Pfizer got no help for the development costs from the government; Moderna did get help. What they both got was a guarantee from the US to buy 100 million doses of a safe effective vaccine. Trump would at the very least have signed off on that. On the other hand, he lobbied mightily to get them approved before the election and they refused to look at the results early and he excoriated them for that.
I beg to differ. The OP said, and I quote, “Exactly the type of response I’m looking for. The prick did do THAT.”
They hate clean air and water. I’m sure I can find other things if I think about it.
IMHO as a bona fide Trump-hater, Trump could go a good way towards redeeming his f*ckups on Covid if he, cheerfully without any complaining, takes one of the Covid vaccines (he can even pick one other than Pfizer if he’s still sore at them) on national television. Unlike wearing a mask, it’s within the realm of possibility that he could actually do this.
Alright, not an accomplishment yet, but I’d be ecstatic if we looked back from Christmas and it was one of his accomplishments.
To be fair, Nixon got his four years. It was his second lap where he tripped up and angling for it is what he tripped over.
But it would make no sense for him to get a vaccine, since he’s already had COVID.
Except as a (for once in his miserable existence) positive signal to his Covid-skeptical followers.
Yes I would. I was focused on Pfizer, which didn’t take money for the research. I should have done more research myself.
Exactly what I would have posted.
Remember Trump’s “Coronavirus Guidelines for America” postcard? I know a lot of Trump haters threw it away immediately, but the advice on it was pretty solid. I know he didn’t write it, but what the hell, I’ll let him have credit for it.
The card didn’t mention masks, but that was back in the olden days when the authoritative opinion was that masks didn’t work (and there were almost none that you could buy anyway).
I had a short laundry list of things I’ve forgotten because they’re so swamped by… well… everything else.
Here are a few things I can think of:
- Interest rates. He’s dead right that the Fed was too cautious with rates during his term. There was never any credible threat to inflation. I think the Fed was just flexing their independence as they tend to do. He was motivated by callow self-interest, ignorant of all the issues, but I’ll take the right thing for the wrong reason.
- Pacifism. War is bad, mkay? Again, I’m sure his avoidance of war was 100% cowardice in the face of political (and possibly corporeal) destruction, and he very nearly muffed it with his bluster. His pathetic cozying up to Kim Jong-Un made me retch. But any reason to avoid war with Iran and North Korea is good enough for me.
- Withdrawing from the International Postal Treaty. I’m not an anti-globalist crank or against sensible treaties, but he’s right, that particular treaty has been outrageously unfair to the US for a long time now. He didn’t follow through on this, but if he had, I’d actually credit him for the right action for the right reason.
Having said that, I think he’s done things in his term of office that could probably get him executed, and I’d like to see the Justice Dept follow through on that. But OP asked for credit where credit is due, and that’s how I see it.
Agreed.
I think in the last four years we’ve seen enough of him saying or doing things that make no sense whatsoever.
He could, however, say very loudly and publicly, “These are MY VACCINES, I made them happen, their the greatest Vaccines ever, no one’s ever seen Vaccines like this, and anyone who says they dont work is A LIAR LIKE OBAMA.”
True, he could. It’d be one of the few times feeding his ego would align with good public policy.
Right you are. I should have said “got to finish his term”.
I’ll give him points for pardoning Jack Johnson. Sure, purely symbolic and no practical effect for a guy who had been dead for 70 years.
He got elected president was a major accomplishment, he almost achieved something akin to a coup to retain the presidency for a second term. Trump also has to be credited to expose many weaknesses with our democratic system which are exploitable. Trump also has exposed much hatred in many of our citizens which needs to be addressed.
It’s possible that they might agree to de-nuke or effectively limit their weapons programs and make them transparent, provided that their regime has some protections in return. I can’t pretend to know what’s on the minds of the Ayatollah or the Kims, but nukes are a kind of leverage. The assumption and the rationale for crippling international sanctions is that we can maximize pressure so that regimes come to their senses and stop developing weapons. However, it is just as likely that weapons programs progress not just in spite of sanctions, but because of them.
The Pfizer vaccine had noting to do with Operation Warp Speed.
Nicely put.