by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
No one is denying that the nation's economy is in a tailspin as a result of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses have had to limit the services or goods that they would normally provide, and many others have closed completely. More than 16 million people have filed unemployment claims over the last three weeks, and that number is likely to keep climbing for the foreseeable future.
Donald Trump doesn't personally get out and shop, nor does he walk down America's Main Streets and along its strip malls counting businesses which have been boarded-up. Trump measures the nation's economy by how the stock market - and undoubtedly his own stock portfolio - are doing, and that measure also paints a troubled picture. While the stock market indices showed some lift and stability last week, overall they are still down about a third from their record highs of just a few weeks ago.
And Trump knows that a wounded economy is tantamount to a wounded presidency, and he also knows that he could lose his re-election bid in November - and losing the White House would cost him all of the legal protections that he has willfully wallowed in over the past three-plus years. Trump is desperate to remain in office so he can maintain the protections and privileges of the presidency.
To that end, Donald Trump is very anxious to declare this emergency to be over and to get those stock market numbers back up - and those unemployment numbers back down.
During this extreme national emergency Donald Trump has shown no interest at all in casualty and death figures, nor in the real individuals represented by those still-rising numbers. He has commandeered the health briefings put on by the nation's medical experts and turned them into infomercials for his random thoughts on diseases, cures and politics - often countermanding the information that the experts try to present. Trump, a man who lies as much as he speaks, has, with malice aforethought, dissembled and distorted much of the information that the government should be providing to its citizens with regard to the on-going health crisis - all in an attempt to make himself look good and with the aim of getting the economy back on track regardless of the human costs.
Here are just a few of the facts: As of today, more than 1.6 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus, and over a hundred thousand people have died. There are over half-a-million confirmed cases in the United States - and very few Americans have even been able to get tested at this point. More than 2,000 people died of the virus in the United States yesterday, and more than 19,000 Americans have died of it so far. The United States now has more reported COVID-19 deaths than any nation on earth - surpassing even Italy and Spain.
The federal response to the situation in the United States has been minimal. The US Congress managed to pass a stimulus package that pumped money into large corporations, struggling businesses, and (eventually) the pockets of many American citizens - a maximum of $1,200 for those individuals lucky enough to qualify.
States were left on their own to figure out how to manage their populations in response to the rapidly spreading pandemic, as well as how to meet the medical needs of the victims. States found themselves bidding against one another for desperately needed medical equipment and supplies, and fighting to keep the federal government from grabbing those supplies before they reached safe harbor in the states.
The team set up by President Obama to manage the emergency of a national pandemic was disbanded by the Trump administration months ago as a part of its purge of all things Obama, and the federal stockpile of emergency supplies and equipment was pronounced by the president's son-in-law to be for federal use only and not available to meet the needs of the states.
Donald Trump, a man who never accepts blame, was quick to wash his hands of all responsibility for the ensuing mess. It was the states' problem, let them deal with it. His part in the whole show would be to run the national briefings where he would cast himself in a positive light and campaign relentlessly.
But now Trump's daily briefings are beginning to receive more ridicule than praise, even from some Republicans - and the Democrats have settled on a candidate to face Trump in November. Things are tightening up, and Trump needs to be able to claim a personal triumph in all that the country has endured. He once talked of getting the country 'back to work' by Easter, but Easter is tomorrow and the numbers are still rising. Now he is putting out broad hints of some type of celebratory re-opening of the United States, possibly by May 1st.
Trump needs to be able to proclaim a victory and then have several months of getting people back on the job before the November elections. He intentionally did not shut the country down with any federal orders that kept people from going to work - he let the governors do that, and he did not get involved in problems of medical treatment of the masses - that was on the governors, too. But, by God, he could 're-open' the country when he saw fit.
Yesterday Donald Trump talked to the press about HIS upcoming decision to re-open the country:
(He wants to get it open with enough lead time to get the stock numbers up and the unemployment numbers down before the election rolls around in November.)
When a reporter asked what metric Trump would use in making the final decision, Trump pointed to his head. (God save us!)
Here are a few of my thoughts on Trump's plan:
Laurence Tribe is a law professor at Harvard University and a scholar on Constitutional law. Here is his response to Trump's planned edict on re-opening the country and its economy (as tweeted earlier today):
At some point Trump will assemble a kangaroo committee of head-nodders and make a "decision" to send America back to work, and if deaths increase and pandemonium ensues, he will blame that committee and perhaps Obama and the Clintons for his abject failure to lead.
Trump takes the glory and passes the blame along to others - always.
Pa Rock's Memo to POTUS: This disaster occurred on your watch, Mr. Trump, and it snowballed out of control because you chose to lower our defenses, sell our medical supplies abroad, ignore warnings, play political games with providing help to the states, and not offer any clear and decisive leadership. The mess is yours. Our nation's governors - and Congress - took on the responsibility of dealing with this almost impossible situation when they realized that little or no help would be coming from Washington, DC.
So you may say what you want about the emergency being over, but know this - damned few of us will be paying attention to anything you say - now or ever!
Citizen Journalist
No one is denying that the nation's economy is in a tailspin as a result of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses have had to limit the services or goods that they would normally provide, and many others have closed completely. More than 16 million people have filed unemployment claims over the last three weeks, and that number is likely to keep climbing for the foreseeable future.
Donald Trump doesn't personally get out and shop, nor does he walk down America's Main Streets and along its strip malls counting businesses which have been boarded-up. Trump measures the nation's economy by how the stock market - and undoubtedly his own stock portfolio - are doing, and that measure also paints a troubled picture. While the stock market indices showed some lift and stability last week, overall they are still down about a third from their record highs of just a few weeks ago.
And Trump knows that a wounded economy is tantamount to a wounded presidency, and he also knows that he could lose his re-election bid in November - and losing the White House would cost him all of the legal protections that he has willfully wallowed in over the past three-plus years. Trump is desperate to remain in office so he can maintain the protections and privileges of the presidency.
To that end, Donald Trump is very anxious to declare this emergency to be over and to get those stock market numbers back up - and those unemployment numbers back down.
During this extreme national emergency Donald Trump has shown no interest at all in casualty and death figures, nor in the real individuals represented by those still-rising numbers. He has commandeered the health briefings put on by the nation's medical experts and turned them into infomercials for his random thoughts on diseases, cures and politics - often countermanding the information that the experts try to present. Trump, a man who lies as much as he speaks, has, with malice aforethought, dissembled and distorted much of the information that the government should be providing to its citizens with regard to the on-going health crisis - all in an attempt to make himself look good and with the aim of getting the economy back on track regardless of the human costs.
Here are just a few of the facts: As of today, more than 1.6 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus, and over a hundred thousand people have died. There are over half-a-million confirmed cases in the United States - and very few Americans have even been able to get tested at this point. More than 2,000 people died of the virus in the United States yesterday, and more than 19,000 Americans have died of it so far. The United States now has more reported COVID-19 deaths than any nation on earth - surpassing even Italy and Spain.
The federal response to the situation in the United States has been minimal. The US Congress managed to pass a stimulus package that pumped money into large corporations, struggling businesses, and (eventually) the pockets of many American citizens - a maximum of $1,200 for those individuals lucky enough to qualify.
States were left on their own to figure out how to manage their populations in response to the rapidly spreading pandemic, as well as how to meet the medical needs of the victims. States found themselves bidding against one another for desperately needed medical equipment and supplies, and fighting to keep the federal government from grabbing those supplies before they reached safe harbor in the states.
The team set up by President Obama to manage the emergency of a national pandemic was disbanded by the Trump administration months ago as a part of its purge of all things Obama, and the federal stockpile of emergency supplies and equipment was pronounced by the president's son-in-law to be for federal use only and not available to meet the needs of the states.
Donald Trump, a man who never accepts blame, was quick to wash his hands of all responsibility for the ensuing mess. It was the states' problem, let them deal with it. His part in the whole show would be to run the national briefings where he would cast himself in a positive light and campaign relentlessly.
But now Trump's daily briefings are beginning to receive more ridicule than praise, even from some Republicans - and the Democrats have settled on a candidate to face Trump in November. Things are tightening up, and Trump needs to be able to claim a personal triumph in all that the country has endured. He once talked of getting the country 'back to work' by Easter, but Easter is tomorrow and the numbers are still rising. Now he is putting out broad hints of some type of celebratory re-opening of the United States, possibly by May 1st.
Trump needs to be able to proclaim a victory and then have several months of getting people back on the job before the November elections. He intentionally did not shut the country down with any federal orders that kept people from going to work - he let the governors do that, and he did not get involved in problems of medical treatment of the masses - that was on the governors, too. But, by God, he could 're-open' the country when he saw fit.
Yesterday Donald Trump talked to the press about HIS upcoming decision to re-open the country:
"I don't know that I've had a bigger decision. But I'm going to surround myself with the greatest minds. Not only the greatest minds, but the greatest minds in numerous different businesses, including the business of politics and reason. And we're going to make a decision, and hopefully it's going to be the right decision. I will say this. I want to get it open as soon as we can."
(He wants to get it open with enough lead time to get the stock numbers up and the unemployment numbers down before the election rolls around in November.)
When a reporter asked what metric Trump would use in making the final decision, Trump pointed to his head. (God save us!)
Here are a few of my thoughts on Trump's plan:
- Rudy Giuliani is not a "great" mind, even when he is sober and well rested.
- Jared and Ivanka are not great minds. One is a slumlord and both are shady business operators.
- Stephen Miller is not considered a great mind by anyone other than extreme fascists and Neo-Nazis.
- Bill Barr, Mike Pompeo, Betsy DeVos, Steve Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, Sonny Perdue and most of the other members of Trump's cabinet are greed-head corporatists, but definitely not great minds.
- There are no great minds at Fox News - now or ever.
- What the hell is the "business of politics and reason"? Does Trump even know what he is saying?
Laurence Tribe is a law professor at Harvard University and a scholar on Constitutional law. Here is his response to Trump's planned edict on re-opening the country and its economy (as tweeted earlier today):
"Memo to POTUS: Your claim to have "absolute authority" to force states to end social distancing and reopen shuttered businesses is sheer nonsense. That's purely a state prerogative under our Constitution. You might try reading it sometime."
At some point Trump will assemble a kangaroo committee of head-nodders and make a "decision" to send America back to work, and if deaths increase and pandemonium ensues, he will blame that committee and perhaps Obama and the Clintons for his abject failure to lead.
Trump takes the glory and passes the blame along to others - always.
Pa Rock's Memo to POTUS: This disaster occurred on your watch, Mr. Trump, and it snowballed out of control because you chose to lower our defenses, sell our medical supplies abroad, ignore warnings, play political games with providing help to the states, and not offer any clear and decisive leadership. The mess is yours. Our nation's governors - and Congress - took on the responsibility of dealing with this almost impossible situation when they realized that little or no help would be coming from Washington, DC.
So you may say what you want about the emergency being over, but know this - damned few of us will be paying attention to anything you say - now or ever!
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