Coronavirus

Here's the thing about the COVID-19 pandemic.

I don't blame Trump for it getting into the United States. It was here long before the government could have acted and it's now all over the U.S. There really is no way it could have been stopped. What matters now is containing the spread wherever possible and treating those who catch it.

What I do blame Trump for is the government's piss-poor response. Trump is doing a terrible job of managing the crisis and is, in fact, making things almost inconceivably worse. I mean, holy crap, he put Mike Pence in charge. This will cost lives.

The job of the President in this kind of a crisis is pretty simple: assure the public that everything is being done, make sure that resources are mobilized and allocated to doing the correct thing, educate the public, and then get the hell out of the way of the scientists. Trump has failed in all of these.

I'm not going to go through his failures, just read most non-Fox news sites if you want a complete list. Trump's incompetence and self-absorption are getting a lot of press.

I'll just list a few moronic quotes, all from Trump:

“People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors say, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should’ve done that instead of running for president.”

If only. Trump has no natural ability for science or anything else except grifting.

Here he is disputing the World Health Organization's estimate of the death rate (3.4%).

“I think the 3.4% is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this.”

It's a "hunch" now is it? I wonder who has it right?

Here he is blaming the problem on the Governor of the State of Washington, Jay Inslee, because that's definitely what he should be doing.

“That governor is a snake … Let me just tell you, we have a lot of problems with the governor and the governor of Washington. That’s where you have many of your problems, OK?”

But at least our tests are beautiful, so we've got that going.

“But I think, importantly, anybody, right now and yesterday, that needs a test gets a test. They’re there, they have the tests, and the tests are beautiful. Anybody that needs a test gets a test,”

And

 “The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. This is not as perfect as that, but pretty good.”

First, we DON'T have the tests, that's a BIG part of our problem. Second, WTF?

And here he shows his great humanity and compassion as he talks about the contaminated cruise ship with 3,500 people quarantined off the coast of California.

“If there’s a doctor that wants a test, if there’s somebody coming off a ship like the big monster ship that’s out there right now, which, you know, again, that’s a big decision. Do I want to bring all those people off? People would like me to do that. I don’t like the idea of doing that.”

 “I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault,”

He doesn't like the idea of bringing those people to be quarantined on land because he thinks it would look bad for his image. Oh, what a wonderful man he is.

Seriously, fuck this guy.

A glutton for more punishment? The articles below have all of these quotes and more.

Trump’s Coronavirus Press Event Was Even Worse Than It Looked

“HE’S DEFINITELY MELTING DOWN OVER THIS”: TRUMP, GERMAPHOBE IN CHIEF, STRUGGLES TO CONTROL THE COVID-19 STORY