US Politics, March 2020 — There’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.

The Discourse requires that Republicans be judged on their stray vague gestures towards attractive-sounding policies, not their actual votes or actions https://t.co/9HBQexbUJ0

— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) March 18, 2020

lol of course South Florida:

Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart became the first member of Congress to test positive for the novel coronavirus, his office said Wednesday.

Diaz-Balart entered self-quarantine on Friday, March 13 and stayed in Washington because his wife Tia has a pre-existing medical condition. On Saturday evening, Diaz-Balart devleoped symptoms, including a fever and headache, according to his office.

On Wednesday afternoon, he tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus.

Yeah, I don't remember getting that particular Trump email.

Keeping Iran under a crushing blockade right now is easily one of the most psychotic acts of US foreign policy in our lifetimes, which is an incredibly high bar to clear https://t.co/DsCxNU2Su6

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) March 18, 2020

I honestly just came here to post just about the same thing. This is a war crime. This is biological warfare with the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.

(3,5 million seems to be about 4,5% of people in Iran, which seems high, but that does not make it any less psychotic)

4.5% is unacceptably high.

3.4%, though, is acceptable to Ron Johnson, who was one of the people who voted against the relief bill this afternoon:

“… getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population (and) I think probably far less.”

Ron Johnson is a verifiable raging psychopath

= "except for maybe no more than 11 million Americans"

Fucking nuts

So, uh did anyone ELSE explain their no vote, other than Johnson?

very Buck Turgidson of him

Trump's going to speak and pass on something pertaining to the FDA.

How CNN handled this, without specifically saying so: they're worried (probably even terrified) he'll go out there and say the FDA has a promising treatment, everything's fine, everybody, we've been doing a great job and we've won.

There's no percentage in trying to predict exactly how Trump is going to fuck something up, but nobody ever went broke defaulting to a general 'Trump will fuck this up.'

Incredible. First sentence: "Me, media, Chinese virus."

I don't think that qualifies as a sentence.

"If only we'd known about it."

Hardest workers:

1. Trump
2. Mike Pence
3. everyone else

Incredible. First sentence: "Me, media, Chinese virus."

jesus, seriously?

Seriously.

Now that he's onto the medical news, perhaps he should hand the mic to someone else.

this guy is a fucking disaster on wheels

He sounds bored.

where can you find verbatim transcripts from these briefings? obviously the white house isn't releasing them.

every single one of these press conferences is going to directly lead to more death and suffering

"i think it's gonna be very exciting, i think it's gonna be a game changer... and maybe not"

it is a very exciting time for medicine

"It's a very exciting time for medicine."

"Based on what I see, I think it could be a game-changer."

He threw out a bit of caution, but my guess is, he thinks these treatments signal the beginning of the end. And that's why he's monopolizing the mic--as opposed to the last few days, where he looked shaken and was very quick to cede the floor.

i haven't listened to him live in over a year and my updated opinion is that my 97 year old grandfather is more coherent than this asshole

rambling grandiose moronic hyperbole in the absolute worst moment

there is a great spirit among the people, many people are saying

we haven't seen anything like this before. but it is a war. not a financial war. but a, um. a medical war. it is very exciting

Someone tell me something positive about Stephen Hahn? I (foolishly) don't know a thing about him.

he is the greatest, he is cancer doctor
many people are saying we've never seen anything like this before, no one has had to deal with this before

we put the travel ban on china early on, saving much time

At the absolute very least, I desperately need someone to cauterize this motherfucker's mouth shut. I've never seen a literal piece of shit that felt the need to so consistently draw attention to its essential shittiness in every conceivable way. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, die.

early on, we did the travel ban on china, saving many beautiful lives. everyone tells me how it was the best move in a situation they had never seen before

The fact that Hahn began with dear-leader genuflection says a lot.

If only China had told us about the virus they planned on giving us, the foreign virus, the Chinese virus, we could have saved many more lives. MANY more lives. Many, many, many more...look, it's a foreign virus. And we've basically eradicated it. But maybe not. Maybe not. The economy is going to bounce back soon. Nobody's seen anything like this in history, but it's going to bounce back soon.

it says to me that it's still business as usual at the White House but what I'm curious about is if Hahn's bona fides are generally taken as legit.

xpost (NB, not a direct quote, but I'm working with the same set of magnetic poetry as the president, perhaps a little more intentionally arranged.)

Dear leader genuflection is their love language

but of course, it's not about the economy. this is a war. a... medical war.

he took the test and he didn't like it, very nasty. media made him take test

I've heard him describe the test as "very nasty" several times now and have no idea what he's talking about. A swab? That's nasty?

the guy who has been standing in the background for 2 weeks finally delivered his book report on giving blood

I don't think I've seen Fauci be so openly obsequious yet. (Any of these briefings without him there seem like they could go off the rails at any moment.) He has to walk a bit of a line, but he hasn't crossed it, not that I've seen, anyway.

Fauci is at least semi obsequious about every 5 public pronouncements, but afaict he's never exaggerated or misstated anything for the benefit of the Asshole in Chief.

very cool that for three consecutive days the President of the United States has whined about how much he didn't like getting the test that will save hundreds of thousands of lives

When grade 8 students were lined up for vaccinations, I used to love joking around when I passed them in the hall: "Is this the one they put right into your forehead?" Don't worry, I didn't traumatize anyone--they had a highly developed sense of irony.

This is basically what Trump has been doing in earnest.

engagement with private sector!
regulatory reform!
liability reform!

Maybe they finished his physical-in-progress while they were seeing him, and they told him his prostate exam was the covid test.

anytime he has his mouth examined it's definitely proctology

not endorsing this, but I watch it live here every day. https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/