US Politics, February 2020. They want to kill your cows.

When all else fails, stare blankly until the day is over

I have the perfect opening to a film:

-Sixty seconds of that press conference (really, any sixty seconds will do) with kind of this unnerving tone rising in the background
-Screen goes black, then 'ONE YEAR LATER' in stark white text
-Smash cut, slow pan across abandoned, trash-strewn streets, stopping on a skeleton in a state of repose

Should work equally well for any post-apocalyptic thriller you have in mind, really.

If you set it in Ocala, FL, you could start shooting today

harbl... your governor has some competition

gotta come up with a snappy nickname tying Cornovirus to the Trump admin, the way the right did when they blamed every single instance of Ebola on Obama, e.g., "Obola"

covfefe-19

so, he put pence in charge.

shows what i know. i assumed that whoever led the effort (up until now, Azar?) would be getting fired eventually, taking the fall for incompetence, past and future. so when there were murmurs that trump was choosing a czar, i figured it would be the kiss of death for whoever was chosen. but pence? ooooooook

it bears mention that pence is...not a public health expert

As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history.

He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health.
https://t.co/1jVY44p2HF

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 27, 2020

want to hear some dumb galaxy brain shit? what if the thinking is that either A) the lethality of coronavirus is at least somewhat mitigated in the US and Pence is a national hero who many are saying would have a terrifying giant statue in many countries, or B) he will fail and the evil left will rise to burn him and cancel him and hate him, but then trump will stand by his silent man pence through all the very unfair insults, and the evangelical vote will be secure once and for all

what if there’s no thinking

i think that's gotta be it. he just doesn't get that there is a serious risk of failure here

so we are literally gonna be told to pray the coronavirus away

I rate there's a high chance that prayer will be invoked, approved and explicitly encouraged by Vice President Pence. It's efficacy will be implied, but only where the supplicant's faith is sufficiently strong and directed toward the correct deity.

I heard that kids are for some reason less susceptible to this, maybe silver lining is it knocks out some of these dummy 45+ voters

present company and myself excluded

but let's hope CORONAVIRUS only kills the bad olds and not Bernie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, there's only fifteen (+/- 40?) people with this thing in the US. It's getting smaller, not bigger. Just wash your hands, avoid touching handrails, bada bing bada boom, crisis averted. Not even a crisis, don't even say the word crisis, it's the opposite of a crisis. A smile-sis, perhaps. Hope for the best, the stock market will be fine! Probably! Or whatever!

Xpost just stfu ya mook

what if Pence got the virus

mother would not be pleased

If Pence got the virus he would pray humbly for a full recovery, and God would mercifully provide him with the finest possible medical treatment available at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Given transmission in the non-symptomatic infected, decent chance COVID19 will become the fifth endemic human coronavirus, with 40-70% eventually exposed before acquired and herd immunity sets in.

Politicians are at rather high risk due to travel and campaign events. The Chinese experience is 15% mortality in those over 80, 8% in those 70-79. Perhaps more important, given the many weeks' long recovery, infected candidates could be forced to drop out. Maybe some crazy infection driven lottery out there this season.

If Pence really fucks up, and the underfunded CDC are overwhelmed, the US epidemic could resemble the current Iranian one. Conservatives downplayed the outbreak, claiming liberal party alarmists were trying to suppress turnout in the 21 Feb legislative elections (cue Limbaugh saying similar things). Now the health minister and at least one PM are sick. News and reported medical statistics are especially sketchy from Iran (perhaps Indonesia as well).

(Ok this is the pettiest bs ever but Walter Reed hasn't been an Army hospital for some time; it moved to (and merged with) Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Rushbo is on the case, I hope his last

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/02/24/overhyped-coronavirus-weaponized-against-trump/

may he live long enough to be immunocompromised to a permanent end by coronovirus

Surely we can find at least one person afflicted with coronavirus who will be willing to spit into Rush Limbaugh's mouth so we can at last put to bed the notion that this is any big deal.

good morning!!!

49% job approval? That can't be right.

http://news.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx

lol at the 7% of Democrats approving of Trump.

That's over 3 million people.

Gallup has pretty consistently been on the high-end for trump in recent months

That's from the 2/3 - 2/16 poll. I don't think they've run a new once since

This may be a controversial opinion, I know, but it's my contention that anyone who self-identifies as a democrat and evinces support for Trump's job performance should be immediately muzzled and chained to a radiator. For their own good as much as the good of others.

hmm, that's my particular kink but I can't justify voicing support for Trump to get what I want

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020

"Working Hard And Very Smart"

Heckuva job, Pencey

'starting to look really good' does he have some other stock market he looks at because the one everyone else looks at most assuredly did not look anything remotely close to 'really good' today

it's from three days ago (still idiotic ofc)

here’s a current one, getting down to the serious issues

So, the Coronavirus, which started in China and spread to various countries throughout the world, but very slowly in the U.S. because President Trump closed our border, and ended flights, VERY EARLY, is now being blamed, by the Do Nothing Democrats, to be the fault of “Trump”.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2020

does this guy ever stop whining?

“Trump”

there’s a global pandemic and he’s worried about what democrats saying about him

Snowflake-in-Chief is a full-time job.

Such a fucking bitch ass

Multi-day sleep deprivation - the key to wise governance and general lucidity.

Mulvaney says Trump didn't sleep on flight home from India, then didn't sleep at all during the day before his Coronavirus press conference.

— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) February 28, 2020

did anyone notice a difference though?

lol exactly how can you tell

haha this is the ideal situation for a germophobe to be president in, i hope he never sleeps again

Someone put a Filet o Fish in his mouth.

hard to imagine anyone more susceptible than these Dem candidates right now, several flights a day with all the crowds and handshaking (+ their generally advanced age)

wonder what kind of campaigning we're going to have in three or four months

otoh maybe this will put an end to Trump rallies