18 ms·

I think you're dramatically underestimating the role of the Trump administration in diminishing the seriousness of the pandemic.

by greedo 6y ago

robomartin 6y ago
How so? I have repeatedly said his public manner and communications skills were atrocious and likely responsible for a good deal of deaths.
- greedo 6y ago
  "I think the greater point is that we all watched nearly all of US government and all of US media take the opposite side to the Trump administration on this purely on a political basis." The Trump administration IS the US government; he staffed the CDC, he controlled the messaging, he denied repeatedly that COVID was serious. It's not his public manner or communication skills that did the damage, it's his outright lying and deception that he and his administration did on a daily basis. Just because he was right about imposing a travel ban doesn't make up for the complete failure of his administration.
  - robomartin 6y ago
    "nearly" I was trying to be kind and not say all of the Democratic party and all of the left media. Which is the truth. How could it be a failure if millions of people per day are being vaccinated today because of what his administration did while the entire Democratic party and news media were focusing on trying to destroy the man, his family and his business. C'mon. Biden is trying to take credit for this. He didn't do shit. Manufacturing and distributing a complex at this scale isn't something you turn on in a week or two months. It takes a VERY long time. Having done it in almost exactly a year is an absolutely incredible accomplishment and the only one who can take credit for it is Trump. We can be critical of what he did wrong --and there's a long list-- but we also have to be honest and truthful about everything else.
    - greedo 6y ago
      But your first part of the paragraph (that "nearly" applied to) was the US government. Yet you seem to think the fault lies with the media and the Democratic Party. Who had control of the Senate in 2020? Who was in the WH in 2020? Who ran the CDC, and the COVID efforts? All GOP, all Trump appointees. He gets no pass because the pharma companies had been looking at mRNA vaccines for quite a while. We are very fortunate.
      - robomartin 6y ago
        I wish you would take the time to read what I actually write. You are distorting my message. Aside from that, I always say that nothing in life is reduced to a single variable. People like to reduce causality to a single variable because it's convenient and far simpler to think about. Life is a complex multivariate problem and what we are talking about isn't an exception. Everyone in our government performed poorly during this crisis. Democrats chose to wage war during a pandemic rather than get things done. The media helped them. Trump was an absolute idiot in public and truly inspired projectile vomiting almost every time he spoke. Prior administrations --going back decades-- compromised our ability to respond to such emergencies through a range of actions, again, dating back decades. And, of course, there's the American people, who seem to love to stop thinking critically, take sides, refuse to recognize when the common good is more important than our own little selfish impulses, etc. I could not possibly list the variables that went into getting us to where we are today. Nobody could. It would, however, be nice if we could stop the nonsense for long enough for an honest root cause analysis and attempt to take action to not ever do this again. Here's something that's very clear to me: If we continue to behave this way we are ensuring China's supremacy in the world order for one hundred to two hundred years. And they know it. More power to them, they are kicking our ass and executing flawlessly. I don't agree with their politics, but you have to be in awe of what they've been able to accomplish in about fifty years. That takes focus, unity and dedication we do not have and will likely never regain until everyone is wondering why a bag of rice is $100 and we have 25% unemployment.
        greedo 6y ago

I think you're dramatically underestimating the role of the Trump administration in diminishing the seriousness of the pandemic.

by greedo 6y ago

I think you're dramatically underestimating the role of the Trump administration in diminishing the seriousness of the pandemic.

robomartin 6y ago

How so? I have repeatedly said his public manner and communications skills were atrocious and likely responsible for a good deal of deaths.

greedo 6y ago
"I think the greater point is that we all watched nearly all of US government and all of US media take the opposite side to the Trump administration on this purely on a political basis." The Trump administration IS the US government; he staffed the CDC, he controlled the messaging, he denied repeatedly that COVID was serious. It's not his public manner or communication skills that did the damage, it's his outright lying and deception that he and his administration did on a daily basis. Just because he was right about imposing a travel ban doesn't make up for the complete failure of his administration.
- robomartin 6y ago
  "nearly" I was trying to be kind and not say all of the Democratic party and all of the left media. Which is the truth. How could it be a failure if millions of people per day are being vaccinated today because of what his administration did while the entire Democratic party and news media were focusing on trying to destroy the man, his family and his business. C'mon. Biden is trying to take credit for this. He didn't do shit. Manufacturing and distributing a complex at this scale isn't something you turn on in a week or two months. It takes a VERY long time. Having done it in almost exactly a year is an absolutely incredible accomplishment and the only one who can take credit for it is Trump. We can be critical of what he did wrong --and there's a long list-- but we also have to be honest and truthful about everything else.
  - greedo 6y ago
    But your first part of the paragraph (that "nearly" applied to) was the US government. Yet you seem to think the fault lies with the media and the Democratic Party. Who had control of the Senate in 2020? Who was in the WH in 2020? Who ran the CDC, and the COVID efforts? All GOP, all Trump appointees. He gets no pass because the pharma companies had been looking at mRNA vaccines for quite a while. We are very fortunate.
    - robomartin 6y ago
      I wish you would take the time to read what I actually write. You are distorting my message. Aside from that, I always say that nothing in life is reduced to a single variable. People like to reduce causality to a single variable because it's convenient and far simpler to think about. Life is a complex multivariate problem and what we are talking about isn't an exception. Everyone in our government performed poorly during this crisis. Democrats chose to wage war during a pandemic rather than get things done. The media helped them. Trump was an absolute idiot in public and truly inspired projectile vomiting almost every time he spoke. Prior administrations --going back decades-- compromised our ability to respond to such emergencies through a range of actions, again, dating back decades. And, of course, there's the American people, who seem to love to stop thinking critically, take sides, refuse to recognize when the common good is more important than our own little selfish impulses, etc. I could not possibly list the variables that went into getting us to where we are today. Nobody could. It would, however, be nice if we could stop the nonsense for long enough for an honest root cause analysis and attempt to take action to not ever do this again. Here's something that's very clear to me: If we continue to behave this way we are ensuring China's supremacy in the world order for one hundred to two hundred years. And they know it. More power to them, they are kicking our ass and executing flawlessly. I don't agree with their politics, but you have to be in awe of what they've been able to accomplish in about fifty years. That takes focus, unity and dedication we do not have and will likely never regain until everyone is wondering why a bag of rice is $100 and we have 25% unemployment.
      - greedo 6y ago