George W. Bush in 2005: And one day many lives could be needlessly lost...

[carpedm9587]

I did. Thanks.

I would have expected a slightly more nuanced response than "overall grade." Frankly, the results on the ground speak volumes about preparedness. And all of the preparedness in the world is significantly compromised in the presence of poor leadership.

You do realize that if states like New York and New Jersey had their acts together, the US numbers overall would be better. Nearly 50% of all US cases and deaths attributed to the China flu are in those two states. Democrat controlled Michigan is another Wuhan virus hot spot with the third highest number of deaths, trailing New Jersey by less than a thousand. That's not your President's fault.

I agree that there were missteps all around, and many people disregarded the warnings. Mr. Trump's window of malfeasance was that all-important time from the detection of the first community-spread case (2/24, IIRC) until he finally recognized the problem (3/17, IIRC) despite warnings coming to him for weeks before and during that period. Cuomo made the mistake of deferring to de Blasio for too long and de Blasio was in denial.

But the numbers are also likely skewed. The states reporting the greatest numbers are also the states that have implemented the most widespread testing, and the numbers reflect reported reflect the most confirmed cases. Naturally, if you don't care enough to call for shelter-in-place, you're likely not to care enough to push testing out. Of the top 15 states/areas for testing, 11 were blue states in 2016 and 4 were red. Since governors are fairly important, 8 have Democratic governors, 6 have Republican, and one has no governor at all (D.C. and is under the stewardship of Congress). If you go to the bottom 15 of the list, three went blue in 2016 and 12 went red. Looking at the governors, 9 are Republicans and 6 are Democrats.

It's hard to make a claim about the numbers being bigger in one place than another when there is no consistent plan for testing or tracking the disease. Either the high states were badly managed, or the high states are doing more testing than the low states. Deciding which it is can only be speculation. This is part of the mess Trump left us with.

ETA: There is also the reality that disease spreads more readily in high density areas than low density areas, which is a basic truth of epidemiology. High density areas and states are predominantly Democratic strongholds. It is inevitable they are going to see higher infection rates than low density areas, which are predominantly Republican.

[JimL]

Yep, the latest liberal narrative is to use the words of a former president they loath in an attempt to smear the current president they loath.

But to President Bush's point, it's worth noting that a 2019 study found that the US was the country best prepared to handle a pandemic.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-...-found-in-2019

The best was obviously not good enough, and Trump obviously isn't the only one at fault for that, but it happened under his Administration and his fault is in not putting to use that readiness immediately instead of pooh poohing it as not being serious, not beginning imediate testing and containment, and telling the public it's nothing, and will, like a miracle, would just disappear.

[Mountain Man]

I agree that there were missteps all around, and many people disregarded the warnings. Mr. Trump's window of malfeasance was that all-important time from the detection of the first community-spread case (2/24, IIRC) until he finally recognized the problem (3/17, IIRC) despite warnings coming to him for weeks before...

Brief timeline:

• January 17 - CDC dispatches staffers to airports to begin screening for the Wuhan virus
• January 20 - First time it is announced that human-to-human transmission may be possible
• January 26 - First time it is announced that asymptotic carriers may be able to transmit the virus
• January 29 - Trump announces the assemblage of a coronavirus task force (note that this is just the date of the announcement; this doesn't mean the team wasn't already assembled and working in some capacity before this)
• January 30 - WHO declares an international health crisis
• January 31 - Trump announces travel restrictions, a decision condemned by Democrats as "xenophobic"

As you can see, the administration was on top of things from the very beginning. Even Fauci, who is not entirely on "Team Trump", has praised the President for his quick action and says that it significantly slowed the early spread of the China flu throughout the US (although reports now suggest that the virus could have entered the US weeks before we even knew to look for it). Since then, Trump and his team have coordinated the nationwide response while leaving the nuts-and-bolts decision making to the individual states as he should, has put pressure on US businesses to produce needed supplies, and has done his part with regular press briefings to keep the public informed.

You should be proud of your country and your President. We've done a good job.

[Charles]

You should be proud of your country and your President. We've done a good job.

But then:

Not yet, but it could so easily happen. Some governments have already instituted a "Snitch On Your Neighbor" policy to report people who are not staying in their homes or not wearing masks (one gentleman was forcibly removed from a city bus because his face was uncovered), and some governors have ordered the police to collect license plate numbers of Easter Sunday attendees which will be followed by home imprisonment for the "guilty".

"Are your papers in order, good citizen?" used to be a joke we told about Soviet Russia, but it's coming soon to the US, and in some cases, it's already here.

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[carpedm9587]

Brief timeline:

• January 17 - CDC dispatches staffers to airports to begin screening for the Wuhan virus
• January 20 - First time it is announced that human-to-human transmission may be possible
• January 26 - First time it is announced that asymptotic carriers may be able to transmit the virus
• January 29 - Trump announces the assemblage of a coronavirus task force (note that this is just the date of the announcement; this doesn't mean the team wasn't already assembled and working in some capacity before this)
• January 30 - WHO declares an international health crisis
• January 31 - Trump announces travel restrictions, a decision condemned by Democrats as "xenophobic"

As you can see, the administration was on top of things from the very beginning. Even Fauci, who is not entirely on "Team Trump", has praised the President for his quick action and says that it significantly slowed the early spread of the China flu throughout the US (although reports now suggest that the virus could have entered the US weeks before we even knew to look for it). Since then, Trump and his team have coordinated the nationwide response while leaving the nuts-and-bolts decision making to the individual states as he should, has put pressure on US businesses to produce needed supplies, and has done his part with regular press briefings to keep the public informed.

You should be proud of your country and your President. We've done a good job.

No one has argued that "no steps were taken," MM, so I don't know why you provide this list. And you continue to provide random items from the period BEFORE the one I have spoken about. I have (several times now) said that the mixed messaging before 2/24 could be excused across the board (governors and Mr. Trump alike) due to the vast array of mixed messaging coming from various places. After the first detection of a community-spread case - there's no excuse. That all-important 3-week window from the first community spread until finally accepting "this is an emergency" cost us significant time in which we could have been responding and, as a consequence, cost lives. Specifically the lack of coordination of desperately needed resources, the lack of willingness to issue a national "stay-at-home" policy, and the lack of willingness to invoke and use the Defense Production Act.

And I personally consider Mr. Trump turning the daily briefings into extended campaign rallies, with each sycophant bowing and scrapping before speaking, to be reprehensible. The man has no shame and no empathy whatsoever. I'm not "proud of Mr. Trump." I'm dismayed at his malfeasance and disgusted at his narcissism. At least half a million infections and over 20,000 deaths in 4 weeks is a testament to his ineptitude.

And though this ad blames him for things I'm willing to cut him a break for...I find myself gratified that it is coming from a Republican group. Hopefully, rational Republican voices will begin to be heard again.

ETA: Fortunately, it appears many Americans are of the same position. Trump's approval rating continues to slide.

[Mountain Man]

And you continue to provide random items from the period BEFORE the one I have spoken about.

They're not "random items", they're a catalog of the fact that Trump took it seriously very early and took the appropriate action at the appropriate time as recommended by the experts that everybody keeps insisting he should be listening to. What else was he supposed to do? Ignore them? Trump's experts were advising him since at least early-January. The task force was in place by at least late-January and doing what needed to be done. Everything the Trump administration knew about the Wuhan virus was made public and was available for state governments to use to make their own decisions. You claim that Trump should have issued a national "stay at home" policy, but the president doesn't have that kind of power (liberals: "Trump acts too much like a dictator!"; also liberals: "Trump doesn't act enough like a dictator!"). That's a decision that individual states need to make, not the federal government. Trump has used the Defense Production Act to encourage some companies to get on board, but for the most part, it hasn't been necessary since many companies willingly changed their production. Limited and restrained use of presidential authority is a good thing.

But of course your agenda is beholden to the false narrative that Trump has completely botched everything.

...turning the daily briefings into extended campaign rallies...

Straight from the liberal talking points memo. Good sheep.

[carpedm9587]

They're not "random items", they're a catalog of the fact that Trump took it seriously very early and took the appropriate action at the appropriate time as recommended by the experts that everybody keeps insisting he should be listening to. What else was he supposed to do? Ignore them? Trump's experts were advising him since at least early-January. The task force was in place by at least late-January and doing what needed to be done. Everything the Trump administration knew about the Wuhan virus was made public and was available for state governments to use to make their own decisions. You claim that Trump should have issued a national "stay at home" policy, but the president doesn't have that kind of power (liberals: "Trump acts too much like a dictator!"; also liberals: "Trump doesn't act enough like a dictator!"). That's a decision that individual states need to make, not the federal government. Trump has used the Defense Production Act to encourage some companies to get on board, but for the most part, it hasn't been necessary since many companies willingly changed their production. Limited and restrained use of presidential authority is a good thing.

But of course your agenda is beholden to the false narrative that Trump has completely botched everything.

Straight from the liberal talking points memo. Good sheep.

At no point did I say "botched everything," and your list, again, predates the period I have been talking about from the get go. The impression left by your need (and Pix's) to continually go back to a time I am NOT talking about and offer a "rebuttal" suggests you have no rebuttal for the time period I am actually talking about: the three-week period from the first community-spread until his acknowledgement that there was a significant issue. In that time period Trump a) golfed, b) held rallies with large groups, c) continually communicated "it's all under control," (making him at least partially responsible for lulling the population into a false sense of complacency), d) refused to use the Defense Production Act, e) refused to implement a national stay-at-home order, f) botched the coordination of critical supplies between states, leaving the states to bid against each other, g) and continually turned the daily briefings into replacements for this canceled campaign rallies. The fact that the latter is on the "Democratic talking points" list does not alter its truth, so your last comment appears to be an instance of the genetic fallacy.

ETA: I debated with myself about whether to respond to this since I have decided not to respond to posts that contain mocking and/or trolling and your last sentence is pretty close to (if not over) the mark. If it continues, I'll probably disengage.

[shunyadragon]

Remember this billboard that appeared about 2-years into Obama's first term?

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Who? No he is not missed.