• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

W_Heisenberg

DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Messages
21,574
Reaction score
19,527
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Moderate
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

--

By the time Donald Trump proclaimed himself a wartime president — and the coronavirus the enemy — the United States was already on course to see more of its people die than in the wars of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined. The country has adopted an array of wartime measures never employed collectively in U.S. history — banning incoming travelers from two continents, bringing commerce to a near-halt, enlisting industry to make emergency medical gear, and confining 230 million Americans to their homes in a desperate bid to survive an attack by an unseen adversary.

Despite these and other extreme steps, the United States will likely go down as the country that was supposedly best prepared to fight a pandemic but ended up catastrophically overmatched by the novel coronavirus, sustaining heavier casualties than any other nation. It did not have to happen this way. Though not perfectly prepared, the United States had more expertise, resources, plans and epidemiological experience than dozens of countries that ultimately fared far better in fending off the virus.

This is the truth the Trump supports need to internalize. Trump failed in his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

--



This is the truth the Trump supports need to internalize. Trump failed in his response to the coronavirus pandemic.



Everybody except the medical professionals, including the CDC, who gave Trump advice early on he did not follow and still hasn't. Everybody, including the 9 Republican govs that have refused to enact more strict reqs to protect their residents from the virus, except those govs that asked for assistance from Trump and were told to do it themselves, that the fed govt was not an "order/supply" clerk, and which Trump continues to lie about as to having done one thing or another, to this day. Yeah, you roll with that one.
 

Yes, Italy and Spain are much further along, and were not adequately prepared for the pandemic.

curve.jpg

Italy and Spain are great examples of what happens when you don't have strong, decisive, courageous leaders like Governor Cuomo taking steps to mitigate this looming disaster in spite of the idiocy and incompetence of President Trump.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

--



This is the truth the Trump supports need to internalize. Trump failed in his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cool, an opinion piece behind a paywall on a known liberal leaning/biased publication proclaiming Trump failed with a bunch of negative predictions on how the virus will play out in the US...

Based on the linked opinion piece I don't think Trump supporters need to internalize any kind of failure.
 
Cool, an opinion piece behind a paywall on a known liberal leaning/biased publication proclaiming Trump failed with a bunch of negative predictions on how the virus will play out in the US...

Based on the linked opinion piece I don't think Trump supporters need to internalize any kind of failure.

The crisis is already here.

Wake up, and put your political bias aside:

 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

--



This is the truth the Trump supports need to internalize. Trump failed in his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Well there you go. Donald Trump isn't a very good leader. (and it is painful watching him drone on in these press conferences.)

But specifically what would you have (realistically) done differently as this all evolved? When exactly did the magic eight-ball predict the need to increase manufacturing of masks and ventilators? Numbers, numbers, numbers. They are so easy to project after the fact.

Have heard some posters on other forums claim they would have "declared a US national emergency" on January 21st!! How about you...??
 
Well there you go. Donald Trump isn't a very good leader. (and it is painful watching him drone on in these press conferences.)

But specifically what would you have (realistically) done differently as this all evolved? When exactly did the magic eight-ball predict the need to increase manufacturing of masks and ventilators? Numbers, numbers, numbers. They are so easy to project after the fact.

Have heard some posters on other forums claim they would have "declared a US national emergency" on January 21st!! How about you...??

Well, for one I would have stressed from the start the need to take this very seriously. It's not just actions that matter. He's the president. His words affect the behavior of millions. Trump used those words to tell millions of his cultist followers that everything is fine, this is just a flu. Go about your business. He did that for weeks. Very critical weeks.

As for these "after the fact" numbers? They were always there. Anyone who actually understands the math knew this was happening all along. Over and over people kept comparing the current death tally to things like car crashes and the flu. I've been trying to convince people for a couple months now that death count is an indicator that lags behind three full weeks, and on a virus that is spreading exponentially that's very bad.

This actually was predictable before the fact. People did predict it. Actual experts were trying to get you to listen the entire time. You didn't listen. Trump didn't listen.
 

The US went from 250/m to pushing 1000/m in under a week. Currently 900/m and climbing.

Coronavirus Update (Live): 1,162,727 Cases and 62,488 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

Your graph shows the US progressing from near 0 to 10/m. How old is that graph? I suspect it's a prediction from long ago.


From Mar 26:

We're ~#35 (10 or 15 are tiny countries) at 250/m. Sort by "Tot Cases / 1M Pop"

Coronavirus Update (Live): 532,150 Cases and 24,084 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer


How far up that list will we climb.

Also, we're ~#20 in "Tot Deaths / 1M Pop" at 4.


Currently 24 deaths / m pop.



Edit: I see, your graph is total deaths per million population.

We went from 4 to 24 since Mar 26.
 
Last edited:
Well there you go. Donald Trump isn't a very good leader. (and it is painful watching him drone on in these press conferences.)

But specifically what would you have (realistically) done differently as this all evolved? When exactly did the magic eight-ball predict the need to increase manufacturing of masks and ventilators?

Have heard some posters on other forums claim they would have "declared a US national emergency" on January 21st!! How about you...??

Broadly:

I think the biggest problem facing the executive branch of the federal government right now is that Trump and the people that support Trump think the government does not serve any useful function. People like Bannon sought to destroy what they referred to as the "administrative" state. It's for global pandemics and situations like global pandemics that a government can be very useful and helpful to a population. So many of the people in charge of the executive apparatus are incompetent. The career employees at these various agencies who were competent have been leaving because it sucks to work for the kinds of incompetent idiots that Trump hired to run these organizations. In many cases, Trump picked people to destroy the very organizations they were ostensibly hired to run. This kind of view of government on the part of Trump and his lackeys lead to situations where, for example, the Trump administration fired the U.S. pandemic response team. So my recommendation, in general, and moving forward, is to not hire idiot conservatives who think the government serves no useful function except to promote the interests of white, rural Christians.

Specifically:

1. The single most important mistake the Trump administration made was failing to competently coordinate the development and production of the test kits on a national level. We are still, to this very moment I am writing this post, largely flying blind. There just aren't enough test kits to derive any kind of meaningful data on how much Covid-19 has spread throughout the U.S. We are engaged in something akin to a war, but in this case, all of our soldiers are blindfolded.

2. Weeks ago the President should have put the Defense Production Act into full force to mobilize our country's industrial resources to manufacture sufficient ventilators to stave off the sort of looming catastrophe which is now destroying Spain and Italy. The President has already used the Defense Production Act for a myriad of things completely unrelated to the Coronavirus. So it's not about political ideology, something else is causing the President not to use the Defense Production Act:

The Defense Production Act has been invoked hundreds of thousands of times in the Trump years. But with the pandemic, the president sees it as a “break the glass” last resort.

Defense Production Act Has Been Used Routinely, but Not With Coronavirus - The New York Times

3. The President should have more competently coordinated the purchase and distribution of PPE, and Ventilators. Right now, to this day, as of this very moment, it's still largely a free-for-all amongst the States. And the hoarding of the Federal stockpile is just one example of the stupidity and incompetence of the Trump administration.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

--



This is the truth the Trump supports need to internalize. Trump failed in his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The entire world failed, by your logic. Did the entire world fail?
 
The entire world failed, by your logic. Did the entire world fail?

South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany did a great job.

I know Hannity and Limbaugh wouldn't dare show Trump's supporters this information, because if they actually took time to compare and contrast how efficiently those governments responded to this crisis, to the completely botched and idiotic and incompetent response fo the Trump administration, they'd be abandoned by their audiences. You see, Trump supporters WANT to be lied to. They WANT to be told Trump is awesome and everyone else is incompetent. It makes them feel better.
 
South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany did a great job.

I know Hannity and Limbaugh wouldn't dare show Trump's supporters this information, because if they actually took time to compare and contrast how efficiently those governments responded to this crisis, to the completely botched and idiotic and incompetent response fo the Trump administration, they'd be abandoned by their audiences. You see, Trump supporters WANT to be lied to. They WANT to be told Trump is awesome and everyone else is incompetent. It makes them feel better.

They have 0% infection rates? That's the only standard from the Trump admin that you would accept.
 
If we graph from Mar 26, 4 d/m, to Apr 3, 24 d/m, we'll see what the US graph for deaths/million really looks like. The graph posted above does not reflect that reality.
 
They have 0% infection rates? That's the only standard from the Trump admin that you would accept.

Turn off CBN. Turn off Fox News. Google what South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany have done and compare what those countries have done to the incompetent, idiotic, ham-fisted response of the Trump administration.
 
Turn off CBN. Turn off Fox News. Google what South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany have done and compare what those countries have done to the incompetent, idiotic, ham-fisted response of the Trump administration.

How are things in England, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Belgium? Did they fail, or are you going to make excuses for them?
 
How are things in England, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Belgium? Did they fail, or are you going to make excuses for them?

I don't know about Switzerland, Netherlands, and Belgium. I haven't read or heard anything about those countries.

I do not agree that the UK's initial response was a good one, but the UK has shifted strategies.

Germany's initial response was slow as well, but their leaders recognized the problem and shifted strategies as well.

The Trump administration has not done very well, and they still continue to make mistakes. The best response in the U.S. to this pandemic, the best leadership, the best response has come from the great leadership of our various governors. They make Trump look like a High School Class President in comparison. Trump is completely out of his element, and it makes no sense to me why Trump supporters continue to pretend Trump is a competent and capable leader as he has routinely proven the opposite.
 
I don't know about Switzerland, Netherlands, and Belgium. I haven't read or heard anything about those countries.

I do not agree that the UK's initial response was a good one, but the UK has shifted strategies.

Germany's initial response was slow as well, but their leaders recognized the problem and shifted strategies as well.

The Trump administration has not done very well, and they still continue to make mistakes. The best response in the U.S. to this pandemic, the best leadership, the best response has come from the great leadership of our various governors. They make Trump look like a High School Class President in comparison. Trump is completely out of his element, and it makes no sense to me why Trump supporters continue to pretend Trump is a competent and capable leader as he has routinely proven the opposite.

Take a look. There are countries that are in far worse shape than we are.

Coronavirus Update (Live): 1,182,827 Cases and 63,924 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer
 
Trump is uniquely unequipped to deal with this crisis. He cant give a virus a nickname, bully it, call it fake news and expect it to go away.
 
“We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here..and isn't it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama."

-Trump campaign spokesperson

"If a country has great leadership, Federal sick pay leave and universal healthcare, you're going to see rock bottom (or even zero) mortality rates like you see in Canada, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden."

-Cardinal
 
The US went from 250/m to pushing 1000/m in under a week. Currently 900/m and climbing.

Coronavirus Update (Live): 1,162,727 Cases and 62,488 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

Your graph shows the US progressing from near 0 to 10/m. How old is that graph? I suspect it's a prediction from long ago.


From Mar 26:




Currently 24 deaths / m pop.



Edit: I see, your graph is total deaths per million population.

We went from 4 to 24 since Mar 26.
How old is the graph? It says so on the x-axis - two days old.
 
"If a country has great leadership, Federal sick pay leave and universal healthcare, you're going to see rock bottom (or even zero) mortality rates like you see in Canada, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden."

-Cardinal

Mm hm. Overwhelmed hospitals are overwhelmed hospitals. Do you think the Trump spokesperson got it right?
 
Back
Top Bottom