43 Comments

I figured that by late March he was letting this virus spread intentionally, but it still felt like a gut punch to have my suspicions proven correctly.

All those people who cried on election night 2016 knew deep down we'd face frightening situations like this when they were preventable...

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Was anybody else struck by how measured Trump was in these private tapes where he admitted the dangers of COVID?

He acts completely different in press conferences, and I'm thinking that's all been intentional too.

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What can one say at this point. Trump is all the horrible things people say he is. All the negative attributes, all the negative behaviors, all the criminal and sociopathic activities - he is all of those. If there were something that was the polar opposite of hyperbole, it would describe all things people say about Donald Trump. In fact, critics likely temper their words because they come across as hyperbolic.

Bottom line is that I'm sure it's difficult for average people to believe that Trump literally does not care if someone else lives or dies. He notices that they are dead for a few seconds, but then he shrugs and moves on to the next self-absorbed thing he's thinking about.

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Woodward chose to let this devastation increase for the sake of book sales.

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Part of me hoped to wake to headlines calling for resignation. The call would be legitimately based on the single reporting and disclosure in his own voice of negligent homicide, or the overwhelming body of evidence at this point with the Woodward tapes being the "last straw."

And now another whistleblower steps forward again confirming the Russia allegiance.

Your assessments of the Beltway press are always dead on. But at this point it appears the press across the country has fallen into the same stupor.

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Not having the expertise or even the desire to plunge into the sludge that is Trump's brain; he down played it to give the appearance of strength? Really?

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I'd really like to believe that these revelations will give pause to some of his supporters.

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Eric:

Same subject, two vastly differing headlines:

THE HILL: Majority of voters don't see either Trump, Biden as mentally fit to be president: poll

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/515818-majority-of-voters-dont-see-either-trump-biden-as-mentally-fit-to-be

NEWSWEEK: Fox News Poll Shows Americans Saying Biden Is More Mentally Sound Than Trump to Serve as President

https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-poll-shows-americans-saying-biden-more-mentally-sound-trump-serve-president-1531576

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The line of not inciting a panic is so thin, yet repeated all over the airwaves. It’s a defense that isn’t without logic, until you realize the scale of what was coming, and the fact that he’s still holding in person virus super spreader events...I mean rallies...

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Eric, just in case you don't get the NYT daily On Politics newsletter, boy do they have a pro-Trump / anti-Biden-like approach this morning (no surprise):

https://nyti.ms/35wxoaT

Also, in the above they discuss that in Florida, Biden and Trump are splitting Latinx voters 50/50 ... maybe .. but that's the polling they have. I simply do not understand that. After all the trash racial talk he's done the past 3.5 years.

Final note: it's Saturday morning, and why does it feel like Woodward's book is all of a sudden feeling less important than it should be? I hope I'm wrong about that. This administration and this media, unbelievable.

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Two quick points: You can’t criticize Trump’s response or reaction to the pandemic crises without criticizing his enabling party that has been equally bad in its own way.

The establishment press, by being establishment, per se frequently veers into misinformation. An extreme example of that is the dishonest reporting on the post-2008 recovery. But refusing to call a POTUS who has caused the death of over a hundred thousand Americans what he is — a killer — veers into disinformation. It’s irresponsible, to say the least.

I should add I’m writing this on 9/11 when the nation is honoring the ~4,000 victims of foreign, Saudi Arabia-backed terrorists. Somehow, I can’t see the nation honoring those killed by their own leader; indeed, I wouldn’t bet on either Trump or his party being removed from power.

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I’m so angry I don’t know what to

do with it. The man is a malignant stain and needs to be tried. I can’t believe we are dealing with a president who hates the country.

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The beltway press seems to think that they work for the administration. Perhaps that explains their often complacent reporting. The fear of losing access is greater than letting the public know the truth. This is an unfortunate side effect of news for profit. I doubt very much the Founders could have imagined that the local town newspapers would have morphed into huge industries owned by a handful of billionaires. Had they known, they would have realized that there would be a chance the Fourth Estate would fail in aiding in the checks and balances of power. And on another note, I'm sure the right wing press, specifically Fox News will attempt to spin this latest news cycle. (Remember way back when Trump said the military dead are losers?) Tucker Carlson has already thrown Lindsey Graham under the bus sighting that it was he who convinced Trump to talk to Woodward. Next they'll point out how Trump didn't want to panic America. Oh like when he said that caravans of migrants were storming our boarders. MS13 will be moving next door to you if Biden wins. The Deep State is rigging the election. The suburbs are going to be destroyed. Right Trump is always concerned about not creating a panic. And the sad truth is that as this shit show gets worse and worse, this guy might just pull off another win. God help us!

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The highlights of Woodward's book, like so many previous 'revelations' about Trump's character, strike us as being things we already knew. The revelations may have been better documented -- Woodward's has tapes -- but we already long knew that Trump claimed to be an important caretaker of Americans' feelings about COVID. He wanted us not to worry, he claimed. He wanted to be our cheerleader and avoid panic. Most of us also knew that Trump did not give a damn about us and our worrying. His motives were selfish.

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