The reaction from people and markets to the bumbling remarks by incompetent dolt Donald "Only I Can Fix It" Trump last night indicate that, far from reassuring anyone that he had a handle on the coronovirus crisis and related market flop, he managed to make the situation worse.
The centerpiece of his non- plan is a ban on travel from the European Union (!), well after the virus has established itself here. This blunder was not only announced without consulting with our European allies, of course, but Trump made a point of scapegoating the EU for the spread of the virus (a script that doubtless met with the approval of Trump handler Vladimir Putin). Compounding the idiocy, Trump had to subsequently correct himself that the ban affected travel by persons, not cargo. (Of course, the travel ban exempts nations that have Trump- owned golf resorts... how convenient and completely predictable.)
That wasn't the only sloppy part. He claimed that insurance companies would pay for coronavirus treatment. Nope. They're only waiving co- pays for testing (big of them).
The lack of any leadership on providing honest information, testing status, or mitigation also were signs that Trump had no clue about what to do in this emergency. The remarks only signaled that his concern was for the markets and how they would impact his re- election chances. But on that front, he bombed as well:
“President Trump’s address to the nation was symptomatic of the lack of policy coordination in the face of a global coronavirus pandemic,” Oxford Economics’ Gregory Daco said. “Markets reacted negatively to what was perceived as a solemn but confused speech that placed blame on other nations, omitted to focus on immediate actions to relieve the most affected individuals, and lacked in concrete fiscal and health measures to address the economic and financial impact of the virus.”We entered bear market territory yesterday; following Trump's remarks, his precious stock market is heading further south today. Essentially every penny the market gained during the Trump regime is now gone. Winning!
Some selected reactions tell the tale:
Political pundits can argue all they want about whatever, but this chart says it all right now. pic.twitter.com/wBqxuV3Gv4— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 12, 2020
I’ve got to say, that Oval Office address was a disaster. Trump scapegoated our allies,took no responsibility for US testing screw ups, added BS abt cases & economy. A European travel ban after it’s already here??
How was anything he said reassuring to Americans?🤦🏽♀️#coronavirus https://t.co/OXHXqGzW0s— Tara Setmayer (@TaraSetmayer) March 12, 2020
Every elected @GOP official owns this moment. They elected him. They coddled him. They cowered before him. They refused to have witnesses at his trial. Given the opportunity to stand up, they sat down. How much must he break before they will put our country first?— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) March 12, 2020
This country is so in denial about who is in charge and the consequences of incompetence we are facing right now. https://t.co/qwEelmcdGZ— Tera Hunter (@TeraWHunter) March 12, 2020
no one could have predicted that the scamming scammer who ran a scam university and a scam charity and a scam airline and a scam magazine and sold scam mortgages and scam steaks and scam vodka and even scam fucking water would now be trying to run a scam pandemic response— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) March 11, 2020
The apocalypse is nigh:
Politico reports that Trump's coronavirus task force has discussed an emergency declaration, but will not give Trump its final verdict on one until Jared Kushner "finishes his research and comes to a conclusion himself."https://t.co/SHicc74HAO— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 11, 2020
Here's what happened after the speech was over, when Trump was told the cameras were off:
"Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy." pic.twitter.com/ySaGrpkQdV— David Gura (@davidgura) March 12, 2020
2 comments:
I couldn't watch the entire speech because that singsong cadence he uses when he reads drives me crazy. So I've seen clips today. Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner wrote it and Trump tried to read it as if he knew what he was saying, but he clearly didn't know what he was saying. The fact that he had to go back and reverse some parts shows that he hadn't studied what he was going to read.
The European travel ban was what he muffed the most. It's been a longstanding point of interest that he wants to disengage from the EU and this seems like a step in that direction. He's a nationalist, so creating travel bans to Mexico and Europe are part of that isolationist plot. He's amended that part, so who knows what he plans to do next.The damned virus is already here, ffs, so banning travel seems like a move too late anyway.
My mom's not the political junkie that I am, so she was saying that this is a lot of hype and isn't it just another flu, so I gave her a stern talking-to last night. She has a checkered health history, she's 84, she socializes in different groups and she is alone, so I made her promise to be cautious, wash her hands frequently, and stay home more. I hope she listens.
donnah -- hope your mom listens to you too!
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