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Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
Definitely some of it in my book, no maybe abut that. I would say over the last decade or two, it's become more important to stop the other side than to get anything accomplished. With something as big as the pandemic, both sides, red and blue should have sit down to work out something mutual acceptable and beneficial for America as a whole. Not just one's base.
With today's leadership in both parties, that is impossible. Heck, red and blue won't even get together to go ahead on things they agree on, afraid the other would get the credit. I do think a comprehensive response beneficial to the nation needed the cooperation of both parties. That cooperation wasn't about to come about, especially in an election year. The need to blame one or the other became the need, the want, become more important than a response that might benefit all of America instead of having a blame issue to use to an political advantage in the upcoming election.
How much of that, I don't know. That can be debated from some to most and anywhere in-between. I have no doubt that during Obama the Republican goal was to stop everything and all things Obama, not to get things accomplished. During Trump, it is now the Democrats goal to stop all and everything Trump, not to get anything accomplished. Payback, maybe. Of course I'm biased, both major parties really disgust the heck out of me with their party first attitude.
Republicans are climbing on board with the idea that the coronavirus isn’t just a blue state problem anymore (hilarious to think a highly contagious virus would magically constrain itself to states that just tend to vote Democrat, but such is the world we live in).
Some Republicans Have Gotten More Concerned About COVID-19 | FiveThirtyEight
In Jan, Feb, and early March I expect most of the world though it was never going to hit countries outside of East Asia. One Italian politician is reported to have said it is a yellow persons disease at a G7 meeting to Japanese representative
It’s easier to both sides everything.
In 2009, two Republicans came on board with the stimulus bill following the 2008 global economic meltdown. In 2020 Democrats as a whole joined Republicans in passing an assistance bill to Americans in the shutdown. And if another assistance bill comes up in 2021, precisely zero Republicans will join Democrats in passing it.
If you see a mugging, you could tell the cops that you observed one person stealI got another person’s wallet using a gun, or you could tell the cops that you saw “two people in a fight.”
Definitely some of it in my book, no maybe abut that. I would say over the last decade or two, it's become more important to stop the other side than to get anything accomplished. With something as big as the pandemic, both sides, red and blue should have sit down to work out something mutual acceptable and beneficial for America as a whole. Not just one's base.
The response wasn't all that botched. It was always going to be horrible and tragic and life-changing.
Partisan rancor accounts for some of the botched response. Simple incompetence and inexperience probably explains most of it.
Chinese incompetence and stonewalling (and maybe malevolence) are easily the biggest single reasons the pandemic happened.
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
If we had the money the Dems pissed away trying to impeach Trump we might have a vaccine by now.
The response wasn't all that botched. It was always going to be horrible and tragic and life-changing.
Partisan rancor accounts for some of the botched response. Simple incompetence and inexperience probably explains most of it.
Chinese incompetence and stonewalling (and maybe malevolence) are easily the biggest single reasons the pandemic happened.
Remember Ebola? Thank god Trump wasn't pres then.
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
One of the enduring puzzles this year has been why the GOP and the Trump administration in particular didn’t take an emerging pandemic seriously and didn’t act with any urgency from the outset.
Certainly we know the seeds for the current failure were sewn over the past few years as the administration took a sledgehammer to global disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness, but we can presumably chalk that up to standard rightwing ideological abhorrence of both good government and administrative competence.
But once the virus emerged, the 'strategy' quite transparently was: test as little as possible to stay in the dark on actual case counts and spread, pretend it'll go away, and forget about it. And try and make some Culture War hay out of public health measures. With hindsight of course we know that failed miserably from a public health perspective, but also was profound political malpractice. But surely even six months ago it was obvious that botching a pandemic would be a political liability?
If you assume the Trump folks are rational political animals, they either must have not seen this incompetence and non-response as a political liability or they knew they were in over their heads and were simply resigned to failing (which certainly seems to be Trump's posture now). If the former, why wouldn't it be a liability?
The obvious and unsettling possibility is that they saw it as a blue state problem for which they wouldn't take an appreciable political hit--indeed, perhaps they could even turn their failure against political opponents in those states. That's a horrifying thought, but it does find some support in a recent article on the national testing fiasco:
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
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