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

So Fauci appears to have been replaced by Bill Barr and from what I can gather this whole thing is really no big deal

I feel a little embarrassed now

this is a weird trump in his presser. He's still a complete dumbass, king of the dumbasses.

"that computer"--needs visuals.

Not watching but has he doubled down on the “kill millions to boost the stock market number” idea yet

Yes

Fauci: won't see Paulie no more.

Trump, when asked if Fauci agrees with reopening the country: "He doesn't not agree."

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 23, 2020

he's doing this weird being overly helpful and stating the obvious schtick.

This analysis of press conferences--what they mean, why they're held--is very informative.

and his usual overtalking to not answer the question.

He's really stepping into it right now.

Stepping in it, I mean.

he sounds like someone scolded his ass this weekend.

The cruise industry needs to die die die.

He also sounds--no surprise--he's already made up his mind: U.S.A. reopens when this 15-day period ends.

I take it governors can't overrule him. (Not American, as most of you know.)

What happens when state/regional orders to stay at home conflict with federal guidance?

He's just trying to manipulate the market for one last squeeze...

I predict no state governor except for those of the reddist of red states will follow suit.

if he demands everyone stop social distancing and we keep it up is this how we get a General Strike in the US?

"flu kills more people than 9/11" - a thing that was never said, andyet...

face masks and yellow vests

Trump can't demand shit lol....unless he extorts every state Governor, and then he's gone full President Stillson

that face he made when someone asked if Melania had been tested...

What happens when state/regional orders to stay at home conflict with federal guidance?

Trump doesn't have the authority to override states who have decided to order citizens to stay at home.

But he could encourage people to ignore state/local orders or create pressure on states to change them.

Our reaction to this pandemic should be based on data, not his whims. https://t.co/4NpaAne3OF

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) March 23, 2020

The governor here just closed schools until at least May 15 and all non essential businesses including restaurant dining rooms and bars until at least May 1. I don’t imagine the federal government has any authority to countermand that

"But I'm not interested in myself"--punctuating having just cited poll numbers.

polls to add "do you not not like Trump" as choosable option

how much do you wanna bet Trump actually claims the infected numbers are "off" soon

"i don't trust the test"....

I know why Yerac watches, why are the rest of you watching, do you hate yourselves that much

“Unskew the death tolls”

xp same reason I went up on my roof 19 years ago Septemeber

(we also only have one controller for the ps4).

lol

“Unskew the death tolls”

― Karl Malone, Monday, March 23, 2020

UNFURL THE FLAG

https://66.media.tumblr.com/b0540683b09b9df21fea19e8935927a0/tumblr_n3yo0gsyoA1rd76vjo1_500.gif

why are the rest of you watching, do you hate yourselves that much

Honestly: the compulsion to come onto this thread and ridicule people for watching is as bizarre to me as watching is to you.

agreed, also I don't hate myself

Honestly: the compulsion to come onto this thread and ridicule people for watching is as bizarre to me as watching is to you.

― clemenza, Monday, March 23, 2020 5:36 PM (thirteen minutes ago)

takes all kinds! I won't even watch politicians I like.

If Robespierre rose from the grave to give a eulogy at my grandmother's shiva I'd've left the room

I won't even watch politicians I like.

seeing Katie Porter in action is far more satisfying than reading summaries of her interrogatory performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muRXMOW_wVI

Well the Texas Lt. Gov. got the message: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/texas-lt-gov-says-we-cant-sacrifice-the-country-to-combat-coronavirus-older-people-like-me-will-take-care-of-ourselves/

“No one reached out to me and said as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren. And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”

The "America that all America loves" obviously is one where you can sit your ass down at Shoney's and eat off the buffet like God intended.

Ponderosa iirc

hey look if Dan Patrick would literally rather die than pay taxes I guess that’s on him. but something tells me them at he and alllll his friends will be (mostly) just fine if they catch it.

Between that and the chloroquine poisoning it's like we've reached the Jonestown phase of Trumpism.

Dan Patrick, receiving a briefing

https://media.giphy.com/media/LGuu9NopqzwHK/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/BPDKh56KtTNRe/giphy.gif

so can we change the thread title to, um, something more this minute?

Statistically it will probably stay true at least through the end of the month. We only have about a week to go.

Dan Patrick is one of Trump's biggest bootlickers on a state government level, so his comments are vmic.

Also vmic, me wishing him all the luck in the world for getting it, spreading to certain others in his orbit, and them all going to hell after an acceptable amount of suffering.

I've been trying to figure out the right-wing reaction to all of this -- I live surrounded by it -- and I think there has been this quasi-mystical thing about Trump and the stock market, the endlessly rising DJIA as a neverending triumph over doubters and enemies. Trump has thought and acted that way all along, but I think a lot of people really bought into it. Never mind that it was just the continuation of an existing trend line, it became the answer to everything. Don't like his tweets? Well, how do you like your IRA? And of course reasonable know the stock market isn't really the economy, but there was also the record low unemployment rate -- "lowest ever for African-Americans," they would solemnly intone, like people who had ever spent much time thinking about African-American unemployment or saying the words "African-American." Right, low wages, stagnation, blah blah blah, but those graphs looked great. They became like holy relics, signs that they were right and magical and everyone else was wrong and bad.

And now this stupid virus shows up and just wrecks it all in a month, like none of it mattered or was real to start with. You don't have to go all the way to "cult leader" to characterize Trump's relationship to his devotees as something beyond normal political partisanship. As long as the stock market went up, he was winning, and as long as he was winning, they were winning. Suddenly it all seems vulnerable. I think they're freaked out on more than an economic level.