Trump deliberately "up" played Covid threat

[wing2000]

Than most of his critics. A flock of Democrats who are state governors, Cuomo for example, who pled for assistance from the federal government and then, when Trump sent it, they didn't use it and let people die instead. Or they already had it but wanted to save it for some sort of rainy day while pleading that they needed help. Or if not that, changed their minds back and forth about wanting help from Trump or wanting him to stay out.

...ah yes....the POTUS should make pandemic spread decisions based on his political critics. Political spin is the priority...got it!

 

[Jamsie]

Than most of his critics. A flock of Democrats who are state governors, Cuomo for example, who pled for assistance from the federal government and then, when Trump sent it, they didn't use it and let people die instead. Or they already had it but wanted to save it for some sort of rainy day while pleading that they needed help. Or if not that, changed their minds back and forth about wanting help from Trump or wanting him to stay out.

First, one should fully understand that the HHS, CDC, FDA, NIH, etc. all fall under the executive branch thus all relevant info from which to form coherent policies and actions is initiated through the executive branch first, not congress and not governors. Second, consider that trump's own HHS issued a report in October of 2019 noting inefficiencies and inadequate supplies in a wide range of areas. (Yes, the stockpile was depleted - not empty - but too the refunding effort was contentious especially with "tea party" republicans...nothing got done, so part blame to Obama) Also trump was left with a detailed pandemic response plan, obviously ignored... even mcconnell confessed that he was wrong and a plan was in place! Further, let us suggest that the China ban was worthwhile and a smart move however, the restrictions were so limited that in fact it had very little to do with the spread as some experts note ... still something but not the all redeeming act that it is set forth by trump and others. *Prior to trump's comments to Woodward we know that on January 28 Robert O'Brien National Security advisor warned trump that "the virus would be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency". *Prior to trump's comments to Woodward we knew that memos from Navarro in late January were sent to the president warning of the virus potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people...and it was widely circulated through the White House and Federal agencies.

"The virus has nothing to do with me," Mr. Trump told Woodward. "It's not my fault. It's — China let the damn virus out." *NPR's Yamiche Alcindor asked the president whether he bears any responsibility for the slow American response, particularly in terms of testing. "I don't take responsibility at all," the American president said. The buck stops that-a-way. Yet trump claimed "When somebody’s president of the United States, the authority is total." Pence was supposed to head the "task force" but evidently trump didn't like the spotlight away from him. Do you recall trump tweeting - “Because the ‘Ratings’ of my News Conferences etc. are so high, ‘Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers’ according to the @nytimes, the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY,” ‘Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.’ said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!”

“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

Note that as these and other quotes demonstrate trump has several concerns - TV ratings and the Stock Market!

During a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, Mr. Trump said, "When you do testing to that extent you're going to find more people, you're going to find cases. So I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.' They test and they test. We got tests for people who don't know what's going on."

Trump and the blame game he always brings out...“The last administration left us nothing,” Trump said. “We started off with bad, broken tests and obsolete tests.” when it was pointed out to trump that there couldn't have been tests for a virus that didn't exist he still said - “The last administration left us nothing, We started off with bad, broken tests and obsolete tests.” Any reasoned person would understand that tests did not exist for a virus that did not exist! Oh, and at the front end praise for China/Xi ...but when reality struck, the blame game ...came to the fore.

As for New York...rainy day, no, New York sent ventilators to other states that were in need. When national leadership is lacking then push it to the states to vend for themselves...

 

[KCfromNC]

His results are considerably worse than other comparable countries. Is there some particular reason why you keep rewarding him for failure?

Participation trophies all around!

 

[KCfromNC]

If Trump walked on water, I'd be reading "Yes, but the soles of his shoes got wet."

Another case where the first defense of Donald's actions is to make up something which never happened. I'm starting to see a pattern.

 

[KCfromNC]

People partied during the pandemic got sick and spread the virus to people who died. A pastor disobeyed a state government church shutdown, got the virus and died.

Was that before or after Donald told his supporters to liberate various states?

 

[MIDutch]

New Zealand went 102 days without an infection, then a partial lockdown to contain a few cases. US leaders are not smart enough to copy their model for success.

“New Zealand’s total case count (1569) and deaths (22) have remained low, and its Covid-related mortality (4 per 1 million) is the lowest among the 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.“ August 20, 2020
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2025203

Yeah, but New Zealand has "that woman" as their Prime Minister.

Okay, okay, I know she's not "that woman from Michigan" but she's a woman so she has to be nasty and incompetent, right?

 

[Sanoy]

He is saying that he downplayed the threat and up played the response in terms of action. Which is what leaders do when they need to take care of something that may cause a panic, they down play the threat, to prevent the panic, and up-play the action to deal with the issue.

 

[lasthero]

He is saying that he downplayed the threat and up played the response in terms of action. Which is what leaders do when they need to take care of something that may cause a panic, they down play the threat, to prevent the panic, and up-play the action to deal with the issue.

That is not what leaders do. Leaders stress calm and control, but they don't hold back the truth of the dangers their people are facing. When a hurricane is coming, the weatherman tells you what's going to happen and what you can do to protect yourself and stay - but he doesn't downplay the hurricane, he doesn't tell you it's just going to be some little storm that you shouldn't be worried about, because he wants you to be informed, and he knows that the more you know, the safer you'll be.

And I find this idea that he downplayed to prevent a panic to be more than a little silly. Leaders in countries all over the world didn't downplay the virus like he did, they didn't tell their people that this wasn't any worse than the common flu. Did their people just erupt into a panic the moment they heard the news? Are we Americans so panicky and weak minded that we have to have the truth watered down and spoon fed to us?

You can't downplay the threat and 'up-play' the action when it comes to a virus, because a big part of dealing with a virus like this is making sure people know what's going on. Information is key, and the less people are informed, the less effective any action you take will be.

 

[dqhall]

He is saying that he downplayed the threat and up played the response in terms of action. Which is what leaders do when they need to take care of something that may cause a panic, they down play the threat, to prevent the panic, and up-play the action to deal with the issue.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Actions speak louder than words.” Talking up, down or sideways might not amount to a pile of beans.

This afternoon the CDC director said we might not have a vaccine until spring or summer of next year and we should wear face masks.

 

[Pommer]

Given his other performances walking on difficult surfaces, I doubt he has the coordination to walk on water. That's not uncommon in his age group as falls due to walking on solid water surfaces are quite common.

Maybe he’ll drive a golf cart on water?

 

[childeye 2]

We expressed concern at Donald's handling of the pandemic in a thread earlier in the week .... "I wanted to always play it down," Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus days earlier. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

trump-intentionally-downplayed-covid-19-dangers-to-the-american-people

Don't worry though, he actually over played the threat, or did he? I'm confused.


Linky

At Tuesday's town hall meeting held by ABC News in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr Trump was asked why he would "downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities".

Mr Trump responded: "Yeah, well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action."

"My action was very strong," he said, citing a ban imposed on people travelling from China and Europe earlier this year.

"We would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on. We saved a lot of lives when we did that," Mr Trump said.

This is why you should not lie. Any reasoning based on falsehood ends in a contradiction.

 

[lasthero]

He is saying that he downplayed the threat and up played the response in terms of action. Which is what leaders do when they need to take care of something that may cause a panic, they down play the threat, to prevent the panic, and up-play the action to deal with the issue.

One more thing before I'm off for the day - Trump and a lot of his supporters like to compare him and downplaying the virus to Winston Churchill. I challenge anyone who does that to actually LISTEN to Churchill's famous speech - he was brutally honest about the troubles that they were going to face, that this could very well be the country's darkest hour, that they might even have to stand along for years. He didn't sugarcoat anything, but he had faith in his people and assured them that, together, they could pull through.

That is how a leader leads.

 

[childeye 2]

He has a point there, even if you'd rather not recognize it.

He was accused of downplaying the threat, and he admitted that he'd downplayed it when speaking about it, so as not to cause panic. But he is right that, at the same time as he was trying to reassure the country, he was actually taking stronger steps to DO SOMETHING to combat the spread of the virus than he gets credit for.

Yes, his explanation is in accord with the history of the matter.

He changed the intended sentiment of the word "downplay" in the question to avoid answering it directly.

The term "downplay" means to make it seem less serious than it actually is. To keep the same meaning as proposed in the question, up play would mean to make it out to be more serious than it is.

 

[childeye 2]

If Trump walked on water, I'd be reading "Yes, but the soles of his shoes got wet."

He didn't walk on water, he spoke B.S...

 

[childeye 2]

He is saying that he downplayed the threat and up played the response in terms of action. Which is what leaders do when they need to take care of something that may cause a panic, they down play the threat, to prevent the panic, and up-play the action to deal with the issue.

When people ask questions, they don't like the person being questioned to change the terms to avoid answering what was intended.

 

[Halbhh]

He has a point there, even if you'd rather not recognize it.

He was accused of downplaying the threat, and he admitted that he'd downplayed it when speaking about it, so as not to cause panic. But he is right that, at the same time as he was trying to reassure the country, he was actually taking stronger steps to DO SOMETHING to combat the spread of the virus than he gets credit for.

Yes, his explanation is in accord with the history of the matter.

People here on CF asked (rhetorically or not) a couple of months back what Trump could have done different.

Having actually paid careful attention for months, I had a definite and meaningful answer to that question.

In late May and and into JUNE, Trump should have begun to wear a mask in public as an example -- as specifically recommended by administration health experts: Dr. Birx May 24th -- instead of what Trump did.

Instead, Trump went out, had rallies, and was repeatedly seen not wearing one in public at that time during walking around(!)
(a speaker at a microphone can remove a mask if they have distancing, but they should put it back on when they finish speaking, whenever walking around in public near other people)

Lead by example -- it happens, whether we like it or not: the president influences behavior!

Back in late May, and through June, when many young adults were making a choice of whether or not to wear a mask.

Young adults then proceeded in June to often gather without masks, following Trump's example.

Trump waited until mid-July -- after infections began to rise sharply!!!

And here we are at around 200,000 deaths.

 

[Jamsie]

This is why you should not lie. Any reasoning based on falsehood ends in a contradiction.

Reminds me of, I believe it was Richard Weaver?, who said "If the disposition is wrong, reason increases malfeasance".

 

[childeye 2]

Reminds me of, I believe it was Richard Weaver?, who said "If the disposition is wrong, reason increases malfeasance".

I can see that. It's definitely the same principle at work. The difference is that any predisposition towards malfeasance isn't actually reasonable to begin with. It's more of a blindness. I figure that when we think and speak from a predisposition that does not see others and treat others as ourselves, our words and actions end up disagreeing with our own selves. That is what I believe scripture indicates when saying that those who are deceived, are against their own selves.

 

[Sanoy]

When people ask questions, they don't like the person being questioned to change the terms to avoid answering what was intended.

What?

 

[Sanoy]

One more thing before I'm off for the day - Trump and a lot of his supporters like to compare him and downplaying the virus to Winston Churchill. I challenge anyone who does that to actually LISTEN to Churchill's famous speech - he was brutally honest about the troubles that they were going to face, that this could very well be the country's darkest hour, that they might even have to stand along for years. He didn't sugarcoat anything, but he had faith in his people and assured them that, together, they could pull through.

That is how a leader leads.

I'm just explaining it. I would wait till someone actually compares him to Winston Churchill before you unleash that golden nugget.