I hope you don’t think Trump cares about his son’s girlfriend. He doesn’t care about her, she just is a piece of meat that fills a need for Trump Jr.... she is disposable.
Those high end donors that she likely infected are less disposable. They need to live with it and donate at least until the election.
Trump supporters have already rationalized the deaths. Many claim that it isn't that bad since death rates have come down since Mid May. Many also don't believe the numbers and think the numbers are due to hospitals and the CDC mislabeling deaths from other causes as COVID-19.
I suspect if she doesn't die or at least get seriously ill they will use her to claim the disease isn't that bad.
Except in this case that one person is the President of the United States and the head of a major political party. No individual on Earth wields the influence that the President does.
Yes his influence obviously extends to power over all diseases. I refuse to believe that intelligent people will attribute the 200k deaths from Covid 19 to DT.
If a person wants to take all the credit when things are going good they must take all the blame when it goes to hell.
He took credit for having it under control. Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” — Trump in a CNBC interview. Jan. 30: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us … that I can assure you.” — Trump in a speech in Michigan. Feb. 10: “Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though. We have 12 cases — 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.” — Trump at the White House. (See our item “Will the New Coronavirus ‘Go Away’ in April?“) Feb. 14: “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner.” — Trump in speakingto National Border Patrol Council members. Feb. 23: “We have it very much under control in this country.” — Trump in speaking to reporters. Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” — Trump in a tweet. Feb. 26: “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.” — Trump at a White House briefing. Feb. 26: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” — Trump at a press conference. Feb. 26: “I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” — Trump at a press conference, when asked if “U.S. schools should be preparing for a coronavirus spreading.” Feb. 27: “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” — Trump at a White House meeting with African American leaders. Feb. 29: “And I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control.” — Trump in a speech at the CPAC conference outside Washington, D.C. March 4: “[W]e have a very small number of people in this country [infected]. We have a big country. The biggest impact we had was when we took the 40-plus people [from a cruise ship]. … We brought them back. We immediately quarantined them. But you add that to the numbers. But if you don’t add that to the numbers, we’re talking about very small numbers in the United States.” — Trump at a White House meeting with airline CEOs. March 4: “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number.” — Trump in an interview on Fox News, referring to the percentage of diagnosed COVID-19 patients worldwide who had died, as reported by the World Health Organization. (See our item “Trump and the Coronavirus Death Rate.”) March 7: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.” — Trump, when asked by reporters if he was concerned about the arrival of the coronavirus in the Washington, D.C., area. March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” — Trump in a tweet. March 10: “And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — Trump after meeting with Republican senators. A day later, on March 11, the WHO declaredthe global outbreak a pandemic.
His influence certainly does extend to scandals, distractions, and demagoguery that Malakas cited. He’s not directly responsible for the deaths from COVID-19 but the confusion and contradictory policy and messages from this Administration I’m certain contributed to the death count especially when compared to the response of other countries.
Feb 25. “We have contained this. I won’t say [it’s] airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight,” said Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council.
He will be viewed as the largest actor responsible for the spread of COVID19 and it really isn’t arguable that he hasn’t butchered his handling of the virus. He defunded and disbanded the top virology response team in the world. He did not follow the protocol left in the virology response team’s emergency program. He was briefed on the spread of the virus and minimized it into March claiming it would just go away. He sent supplies to China and did not build up the US national supply base as the virus hit China and then Europe hard. He would give press conferences saying one thing and then tweet the opposite later in the same day causing chaos and a split in the American people. He is largely responsible for the lack of Americans wearing masks in public like every other first world nation. He refused to publish, support or enforce the CDC guidelines and now the states that were praised by Trump and reopened early are having outbreaks. He gave up all federal power to the individual states which has been a disaster. He made claims of miracle cures and other ridiculous methods that only caused more division. He did not restrict the EU (which is where the strain we have is from) until late. He is unquestionably the person with the most control and blame for the current COVID issues. As the rest of the first world has successfully controlled COVID the President has acted like it doesn’t exist... and now his message is literally “deal with it”.
I appreciate that you voice your opinion and do so respectfully. I also appreciate that you are doing it when the majority here disagree with you. But I think most people do not believe Trump is directly responsible. But he is absolutely responsible for our nation's response. He should be held accountable. Other nations had a response to the virus as well. Their response has proven effective, Trump's response has been proven to not be effective. His leadership has failed. He has refused to take any responsibility. He previously defunded the pandemic response team and closed their office. He doesn't set a good example for stopping the spread. He has expressly refused to. He has made false and illogical claims about the virus and stopping it. So it is possible to criticize all of that without saying he is the sole person responsible for it all. But as leader he should be the prime one responsible for it all. And he gets a solid F for his efforts and leadership.
