1/
I have been accused of being delusional. I have been accused of being naive. A lot of accusations, but the one I’m never accused of is “not knowing history” which is funny because I think of myself as a reluctant historian.
TBH, I do not like reading history. My father has a master’s in history and just finished a 1000 page book on reconstruction (he is older, much older, than Biden).
But to history we must turn to get facts to understand the present.
2/
Under Trump, we saw a failure in leadership. We saw a man who argued he shut down flights into and out of China. A half-truth at best (which is still a lie).
What he did was shut down CHINESE citizens from entering the US, not American citizens (disease doesn’t care about nationality — stupid disease).
History: 1, Trump: 0
In 2020, four years ago, Trump had the opportunity to prevent people from dying by listening to experts.
3/
He not only DIDN’T listen to experts, but decided he was the smartest person in the room.
Trump: "No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s — going to be just fine.”
Except this isn’t what he was briefed on. He was told how bad it really was and decided to minimize it.
Everything is about HIM and fuck everyone else.
4/
"We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five…”
"We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12…”
"The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing.”
Again, this is TRUMP, not Biden pretending the disease IS NOT REAL.
But it’s always someone ELSES fault when bad things happen.
5/
"I would rather (Grand Princess passengers stay aboard) because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”
There it is, “I DON’T NEED” — that’s the money shot. That is Trump being honest. It’s not about what it means for Americans, it’s what it means FOR HIM.
You want Trump back in office? This is what it means. Biden is the solution, not Trump.
But people don’t care because “rich people like him!”
6/
"I've always known this is a real, this is a pandemic. I've felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
Also Trump: “…but we’re having to fix a problem that, four weeks ago, nobody ever thought would be a problem.”
This is at odds with reality as the Obama administration had a "69-page National Security Council guidebook developed in 2016” specifically for managing pandemics.
Trump is at odds with reality,.
7/
"We inherited a broken test" for COVID-19.
The broken test was created by the CDC under the Trump administration. In QC only 66% accuracy was reported. That should have killed it. Oddly, it was released. It was then recalled.
The problem was not an “inherited” test, it was the release of a test that was fundamentally flawed.
"They’re doing tests on airlines — very strong tests — for getting on, getting off. They’re doing tests on trains — getting on, getting off."
Lies.
8/
"I hope they use it, because I'll tell you what: What do you have to lose?”
Well, basically hydroxychloroquine did nothing other than make sick people sicker.
"If they need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. And if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task.”
Evidence based? No, politics based.
States should decide health care, not doctors.
Hmmm… sounds familiar, doesn’t it uterus owners...
9/
"Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way … It sounds interesting.”
To idiots? Yeah, sounds really interesting, but that really isn’t how medicine works. Facts are required. Again, making shit up isn’t fact based.
"You should absolutely open the schools. Our country has got to get back, and it’s got to get back as soon as possible. And I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed.”
...
10/
We only knew about COVID for four months and Trump wanted to make kids sick again. THAT is Trumpcare in a single quote. Not keep kids from getting sick, but to assure the disease spreads faster.
COVID-19 cases are "up only because of our big number testing.”
This is just bizarre. It’s like saying, “COVID will stop at nothing. If we do nothing, it will stop.” Pure nonsense. Yet this is what people who want Biden to step down are advocating.
11/
"We have one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.”
Um, no.
"It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.”
See his, “It will just disappear” statement.
It didn’t disappear and this is the first we heard of him stating what he believed, again, was the truth. BTW, people are still dying of COVID. Just because the news doesn’t cover it doesn’t mean people aren’t dying.
12/
"Children are "almost immune from this disease.”
Yes, people actually believed this because Trump said it.
This is the kind of world people who either want to vote third party or won’t vote at all want again. Make America ‘gnorant Again. The true meaning of MAGA.
"Only 6% of the people actually died from COVID.”
Texas’ deaths were misfiled under influenza. There was no REQUIRED reporting of COVID (IIRC) and many states stopped.
13/
"To be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
No, he stated to quite clearly:
"I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”
It always boils down to him. What he needs and wants.
14/
"Joe Biden was a total disaster in handling the H1N1 Swine Flu, would never have produced a Vaccine in record time (years ahead of schedule), and would do a terrible job of Vaccine delivery - But doesn’t everybody already know that!”
H1N1 was influenza, also known as “swine flu”. The total number of deaths GLOBALLY was 284,000.
But to Trump, his leadership was BETTER than the Obama/Biden leadership.
16/
I am a reluctant historian because history is full of this kind of shit.
The news is now gaslighting Americans into believing “things weren't so bad under a Trump presidency” — YES THEY WERE!
The dead would strongly disagree with the news and would be horrified to find others believing this bullshit.
Trump did NOTHING to relieve our country from pointless death and suffering. At every turn rather than do something, he BLOCKED healthcare policies.
17/
This is just ONE in MULTIPLE examples of FAILED leadership.
Yet I see “Biden too old” going round and round as if THIS IS IMPORTANT.
No, it is not. What is important is that in the last 3 1/2 years is we have had competent leadership. We have had people (yes, and administration is PEOPLE, not a king, not a strong man, a team) committed to HELPING Americans, not himself.
But rather than look at what Biden did, they want to look at his age.
And excuse a criminal.
18/
I’m part of Team Biden because I do reality testing daily. The reality is that the country is MARKEDLY better off today than it was in 2020.
Trump killed almost half a million Americans because he wanted to look good. He wanted to be the smartest in the room. It was all about him.
When he could have DRASTICALLY limited spread, he didn’t.
When he could have worked listened to experts he pushed conspiracy theories.
When he could have done the right thing, he didn’t.
NO MORE.
19/
You are either with SCIENCE or you are with TRUMP.
Biden is with science. Trump isn’t.
Those are your ONLY two candidates.
I’m Team Biden because I read the news. I read the news because reality is complicated. Debates are no more reality than the stock market.
Trump is a failure. Trump is a criminal. Trump killed Americans because of hubris.
But many want Biden to step down?
What alternate reality are they living in?
And why do they want ME to suffer?
This is based on a fantastic Politifact page. A lot of data to digest and it is REALLY, REALLY important that you FACT CHECK reality before making your decisions.
Trump was a fucking horror. He remains a monster.
Biden has had nothing but America in mind for his decisions.
Trump only had one person in mind: himself.
We cannot NORMALIZE selfishness like this. Biden isn’t the problem.
Why the fuck don’t Americans see this>
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/mar/20/how-donald-trump-responded-coronavirus-pandemic/
You just reminded me - speaking of blocking health care - of how blue state hospitals had to resort to smuggling PPE to keep Kushner's "federal response" from stealing them.
And the NE Patriots used their team plane to bring N-95 masks directly from China to help MA hospitals. Those hospitals, if I remember right, shared some of their supply with hospitals in other (blue) states to help them out as best they could.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-patriots-plane-masks-spt-trnd/index.html
@feloneouscat Americans have been taught for many years now that selfishness and greed are good. Huge swathes of the population appear to have internalized those ideals.
My expectation is that most see the selfishness, but many either don't care or actually see it as a good thing.
Which is even more disgusting and awful, if you really think about it.
@feloneouscat If no one was shielded from accountability, as I think should be the case, those 400,000 deaths arising largely if not entirely from the incompetence of the administration would almost certainly have resulted in (among many other things) murder or manslaughter prosecutions.
And if everything was as I'd have it... the sentence would involve an electric chair.
Mmmmm, nothing like the smell of burnt pork in the morning :)
#politics
15/
When in doubt, call it FAKE NEWS!
"The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of @CDCgov’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low.”
Fauci: "Well, the deaths are real deaths"
Trump is incapable of understanding how he mishandled COVID.
Under TrumpCare we had 400,000 deaths.
DEATHS.
This is what a Trump Administration gave us.