Sorry for starting a new thread. The other threads seem to be focused on news updates and providing information, and I did not want to hijack those threads.
I cannot recall a single situation in my lifetime where the federal government so badly fucked up anything in my entire life. I’m on record here saying this coronavirus was not a big deal, but that was with the assumption that the federal government would do what it has normally done during the Trump administration — ignore his Twitter bullshit and actually run a moderately effective yet unconventional government (even if you disagreed with the policy). That hasn’t happened.
We have known about the outbreak for several months now. The Trump administration did absolutely nothing except institute a travel ban from China. They did not get testing ramped up, they did not remove red tape to allow the private sector to develop vaccines, they did not coordinate with state and local governments. A complete fuck-up on so many levels.
When the virus did get here, Trump flat out lied about damn near every important detail. It’s clear at this point that he intentionally wanted low testing so that numbers stayed low. Then he said “if you need a test, you can get a test” — a total lie. A complete abomination.
Trump also has put political people in charge instead of experts. It’s one thing to put “outsiders” in certain agencies to shake things up. But good heavens, in public health? There is nobody running the show that’s competent. Every branch of government you’d want to handle this is completely understaffed and does not have qualified leaders in place.
As things got worse, it was blatantly clear Trump was worried about the economy, not this disease. He bitched about the Fed rate, talked incessantly about stimulus, etc. Hey bud, WHAT ABOUT TESTING??? It’s patently clear he did not care about testing, and was far more concerned with the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
When Trump had an opportunity to calm the nation, he made it worse. He announced a travel ban from Europe without (a) advising DHS or (b) coordinating with Europe. He did not give any information about testing. He did not give any recommendations about precautions people and local governments should take. It was a tour de force of incompetence.
The unfortunate result of all this is mass hysteria, and a complete loss of faith in the federal government. Perhaps I’m wrong, but the reason everything is being canceled is because normal people and local governments don’t have any assurance from the feds, so they need to exercise tremendous caution. I applaud my governor, Mike DeWine, for taking such measures.
The “Trump” economy — his best case for reelection — has crashed. When Trump was finally confronted with a crisis not of his own making, he absolutely failed. This is why I did not vote for him in 2016 — I did not think he could pull his head from his ass when the nation really needed it.
Barring Biden’s competence issues taking a dramatic turn for the worse, or him performing awful in the debates, Trump is done.
