The Washington Post - Trump doesn’t actually have magical chaos powers

today

President Trump has absolute confidence in the ability of his magical lying and chaos-spreading powers to remake any reality into a beneficial one for him ...

 

And so, faced with alarming new signs that the coronavirus outbreak is spreading and global markets are cratering, Trump unleashed a new set of outbursts that were audacious even for him.

 

Only minutes after a top health official vowed on Fox News that “nobody” in the administration is “trying to minimize” the impact of coronavirus, Trump himself tweeted that “life & the economy go on” despite the flu, and noted that the numbers on coronavirus are far lower, as though everything is totally under control.

 

Trump also blamed the plummeting markets in part on “Fake News,” when his own erratic handling of coronavirus surely is playing a far more important role. 

 

The president raged that the media and Democrats are unfairly hyping the crisis. 

 

He dismissed the sharp drop in oil prices as “good for the consumer.” 

 

And he bizarrely unleashed a blast at the supposed corruption of ... the “Obama/Biden Administration.” ...

 

As Jonathan Chait puts it for New York magazine, Trump appears “totally oblivious to the danger of hardening his public image as the national-level equivalent of the mayor in ‘Jaws,’ blithely ignoring reports of a gigantic shark because he didn’t want to hurt the tourism season.”

 

The Washington Post -  Trump and Xi both hunt for coronavirus victories

today

The global crisis sparked by the spread of the coronavirus is fraying the already strained ties between the United States and China. 

 

In Washington, a coterie of top Republican officials and right-wing media pundits keep qualifying the epidemic as a “Chinese” or “Wuhan” virus. 

 

Not surprisingly, Beijing officials have reacted angrily to U.S. attempts to “stigmatize” their country.

 

Meanwhile, on the Chinese Internet, conspiracy theories proliferate about the origin of the disease, including some pinning it all on the dastardly Americans. 

 

As my colleague Gerry Shih reported last week, “the sudden surge and overwhelming prevalence of anti-U.S. rhetoric this week has been conspicuous and significant in the context of China, where censors typically scrub speech that strays out of bounds ...”

 

“It’s more than just some disinformation or an official narrative ... It’s an orchestrated, all-out campaign by the Chinese government through every channel at a level you rarely see. It’s a counteroffensive.”

 

Trump now owns a bear market.

Sure, but not the way those powers should be used:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials. link to article

Of course Trump is making it classified. Can't hamper his re-election now, with a few deaths.

freitasm:

 

Of course Trump is making it classified. Can't hamper his re-election now, with a few deaths.

 

His proposal to "coincidentally" defund medicare and social security by eliminating payroll tax as "business relief" shows exactly where his heart is.

Oh priceless.

Trump  (presumably supported by member of his administration who unlike him - can read, write and do maths -but are possibly even more evil) is right now meeting with the usual suspects from Wall St who survived 2008 thanks to government bailouts, to formulate plans for government bailouts.

That will be announced by Trump from the oval office in a couple of hours. Coming from the doofus who spent 8 years from 2008 condemning everything that Obama did - that's priceless.

Many of Trump's "safe states" have age demographics much like Italy - but with an extra kick, they've got far higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, "metabolic disorder" etc. 

Fred99:

 

Oh priceless.

 

Trump  (presumably supported by member of his administration who unlike him - can read, write and do maths -but are possibly even more evil) is right now meeting with the usual suspects from Wall St who survived 2008 thanks to government bailouts, to formulate plans for government bailouts.

 

That will be announced by Trump from the oval office in a couple of hours. Coming from the doofus who spent 8 years from 2008 condemning everything that Obama did - that's priceless.

 

Many of Trump's "safe states" have age demographics much like Italy - but with an extra kick, they've got far higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, "metabolic disorder" etc. 

 

I don't want anyone to think I want people to die from this pandemic, but it would be truly ironic if Trump lost his re-election because a significant fraction of his base literally died because of his policies.

The Washington Post - Trump suspends travel from Europe for 30 days to slow the spread of coronavirus

today, 2:24 p.m.

In an Oval Office address Wednesday night, Trump announced a series of steps aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, including a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States and the deferral of tax payments for affected businesses. ...

 

In addition to the travel ban, Trump announced that he will direct the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to affected businesses and will ask Congress to provide the agency with an additional $50 billion in emergency authority. ...

 

“This is not a financial crisis,” Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.” ...

 

Sideface:

 

The Washington Post - Trump suspends travel from Europe for 30 days to slow the spread of coronavirus

 

today, 2:24 p.m.

 

In an Oval Office address Wednesday night, Trump announced a series of steps aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, including a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the United States and the deferral of tax payments for affected businesses. ...

 

In addition to the travel ban, Trump announced that he will direct the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to affected businesses and will ask Congress to provide the agency with an additional $50 billion in emergency authority. ...

 

“This is not a financial crisis,” Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.” ...

 

 

 

$50 billion handout means 4 more years boys, 4 more years. signed and sealed. brought to you by the novel coronavirus. (and Jared Kushner)

This is going to go horribly wrong when the markets open. It's going to be an absolute bloodbath.