[wmeredith]

I don't think monetary policy is going to fix this. There is a pandemic and the ostensible leader of the free world literally got on TV and said "I don't take responsibility at all" about it. People are freaked the eff out.

[iso1210]

Leader of the free world? Don't make me laugh. It's not 1995 any more, Harrison Ford and Bill Pullman figures are not in charge.

[chadlavi]

I don't recall Angela Merkel saying any such thing

[TwoNineA]

Let's not forget, he called the pandemic a "Democrat hoax".

[bloopernova]

I'll repost my comment from another thread:

"Unfortunately the CDC's existence, purpose, and funding is controlled by the government. Thus any discussion of their actions becomes embroiled in the political tribalism that dominates comments.

The staunch defenders of the current administration are often successful at shutting down criticism of their leader and their party's actions. Which is doing this country a huge disservice because right now we need to be fixing these issues, not continually arguing about blame."

People responding to this comment, please stop jumping to the defense of Trump. Stop whatabouting and trying to stop people from voicing their concerns. We've got a once-in-a-century problem facing the USA and the world, and we need to put aside knee-jerk circling-of-the-wagons to protect your party/team/tribe/side.

[gfodor]

And yet he stopped flights from China before anyone else called for it and was called racist. Check your assumptions.

Testing was botched, a lot of his statements have been terrible, but the travel bans were in the “do something that seems premature” category and deserves recognition, since it will have saved lives.

[dariusj18]

I'm not sure it was premature given it happened a week after China quarantined Wuhan.

[Mountain_Skies]

Both statements are intentionally taken out of context for cheap partisan political points. Look in the mirror to see the problem and ask yourself what it is you are trying to accomplish with this behavior.

[cochne]

For anyone curious, this is a more full context:

"One of my people came up to me and said, “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.” That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was not a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’d been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early. We went early, we could have had a lot more than that. We’re doing great. Our country is doing so great. We are so unified. We are so unified. The Republican party has never ever been unified like it is now."

[blunte]

Sane people don't communicate this way. Even people who perform poorly when publicly speaking (such as a GW Bush, who was famous for verbal stumbling) don't begin to express themselves so chaotically with spoken words.

It's exceedingly difficult to understand this man, and I daresay that anyone who claims to really understand what he's saying (meaning) is choosing to live a fantasy.

[phatfish]

This is true of all disastrous leaders, the provide no real leadership apart from publicly courting their acolytes.

The actual leadership they should be providing (giving clear direction to those who will be acting on their wishes) is so lacking that all the decision makers below them have to make up their own mind what the "leader" actually wants. And so ensues chaos.

[tjr225]

I realize this is probably your point - but the statement is even WORSE with context!

[eropple]

Yeah, see, no they're literally not. Like, you can see them yourself (check the sibling comment for the full-context tantrum) and the argument doesn't hang, except insofar as you can claim that a guy who's regularly sundowning at noon can't have context. Which is a fair argument for cutting your racist uncle some reluctant slack, but not your President.

It's very curious how the guy's constant reality-averse shit-talking of everyone who doesn't give him everything he wants, now-now-now, is somehow not "cheap partisan points," though.

[chaorace]

I agree that now isn't the time, let's not argue blame.

That being said, the president could have handled his response better. Poorly chosen words at a poor time make for a piss poor performance. It's, at the very least, very unfortunate.

[foogazi]

I don’t think it’s just words anymore. It’s a failure of executive action, things did not get done

[appleshore]

Systems > words

[heyoo]

In this specific case, the context is fortunately irrelevant.

The statements mean exactly what they say.

[diydsp]

fwiw, he was referring to the botched rollout of testing, not the whole thing or the market. [n]

[n] https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/03/13/trump-...

[chrisBob]

Would you like to provide some context? Not the OP, but it seems that this needs a national level response, and my impression is that the President is not handling things well.

[RickJWagner]

I haven't seen any better or worse ideas from either side of the political or national spectrum. As far as I'm concerned, every leader and every country seem to be acting in earnest, looking for their best solution.

Now is not the time to lose your mind and regress into confirmation bias. Listen to your leaders (National all the way down the line), follow the instructions, try to help everyone recover. In this way, you'll likely live to push your political views another day.

[s_dev]

>the ostensible leader of the free world literally got on TV and said

This doesn't mean the US president the way it used to mean it.

I think Merkel has a greater claim to this title than Trump.

[learc83]

We need to dig into the fiscal policy toolbox.

[nathanaldensr]

I agree. The Fed has no [legal] bullets left to fire.

Not everyone is "freaked the fuck out" due to what Trump says or does. Unlike many folks, I never placed faith or trust in government to handle any crisis of magnitude. I worry about what I can control: my own actions and how that will affect my family who lives with me. I'm not looking for a savior in Daddy Government.

I'm worried because most people are irrational and highly emotional, not logical. They make decisions against their best interests all the time. In a pandemic, that forces me to be overly cautious, despite that not necessarily being my normal disposition. The irrational risks are, in some sense, greater than the rational risks.

[appleshore]

After it’s over, we should investigate everyone at the CDC and related agencies, everyone in past administrations, investigate President Trump and his cabinet, investigate those tied to the corporations who outsourced our abilities to China, and determine why no one could anticipate this.

Why/how there weren’t tests for months. If only we could blame this on one person, then the solution would be easy — but this is a systemic problem.

[CaptArmchair]

Don't look further:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/0...

> The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.

> The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-t...

> The U.S. government’s slow and inadequate response to the new coronavirus underscores the need for organized, accountable leadership to prepare for and respond to pandemic threats.

The administration has essentially decided to kick the driver out and steer blind since 2018.

"These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I should fly this plane?"

https://ipa.org.au/ipa-review-articles/rebelling-fake-expert...

Yep.

[ebiester]

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/28/michael-bl... has a more nuanced look at it than "Trump fired all the experts," but it is telling that avian flu and SARS had a completely different response a decade ago.

It's not always political. However, sometimes it is.