# Trump: "I don't take responsibility at all" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 13, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444 "2020-03-13T22:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/21 "2020-03-14T05:33:01Z")
Trump had better hope to whatever god he prays to that this outbreak does burn itself out as soon as he thinks it will. Like **enalzi** says above, these words are going to haunt him in every Biden and downticket ad this fall. I look forward to Trump explaining them on a debate stage in September – and likely putting his foot even further into his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/22 "2020-03-14T05:51:24Z")
“If all you’ve got is a wall, everything looks like an invasion.” -Chris Hayes ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/23 "2020-03-14T06:29:24Z")
And who the hell in the right mind cuts the pandemic team. Mao on a pogo stick, it’s insurance. If you don’t need it, you’re prepared. If you do need it, you can respond. If you’re trump/republicans, you cut it 'cause it is big government and you think you can ramp it up on a dime if needed. Morons. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/24 "2020-03-14T07:33:00Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Trump had better hope to whatever god he prays to that this outbreak does burn itself out as soon as he thinks it will. Like **enalzi** says above, these words are going to haunt him in every Biden and downticket ad this fall. I look forward to Trump explaining them on a debate stage in September – and likely putting his foot even further into his mouth. If this had been any other President, I would have been absolutely gobsmacked at the tone-deafness of such a statement — particularly when he’s up for re-election. The attack ads write themselves. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > And who the hell in the right mind cuts the pandemic team. Mao on a pogo stick, it’s insurance. If you don’t need it, you’re prepared. If you do need it, you can respond. If you’re trump/republicans, you cut it 'cause it is big government and you think you can ramp it up on a dime if needed. Morons. Not to excuse Trump, but it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. According to a guest on Maddow who had been a member of the team, its function was to give the President expert advice on the best way to handle something like a pandemic; and we all know that King Cannot is the expertiest expert there can be on all subjects, so attempting to advise him is a fool’s errand. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/25 "2020-03-14T08:02:21Z")
I haven’t been this impresses with Republican leadership since Bush ignored the daily bulletin that told him bin Laden was going to attack the US then responded to that attack by invading the wrong country. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/26 "2020-03-14T10:58:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Y’know what’s really terrible? > > Because even in a moderately bad scenario, the vast majority of the population is going to either not be _too_ sick, or of those who are the majority will make a full recovery, afterwards it will only convince his cultists that _“y’see? He was RIGHT! It was NOT such a big deal and HE did all right! Oh, some oldsters kicked it but what did ya expect!”_ It depends what happens when the hospital bills come due and businesses are done laying off and shutting down. Those could be widespread enough to blunt such an effort, at least a bit. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/27 "2020-03-14T13:24:24Z")
Trump could strip naked, run around on the white house lawn, and take a dump in full view of the public and he’d still get 35-38% of the vote. It’s the next 7-10% that needs to hold for him to continue as president. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/28 "2020-03-14T13:38:12Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump could strip naked, run around on the white house lawn, and take a dump in full view of the public and he’d still get 35-38% of the vote. It’s the next 7-10% that needs to hold for him to continue as president. Any Dem or Rep candidate starts out around 40%. There are a few exceptions such as Goldwater in 64 who got 38%. Bush 92 got 37% because Perot got 19%. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/29 "2020-03-14T14:01:07Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > I remember him not getting re elected and ushering in the beginning of this whole new conservative era of American politics. Well, his big mistake was not pulling everyone out of the embassy and bringing them back home, like EVERY SINGLE OTHER COUNTRY WITH AN EMBASSY did. Carter, instead, wanted to make a gesture of trust, and it is in the Guinness book as the biggest backfire in history. No one really knows if the US was initially targeted, as part of a plan, or if the US embassy was the only target left. > [@Acsenray](#): > > Possibly the best man ever to hold the office. If you mean that he was a mentsh-- that his personal qualities were admirable above other holders of the office, I’d agree, or at least say, he’s in the top 5. I can’t speak much to the personal qualities of presidents outside my lifetime, but yeah, Carter is a heck of a human being. IMO, the most decent, and maybe the only decent person since, was Obama. Not that being a decent person is a requirement for being a good president-- I understand that FDR was unfaithful to his wife, and had a few other failings. But if Carter gets an A in being a decent person, then FDR still gets a C+ or a B- (and really, we don’t know the details of his marriage, what his wife may have known, condoned, or been involved in herself); Pres. “Grab her pussy” gets an F. Trump crossed an event horizon a long time ago, that I don’t know any other president has crossed. Some, like those who condoned slaughter of the native Americans were pretty awful, and that would be worse in the context of the present, than the things Trump has done (except maybe in the aggregate), but in the context of its own time was sadly normal. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/30 "2020-03-14T14:15:38Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > And who the hell in the right mind cuts the pandemic team. Mao on a pogo stick, it’s insurance. If you don’t need it, you’re prepared. If you do need it, you can respond. If you’re trump/republicans, you cut it 'cause it is big government and you think you can ramp it up on a dime if needed. Morons. Because he thinks it is like a movie where a pandemic breaks out and you wake the expert (played by Brad Pitt) out of retirement for one last opportunity to save the world. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/31 "2020-03-14T15:07:33Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Because he thinks it is like a movie where a pandemic breaks out and you wake the expert (played by Brad Pitt) out of retirement for one last opportunity to save the world. No, it’s because he literally doesn’t care about anything that he can’t immediately detect as being about him. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/32 "2020-03-14T15:41:50Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > It depends what happens when the hospital bills come due and businesses are done laying off and shutting down. Those could be widespread enough to blunt such an effort, at least a bit. Oh, _that_ will be the fault of Congress not passing the payroll tax cut, you know that’s gonna be the line… ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/33 "2020-03-14T15:43:26Z")
What do his supporters tell their kids? Go ahead, lie, cheat, and deny responsibility for your actions, and then you too can be president? Forget baby booms…we’re going to have a shithead boom when these kids grow up. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/34 "2020-03-14T16:25:57Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Because he thinks it is like a movie where a pandemic breaks out and you wake the expert (played by Brad Pitt) out of retirement for one last opportunity to save the world. > [@Acsenray](#): > > No, it’s because he literally doesn’t care about anything that he can’t immediately detect as being about him. He has said many times that he does not plan, he _ **reacts** _. And we’re seeing how well that’s working out. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/35 "2020-03-14T16:47:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > No, it’s because he literally doesn’t care about anything that he can’t immediately detect as being about him. He’s the presidential embodiment of guys like this: > **['Sex with a sheep' OK if taxes kept low, Tory supporter says | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sex-with-sheep-conservative-supporter-1.3271124)** > > There were shades of the infamous angry Tory at a Conservative campaign event in Brantford, Ont. Wednesday morning when a rally-goer made a profane, off-the-cuff comment to reporters. When it comes to government, taxes, and specifically the _lowering_ of said taxes, is literally the only thing he knows about, or cares about. Will cutting it save taxes? Then do it. None of this nerdy talking about infrastructure and foresight, Poindexter! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/36 "2020-03-14T16:48:31Z")
I noticed that no one else seems to have noticed that implicit in his denial and the offered excuses is an acknowledgement that the response to this crisis was, indeed, not perfect. THAT is what should be hammered home: his acknowledgement that his cries of perfection are a lie. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/37 "2020-03-14T17:31:45Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Y’know what’s really terrible? > > Because even in a moderately bad scenario, the vast majority of the population is going to either not be _too_ sick, or of those who are the majority will make a full recovery, afterwards it will only convince his cultists that _“y’see? He was RIGHT! It was NOT such a big deal and HE did all right! Oh, some oldsters kicked it but what did ya expect!”_ In a moderately bad scenario, 100 million people get sick and half a million people die. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/38 "2020-03-14T17:33:28Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > I remember when Jimmy Carter addressed the nation in the early hours of the morning after an incredibly daring rescue mission for the hostages failed and taking all the responsibility then and there. I have a mental image of an ad with rapid-cut clips from Truman’s “The Buck Stops Here”\*, several others in chronological order (including that one), culminating in Mister “I don’t take responsibility at all”. \*There may be some earlier ones, at least in audio recordings, but that one is memetic enough to be a good opener. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/39 "2020-03-14T17:37:29Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Well, his big mistake was not pulling everyone out of the embassy and bringing them back home, like EVERY SINGLE OTHER COUNTRY WITH AN EMBASSY did. Carter, instead, wanted to make a gesture of trust, and it is in the Guinness book as the biggest backfire in history. No one really knows if the US was initially targeted, as part of a plan, or if the US embassy was the only target left Eh? Other countries didn’t withdraw their embassies. Switzerland has maintained its Embassy throughout, and acts for the US. Sweden kept its Embassy open (they now also act for the U.K.). And Canada kept its Embassy open. (You may have heard about that.). Other nations did as well. As for why the storming of the US Embassy, I think it’s pretty clear the US was targeted. When you have the CIA having helped overthrow a democratically elected government and then support an authoritarian monarchy instead, it’s pretty clear that it wasn’t an accident that the new revolutionaries would target the US. They didn’t attack the Swiss or Swedish embassies,countries which coincidentally had not helped overthrow the democratically elected Iranian government. I think cause and effect was pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444/40 "2020-03-14T17:38:50Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > And who the hell in the right mind cuts the pandemic team. Mao on a pogo stick, it’s insurance. If you don’t need it, you’re prepared. If you do need it, you can respond. If you’re trump/republicans, you cut it 'cause it is big government and you think you can ramp it up on a dime if needed. Morons. The folks that want to stop pandemics have policy positions that are not consistent with republican politics. The big one is universal health care for everyone. Free check-ups and free vaccinations nationwide. Ideally add things like paid sick leave to the equation. IMHO, we should have the same health care available to the public that we make available to convicts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-i-dont-take-responsibility-at-all/849444.md?page=3)