WHAT SHOULD BE DONE: Alcindor, Jiang try to question Trump!

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020

Top journalists try and they fail:
During last evening's televised "daily briefing," the New York Times' Yamiche Alcindor attempted to question President Donald J. Trump.

She tried to question Trump, and she failed. The abject lack of skill she displayed might serve as an anthropology lesson.

Alcindor tried, and she failed. Despite this fact, Lawrence O'Donnell delivered a tribute to Alcindor early in last evening's Last Word program:
O'DONNELL (4/20/20): Today, the intrepid Yamiche Alcindor asked Donald Trump a simple question: Is he concerned? Concerned about people who listen to him, and believe him, and then get sick.

It was a simple question. But the answer could not possibly have been more perverse.
From there, O'Donnell played tape of the question Alcindor had asked. He included the start of Trump's long and rambling—and successfully evasive—non-answer answer.

Below, you see Alcindor's question, along with the start of Trump's evasive non-reply. This is the part of the more than four-minute exchange which O'Donnell aired:
ALCINDOR: That second question [I want to ask] is about your language and how you approached the coronavirus at the beginning.

I interviewed someone who says that his family got sick—they went to a funeral in mid-March, and they said mainly because the president wasn’t taking it seriously. He said, “If the president had had a mask on, if he was saying that we should stay home, then I would have stayed home. Instead, I have family members—"

But he said his family members were sick and because they were listening to you. Do you feel like or are you concerned that downplaying the virus maybe got some people sick?

TRUMP: And a lot of people love Trump, right? A lot of people love me. You see them all the time, right? I guess I’m here for a reason, you know. To the best of my knowledge, I won, and I think we’re going to win again. I think we’re going to win in a landslide...
Trump's long, rambling, evasive answer rambled on from there. Predictably, he quickly began discussing his heroic action in instituting restrictions on travel from China and Europe—limited restrictions which he constantly describes as "bans."

The China "travel ban" was announced on January 31, went into effect on February 2. Trump always discusses this "travel ban" when he's challenged about the crazy things he said in February and in the first weeks of March.

Trump's position seems to be this: Because he'd issued the "travel ban," it should have been obvious to everyone that he was taking the coronavirus very seriously. To give you the flavor of what we mean, here is a longer chunk of the way he started last night:
TRUMP: And a lot of people love Trump, right? A lot of people love me. You see them all the time, right? I guess I’m here for a reason, you know. To the best of my knowledge, I won, and I think we’re going to win again. I think we’re going to win in a landslide. But just so you understand, you’re talking about March, right? And yet—

[INAUDIBLE CROSSTALK]

Excuse me, excuse me. I know, I understand. And yet in January, a certain date, you know the date better than I do, we put on a ban of China where China can’t come in, and before March we put on a ban in Europe where Europe can’t come in. So how could you say I wasn’t taking it seriously?
He'd put on a ban of China in January! How could Alcindor possibly say he wasn't taking it seriously?

You'd almost think that everyone would know how to answer that question. The answer involves the crazy statements Trump made in February and then in March, long after he'd issued his "ban."

You'd think that every living human would know how to answer Trump's question! As an example of what we mean, John King said this on CNN moments after last night's "briefing" ended:
KING: If the Trump administration gets to write the history of 2020, it will erase February and half of March. That's what you get when you listen to these briefings.

Yes, the president did ban that travel from China. But go through February: "We have no problem with testing." "It's going to quickly go away." "We're at 15 cases, it will soon be down to zero."

The president refuses to acknowledge that, yes, he took one bold step early on, but then he didn't do a lot of other things.
How could anyone possibly say that Trump wasn't taking it seriously? You could say it because of the crazy things he proceeded to say as the days and weeks rolled on.

The list of Trump's statements and tweets includes such iconic groaners as these:
A few of the president's groaners:

February 10:
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

February 25: "You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are...getting better. They’re all getting better."

February 26: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done."

February 27: “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

March 2: "We had a great meeting today with a lot of the great companies and they're going to have vaccines, I think relatively soon.”

March 6: “Anybody that needs a test, gets a test. They’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful.”

March 6: "[Holding rallies] doesn't bother me at all."

March 9: "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on."

March 10: "We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
Thousands of people do die of the flu every year. But by the end of March, Trump had executed a giant flip. He said that if we don't proceed to shut things down, the coronavirus could take as many as 2.2 million American lives this year.

Yesterday, Trump asked Alcindor a simple question. After he'd instituted his heroic travel "bans," how could anyone say he wasn't taking this matter seriously?

You'd think that anyone would know how to answer that question. But when Alcindor asked a follow-up question, she didn't cite any of Trump's iconic crazy statements. The very same breakdown had occurred at Monday's briefing, when Weijia Jiang of CBS attempted to challenge Trump on this very same point.

Last night, O'Donnell called Alcindor "intrepid." As he continued, he called Trump a sociopath.

He may well be right about Trump, but we'd describe Alcindor in a different way. We assume that she's a very nice person—but we'd call yesterday's performance "incompetent." We'd have to say that she seemed "unskilled," stunningly "unprepared."

It's easy for liberals to see the way Trump evades, insults, misstates. It's much harder for liberals to see the way our high-end press corps fails.

We think those people are on our side. We think they're being very brave. We see them called "intrepid."

We may not be able to see their remarkable lack of elementary skill. We'll discuss these upper-end failures over the next few days.

Tomorrow, we'll show you what happened when Alcindor and Jiang tried to question Trump on this blindingly obvious point. By Thursday or Friday, we'll offer a list of things which ought to be done by our upper-end news orgs as these daily prime-time gong-shows devour the nation's IQ.

Tomorrow, we'll evaluate the competence of the high-end journalists who sit inside that briefing room. Jiang represents CBS; Alcindor is from the New York Times.

They attempted to question Donald J. Trump. It's truly amazing to take a look at how badly they failed.

Tomorrow: The follow-up questions not asked

73 comments:

  1. "But when Alcindor asked a follow-up question, she didn't cite any of Trump's iconic crazy statements. "

    Somerby doesn't say what Alcindor's follow up question was.

    Somerby expected Alcindor to confront Trump with his own statements demonstrating that he wasn't taking the virus seriously. Instead, she asked something else -- what?

    Somerby then assumed that Alcindor didn't know how to confront Trump with his own statements, implying that she didn't know what those previous statements had been. I doubt that is true. Somerby calls Alcindor incompetent and says that everyone else knows what Trump's statements were.

    But I think Alcindor used her professional judgement and decided to use her follow up question to elicit some other response. She may have taken Trump's response as an indicator that he was refusing to deal with her question, refusing to answer it directly. I think that is what is obvious to everyone. She may have wanted to salvage something from her opportunity to question Trump.

    Trump called Alcindor a failure. But what was her goal? She couldn't have expected that Trump would take her question seriously and answer it. Instead, she made a public statement of her own, about Trump's lack of concern, and Trump doubled down on it in front of everyone. That is a success, not a failure.

    Somerby's remarks only make sense if he views the role of journalists as confronting and pinning down the president. Alcindor did that -- she just didn't get him to acknowledge his own lack of concern. But on what planet is Trump ever going to do that, regardless of who asks and how they phrase their questions? No narcissist will ever do that.

    So what is the point of calling Alcindor a failure when Somerby's goal for her is unachievable? Well, he gets to call another woman incompetent. He gets to put down another female writer who is holding a job he couldn't get anywhere near on his own merits. And he didn't even have to look up what Ivy League school she attended, or her age.

    She has a degree from Georgetown 2009 and an M.S. in broadcast news from NYU. I doubt she is anywhere near as incompetent as Somerby claims. No one can pin Trump down and no one will ever force him to admit any of his faults. His evasiveness is part of his speech style, motivated by his pathology (which Somerby claims is mental illness), and he is incapable of the humility needed to admit his own role in harming others with his failed pandemic response.

    But it is dishonest for Somerby to fail to mention what her second question was, so that we can evaluate her competence ourselves.

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  2. Probably all politicians, and most people, when asked a question that puts them on the spot that they don't have a good answer for, will dodge the question, (or lie) often filibustering it. If the reporter follows up, they just repeat and the reporter will eventually give up. Trump is sui generis, but it's no big surprise when he does this. Given the format, it would be hard to get him to give a fair response. That's not to say that the press does such a great job; so many narratives, and lame questions and lack of sharp intelligence. I'm a lawyer and have taken a lot of depositions, as well as tried court cases. In a deposition, you can pretty much as the witness whatever question you want and he/she has to answer, under oath. (that's where Clinton got trapped). If the witness evades a question, the lawyer can keep asking until he answers. If the witness refuses to answer, you can file a motion and the court will order him to answer. Press conferences are far removed from that format.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't a witness take the 5th during a deposition?

      Delete
    2. Depositions are in civil cases. You can't take the fifth unless you'd be incriminating yourself to a crime. If a party takes the fifth at a deposition or a trial, he's not too likely to win the case. Trump isn't likely to get maneuvered into being deposed in the manner Clinton was.

      Delete
  3. When you look at the transcript linked by Somerby, Alcindor is Speaker 21. She asked two questions, but the first was this:

    "Me, okay. Well, thank you so much, Mr. President. My question, I have two questions, the first one is on testing. You talked about the idea that first it was ventilators, now it’s testing. You seem to maybe possibly be implying that talking about testing as a personal attack on you. Can you explain why you think testing, talking about testing, is a personal attack given that the access to testing has been an issue for a long time. There’s bipartisan outcry still today that there’s not enough testing. Why do you think it’s a personal attack on you?"

    The supposed first question described by Somerby was actually her follow-up question, her second question.

    Somerby doesn't tell us that Alcindor did interrupt Trump and pointed out to him that he held rallies in February and March, to which Trump replied:

    "Oh, I don’t know about rallies. I really don’t know about rallies. I know one thing [crosstalk 01:29:35], I haven’t left the White House in months, except for a brief moment to give a wonderful ship, The Comfort-"

    she interrupts again, telling him about the March rally, and Trump says:

    "I don’t know. Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry. I hold a rally. Did I hold the rally? Let me tell you. In January when I did this, you had virtually no cases and no deaths, and yet I put it on. So how could I not? Why was Nancy Pelosi, right, Nancy Pelosi is holding a street fair. She wants a street fair in San Francisco in Chinatown to prove, you know what the purpose of it, was to prove that there’s no problem. Many other politicians did the same thing and wanted to prove [crosstalk 01:30:16] while I was… No, of course not. No, no, no. People are amazed at how early I acted and I did act early. With that being said, it’s very hard to say, let’s close down the greatest economy in the history of the world. I had it closed down, I and everybody else that works with me, and close to 350 million people built the greatest economy in the history of the world, best employment numbers, best stock market numbers, best numbers in virtually every category, even good manufacturing numbers."

    And then he veers off into talking about manufacturing.

    Is this the same as what Somerby describes? Is this the incompetence he talks about? She DID pin him down and he did present his defense against her. She WAS aware that he held rallies that misled people and she confronted him with that.

    But is this the same Alcindor that Trump describes as too wimpy to confront Trump? No. She might be faulted for using his rallies to confront him instead of his statements, but she pinned him down and squirmed and evaded, which is what he does.

    Somerby is deceptive in his presentation of Alcindor's work here. He is not just being his typical asshole self, but today he is misleading us with a selectively edited presentation, in order to malign a reporter (Alcindor) whose worst sin is working for the NY Times.

    Not only is Somerby not liberal, but now he is resorting to making shit up, just to malign the press. And it is not surprising he has picked a black, female journalist to call incompetent. Yesterday it was blow, today it is Alcindor. Who will it be tomorrow?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alcindor's question was not a question. It was a criticism. She pointed out that, well over a month ago, Trump made statements that were wildly optimistic. She's right. Trump's comments at that time showed that he did not understand the nature of the virus.

    However, look at all that has happened since that time
    -- Trump's pressers since that time have been reasonable and helpful and very informative (particularly thanks to Fauci, Birks, and the other experts.)
    -- US mortality rate held to a level far below model projections. Thousands fewer deaths!
    -- China ban; Iran ban; Europe ban
    -- approval of two new improved tests; Roche and Abbott
    -- widespread distribution of these tests - in the hundreds of thousands
    -- daily number of tests rose from a few hundred to around 150,000
    -- manufacturing and distribution of ventilators
    -- supplying states and hospitals with all sort of equipment and materials on continuing basis.
    -- Creating a plan for gradual re-opening.
    -- etc. etc.

    With all these important things going on, Alcindor's "question" was merely a reminder that Trump said some ignorant things over a month ago.

    Corby - Trump did not call Alcindor incompetent. On the contrary, during his answer, Trump specifically said, Alcindor was a good reporter. He said that her question was beneath her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somerby called Alcindor incompetent.

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    2. David, this is the question Alcindor asked Trump:

      "Do you feel like or are you concerned that downplaying the virus maybe got some people sick?"

      She said this after describing what happened to people who followed Trump's lead by going into public.

      Delete
    3. Not one voter who wasn't already going to vote Democrat will be influenced by Alcindor's laughably stupid questions.

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    4. The point wasn't Alcindor's question but Trump's responses, which were written up in a NY Times article based on the press briefing. It was noted that Trump claimed to have not gone out of the White House for months despite having held several rallies during that time period. That makes Trump look like an incompetent or lying person, or perhaps an elderly one with a defective memory signaling dementia. Trump's response didn't help him at all with voters no matter what their affiliation.

      Delete
    5. Alcindor no longer works for NY Times but is Washington Correspondent for PBS and contributes to NBC and MSNBC.

      Delete
    6. "look at all that has happened since that time"

      Since what time? Since he realized it was serious? That's the point. He was warned in January by his own people it was looking like a serious pandemic. He always knew it was serious.
      Why would he not know it was serious? Other countries did and acted accordingly. He knew but he didnt act. didn't and 50,000 Americans have died.

      Look what has happen "since the time" Trump
      committed negligent homicide by ignoring and playing down the pandemic he was warned about?

      Yes look. Our country has been irreparably scared and damaged by a foolish and cowardly faux leader, and many thousands died because of his incompetency.

      Delete
    7. Yes, Donald J Chickenshit, Acting President, decided to roll the dice and gamble with our lives and our prosperity because he was paralyzed with fear of how it would impact his re-election*.

      A reporter recently asked him what metric he would use to decide the country would be safe to return to normal life. The imbecile pointed to his head. This is the insanity we're are living with day after day after day.

      Delete
    8. Look at how great Trump has done since his incompetency and ignorance killed tens of thousands of Americans and ruined the US economy. He has just done terrific since then!

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    9. David, you forgot to include extraordinary unprecedented level unemployment, the fucking bottom falling out of people's retirement accounts, and the nation generally heading into a deep depression.

      mm - thanks for supporting my point, that there were a great many more important things to ask about than some ignorant comments Trump made many weeks ago.

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    10. His lack of empathy was at the heart of the question, not what he said earlier. That just created the situation. He was asked whether he felt concern about the people who became ill because of his actions.

      Concern. He didn't express any concern when prompted. Not the smallest bit of concern. And you have the nerve to defend him!

      Delete
    11. Oh, that was your "point"? Is that right? I must have missed it because it was obscured by your contemptible MAGAT flag waving.

      Let's review. You listed about 10 things developed which you characterize as positive and attribute all of them to your action hero, Donald J Chickenshit, Acting President. But your actual point was that Donald J Chickenshit, Acting President, has led this country into a catastrophic abyss. Gotcha.

      Delete
    12. mm- re-read my comment. I didn't say the items on the list were "positive". I said they were "important".

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    13. His lack of action is what got all those people killed.

      That's what history will remember. February. What was he doing in February? Nothing. Some other leaders did nothing. Some acted.

      The reporters should ask about his almost complete lack of action in February while saying stupid things that could be interpreted as an indifference to the pandemic.

      After it's all done with, we can have a grand jury investigate to get all the facts. But we all know the score. He whiffed the biggest test of his life and showed why he is amongst the worse presidents of history. He did almost nothing in February to address the serious threat bearing down on America.

      Sorry, Dave I know you like him a lot. It must be really difficult for you to face the truth here.

      Delete
    14. D in C, I see you are excusing Trump's minimizing the extent of the virus back before he changed his tune. Yet, he has excoriated WHO for basically doing the same thing. I heard Trump's big speech about the virus - it was the last week of February or the beginning of March - where he said the virus was nothing to worry about, not a big deal at all, only a couple of cases in the US etc. Yet this was well after WHO had changed its stance on the severity of it. Yet, here is Trump, who you somewhat dimwittedly are always defending, who has scapegoated WHO - and wants to cut out their funding - for doing the same thing he was doing, only he was worse. By Trump's own logic here, he should be voted out.

      Delete
    15. AC/MA - I won't defend Trump's ignorant comments from late February. He foolishly said there were a small number of cases, and those people were in the process of healing. I cringed when he said that. He had no idea that there were many undiscoverd cases, although that was obvious from the nature of the disease. He simply had no idea of what he was talking about. It was awful.

      Nevertheless, I think Trump's overall performance rates a high grade. Trump deserves credit for a great many right decisions and for their effective implementation. Added to the list above, see
      The CoronaVirus Pandemic Has Demonstrated 7 Ways Trump Has Been RIGHT All Along
      1) China Is A Threat
      2) Borders Work
      3) The Importance of Made In America
      4) The Problems With Regulations
      5) Trade Deals And International Agreements Are Unfair To The USA (as originally negotiated)
      6) Single-Payer Healthcare Isn’t Better
      7) Energy Independence Is Very, Very Important
      https://lidblog.com/trump-has-been-right/

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    16. David, can you name the top three great decisions he made in February about the virus?

      We had had our first case by then and he had been warned a huge pandemic was coming.

      What were the top three things he did in February about the virus? Since you're giving him such high marks for his performance.

      Delete
    17. D & C - you fail to address my main point - by the standard used by Trump to scapegoat WHO, and cut of their funding, his entire defense of his own handling this huge crisis crumbles (insofar as he is guilty, only more of what he scapegoats WHO for doing). Either he is wrong about WHO or he has no legs to stand on. You don't seem to have an answer to that.

      Delete
    18. David,
      You can make that 8 things Trump was Right about, if you have a quote from Trump saying Right-wing free-market ideology is nothing but 100% bullshit.
      The CoronaVirus pandemic demonstrated that more than everything else you listed combined.

      Delete
    19. AnonymousApril 21, 2020 at 5:25 PM - Why limit your question to February? That date was chosen in order to ignore a very valuable on January 31, namely the China ban. It also ignores all the great things done in March and April.

      Nevertheless, I'll play your game. Here are 3 things Trump or his administration did in February:
      1. Iran ban
      2. Development of a test for the virus (an effort that was badly f*cked up by CDC and FDA) See https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/04/20/heres-didnt-coronavirus-testing-february/
      3. US Public Health Service sent experts around the country to study virus outbreaks and do contact tracing. These professionals did good work, but their contact tracing was unsuccessful. The disease was already too prevalent.

      Delete
    20. AC/MA - Those are not comparable.

      Delete
    21. The China ban was not a ban. There's no such thing as a ban here. Many many many Chinese entered the country after that. Do me a favor and don't repeat Trump's propaganda words, especially when they've been corrected here by Bob.

      You can include the China ban from late January in the list if you want.

      So in late January and all of February Trump did nothing at all to secure any PPP equipment??

      We agree on that, right?

      You cannot come up with one instance in January or February where Trump tried to procure any equipment that would help save American workers?

      Delete
    22. David - 2 of the things you list that Trump did good were failures.

      So he succeeded fighting the pandemic in late January and all of February by making light of it in public, not preparing for it and his high points, the best one can say for him is he had a few travel bans and oversaw a number of failed initiatives.

      That's a hell of a record.

      Delete
    23. The battle to prevent Americans from understanding what went on January to April is going to be one of the biggest propaganda and freedom of information fights in modern US history.
      https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/04/politics/trump-covid-response-annotation/ … So much has come out about it that confusion will have to made massive.

      Delete
    24. anon 7:54 2 of the things you list that Trump did good were failures.

      Correct. Subsequent to that he did many good things, including straightening out the FDA so they are no longer a bottleneck.

      Delete
    25. Subsequent to those failures he also oversaw America's unprepared response the virus as it ravaged our population killing tens of thousands of people and wrecking the American economy, he, subsequent to the failures you hailed, also played catch up and pathetically lied to cover his incompetence and failures.

      But we do agree he did nothing in January or February to procure and protective equipment for Americans. Why do you think that was?

      Delete
    26. At 8:44 PM
      You're a bit too hard on Andrew Cuomo and other zombie governors, dembot.

      It is typical for your zombie politicians to pontificate instead of working, but hey - they do get elected nevertheless, and thus their voters simply get what they asked for.

      Delete
    27. Trump certainly pontificates with the best of him as he lies all day about his incompetent and criminal non response to the epidemic. It's too late Trumpanzee monkey. they will try to bury the truth in propaganda but it's too late. January and February. The grand jury is going to ask Trump a lot of questions about what he was doing then.
      But you have nothing to say about January or February, do you Trump monkey? What do you have to say about Trump's brilliant performance the first three months of this year sweet virgin, gamer, Trumpanzee dumbfuck?

      I didn't think you did.

      "Soros"! "Obama!" he screams as he scratches his underarms and eats another banana.

      Delete
    28. It's interesting that Trump's success
      at besting Democrats at every turn has gotten Mao the Virgin and David fromC's rocks off so deeply for so long and so consistently that they blather and blanche obviously stunned when presented with a true, objective, epoch-making historical blunder at the hands of their leader Trump.

      It's already an objective historical fact. Just acknowledge it. It doesn't mean Democrats are good. It's just means history handed your boy his destiny, his moment, his chance and your boy blew it huge. NBD. It just a fact now. Literally every man woman every animal on Earth knows it.

      Delete
    29. ***
      David in CalApril 21, 2020 at 3:33 PM

      mm- re-read my comment. I didn't say the items on the list were "positive". I said they were "important".
      ***

      ***
      David in CalApril 21, 2020 at 8:26 PM

      anon 7:54 2 of the things you list that Trump did good were failures.

      Correct. Subsequent to that he did many good things, including straightening out the FDA so they are no longer a bottleneck.
      ***

      So, "good things" are not "positive", right David, you fascist prick?

      Delete
    30. D in C - to say "those are not comparable" is an inadequate response. It's conclusory. I suppose you're correct in that Trump's screw up (to the extent of understating the threat) was a lot worse than with WHO. I doubt that's what you mean. What's the basis for your allegation that they are comparable?

      Delete
  5. Trump had the same information as every governor and every citizen. He was at odds with most citizens when he wisely declared his travel bans but he did it anyway based on his own correct instinct.

    It's laughable that Democrats think Monday morning quarterbacking about not demanding governors close their states a week earlier is going to fly with any voter, especially with Biden holding 10 rallies after Trump's and Nervous Nancy encouraging people to gather in crowds in Chinatown.

    People have an ability to assess a response and it is nothing short of miraculous what Trump was able to do where Democrat governors failed. Ventilators, beds, hospitals. He has reams of footage, which will be played nonstop, of Democrat governors praising him for rescuing their states. "Phenomenal" Cuomo said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, Trump gets info from his intelligence briefings that Governors and citizens don't have access to. He got info from the CDC embedded with WHO about what was happening in China. He got NSC briefings in Nov about the virus in China. Despite all that, he held public rallies and he told the public lies about what was going on.

      Delete
    2. "He has reams of footage, which will be played nonstop, of Democrat governors praising him for rescuing their states."

      Who'd have the time to pay attention to that, over the din of free-market Fortune 1000 executives begging Daddy government to save them?
      The exposure of fraudulence of the entire Right-wing free market ideology, is the real story of 2020.

      Delete
    3. Speaking of Billy "the Bull" Barvanno.

      Barr Threatens Legal Action Against Governors Over Lockdowns

      Delete
    4. 1:04 that's why you have to compare Trump's response to the responses of other countries.

      You're right. Nobody is perfect. But that comparison can help you evaluate the success or failure of Trump's unique response and the interesting and original approach he took to this health crisis.

      Delete
    5. "He got information from the WHO embedded in China."

      He got garbage from it.

      Delete
    6. They were his own CDC workers embedded with WHO.

      Delete
    7. NSC warned Trump about the pandemic in a briefing in November. That obviously wasn't "garbage" because the pandemic has occurred. November.

      Delete
  6. Mortality rate held below projections does not indicate Trump did a good job it indicates the projections were either wrong or were describing a scenario without mitigation measures. A good comparison would be Canada, a G7 North American country that has way less deaths per capita. All achieved with no travel bans until early march. Trump has done nothing of value. He neglected pandemic preparations, dismantled the White House team put in place, ignored the handbook, downplayed and mocked the threat and took every opportunity to further divide the country. His handling of procuring and distributing, PPE, reliable tests and testing supplies has been a shit show.
    It's been governors, mayors and the best of our fellow citizens that have averted the worst.
    Fuck off with giving Trump any credit but if you really need it here's something. He's been better than Bolsanaro or that fucknut in Belarus.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The point of today's article about Alcindor's failure is probably to give cover to tomorrow's article about how Jiang was patronized by the President. Somerby will have had a knee-jerk reaction to complaints about Trump telling Jiang to "relax" and to "lower her voice" and his asking her who she worked for. He will have been set off by the feminist tone to such complaints, so he will be motivated to show that Jiang's incompetence was the problem, not any double standard for how women get treated by misogynists such as Trump.

    Bet you $20 that's what's going on with these Alcindor and Jiang essays. (And no, I won't pay up, since Somerby can always change his mind and write something different, so there is no way to verify what his original intention might have been.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. “Yesterday, Trump asked Alcindor a simple question. After he'd instituted his heroic travel "bans," how could anyone say he wasn't taking this matter seriously?

    You'd think that anyone would know how to answer that question.”

    One of the answers to Trump’s question is what Alcindor said: Trump held rallies in February and March, after the seriousness of the situation was known.

    That was apparently not acceptable to Somerby, so he unfairly calls Alcindor incompetent.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 9200 healthcare workers infected. 50 dead.
    But shitheels gotta shitheel.
    Billy Barr talking about legal action against States that don't relax restrictions fast enough.
    Murderous fat cretin.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Alcindor’s questions, and her subsequent statement about Trump rallies did two things: 1) it answered Trump’s question about not taking it seriously and 2) it implied a lack of empathy *for his own followers*.

    Trump’s response to Alcindor was classic narcissist/antisocial: “I don’t know anything about rallies” and “They were in January”, and “But, but, Nancy Pelosi...”

    He lied, feigned ignorance, accused others of doing something similar (as if that excuses his own bad behavior), and showed no empathy or remorse.

    Alcindor got Trump to reveal pretty much his whole pathology with that response.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "He said, “If the president had had a mask on, if he was saying that we should stay home, then I would have stayed home. Instead, I have family members—" "

    Lol. This new china-virus-mutation of soros-dembottery is simply a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e.

    Once again, thanks for the laughs, dear Bob.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dembot, I noticed that every time I spell s-o-r-o-s, you get super-excited, and sputter.

      Is this a zombie reaction to a zombie-taboo violation? It sure sounds like it.

      Delete
    2. I notice, El Trumpbot that you haven't responded to my question. I'm just observing your paranoid Trump cult obsession with Soros, who you seem to think plays some type of major role. No super excitement - you're projecting.

      Delete
    3. "who you seem to think plays some type of major role"

      Eh, what? Dembot, what planet have you arrived from yesterday?

      What question? You didn't ask any questions.

      And if you believe that George LORD God Soros doesn't play a major role, what do you care if I mention George LORD God Soros' name?

      Delete
    4. Trump really screwed the pooch this time.

      Delete
  12. On the question of whether to air the briefings: on the one hand, the lies are harmful. On the other hand, they show Trump in his sociopathic squalor. Shouldn’t the country see that, live, on full display?

    It is easier to craft pleasing narratives about him after the fact when you don’t have the full, unedited performance available.

    Some on Biden’s campaign are saying “keep airing them; it helps our candidate”, while some in Trump’s circle wish Trump would stop the briefings. That may all be PR, but it makes you think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mh - I feel the same way about Trump's tweets. Many of them are cringe-inducing -- dumb or offensive. Yet, they have the virtue of telling us what the man is actually thinking. That's unusual for a politician, especially a President. Normal procedure is to carefully craft public statements.

      Delete
    2. David, a lot of Trump's tweets are written by his staff. Do you want to know what they are thinking too?

      Delete
    3. No one in Trump's circle wishes he'd stop the briefings and no one in Biden's camp wants them to continue.

      The only thing that could be worse for the Biden campaign than daily Trump appearances would be daily Biden appearances.

      Delete
    4. 5:13 true. Biden is Uncle Junior at this point.

      Delete
    5. Good point, 5:13 PM.

      Howie Carr (and others) say the same thing:

      "You know you’re winning when, for the first time in television history, the networks are threatening to pull the plug on the one show that’s delivering them their highest ratings – in the case of CNN, their only ratings."

      https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/07/howie-carr-trumps-daily-briefings-must-see-tv/

      Delete
    6. Moo moo you know you're winning when a hot loaf of Trump's jizz cascades down you're weaselly little throat.
      And they all said you'd never amount to anything...

      Delete
    7. Like they say when you've lost Howie Carr you've lost America.

      Wait, who the fuck is Howie Carr?
      Is he the guy currently banging your retarded brother, moo moo?

      Delete
    8. The only people winning more than Trump are the thousands of those who's deaths he caused. Maybe we should put their caskets on the nightly news.
      ---------
      Mao,
      Congratulations on finding a plagiarist with less of a clue than you.

      Delete
  13. Actually the first lie is that 37,000 people die from the flu each year, this is obvious bullshit, and designed to sell vaccines. The CDC specifically instructs that deaths that are not flu be classified as flu.

    ReplyDelete
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