…I think this deserves its own thread, because the implications are pretty fucking terrifying.
Posted an hour ago.
There is nobody steering the ship. I’m honestly at a loss as to what to say here. The chaos merchants like Steve Bannon and the believers in the rapture like Mike Pompeo must be rubbing their hands with glee.
He sure knows how to drive down the market. Look for more chaos ahead.
It’s much worse than nobody steering the ship. We have a deranged, arrogantly ignorant captain who’s determined to ram us into every iceberg in the ocean.
WTF is that even supposed to mean, “which way to go”? At the end of two weeks he’ll decide whether or not to make the cure worse than the disease?
I guess if the country doesn’t kiss his butt enough in the next two weeks, he’ll make a decision to kill us all. Although he’s pretty much been doing that anyway so how can we tell the difference?
It’s like he doesn’t even realise he’s a near-80-year-old in bad shape
Is there an emergency measure someone can invoke that relieves the president of his duties for abandoned recklessness endangering hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives? Like Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny,” that on a lesser scale? The 2016 voters are now stewing in their own soup.
…I think this was all prompted by this Fox News story. He’s just parroting what he saw on TV because that is what he does. Fox New literally has the ability to manipulate the most powerful man in the world. Its all really fucking terrifying to be honest.
It’s not what he does–it’s all he does. He doesn’t have a clue–his head is completely up his ass, and the only thing he can see there is Fox News.
And what exactly is this “15 day” period he is talking about? When is the fateful Drop-Dead Day on which he will make his fateful decision?
Apparently this refers to March 16 through March 30.
Trump Says U.S. to Make a Decision on Coronavirus at End of 15-Day Plan, Reuters, March 23, 2020.
…
Yes, the 25th amendment to the Constitution has just such a procedure. Unfortunately, it requires the VP and the cabinet members to initiate the process and I don’t see that happening unless Trump becomes physically disabled to the point where he can’t even talk.
He is at heart a con man. You’ll notice that just like a ponzi criminal he is always promising that something is going to happen. Soon. Believe me.
But when it comes to demonstrable acions and results… eh, soon, OK? Soon.
Maybe the virus will end his presidency one way or another.
We’re fucked, y’all.
It means that he has no idea what to do. He is just saying something to make it look like he is in charge.
It means get ready for more polarization. If you thought the country was bitterly divided already…you haven’t seen shit yet.
This is going to get very, very ugly, and the republican party has been telegraphing this all along in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. They tried to jam corporate goodies in through a ‘stimulus’ bill, and democrats have called them on it.
Unfortunately, the real underlying problem in all of this, the thing that enables republicans to get away with their blatant corruption is that Americans - people generally - are dumb. We’re too dumb for democracy. We’re dumb. We’re incurious. We’re apathetic. But now, worst of all, we’re dumb, incurious, politically apathetic - and scared shitless. Scared shitless about what happens to our finances, and our health.
And that makes “us” (them) dangerous.
Fox News has the ability to manipulate the Republican base. I’m sure you’ve seen those interviews of people standing in line to get into Trump rallies: They get their news exclusively from Fox and say things similar to “thank goodness we have one news channel that tells it like it is and not that lame-stream media.”
He knows he has to follow their lead because they are leading the voters that will keep him in power.
…just in contrast to what is happening in America: New Zealand is going into lockdown in less than 48 hours. The government planning has been meticulous and guided by the science. Communications open and transparent. A stimulus package was announced last week to help employers keep people in work and they were paying out full amounts a day after the announcement. Testing is free and who gets tested is determined not by strict criteria but by the GP based on their medical discretion: if they think you need to get tested you get the test. Treatment is free. Confirmed and suspected cases get contact traced.
I’m self employed and I had all my bookings cancel last week. Its a very scary time. But its good to know there is a safety net if I need it. The mood of the nation right now is a quiet determination to look out for each other. Its a message that has come from the top with outstanding leadership from Jacinda Ardern, its embedded in our culture, the concept of whanau, or family. New Zealand has had no deaths so far, but we are under no illusions that the worst is yet to come.
And I’m looking at whats happening in America and I’m just lost for words. I don’t know what to say to you guys. **monstro **just said “We’re fucked, y’all.” And I can’t really add anything to that at all. This is the worst possible case scenario. This is the culmination of decades of believing in the “cult of the individual.” Of believing you can just “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” There is no leadership at the top, and those at the top are happy to see the country burn. I’m so, so sorry. So many Americans are about to die.
We really are. And we can’t even gather to protest.
I feel so helpless.
I think our collective response - and by ‘our’ I’m not just talking about the government but our society - our response to COVID-19 is the same as our response to the growing corruption and authoritarianism that I’ve been warning about for years. It’s the same pattern of behavior. People don’t want to believe that things are about to get really, really bad.
Having lived and traveled outside the United States extensively for years, I’ve noticed a tendency of Americans to opt for optimism over reality, and an equal tendency to desire entertainment and amusement over engaging in something that requires some academic rigor. America has many strengths, but we’ve neglected those strengths over the years and we’ve allowed our weak tendencies to creep up on us.
The early warning siren for me was our collective lack of outrage over being lied to in sending thousands of troops to their deaths in Middle Eastern deserts. We should have been furious about that, and instead the fury tended to break down along party lines, and worse, along cultural lines.
Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the corrupt billionaires who fund their propaganda machine are winning. Because even though they represent a very small minority of interest and even though many people actually want the things that Democrats and progressives have traditionally advocated for, they have found a way to manipulate scared white people into believing they’re victims of some kind of imaginary genocide and convinced them to vote against their own interests - again and again and again.
I agree with monstro: we - are - fucked.