aren-t-built-to-handle-a-national-crisis-That-s-why-these-early-days-are-vital
"This is the whole point of current "self-quarantine" and "social distancing" measures, and the point of canceling large events in places with confirmed coronavirus cases. The expectation is not that the cancellation of large conferences and festivals will truly stop the virus' spread; individuals who are infected with the virus but don't know it will still likely go about their daily lives, sneezing and coughing and obligingly scattering the virus to new hosts. That is how viruses work. But by infecting fewer people, at a slower pace, the demand for medical services is itself slowed. This is also why public health experts have been so very alarmed at the Trump administration’s early-stages bungling, and especially at the continued unavailability or rationing of testing kits for the new coronavirus strain. When the disease reached epidemic levels in Wuhan, China, the government closed borders and instituted aggressive containment measures intended to block the epidemic from reaching farther, faster; that time was necessary to give China and all other countries more time to prepare for the virus' likely expansion. That was the point at which the United States was supposed to be ramping up testing (but the early tests were botched), breaking out the emergency plans for a pandemic (but Trump dissolved the national security team tasked with coordinating such plans), and making sure state and local governments were up to speed on what was going on. Instead, U.S. officials hesitated to make preparations for fear it would give Donald Trump the Angries. Trump himself contradicted officials who did make public statements, allegedly getting angry because he did not want the stock markets to go down in response. The net result is that the nation squandered weeks of preparedness time and we still, even today, have very little information about how the virus is spreading. That makes what happens next much more difficult."
"This is the whole point of current "self-quarantine" and "social distancing" measures, and the point of canceling large events in places with confirmed coronavirus cases. The expectation is not that the cancellation of large conferences and festivals will truly stop the virus' spread; individuals who are infected with the virus but don't know it will still likely go about their daily lives, sneezing and coughing and obligingly scattering the virus to new hosts. That is how viruses work. But by infecting fewer people, at a slower pace, the demand for medical services is itself slowed. This is also why public health experts have been so very alarmed at the Trump administration’s early-stages bungling, and especially at the continued unavailability or rationing of testing kits for the new coronavirus strain. When the disease reached epidemic levels in Wuhan, China, the government closed borders and instituted aggressive containment measures intended to block the epidemic from reaching farther, faster; that time was necessary to give China and all other countries more time to prepare for the virus' likely expansion. That was the point at which the United States was supposed to be ramping up testing (but the early tests were botched), breaking out the emergency plans for a pandemic (but Trump dissolved the national security team tasked with coordinating such plans), and making sure state and local governments were up to speed on what was going on. Instead, U.S. officials hesitated to make preparations for fear it would give Donald Trump the Angries. Trump himself contradicted officials who did make public statements, allegedly getting angry because he did not want the stock markets to go down in response. The net result is that the nation squandered weeks of preparedness time and we still, even today, have very little information about how the virus is spreading. That makes what happens next much more difficult."
The Republican Party is ideologically incapable of getting us out of this coronavirus crisis
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/9/1925893/-The-Republican-Party-is-ideologically-incapable-of-getting-us-out-of-this-crisis
"There is a lesson here for all Americans, one that is likely to grow more and more apparent in the coming weeks: Republicans are ideologically unprepared—in fact they are utterly incapable—of managing any crisis of this magnitude. Because their entire ideology assumes government is “bad,” they can’t adapt to any situation where government is clearly the only solution, whether its an economic crisis brought on by their own fiscal malfeasance, or here, a public health crisis of unprecedented proportions. They simply don’t have those tools in their tool kits. And they are so wedded to their ideology that they can’t even begin to comprehend just how complicated a crisis like this will be, or the measures that will necessary to protect Americans from disaster."
"There is a lesson here for all Americans, one that is likely to grow more and more apparent in the coming weeks: Republicans are ideologically unprepared—in fact they are utterly incapable—of managing any crisis of this magnitude. Because their entire ideology assumes government is “bad,” they can’t adapt to any situation where government is clearly the only solution, whether its an economic crisis brought on by their own fiscal malfeasance, or here, a public health crisis of unprecedented proportions. They simply don’t have those tools in their tool kits. And they are so wedded to their ideology that they can’t even begin to comprehend just how complicated a crisis like this will be, or the measures that will necessary to protect Americans from disaster."
3/11/20
Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/
"For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is—not just for the public but for the government itself, which largely finds itself in the dark. When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, President Barack Obama recognized that responding to the outbreak overseas, while also protecting Americans at home, involved multiple U.S. government departments and agencies, none of which were speaking to one another. Basically, the U.S. pandemic infrastructure was an enormous orchestra full of talented, egotistical players, each jockeying for solos and fame, refusing to rehearse, and demanding higher salaries—all without a conductor. To bring order and harmony to the chaos, rein in the agency egos, and create a coherent multiagency response overseas and on the homefront, Obama anointed a former vice presidential staffer, Ronald Klain, as a sort of “epidemic czar” inside the White House, clearly stipulated the roles and budgets of various agencies, and placed incident commanders in charge in each Ebola-hit country and inside the United States. The orchestra may have still had its off-key instruments, but it played the same tune."
"For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is—not just for the public but for the government itself, which largely finds itself in the dark. When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, President Barack Obama recognized that responding to the outbreak overseas, while also protecting Americans at home, involved multiple U.S. government departments and agencies, none of which were speaking to one another. Basically, the U.S. pandemic infrastructure was an enormous orchestra full of talented, egotistical players, each jockeying for solos and fame, refusing to rehearse, and demanding higher salaries—all without a conductor. To bring order and harmony to the chaos, rein in the agency egos, and create a coherent multiagency response overseas and on the homefront, Obama anointed a former vice presidential staffer, Ronald Klain, as a sort of “epidemic czar” inside the White House, clearly stipulated the roles and budgets of various agencies, and placed incident commanders in charge in each Ebola-hit country and inside the United States. The orchestra may have still had its off-key instruments, but it played the same tune."
3/10/20
EXCLUSIVE: Why Washington State Is Desperate For Trump To Declare A COVID-19 Emergency
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/exclusive-why-washington-state-is-desperate-for-trump-to-declare-a-covid-19-emergency
"As Washington state grapples with what may be the country’s worst outbreak of novel coronavirus, the absence of a COVID-19 emergency declaration from President Trump has hamstrung its ability to respond to the crisis. The state would like to apply for a Medicaid waiver that would let Washington give people more options for where to receive care, so that it can lessen the pressure on its already overtaxed health system. The problem for the state is that one of the types of waivers currently under discussion — a waiver known as 1135 — can be triggered only by the President declaring an emergency or a disaster under the Stafford Act, something he has notably failed to do, despite all signs indicating that the coronavirus outbreak stands to be a major public health crisis."
"As Washington state grapples with what may be the country’s worst outbreak of novel coronavirus, the absence of a COVID-19 emergency declaration from President Trump has hamstrung its ability to respond to the crisis. The state would like to apply for a Medicaid waiver that would let Washington give people more options for where to receive care, so that it can lessen the pressure on its already overtaxed health system. The problem for the state is that one of the types of waivers currently under discussion — a waiver known as 1135 — can be triggered only by the President declaring an emergency or a disaster under the Stafford Act, something he has notably failed to do, despite all signs indicating that the coronavirus outbreak stands to be a major public health crisis."
US isn’t prepared for outbreak: This is a ‘coronavirus winter, and we’re in the first week,’ disease specialist says
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/us-isnt-prepared-for-outbreak-this-is-a-coronavirus-winter-and-were-in-the-first-week.html
"The U.S. is not prepared for what is coming as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the country, public health and infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Osterholm told CNBC on Tuesday. The virus has surpassed the containment stage, he said, and the U.S. government is not responding appropriately for the magnitude of spread the country will likely see. “Right now we’re approaching this like it’s the Washington D.C. blizzard, for a couple days we’re shut down,” said Osterholm, who is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “This is actually a coronavirus winter and we’re in the first week"."
"The U.S. is not prepared for what is coming as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the country, public health and infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Osterholm told CNBC on Tuesday. The virus has surpassed the containment stage, he said, and the U.S. government is not responding appropriately for the magnitude of spread the country will likely see. “Right now we’re approaching this like it’s the Washington D.C. blizzard, for a couple days we’re shut down,” said Osterholm, who is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “This is actually a coronavirus winter and we’re in the first week"."
Trump’s Media Attacks Are Always Shameful. But in the Middle of the Coronavirus Crisis, They’re Dangerous.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/trump-campaign-email-attacks-media-coronavirus/
"Trump’s long assault on the press has always been reprehensible. In the midst of a public health crisis, it is…well, what’s beyond reprehensible? Horrendous? Disgraceful? Reckless? Irresponsible? Disgracefully horrendous and recklessly irresponsible? Whatever the adjective, Trump and his campaign have opted to smear and vilify the organizations that are needed to keep the public informed about a national emergency that has the potential to turn into a national disaster. By now, Trump whacking the media has become a running joke—a fan favorite at his rallies. In front of his adoring crowds, he denounces the press and claims that the TV cameras are being turned off at this moment (to censor his censure), even as the networks broadcast the spectacle. Many Americans have become inured to these sort of attacks. But with the country engaged in a full-on crisis that threatens individuals, communities, and the entire economy, Trump’s crusade to torpedo the media has become a grave threat. But Trump’s remarks and this campaign email prove that the commander in chief cares about only one particular threat, and that is the political threat he faces. He realizes the truth is not on his side. And in the middle of this crisis, that makes Trump an immediate menace and a risk for everyone."
"Trump’s long assault on the press has always been reprehensible. In the midst of a public health crisis, it is…well, what’s beyond reprehensible? Horrendous? Disgraceful? Reckless? Irresponsible? Disgracefully horrendous and recklessly irresponsible? Whatever the adjective, Trump and his campaign have opted to smear and vilify the organizations that are needed to keep the public informed about a national emergency that has the potential to turn into a national disaster. By now, Trump whacking the media has become a running joke—a fan favorite at his rallies. In front of his adoring crowds, he denounces the press and claims that the TV cameras are being turned off at this moment (to censor his censure), even as the networks broadcast the spectacle. Many Americans have become inured to these sort of attacks. But with the country engaged in a full-on crisis that threatens individuals, communities, and the entire economy, Trump’s crusade to torpedo the media has become a grave threat. But Trump’s remarks and this campaign email prove that the commander in chief cares about only one particular threat, and that is the political threat he faces. He realizes the truth is not on his side. And in the middle of this crisis, that makes Trump an immediate menace and a risk for everyone."
Trump Can Keep Lying About Coronavirus, But He Won’t Be Able To Hide The Deaths
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-lying-coronavirus_n_5e669d24c5b68d616458fefe
"President Donald Trump has gotten away with a staggering amount of lying over the course of his public life and has been particularly successful at using numbers to mislead and obfuscate. So far, Trump has lied about coronavirus a lot, and always to make it seem like things are better than they are. Trump lied when he said the number of Americans infected with coronavirus was declining even as health officials told him and the public the truth about it rising. He lied when he said there were enough coronavirus tests for every American even when Vice President Mike Pence ― who’s leading the administration’s response ― said that wasn’t true, and he lied when he blamed the shortage of tests on former President Barack Obama. He lied when he compared a year’s worth of influenza deaths to a few months’ worth of coronavirus fatalities in an effort to mislead Americans about the severity of the new disease. But his constant downplaying of the severity of the coronavirus outbreak is about to run headlong into reality."
"President Donald Trump has gotten away with a staggering amount of lying over the course of his public life and has been particularly successful at using numbers to mislead and obfuscate. So far, Trump has lied about coronavirus a lot, and always to make it seem like things are better than they are. Trump lied when he said the number of Americans infected with coronavirus was declining even as health officials told him and the public the truth about it rising. He lied when he said there were enough coronavirus tests for every American even when Vice President Mike Pence ― who’s leading the administration’s response ― said that wasn’t true, and he lied when he blamed the shortage of tests on former President Barack Obama. He lied when he compared a year’s worth of influenza deaths to a few months’ worth of coronavirus fatalities in an effort to mislead Americans about the severity of the new disease. But his constant downplaying of the severity of the coronavirus outbreak is about to run headlong into reality."
How Trump Got Trickled Down
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/opinion/trump-budget-2020.html
"One thing many people forget about the 2016 election is that as a candidate, Donald Trump promised to be a different kind of Republican. Unlike the mainstream of his party, he declared, he would raise taxes on the rich and wouldn’t cut programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that ordinary Americans rely on. At the same time, he would invest large sums in rebuilding America’s infrastructure. He was lying. Trump’s only major legislative achievement, the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, was absolutely standard modern Republicanism: huge tax cuts for corporations, plus tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy. The only unconventional aspect of the legislation was the variety of new tax scams it made possible, like the benefits for investors in “opportunity zones,” which were supposed to help poor communities but have actually enriched billionaire real estate developers. Trump also came very close to passing a health care “reform” that would have imposed savage cuts on Medicaid, eliminated protections for those with pre-existing conditions and taken away health insurance from more than 30 million Americans. And there has, of course, been no infrastructure bill; in fact, the Trump administration’s repeated proclamations of “Infrastructure Week” have become a running joke. Policy wonks are still poring over the latest Trump budget, released on Monday, but there was no hiding the same reverse Robin-Hoodism as in previous budgets: taking from the poor and middle class while giving to the rich. In other words, Trump in practice, as opposed to Trump in pretense, has turned out to be every bit as committed to trickle-down economics as Republicans in Congress have been for decades."
"One thing many people forget about the 2016 election is that as a candidate, Donald Trump promised to be a different kind of Republican. Unlike the mainstream of his party, he declared, he would raise taxes on the rich and wouldn’t cut programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that ordinary Americans rely on. At the same time, he would invest large sums in rebuilding America’s infrastructure. He was lying. Trump’s only major legislative achievement, the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, was absolutely standard modern Republicanism: huge tax cuts for corporations, plus tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy. The only unconventional aspect of the legislation was the variety of new tax scams it made possible, like the benefits for investors in “opportunity zones,” which were supposed to help poor communities but have actually enriched billionaire real estate developers. Trump also came very close to passing a health care “reform” that would have imposed savage cuts on Medicaid, eliminated protections for those with pre-existing conditions and taken away health insurance from more than 30 million Americans. And there has, of course, been no infrastructure bill; in fact, the Trump administration’s repeated proclamations of “Infrastructure Week” have become a running joke. Policy wonks are still poring over the latest Trump budget, released on Monday, but there was no hiding the same reverse Robin-Hoodism as in previous budgets: taking from the poor and middle class while giving to the rich. In other words, Trump in practice, as opposed to Trump in pretense, has turned out to be every bit as committed to trickle-down economics as Republicans in Congress have been for decades."
The right wanted to destroy the "administrative state": Coronavirus is why we need it
https://www.salon.com/2020/03/07/the-right-wanted-to-destroy-the-administrative-state-coronavirus-is-why-we-need-it/
"There is nothing like a potential pandemic to remind an easily distracted electorate that governance matters. As the coronavirus spreads, the death count rises and people all over the world begin to fear infection, the incoherent and dangerous reaction of the Trump administration offers a high-stakes indictment. This is what happens when you elect someone to run the federal government who has no prerequisite knowledge, experience or ability for public policy and administration. The Obama administration opened 49 overseas offices of the Centers for Disease Control, designed to proactively prevent viruses from reaching pandemic proportions. Over the objections of medical experts within his own administration, our current president has shut down 39 of them. One of these satellite CDC offices was in China. For the past two years, Trump's budget proposal has included reductions to the CDC and the National Institute of Health. If we want proof that elections have implications on the actual work of government — on not merely who is able to give inspiring or outrageous speeches with a title in front of his or her name — the House Democratic majority prevented those cuts from going into effect. Congress could not, however, prevent Trump from neglecting the fundamental responsibilities of his position. In 2018, the director of the National Security Council's global pandemic prevention effort resigned, and his entire staff subsequently did likewise. Trump has not replaced them, creating massive vulnerabilities in the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. Concerned citizens can relax, though, because Trump has appointed Vice President Mike Pence as the "coronavirus czar." Pence's previous high-water mark in public health was denying, and then delaying, the implementation of clean needle exchange programs when he was governor of Indiana — a display of evangelical moralism that experts agree was partly responsible for the increase of HIV infection rates in the state."
"There is nothing like a potential pandemic to remind an easily distracted electorate that governance matters. As the coronavirus spreads, the death count rises and people all over the world begin to fear infection, the incoherent and dangerous reaction of the Trump administration offers a high-stakes indictment. This is what happens when you elect someone to run the federal government who has no prerequisite knowledge, experience or ability for public policy and administration. The Obama administration opened 49 overseas offices of the Centers for Disease Control, designed to proactively prevent viruses from reaching pandemic proportions. Over the objections of medical experts within his own administration, our current president has shut down 39 of them. One of these satellite CDC offices was in China. For the past two years, Trump's budget proposal has included reductions to the CDC and the National Institute of Health. If we want proof that elections have implications on the actual work of government — on not merely who is able to give inspiring or outrageous speeches with a title in front of his or her name — the House Democratic majority prevented those cuts from going into effect. Congress could not, however, prevent Trump from neglecting the fundamental responsibilities of his position. In 2018, the director of the National Security Council's global pandemic prevention effort resigned, and his entire staff subsequently did likewise. Trump has not replaced them, creating massive vulnerabilities in the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. Concerned citizens can relax, though, because Trump has appointed Vice President Mike Pence as the "coronavirus czar." Pence's previous high-water mark in public health was denying, and then delaying, the implementation of clean needle exchange programs when he was governor of Indiana — a display of evangelical moralism that experts agree was partly responsible for the increase of HIV infection rates in the state."
Testing for the coronavirus might have stopped it. Now it’s too late.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/coronavirus-testing-united-states/2020/03/05/a6ced5aa-5f0f-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html
"The battle to keep covid-19 from becoming established in the United States is probably over without a single shot being fired. We were not outwitted, outpaced or outflanked. We knew what was coming. We just twiddled our thumbs as the coronavirus waltzed in. The first thing officials need when responding to an infectious disease is a way to test for it — a way to tell who has it and who is at risk. Dozens of such test procedures have been produced in the scant weeks since covid-19 announced itself to the world by shutting down Wuhan, China, a city the size of New York. Public health agencies around the globe have generated huge amounts of data on how well these tests work and have rolled them out on a massive scale. South Korea alone has tested more than 100,000 of its citizens. But the United States has lagged far behind the rest of the world in testing for the new coronavirus. As a result, outbreaks here are likely to be more numerous and more difficult to control than they would have been otherwise. I research infectious disease and how to fight it, so I know how important it is to detect outbreaks early. The covid-19 outbreak is the largest acute infectious-disease emergency most of us have experienced. And we may have let it go undetected here for too long."
"The battle to keep covid-19 from becoming established in the United States is probably over without a single shot being fired. We were not outwitted, outpaced or outflanked. We knew what was coming. We just twiddled our thumbs as the coronavirus waltzed in. The first thing officials need when responding to an infectious disease is a way to test for it — a way to tell who has it and who is at risk. Dozens of such test procedures have been produced in the scant weeks since covid-19 announced itself to the world by shutting down Wuhan, China, a city the size of New York. Public health agencies around the globe have generated huge amounts of data on how well these tests work and have rolled them out on a massive scale. South Korea alone has tested more than 100,000 of its citizens. But the United States has lagged far behind the rest of the world in testing for the new coronavirus. As a result, outbreaks here are likely to be more numerous and more difficult to control than they would have been otherwise. I research infectious disease and how to fight it, so I know how important it is to detect outbreaks early. The covid-19 outbreak is the largest acute infectious-disease emergency most of us have experienced. And we may have let it go undetected here for too long."
'Code for Massive Cuts': Audio Shows GOP Sen. Joni Ernst Telling Donors She Wants 'Changes' to Medicare, Medicaid
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/14/code-massive-cuts-audio-shows-gop-sen-joni-ernst-telling-donors-she-wants-changes
"The audio clip comes months after the Democratic super PAC American Bridge posted a video of Ernst telling a town hall audience in August that members of Congress should negotiate changes to Social Security "behind closed doors" to avoid scrutiny from advocacy groups and the press."
"The audio clip comes months after the Democratic super PAC American Bridge posted a video of Ernst telling a town hall audience in August that members of Congress should negotiate changes to Social Security "behind closed doors" to avoid scrutiny from advocacy groups and the press."
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