February 29, 2020

The deceptiveness of Politico's claim that Trump called the coronavirus "a hoax."

I watched the Trump rally last night, so I knew as soon as I saw this that it was a serious distortion. Headline: "Trump rallies his base to treat coronavirus as a ‘hoax.'"

Here's how the text quotes him:
"The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They're politicizing it,” he said. “They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. No, they can't. They can't count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax.”

Then Trump called the coronavirus “their new hoax.”
The fact that the quote doesn't continue and  "Then Trump called the coronavirus" is inserted before "their new hoax" should make you suspicious, whether you've heard the original or not. But the purportedly verbatim text above it is not, in fact, verbatim.

Here's the original:



I'll have more to say about all that is left out. But let me give you this for now.

ADDED: Let me do a transcription, restoring the words that Politico elided (without using ellipses to show where they're dropping words and changing the flow of the meaning). The embedded video above has its own cuts, so I found uncut video. Here:



Trump is clearly not calling the virus a hoax. What he's calling a hoax is the political talking point that Trump has been failing to protect the country from the virus!

Now, Politico is pushing a hoax hoax — it's putting out a false story about what Trump called a hoax.

Trump is certainly not "rall[ying] his base to treat coronavirus as a ‘hoax.'" Trump is rallying his base to believe that he's doing an excellent job of handling the problem and to see the criticism of his work as a hoax. He's not saying they should "treat" the virus as a hoax!

AND: Here's my transcription, with boldface for what Politico left out:
"Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say: 'How's President Trump doing?' They're going: 'Oh, nothing, nothing.' They have no clue. They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. They can't even count. No, they can't. They can't count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn't work out too well. They couldn't do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They've been doing it since you got in. It's all turning. They lost. It's all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that's been pretty amazing. There's 15 people in this massive country, and because of the fact that we went early. We went early. We could've had a lot more than that. We're doing great. Our country is doing so great. We are so unified. We are so unified. The Republican Party has never been more unified than it is now." 
PLUS: Trump really is hard to transcribe. And when you see the transcription, you see the strangeness of his speech. It's impressionistic — short phrases with easy words and lots of repetition. I think it's mesmerizing if you're on his side and incredibly annoying if you are not. He jumps from one idea to the next and makes things feel as though they go together — if you're with him. If you are not, it's crazy talk. Word salad. And you may be grossed out by the people who love the salad. I'm writing from a position of cruel neutrality. I like observing how this salad is made, and I understand liking it and resenting people who don't get it, but I also understand the people who are horrified.

Let me tear into that paragraph. I object to the deceptions in the Politico presentation, but I also see that Trump doesn't make it easy for reporters who are trying to tell it straight. I would suspect that Trump is deliberately laying down traps for them so they'll screw up and he can hit them again for being "fake news." But I've listened to him so many times, talking for so long, and I tend to believe he just flows words and this is the form they take. It's working for him, and he keeps it up and gets energized and inflated by his own distinctive stylings.

But forget Politico for now. I know I've got an accurate transcription, so let me move forward and just criticize this text:
Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. 
This is the big thesis. The implication is that the other party is politicizing something that should not be part of politics, but he's criticizing his political rivals, and that's political too. There's an inherent contradiction.
You know that, right? Coronavirus. They're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say: 'How's President Trump doing?' They're going: 'Oh, nothing, nothing.' They have no clue. They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. The can't even count. No, they can't. They can't count their votes. 
The can't-count-Iowa line is something he plugs in whenever he wants to note that the Democrats are incompetent. It's a little hard to follow: How did Iowa get mixed in with coronavirus? But I'm used to his rhetoric. Instead of saying the Democrats are incompetent, he leaps back to this notable instance of incompetence. He's using very simple language, but he still trusts listeners to keep track of what's being talked about. Suddenly, we're in Iowa and when you think he might quickly get back to the coronavirus, he's off to Russia:
One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn't work out too well. They couldn't do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. 
"Russia" stands for the proposition that the Democrats are out to get him: They'll take whatever raw material appears and they'll beat it into an anti-Trump weapon. They tried Russia, and when that didn't work, they tried Ukraine (AKA the impeachment). His next line states the generality:
They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They've been doing it since you got in. It's all turning. They lost. It's all turning. Think of it. Think of it. 
That repeated line, "It's all turning," is the most dreamily impressionistic line in the passage. It's like a line from a psychedelic tune by The Byrds. I sense that it's a view of the swirl of thoughts inside his head, but he's trying, I think, to create a picture of the dizzy disorientation in the mind of Democrats. They're losing everything! Think of it!

As they spin and tumble, they're grasping after anything, everything:
And this is their new hoax.
But all he means is that they're saying he did a bad job — and, of course, they will — when he really did a good job:
But you know, we did something that's been pretty amazing. There's 15 people in this massive country, and because of the fact that we went early. We went early. We could've had a lot more than that.
That is, we've only found 15 people with coronavirus in the U.S., and without the things he did, we might have had a lot more. He doesn't specify what he did, other than that he did it "early." From there, he jumps to the most generic statement of his overarching idea of American greatness:
We're doing great. Our country is doing so great. 
Then he says something that's completely out of line with the idea that the Democrats are out to get him for anything that happens:
We are so unified. We are so unified. 
Thanks for the repetition, but how can that be true? Oh, I see:
The Republican Party has never been more unified than it is now.
"We" = the Republicans.

185 comments:

wendybar said...

The Propaganda media is going to propaganda media...always against Trump. They make things up as the go along. They are burning their own professions down to the ground, because nobody trusts them anymore. Do your own research...listen to the tapes yourself. Don't believe the Media lies.

wendybar said...

It's not just Politico....Lying Brian Williams was at it again on MSNBC with Michael the Blob Moore.

tim maguire said...

I think Trump did it deliberately. He sets up a specialized definition of “hoax” to mean all the different ways the Democrats are trying to get Trump, and then says Coronavirus is one of them. The left-media took the bait, so now he can juxtapose all their positions of convenience on Coronavirus with his more forceful or tangible actions and make his critics look non-serious about even the most serious things.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Does anyone doubt that the Democrats would, in a heartbeat, accept a "disaster from the corona virus" for a Trump loss in November?

Jeff Weimer said...

I don't want these assholes to whine and complain about "deceptively edited" videos ever again.

AllenS said...

I haven't watched ABC, NBC, CBS, NBCPSM, ABCLSD, CBSBSBS, or any other MSM news shows for almost 20 years. A person can be better informed by just using the internet for news, and forgetting completely what the MSM says.

J. Farmer said...

Regardless of the stupid partisan squabbling, my guess is that coronavirus is going to end up being a A LOT more trouble for the US than many people are assuming.

EdwdLny said...

These people are vile, hateful, curs. They should be treated with extreme disdain. Piss on their shoes, spit in their eye ,and punch them in the nose. Vile, hateful scum.

Big Mike said...

On February 6 Chuck Schumer tweeted that the Trump administration’s ban on travel to and from China was “premature” and only about immigration (i.e., not truly health-related). He deleted that tweet yesterday, but lots of people made copies. Now, of course, he and Botox Nancy are trying to whip up fear and panic, and claiming that he isn’t doing enough. Politics as usual for the human slime that is the 21st century Democrat.

traditionalguy said...

This is a matter of Professional Pride for the Fake News Media. Any old website can report facts that happened, but it takes professionals to completely fuck up truth beyond all recognition. I have to admire that level of talent delivered so smoothly with the intention of fooling the great unwashed American public. And Russia ordered Trump to say such things anyway.

Mark said...

It's almost like he should be careful with his words.

Poor Trump, the first politician with words taken out of context.

I am sure he won't do the same in a single political ad. Not a single one lol

Jimmy said...

One of the most densely populated places on earth, Hong Kong- after two months, two deaths, 93 reported cases. over 8 million people. they took drastic measures. but people have been saying, especially the left, how infectious it is and nothing we do will stop it.
I'm sick of the dystopian porn that the left and media thrives on.
there is a great deal we don't know about this new virus. what we do know, is that the left is doing everything it can to make this Trumps problem. They are so desperate and incompetent that they wish for a failed economy and death, just to bring down Trump.

exhelodrvr1 said...

So far, the great majority of the people who contract it get a very mild form, and for most of those who get more seriously ill, treatments are effective and relatively quick. From a health perspective, it appears that it won't be especially severe. Hard to say on the long-term economic impact.

clint said...

Way to prove the President's point, Politico.

Of course, they did the same thing after Charlottesville -- he asked them not to lump everyone who disagrees with them in with the white nationalists, who he condemned. So they did exactly that.

J. Farmer said...

Don't Freak, Farmer.

Expressing concern over the trouble a potential global pandemic can cause is not freaking. If we’re going to worry about overreaction, we should also worry about underreaction.

Fernandinande said...

Here's the original:

No it's not. They edited out the identity of the thing that Trump was calling a hoax.

"[...fade in...] and this is their new hoax." (0:26)

iowan2 said...

I'm so old I remember when the dems and media explained to me President Trump obstructed Congress constitutional powers of oversight. Nadler needs to send some judges to re-education camps. I'm sure he thinks he is in charge of the Judiciary also. The constitution is an obstacle to traverse, not a document to revere for its wisdom...According to Nadler, etal.

It's all, ALL, narrative building.

My question, when are reaonable independents going to revolt and vote AGAINST Democrat holding elective office? Kavanaugh? Mueller? FISA abuse, Schiff, chair of the House Permanant Select Committee on Intelligence, has not interviewed a single person on said abuse. (or the Republican in the Senate) Impeachment...without a single crime.
The list of Democrats abusing their power is growing by the hour. Most never reach the public eye. This is just the proverbial 'tip of the iceberg'.

How can a reasonable person elect a Democrat to any position of power.

Leland said...

But how can we support Trump when he lies all the time...

Browndog said...

By noon today every lib in the country will know for a fact that Trump called the corona virus a hoax. Anything that runs counter to that "fact" will be a "lie".

We now live in a world where both sides claim "the opposite is true" on nearly every issue.

Sad!

rhhardin said...

Radio Derb has a long and quite good section on the virus
Radio Derb

Amadeus 48 said...

I am staying with friends. She watches abc news and the PBS news hour every night. It is the first time in years I have listened to or watched network broadcast news.

The superficiality and bias are shocking, particularly if you hear it from the next room.

Fernandinande said...

MY gut reaction is that if the MSM says something is terrible, then it most probably isn't terrible at all. After all, the MSM's real job is to sell advertising.

"I have the coronavirus. So far, it isn't that bad."

"This has been much easier [than bronchitis]: no chills, no body aches. I breathe easily, and I don't have a stuffy nose. My chest feels tight, and I have coughing spells. If I were at home with similar symptoms, I probably would have gone to work as usual."

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

The powers that be finally figured out why Bernie's hair is always such a freaking mess. Klobuchar keeps stealing his combs.

Jimmy said...

Warren tweeted that we should take the money from 'Trumps wall' and put it toward stopping the virus. Her, and Sanders, have reached a level of pure stupidity that is normally associated with people who have been drunks or druggies for a life time. But the media is so focused on bringing down Trump that they can't or won't even notice the insanity of the leading Dem candidates.
the only real hoax is the left and their yapping poodle press corp.

Hagar said...

The science of identifying a potential pandemic virus may be running ahead of the science of how to evaluate its lethality not to mention the governmental problems of what countermeasures to take.

Does anyone know how many of these may be out there but has not been noticed so far?

AllenS said...

It would be helpful to know exactly what in the hell is going on in China, and the possibilities of the Commies telling the truth is not good. About as accurate as the MSM.

Howard said...

Uh oh. He's further perfecting his Dean Martin Roast schtick but making it appear and sound "Presidential". He's picking up on the concept got less is more. The biggest problem the Democrats have besides exaggerating and lying about what he says it's under estimating his ability to change and adapt.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I watched the Trump rally last night -

Why yes, of course you did. Everyone knows how quite taken you are with your new teehee boyfriend. The one who has told thousands of documented falsehoods as president but for whom you apparently demand only the most accurate of media coverage.

He must be happy, and your mother would be proud. Lots of girls throw themselves at serial killers, and you throw your lawyerly devotion upon a serial rapist/sexual assailant who would grab you and lie about it every which way 'til Tuesday. Did the media also distort his history with the porn lady and Playboy bunny?

Howard said...

Allen S wants to know how the sausage is made. Not everyone could take that harsh dose of reality. Especially with China. My guess is that your worst fears are probably optimistic

Jersey Fled said...

Prepare yourself for another 4 1/2 years of this kind lying and distortion from the press. Hope and pray that your friends and neighbors are aware enough not to buy into it.

Howard said...

Pee pee tape, I think you are misconstruing what our hostess is doing. In order to defeat an opponent it is very important to identify all of his strengths and weaknesses. It is also very important to identify all of our weaknesses and Miss steps. Perhaps you didn't notice but we lost the last presidential election because everyone underestimated Trump. It's pretty obvious to me that the Democrat elite and the MSM are still using the Clinton foundation playbook. I'm not seeing anything other than Trump will win again and more easily because of the continued failure of the Democrat elite and their enablers in the press to know when to fold or hold. They seem to be getting it exactly wrong on every hand.

Darrell said...

Inuits stop viruses in their tracks by sacrificing purple-hued penguins. Would it work with the "Q" variety? He'll tell you in person about the "Q" but never on the Web or the phone. I suggest you shoot first, just in case.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

In any event, Trump loses on this one. Look at how much his counselor has to write in his defense. The problem for someone like him, who labels every thing he doesn't like that happens to him a "hoax," is that these things did happen. Impeachment did happen - it was no hoax. His sleazy relationship with Putin does happen - no hoax. He threw US intelligence under the bus for Putin in Finland and then barred stenographers from a closed-door meeting with the guy before he lied and said, "I don't know why it WOULD be" (the Russians who were involved).

So finally Trump loses the word war. He wants to say that whatever flack he catches for his clumsy adolescent handling of the COVID-19, including the cuts to CDC's pandemic response leading up to it, is based on a hoax. But to use that word, this liar's favorite word, "hoax", to describe that only perpetuates how prone that vaccine denialist who twice confused HIV with HPV in front of Bill Gates (while trying to impress his young/underage? daughter) is to fraudulent idiotic conspiracy theories so bizarre that only Alex Jones agrees with them. He's so reliant on misinformation that he can't even use his favorite word to describe criticisms of his bungling of a proper pandemic response.

So suck on that. Before he grabs you by the hissy.

Big Mike said...

@Fernandistein, thanks for the link. I recommend that everybody take a couple minutes and check it out — it’s a first person account of a man who caught the disease on the Diamond Princess but showed no symptoms until he was on the flight home, when he voluntarily went to the quarantine area set up at the back of the plane. For me the money quote is:

“I also watch the news. It's surreal to see everyone panic - news conferences, the stock market falling, school closures - about a disease I have. It does seem likely that coronavirus will spread in the U.S., but it won't help anybody if we all panic.”

roesch/voltaire said...

Meanwhile some Trump supporters are stocking up on food and guns because they know the Con is trying to cover up the facts while he praises himself; they think everything is fake except that the virus seems to kill folks.

Lincolntf said...

Meanwhile, the scurrying rats like Schumer who have been calling Trump unreasonable and racist for restricting travel from infected areas are now saying that he didn't do enough. Because they have no principles, and are driven by hatred, I expect their arguments to shift on a daily basis, saying whatever they can to panic the masses. Having chosen lives of ignorance, the Libs will repeat whatever garbage they hear from their leadership or the MSM, just as they did with Kavanaugh, Collusion, etc.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What he's calling a hoax is the political talking point that Trump has been failing to protect the country from the virus!

More exclamation points, please. It underscores how desperate you are to make that serial confabulist's point for him, take him off the hook, and demand that people believe and trust him.

TRUMP SO DID NOT LIE! You know he didn't because of all these emphatic punctuation, etc. marks! YOU CAN TRUST HIS HONESTY - my caps lock prove it.

LOL!

Keep it up, Blondie.

stevew said...

Do you suppose Politico manufactured the story out of bias against Trump, or did they really hear his speech and believe he said what they now claim? To me the historical evidence proves the former. Kudos to Trump for leading them into an unforced error.

I Callahan said...

Ppt - do you always have to be such an insufferable prick? If you are, then at least attempt to tell some truth in your comments, because so far, every thing you’ve leveled at Trump in this thread has been a flat out lie.

Get help, dude.

Rusty said...

The left lies. it's what they do.

Mr. Forward said...

Trump Asks 2.5 Billion For Hoax!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Because they have no principles, and are driven by hatred...

Are you saying that Trump isn't more hateful? That he doesn't have more hatred? I thought he was #1 in everything.

Did he not hate the Americans whose heat he wanted to cut in order to divert for funding the COVID-19 response?

What about the Americans he wanted to throw off of the ACA protections? No hatred for them?

No hatred for the politicians or entertainment industries that he tried so so hard to be a part of and to win their respect?

Well, ok then.

Jersey Fled said...

BTW the CDC puts out a very good summary of the current situation with respect to the Corona virus which is updated three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Suggest you get your news there rather from the mainstream press.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ppt - do you always have to be such an insufferable prick? If you are, then at least attempt to tell some truth in your comments, because so far, every thing you’ve leveled at Trump in this thread has been a flat out lie.

Get help, dude.


Pardon moi. I'm so, so, so sorry that I'm not honest enough I Callahan - a cultish devotee who gets his information from THIS GUY.

President Trump made 16,241 false or misleading claims in his first three years.

As for "insufferable prick," are you saying that you take your lessons in decency, civility and basic etiquette from your Dear Leader's Twitter feed and other daily comments?

ROFLMAO.

Lincolntf said...

Michael Yon doing live coronavirus commentary from Thailand (by way of Hong Kong, from which he was expelled for his reporting). https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=313735319595576&notif_id=1582818120364884&notif_t=live_video_explicit

I Callahan said...

Sorry, PPT, but the WaPo is as full of it as you are.

Lincolntf said...

Silence, PPT, I know for a fact that you were stupid enough to fall for the aforementioned hoaxes. You have zero credibility as a news consumer or commentator. Always wrong, never in doubt.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I Callahan is very concerned that I am not being fair, accurate or honest in whatever characterization I've made regarding President "Windmill Cancer" today. How upset you must be, I Cal.

But I am concerned for your delicate feelings and concern for accuracy and the truth. No, really!

That is why I would like to double-fact check run it through you whether 25 women have or have not REALLY accused Donald J. Trump of sexual misconduct.

What say you, O Fact Checker? Is it fair to say that the reactions among women to the way they feel he has handled them has reached "Cosby" proportions?

Bill Cosby. Another longstanding paragon of virtue for the socially conservative American right. Excuse me while I barf.

tim in vermont said...

NBC ran with it this morning as it if was was a fact that Trump said the virus was a hoax and steered an important interview with a public health official down that path. So yes, there is a hoax involved, the hoax is that Trump said it was a hoax, and they are running with it.

Browndog said...

#Hoax is now trending No.2 on Twitter.

It didn't start with Politico or even Trump.

WATCH: Rep. Ted Lieu: "It's not even a gotcha question. Do you believe the corona virus is a hoax?"

Sec of State Mike Pompeo: "It is a gotcha moment. It's not useful."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh, it's not just the Washington Post, I Cal. That last one is Business Insider.

We can go on. Your side is basically left with FOX Noise (AKA the central Roger Ailes-run rape room of partisan broadcast media), Alex Jones and David Pecker's National Enquirer. Donald Trump's best friends in the news business.

tim in vermont said...

" I know for a fact that you were stupid enough to fall for the aforementioned hoaxes.”

Ain’t that the fucking truth. Toilet paper hoax, pee pee tapes hoax, drug deal hoax, there is no hoax to ridiculous for Ritmo to swallow whole.

Mr. Groovington said...

J. Farmer said...
Regardless of the stupid partisan squabbling, my guess is that coronavirus is going to end up being a A LOT more trouble for the US than many people are assuming.

Yup. I don't trade in my accounts anymore, but I went long large TVIX which of course has been explosive. I'll roll it into SDS next week. If I could be bothered I'd short the Dow Transports via a 2 or 3 times inverse ETF or something if it exists. If I was even more active than that, I'd be buying puts on airlines, hotels, etc. as well.

The S&P isn't even at October lows.

But probably wrong, so I'll use a stop somewhere on the SDS.

Quaestor said...

President Trump made 16,241 false or misleading claims in his first three years.

That's still fewer than the list of lies and distortions propagated by Ritmo on this blog.

tim in vermont said...

The more hoaxes Democrat rank and file fall for, the more desperate they get to keep them believing that the aliens will be here "on the *next* comet, we promise!"

rhhardin said...

President Trump made 16,241 false or misleading claims in his first three years.

only 143 short of 2^14.

tim in vermont said...

“False” means that he has disagreed with a Democrat position, and “misleading” means that he has strayed from a Democrat talking point.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I know for a fact that you were stupid enough to fall for the aforementioned hoaxes. You have zero credibility as a news consumer or commentator. Always wrong, never in doubt.

And lincolnwtf gets his facts from FOX Noise (the least informed viewers) and president windmill cancer.

The guy who's so confident with the truth that he retaliated against everyone who testified at his impeachment trial - assuming he even allowed them to testify.

Oh no. He's a guy who doesn't hide anything. Definitely open, forthcoming and transparent. And wiling to provide lincolnwtf with as much information as he'd get from Roger Ailes' O'Reilly's Rape Room, Alex Jones and the Kremlin.

Great company you keep there. Real truthful and stuff.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Quaestor said that H2O is such a strong greenhouse gas when combusting hydrogen that he didn't even remember to tell the audience here that it's a product of combusting carbon.

Because he was talking all high-level genius stuff and going on about entropy or some shit.

GO check out Quaestor's blog and take a gander at that mouth-foaming rage letter he wrote to his senator. Just for a peek at how rational and intelligent he is.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Althouse can be relied upon for the middle school analysis of any situation: "Well, Becky said Brian did ...".

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Toilet paper hoax, pee pee tapes hoax, drug deal hoax, there is no hoax to ridiculous for Ritmo to swallow whole.

Toilet paper hoax?

Only Republicans are so ridiculous as to take up the defense of Donald Trump's shoe, and whatever mischief it got into. LOL!

As for the "drug deal," that was John Bolton's words, not mine. I think Bolton is honest and has more credibility than Trump. Why yes I do.

And the Republicans do, too. You know how I know that?

Because they were scared shitless about the prospect of letting him testify at Trump's impeachment trial and banned it outright.

Suckers! You can't hide from all your bullshit any more. It's coming out your ears... and his.

purplepenquin said...

Inuits stop viruses in their tracks by sacrificing purple-hued penguins. Would it work with the "Q" variety? He'll tell you in person about the "Q" but never on the Web or the phone. I suggest you shoot first, just in case

Haven't woken up to a death threat like this in quite a while - something I said yesterday must have struck a nerve with this weirdo.

I Callahan said...

Shorter PPT: you’re all liars because Fox News!!!

Chuck said...

Horse shit, Althouse. I'm looking at a total fucking psychopath in Trump.

What you should do, or try to do (it would just give me a headache) is transcribe Trump's entire remarks on the subject. Trump appears to be making the bewilderingly false claim that the U.S. had 15 people afflicted with the coronavirus and now it is over. That fast and decisive action by his executive branch made it all better. What a colossal lie.

You are completely avoiding the "politicized" fact that Trump, and only Trump as far as I can tell among national politicians is linking the Russia investigation, impeachment, and the national response to the Coronavirus. What other national Democrat did that?

I know, Althouse, from the Charlottesville story -- the Charlotsseville Hoax Hoax -- how you want to dodge around and find ways to support Trump in spite of valid criticism. I've never seen you give any serious discussion space to the Robert Tracinski/Bulwark deconstruction of Trump's 4-5 occasions in speaking in wildly differing, vague, incomprehensible terms. You've adopted the Scott Adams rationalization that because Trump one time, in the middle of several inconsistent statements on Charolottesville, claimed that he did not support white supremacy, that he is beyond criticism. I just don't understand how someone with a trained legal mind like yours could ever fall for such a hoax.

So here's what I say about this Coronavirus "hoax" story. Trump uses that term an awful lot, for someone who is himself so regularly hoaxing the public. He said that there would be a vaccine soon. There won't be, and the professionals had to correct him. He denied the quoted Case Fatality Rate for COVID-19.

Whatever you think, Trump's rally statement was gross; it was his own politicized trash talk. IT WAS A TRUMP POLITICAL RALLY! It was garbled, and substantially if not outrageously untrue. This was the President of the United States, speaking about an international health emergency. And sounding like a drunk in a bar, if not a deranged guy on a street corner.

Shame on Trump, of course. But everybody now knows what a psycho he is, as President. Shame on you, for trying to normalize this outrageousness.

I Callahan said...

And not to be outdone by PPT in the lunatic department, in comes Chuck...

MartyH said...

Mark said-

Poor Trump, the politician with words taken out of context.

He won't do the same in a single political ad. Not a single one!

Lincolntf said...

PPT and Chuck, have you undergone total re-education since you were duped by the previous hoaxes? If not, why should anyone care what you say? You've demonstrated an inability and/or unwillingness to tell fact from fiction. No brains, no balls, no principles.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

you’re all liars because Fox News!!!

So you're saying they weren't proven to be the least informed viewers? Why did they let John Stewart on to tell them that, then?

And it's not just them. President Windmill Cancer says that Alex Jones' reputation is amazing and that he will not let him down.

Reputation for what? Believing in chemtrails? A conspiracy to make transgender frogs? Or to lose massive lawsuits against Sandy Hook parents by claiming that their gunned down children were never gunned down?

You guys just like him so much because he's crazy and phony enough to pretend that the lies you tell yourselves are actually worth believing. He validates you. He believes BULLSHIT even more bogus than the regular old Replunderican lies that you tell your stupid selves daily.

Suck it!!!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh no. The QANON people are here to declare that President Windmill Cancer makes them feel sane and tells them the truth.

What ever you say, I Callahan. Or should we say, I Q Anon?

LOL!

Jimmy said...

the leftist meltdown is epic today. the desperation and the resulting frustration and hate is almost fun to read. almost. But it is a one note song. always the same. kind of like a 3 year old having a tantrum, but continuously, for 4 years. they could have promoted candidates who were competent, and who would challenge Trump. Instead, they are left with nothing but rage.

traditionalguy said...

The mystery of how SARS virus got a gene splice change inserted making it more transmissible is being ignored. The Bio Weapon Lab that did that has tested this Pandemic ( a once in a 100 year pathogen) by bombing their own country and let it spread from there. That's a "broken arrow" tactic. That plan would have to include having a vaccine already perfected to protect favored CiCom Party members and friends. So far it has shut down Hong Kong, gave an excuse for financial collapse and and showed off to the Chinese people how much they must fear their Government. And in the rest of the world Covid19 has become a total media distraction to Trump and Q's ongoing exposure of Deep State crimes.

And Bill Gates laughs.

chuck said...

that coronavirus is going to end up being a A LOT more trouble for the US than many people are assuming.

Certainly possible, but the Democrats will still be trying to pin it on Trump rather that doing anything useful.

Big Mike said...

Are you saying that Trump isn't more hateful? That he doesn't have more hatred?

Actually, yes.

I thought he was #1 in everything.

Only in the good things. The negative crap Democrats dish out, they own.

Chuck said...

Alright, Althouse. Thank you for now posting the transcription.

And, the transcription shows just how insane, how incomprehensible, how utterly deranged were Trump's comments. How does anyone who views Trump critically (as we all should, given his breathtaking record for past falsehoods) make any detailed sense out of any of that? What 15 people? What actions by the Administration?

Is the hurricane still heading toward Alabama?

Anonymous said...

Mark: "It's almost like he should be careful with his words.

Poor Trump, the first politician with words taken out of context.

I am sure he won't do the same in a single political ad. Not a single one lol"



So, you're agreeing that msm "reporting" is equivalent to a political ad.

Nice to see we can all agree about that.

narciso said...

the stalin fan boi who pretends he's an architect, frank Lloyd nut, of course politico the base of the journalist, can't be trusted, what is the democratic solution, panic...profit, underwear gnome strategy,

Rob said...

Bernie will blame the coronavirus on the billionaires. Biden will say when he’s president there won’t be a cough in a carload.

MartyH said...

Here's what PPT said about Trump:

"The guy who's so confident. He's a guy who doesn't hide anything. Definitely open, forthcoming and transparent. And wiling(sic) to provide as much information as he'd get."

I can do this all day.

I could even politico Chuck into a Trumpkin.

tim in vermont said...

It’s not a bioweapon. Read this story about the Wuhan lab that was published two years ago. It an escaped virus from an experiment intended to improve anti viral drugs.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/switched-on-bats-hosting-viruses-is-a-cost-of-flying

Obviously China is not up to the task of managing these dangerous viruses, and hopefully professors at highly prestigious US universities stop illegally sending them virus samples.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/harvard-university-professor-and-two-chinese-nationals-charged-three-separate-china-related

Curious George said...

"Blogger Chuck said...
Horse shit, Althouse."

Uh, oh, looks like Wehavethemeats is in titty-twister mode.

hombre said...

Look at the comments on Politico. TDS meets Coronavirus, provides fodder for anti-Trump imbeciles who get crazier by the minute - like Chuck.

tim in vermont said...

It’s great to see that our news media is so devoted to #RESISTing Trump that they are muzzling the actual news about coronavirus.

narciso said...

they apparently didn't tip the Iranian vp and health minister on the cure, the Israelis are making remarkable progress, by reapplying a vaccine designed against bronchitis,

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

How does anyone who views Trump critically (as we all should, given his breathtaking record for past falsehoods) make any detailed sense out of any of that?

Althouse is incapable of viewing Trump critically.

She has gone total fan-girl gaga over the "star power" of a guy who loses the popular vote by 3 million simply because he breathes fire at rallies for people who have been pushed underground in American politics ever since we bombed Berlin and Buckley revoked right-wing privileges for the Birchers.

Out with the old, in with the new: Birchers, meet the Birthers.

Star Birther - Donald Trump. The guy who then lied about his lie and said that Hillary told him to believe that Obama was from Kenya. This is the guy that Fangirl Althouse is so upset that we're not characterizing fairly. Because accuracy and objectivity is only expected of the non-Trumpian majority.

The Trumpist minority is subjected to the soft bigotry of low expectations. We have no expectation that they value and pursue accuracy and honesty so poo on you, American Majority!

Derek Kite said...

I was wondering what he would do here.

The media is the problem here. The disease is nasty, but overreaction can make the situation worse. He knows from two standpoints the damage that the media will do intentionally. They will try to destroy him with it, and they seek to profit from starting a wildfire then covering it.

So he is discrediting them. They all will be arguing for days about this, and he will be pushing back. Anyone seeking information will look at it, turn these idiots off, look for the CDC information and make a decision based on that rather than the overheated nonsense the twitching corpse of media spews out.

A secondary benefit is that the Democrats will be discredited by them enthusiastically going along with the media narrative. Already happened with Schumer.

Fernandinande said...

Report: Mansplaining Down But Woman Confusion Up

Still, Dr. Mcguire was hopeful it was a temporary phenomenon. “Maybe it has something to do with the moon,” she said. “You know, like how it has phases which affect the tides with varying magnetism.”

“AKSHULLY—,” one of the male scientists finally blurted out, but he was torn apart before he could complete his statement.

rhhardin said...

Trump talks like an educated adult in one on one conversation. He takes up a role fit for the circumstances.

"Presidential" just means droning on regardless. Like Pence giving a speech.

Chuck said...

And Althouse, I want to make one more point before I leave this topic. We've become rather accustomed to Trump's weirdly limited vocabulary; his broken-up, chopped off sentences; his non-sequitirs. But we shouldn't become accustomed. If a professional colleage of ours started talking like that, we'd take him to a neurologist, ASAP. It's just not even close to normal, for a person in his position. He has dementia, and it is getting worse.

He no longer eats any food in public. A dementia-related choking hazard? Mulvaney said that Trump was awake for 48 hours after his India trip? Too many dementia-related stimulant medications? We still don't know why Trump last went to a hospital, unscheduled. His legs no longer move normally. His suit pants look to have been altered. In some moments of his rallies, he appears to have minor seizures that arrest his speech, often accompanied by tonic-clonic movements of his neck and shoulders.

Other observers ("many people"!) of Trump think it will get much worse, and soon. It would probably be good for the country if the issue was fully reported before November.

Michael K said...

Man, this thread turned to shit in a hurry with all the crazies posting.

For anyone who would prefer a fact or two, I offer this. We have lost our ability to manufacture medications. Probably the FDA contributed and people like Bloomberg took over.

The FDA?

”Most of the FDA’s investigators who are sent to China do not speak the language. They can’t read the manufacturing records. The FDA does not always provide independent translators. Instead, the companies provide translators who, more often than not, are company salesmen. Sometimes, FDA investigators simply give plants a pass, deeming them to be No Action Indicated because they have no way to tell otherwise. The investigators also can’t read street signs, which make them vulnerable to wild manipulations. Companies steer them to phony ‘show’ plants, where everything looks compliant, but the companies aren’t manufacturing there. Sometimes a group of companies pool their resources and invest in the same “show” factory, so that different FDA inspectors return to the same plant at different times, each one thinking they are inspecting a different facility.”

>”In the United States, in order to inspect drug plants, FDA investigators simply show up unannounced and stay as long as is needed. But for overseas inspections—due to the complex logistics of getting visas and ensuring access to the plant – the FDA has chosen to announce its inspections in advance.


The result is that we depend on China for all generic drugs.

BlackjohnX said...

PPT has reached and surpassed Chuck. I now just scroll past both of them as neither has anything intelligent or insightful to add, just hostility and petulance.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Is the hurricane still heading toward Alabama?

That's right. Almost forgot about that one.

Hey, this is the deal. Replundericans are so enamored by Trump they think he has super powers and can make things truthful just by saying them.

He's so powerful that his truth is greater than the actual facts.

President Alabama Hurricane. He lies so fucking much that it's impossible to keep up with.

The ensuing chaos is what he requires in order to fly the abomination of how awful and horrible he is under the radar. It's a part of his intentional distraction machine. To lie so much and expect so little of him in the way of the truth that he can defy any normal president's accountability.

But don't blame him. Most Replundericans tell themselves at least 20 lies just before breakfast. He's just showing that a president can do it, too. If he's from their party. (Or at least since he defected to them).

Rusty said...

I Callahan said...
"And not to be outdone by PPT in the lunatic department, in comes Chuck..."
The dueling savants. I'm hearing banjo music.

narciso said...

I pointed out, how the previous administration waited 6 months to declare an emergency with h1ni as well as their slipshot handling of the ebola matter,

tim in vermont said...

I think we should base our entire media narrative on an outlet that now has two opinion “leaders” calling it “Trumpvirus."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

He no longer eats any food in public.

He's always been a death-by-poisoning risk. But probably fears the spectacle of having it recorded for Inside Edition all the more so, now.

David Begley said...

There is now an open war between the Fake News and Trump.

Will the Fake News sign a surrender treaty with Trump on the USS Missouri in November?

tim in vermont said...

"Man, this thread turned to shit in a hurry with all the crazies posting.”

It’s become like those screaming heads you see on cable news now.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

hostility and petulance.

I'm confused. Are you saying your Dear Leader Trump does not exemplify these qualities as virtues to you and the rest of his flock?

hombre said...

Ritmo: “Because they were scared shitless about the prospect of letting him testify at Trump's impeachment trial and banned it outright.”

Is that the same “Honest John” Bolton who said at Vanderbilt that the the House committed “impeachment malpractice” and that his testimony would not have affected the outcome. That John Bolton?

Delusions die hard.

Rusty said...

"The result is that we depend on China for all generic drugs"

I'm seeing an opportunity here. Ya with me? And BTW then just what is Abbot Labs doing in that huge facility in N. Chicago?

MartyH said...

Chuck said:

"I find ways to support Trump in spite of valid criticism."

But then he also said:

"I speak in wildly differing, vague, incomprehensible terms."

Then he gets back on the Trump bandwagon:

"Trump is beyond criticism. I just don't understand how someone could ever fall for such a hoax."

That was too easy.

tim in vermont said...

"What next? What is the "useful" thing that Democrats need to do next?”

How about not try to whip up unjustified panic? Naah! We have elections to win here! We need to drag Sanders over the line!

tim in vermont said...

Schumer did have the shame to delete a tweet where he criticized Trump as racist for shutting down flights form China.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Is that the same “Honest John” Bolton who said at Vanderbilt that the the House committed “impeachment malpractice” and that his testimony would not have affected the outcome. That John Bolton?

Possibly that one. But also the John Bolton that the Republicans, not the Democrats, were afraid of allowing to testify.

That John Bolton. What were they so afraid of, counselor?

tim in vermont said...

If Trump is proactive, it’s “premature” and if he is cautious, he is called "reckless."

And supposedly it’s Trump who talks strangely.

tim in vermont said...

If there has been an economic bubble, it has been based on our over dependence on China, and Trump is the guy who had the foresight to begin the decoupling, even if we elected him too late.

Tom T. said...

"Look at how much his counselor has to write in his defense."

...says the guy spamming the comments with paragraph after paragraph after paragraph after paragraph after paragraph....

Francisco D said...

The leftist trolls here seem to be near orgasmic over the possibility that the coronavirus will mess up the world economy.

No price is too great for the world to pay in order to get rid of Trump.

Isn't it obvious that these people are sick?

rcocean said...

Great Post. Yep, the MSM CANNOT be trusted. They constantly, and deliberately mislead and misquote Trump. They are STILL pushing the Charlottsville Big Lie - calling it a "Hoax" like Adams does is just letting the Democrats/MSM/Left off the hook. They LIE about it.

Yes, Trump uses a lot of repetition. Of course, this is all without a script. I don't know a single pol, except Trump, who could be entertaining and speak off the cuff for 90 minutes. It'd be interesting to see Obama or Biden give it a whirl. Trump seems to be like this in private, sometimes. Comey wrote about how Trump "jumps around" in private dinner conversation. Obviously, he thinks it boring to go A-B-C-D in rigid logical progression. He also seems to like battling the press.

Darrell said...

Inuits stop viruses in their tracks by sacrificing purple-hued penguins. Would it work with the "Q" variety? He'll tell you in person about the "Q" but never on the Web or the phone. I suggest you shoot first, just in case

Haven't woken up to a death threat like this in quite a while - something I said yesterday must have struck a nerve with this weirdo.


PP pretends this is a "death Threat.' Then why don't you send it to the FBI, PP, and see what they say. Nobody is going to show up to meet a cocksucker like you.

Bonus hint: Do you know why he uses a "Q" instead of a "G" in his name? That's because he uses it in an argument he is losing to "shame" his opponent "You can't even type my name correctly!" He used that a long time ago with that guy here that preferred chubby women and used to brown nose Althouse with praise. He left and never came back when Althouse mocked on of his comments.

Big Mike said...

The mystery of how SARS virus got a gene splice change inserted making it more transmissible is being ignored. The Bio Weapon Lab that did that has tested this Pandemic ( a once in a 100 year pathogen) by bombing their own country and let it spread from there.

@Traditionalguy, mutations happen naturally all the time. You are reminding me of an argument I had with my son just yesterday. I do not believe that the CorVid-19 virus was bio-engineered as a weapon, because I have known plenty of Chinese and Chinese-American scientists in my day and “stupid” is not a word I would use to describe them. They wouldn’t work with something that starts out like a nasty common cold. They’d start out with something like Venezuela Equine Encephalitis (VEE) which is mosquito-borne and also spread via aerosol transmission — from what I gather reading Virus Hunter by C. J. Peters (now out of print) — it makes Ebola look like the sniffles when a human contracts it. Or better yet, a hantavirus. A hantavirus like “sin nombre” preferentially kills people in their late teens through their thirties, and the more physically fit you are the more likely it is to kill you. Think soldiers, police, first responders. They surely wouldn’t pick something that kills only 2% to 3% and attacks people who are already at risk.

The main thing we know about CorVid-19 is that it is apparently spread like the common cold (which is caused by a different type of coronavirus), like the common cold it attacks the respiratory tract, but unlike the common cold it is accompanied by a high fever. Since hospitals admit patients running 103 degree fevers at least for observation, the US will probably have a much lower death rate than China, which (1) generally has poorer sanitation, (2) has vastly more polluted air, and (3) many more people who smoke.

Unknown said...

Wow. The lefty trolls are out in force this morning. They spew such irrationality and hate. How do they get through the day with such overwrought emotions? They should get some hobbies.

rcocean said...

Shame on Trump, of course. But everybody now knows what a psycho he is, as President. Shame on you, for trying to normalize this outrageousness.

The great thing about this kind of hysteria, is that it convinces no one. One benefit of the Left/MSM/Democrats over-the-top reaction is Trump is that its solidified his R support to unheard of levels (95%) and that its driven many moderates and Independents into his camp.

Think of how dangerous the D's and MSM would be, if they had even a smidgen of objectivity and honesty. Now, everyone paying attention just knows they are lying every time they attack Trump. They've been crying wolf for 4 years, and no one cares anymore except they mentally ill base and supporters.

Drago said...

BernieBro, LLR-lefty and Sudden-Onset-Socialist Chuck: "We've become rather accustomed to Trump's weirdly limited vocabulary;"

LOL

Abba Eban once insulted his rival Golda Meir with : "She has a vocabulary of 500 words, why doesn’t she use them?”

The lefties like Chuck said the same thing about Reagan and even Ike (by the Adlai fanboys).

Solid company for Trump as he accelerates to reelection thus causing the usual suspects to meltdown again.

Remember, Chuck actually used the "I can see Russia from my house" hoax against Palin in 2016, when he wasnt busy implying Melania was an escort and attacking Barron.

LLR-lefty Chuck has always been a most despicable sort.

Michael said...

Bolton was pulling your leg to sell books. LOL

Anonymous said...

Dr. K: For anyone who would prefer a fact or two, I offer this. We have lost our ability to manufacture medications.
[...]

The result is that we depend on China for all generic drugs.


As I pointed out in a previous thread, the proper time to get worked up about this came and went 20+ years ago. It's not that the danger wasn't recognized by anybody paying attention, and it was reported on here and there in the mainstream press. But neither Washington nor Joe Citizen much cared.

hombre said...

In a sane world, it would be virtually impossible to sell the notion that anyone, including Trump, would label and established disease a “hoax.”

The leftmedia are playing to the TDS meets Coronavirus pinheads. They know their audience well. You know, Trump said [measles] (add the disease of your choice) is a hoax.” It must be true because ORANGE MAN BAD.

How SAD that Trump has made us aware that so many of our fellow citizens are incurably stupid, amoral, or both.

rcocean said...

"He no longer eats any food in public."

Why would he eat food in public? LOL. He's President. This is the new test for the Presidency. Whether you eat food in public! Maybe people missed it, but Trump attends state dinners with foreign leaders and...wait for it....eats in front of them.

incredible i know. He even has two scoops of ice cream!

Drago said...

HoaxPPT: "That John Bolton. What were they so afraid of, counselor?"

The weakening of Executive Privilege to the point where it would become non-existent and empower the Legislative over the Executive to an unconstitutional degree which is why Trump is making use of the privilege just as every modern President has.

Show us a single comment of yours in the past where you criticized any recent dem for invoking that privilege, which they did, and I will be happy to take your comment seriously.

rhhardin said...

Use the U-scan. You get coronavirus from high school grocery baggers. Same with flu and colds.

Schools are petri dishes.

wendybar said...

Chuck said...
Alright, Althouse. Thank you for now posting the transcription.

And, the transcription shows just how insane, how incomprehensible, how utterly deranged were Trump's comments. How does anyone who views Trump critically (as we all should, given his breathtaking record for past falsehoods) make any detailed sense out of any of that? What 15 people? What actions by the Administration?

Now do Joe Biden, Lizzy Warren, and Bloomberg. Bernie is the only lefty telling the truth.

rcocean said...

Off topic. Speaking of Bolton. It shows how debased our political system and media are that Bolton has NOT been heavily attacked for using the Impeachment hearings to sell books. He leaks to the NYT, and makes everyone believe he has some "Bombshell" that would impact the Senate Trial, but after its over, says "Hey, i got nothin', would not have made a difference".

And this is somehow OK. I also notice Mittens hasn't apologized for trying to drag the impeachment farce out so Bolton could testify. Not only was he wrong about Bolton having crucial testimony, he didn't need Bolton's testimony to make a decision! His sole desire was to hurt Trump, and if it'd been up to Romney the trial would STILL be going on, and we'd wasting valuable time on a big nothing burger. But Mitt Romney says it was necessary -and Mitt Romney is an honorable man.

Lincolntf said...

Never eat on camera if you can avoid it, everybody in politics (or any celebrity, really) knows this. Nobody looks good chewing.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More Americans are going to get this virus. the left are giddy. The left are sitting watching Maddow tick off the numbers like the Iraq war. Trump should be careful not to over sell his
ability to stop a virus. Nobody can do that. NOT EVEN lying weasel political democraps.

Drago said...

Of course, DNC/Establishment controlled CNN is also running chyrons like "Can Coronavirus or Bernie Sanders be stopped?".

Its all so transparent now isnt it? And Trump made their complete exposure as hacks possible.

And LLR-lefty Chuck hates that...almost as much as he hates conservatives with distinguished military records.

Mr. Forward said...

"Stylings" is the perfect word. I immediately thought of Otis Redding.

Otto said...

Something strange about this post. When i read it earlier, without Ann's plus, there were comments that I no longer see. Please explain Ann.

Drago said...

Lincolntf: "Never eat on camera if you can avoid it,"

Also never try on hats that you are handed.

Also, never trust cards with content you are supposed to read from people who are not on your staff.

Also never follow children or animals on a show.

Drago said...

LLR-lefty Chuck (Today): "Horse shit, Althouse. I'm looking at a total fucking psychopath in Trump."

LLR-lefty and BernieBro Chuck (from yesterday): "I want you to picture me backing you into a corner, screaming in your face, and repeatedly jabbing my fist into your sternum for emphasis."

Discuss.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The left sell hoax daily. The latest hoax is that Trump is pulling funding from the CDC.

Meanwhile, Trump wanted to get ahead of it with travel bans and the left went their usual bat-shit crazy - yelling RACISSSSSS!

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

ChiCom flu is no hoax, no joke.

Howard said...

Bolton was f****** smart and clever. He has built up a stockpile of DC chips and cashed a bunch of them in at the right time. They play for keeps in that town everybody knows it. It's all in the Game

Limited blogger said...

I watched it live.

I knew immediately the MSM would take that section out of context.

J. Farmer said...

Something strange about this post. When i read it earlier, without Ann's plus, there were comments that I no longer see. Please explain Ann.

The commenter-who-shall-not-be-named and anyone who names her gets deleted. Plus, apparently, anyone who makes a joke about the moderator’s white knighting.

Ken B said...

How stupid do you have to be to think the guy who closed off travel from China thinks the China virus is a hoax?

JAORE said...

"Hey, i got nothin'

And yet we still hear lefties that say boy, if only Bolton had testified.

Good people on both sides = truff.

Virus is a hoax = truff.

CDC funds cut = truff.

It would be an interesting Political IQ test to ask people about these truffs and tally their responses.

Maillard Reactionary said...

In other news, the leftist media continue to lie and mislead. Is anyone still surprised?

Wince said...

Trump should call on LA and San Francisco to clean-up their homeless encampments as public health threats.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"If we’re going to worry about overreaction, we should also worry about underreaction."

Wrong. We need to worry about people like you worrying we need to do something otherwise we will worry ourselves to death about our potential underreaction.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

the leftwing media understand that the leftwing base will eat it all up. feed the rage machine.

Big Mike said...

The implication is that the other party is politicizing something that should not be part of politics, but he's criticizing his political rivals, and that's political too.

@Althouse, there's no contradiction, inherent or otherwise. He needs to point out what is happening so that people can evaluate what he's doing and what his political enemies say. Otherwise how will he get anything done?

The can't-count-Iowa line is something he plugs in whenever he wants to note that the Democrats are incompetent. It's a little hard to follow: How did Iowa get mixed in with coronavirus?

Because the caucus vote-tallying software was fundamentally simple, as contrasted to CorVid-19, which is multifaceted and challenging. Show you can do the simple things before you critique people doing the hard things.

"We" = the Republicans.

Well, you might note that he's at a rally in support of his presidency. So he's not addressing the nation as a whole.

dreams said...

"Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus.

This is the big thesis. The implication is that the other party is politicizing something that should not be part of politics, but he's criticizing his political rivals, and that's political too. There's an inherent contradiction.""

So he can't even defend himself because of some perceived inherent contradiction...

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Let’s start calling Trump the Hoax President. It’s really amazing how many hoaxes he has been subjected to. And so unfair. The falling stock market must also be a hoax. I notice that he “put” Pence in charge. I am wondering if the impeachment acquittal was a hoax and Pence is actually now the President. Trump is just the Hoax President.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

""Let's call it Trumpvirus," urged a New York Times opinion writer conspiratorially. Nancy Pelosi groused that President Trump waited too long to attack the coronavirus (COVID-19) and then impetuously declared he couldn't have leftover and unspent Ebola virus money to fight it, while Senator Chuck Schumer looked down his nose and over his glasses to intone that it was the end of the world and the president hadn't spent enough money to stop the scourge. Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg have both been called out for politicizing the virus."

more ...

"As we suspect, the Chinese government tried to keep the virus outbreak secret – for what reason we don't know. What we do know, however, is that by January 31, 2020, President Trump had declared a public health emergency and began restricting U.S. access to non-citizens from China. Flights filled with U.S. citizens who were in Wuhan were brought to America and those people were quarantined on U.S. military bases for two weeks."

(left went bat shit crazy)

Fact-Check: Obama Waited Until 'Millions' Infected and 1000 Dead in U.S. Before Declaring H1N1 Emergency

Bill Harshaw said...

I really want a President who's a good communicator, not one who requires a translation.

Ice Nine said...

>>Trump doesn't make it easy for reporters who are trying to tell it straight.<<

That would be these journalism-degreed, professional, career reporters your are referring to, right? I hope that is the toughest obstacle they ever have to endure in getting the story out correctly. You didn't seem to have any particular difficulty doing so; why cant they? Answer: starts with "T" and ends "S".

rhhardin said...

The idea is to make politicizing coronavirus unprofitable for the dems. It's not a contradiction.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"And yet we still hear lefties that say boy, if only Bolton had testified."

As if everything Bolton could have said would have implicated Trump. They seem to think they can control these things the way they control who gets the ballots they find in bins for every re-count.

Mary Beth said...

In any event, Trump loses on this one. Look at how much his counselor has to write in his defense.

It's not a matter of defending what Trump said. Anyone with an IQ above room temperature can understand what he said. It's about how the media is misrepresenting it to say he called the virus a hoax when he very clearly did not say that.

Ive been seeing the same "Trump called the corona virus a hoax" line all over this morning. It seems to be a shared talking point. I could see if one idiot couldn't follow along and got confused, but all the media outlets? It's like they want to prove "hoax" is a good description of their behavior.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Progs can feel their relevance and sanity slip sliding away...

God still loves you, just like Mr. Cooper says. But you need to change progs, hard and fast.

Drago said...

LOLOLOLOL

We now have Left Bank claiming Trump has not been the target of hoaxes!!

Hoax dossier used to weaponize the fed govt for spying on his campaign

Russia collusion hoax and multiyear full govt investigation based on a known hoax by Jan of 2017..which lasted 2 years!

Hoax accusations of Trump campaign aides being Russian spies

Trump tower server communicating with russian bank servers hoax

Kavanaugh is a decades long gang rape leader hoax

Ukraine phone call hoax

And about a hundrwd others.

Left Bank actually claiming none of that happened...because of course he is. Otherwise todays latest lefty/LLR-lefty hoax wont be as effective.

History HAS TO reset every morning if its going to rewritten a la Soviet style.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I really want a Press that's honest.

LA_Bob said...

@Althouse,

In addition to your analysis of the Trump "word salad", there is his vocal intonations. He can speak morosely, ruefully, excitedly, and more, switch tones on a dime and hold your attention in the process. He can change his voice to a growl in a second, and then drop back to slow, sad, morose ("they can't eve count the votes...") It is natural and fluid. Even when you know it's a show, it's compelling.

I enjoyed the moment after he conflated CNN, turning off its camera, and the "fake news" acting like the Academy Awards, and how the Academy Awards have gone down, and the "Best Picture" award going to a South Korean film. A guy in the audience shouts, "It's garbage!" Trump throws his hands up and walks away. The audience is cheering. Trump grins and says to the guy, "Only in South Carolina can you say that...you're going to get us in trouble".

It's as much a Stream of Consciousness and idea salad as it is a word salad. It's half sermon and half conversation. Is there anyone else doing this sort of thing in politics today? Certainly not nationally and not near as well.

Tom_Ohio said...

Hahahahahaha Ptp sounds like some sort of clone politician, somewhere between adam "eats" schiff and jerry 'i need suspenders' nadler. It's quite a show, but its time to turn that guy off for civility's sake.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"I really want a President who's a good communicator, not one who requires a translation."

You sound like Spaulding, and as with Spaulding, you'll get nothing and like it.

Now, lament more for us. LAMENT NOW!

Bruce Hayden said...

To the left, to the Dems at the top, politics is a blood sport, because it means power, which translates into wealth, even immense wealth. Their top Congressional leadership is where they are because of their ruthlessness and corruption. Palsy, Schemer, and before him, Reid, with Schifty coming up fast, are where they are (or were) because they are the brightest and most ruthless. We saw during the Obama Administration, esp when the Dems had control of both the Presidency and Congress, the extent that they would go in this direction. The big one there was his “stimulus”, which was nothing more than a thinly veiled way to rake massive amounts of money out of the government and the economy into their own pockets and those of their cronies. Never mind that it took what should have been maybe a 2-4 year trough and turned it into an 8 year recession - the important thing was that they got really, really rich as a result. With, of course, the Clintons in the lead. A family that used to take tax deductions for donating their old underwear, was supposedly broke when leaving office, but by the time Obama left office 16 years later, was worth over $200m and controlled 10x that through their private foundation/slush fund.

The relevance here is that they play Gotcha as a matter of course. Chuck Scheamer will scream that preventing Chinese from coming into this country was racist, and then weeks later complain that Trump and his Administration weren’t moving fast enough, and weren’t trusting the bureaucrats and the “professionals” enough. The reality is that Trump is addressing COVID-19 better than any of the Dems could who are running for President, except for maybe Bloomberg. None of the rest of them would have had a clue about moving decisively, making the fewest mistakes. The rest of them would have thrown the decisions to the bureaucracy, which would have asked for more money, and milked it for all it was worth, because they don’t have any experience making these sorts of decisions. And the bureaucrats in China are a good part of why the virus got out of control in the first place. None of the rest of them had any real experience in addressing real world crises adequately and decidedly. Trump probably even has an advantage over Mini Mike in this area, because he likely has had to react decisively more often during his career. But Bloomberg may have had a better organization in place, as I think Romney would have, because they both seem to be the types of methodical managers who put top tier people in key positions at the tops of their organizations, and then trust them.

I knew that Trump was serious when he asked National Academy of Sciences head Marcia McNutt to get him the facts on COVID-19 a month or so ago. Dr McNutt had essentially been Obama’s Science Czar. Brilliant woman - two years behind me in college, and in a lot of physics and math classes with my next brother. (She had been one of the hottest girls in her class, and is still great looking at 67/68. We all wanted to date her, but it never happened - you don’t graduate as high as she did by spending your college years drunk, stoned, or having a lot of sex). My point there was that when I heard that Trump asked her, an Obamite, to give him the bottom line, I first thought “Whoops”. But then, as time went on, realized that it was a good choice. By training, she is a physicist, but by now is very much a generalist. Then, he brought in the subject matter experts.

stevew said...

"The commenter-who-shall-not-be-named and anyone who names her gets deleted."

I had forgotten this guideline, or rule, but figured it out after noticing my comment had gone missing. Pity, it was such an awesome comment, one of my best if I do say so. :-)

This is no different than the repeated lying about Trump's comments following Charlottesville. You can be assured it will continue through November, especially if the virus infections reach a moderate to high level.

dreams said...

We have a trendy liberal press, liberals like to run with the crowd as exemplified by their belief in climate change.

dreams said...

"It's as much a Stream of Consciousness and idea salad as it is a word salad. It's half sermon and half conversation. Is there anyone else doing this sort of thing in politics today? Certainly not nationally and not near as well."

It's genius.

Sebastian said...

"pushing a hoax hoax"

Indeed. And thanks for the fisking.

Which raises the question: what in the world could justify "neutrality" at this point?

purplepenquin said...

PP pretends this is a "death Threat.'

How can it be taken any other way? You flat-out urged people to shoot me. In a thread I hadn't even taken part in. With your very first post of the day. And all 'cause you don't like the way I spell my name. You're a meshuggeneh, for sure.

And a dumbass to boot--an Inuit would have to be pretty damn far from their native home if they encounter a penguin. Or a Penquin, for that matter.

*rolls eyes*

Curious George said...

"purplepenquin said...
Inuits stop viruses in their tracks by sacrificing purple-hued penguins. Would it work with the "Q" variety? He'll tell you in person about the "Q" but never on the Web or the phone. I suggest you shoot first, just in case

Haven't woken up to a death threat like this in quite a while - something I said yesterday must have struck a nerve with this weirdo."

That death threat will cause as much harm as Act 10 did to union workers. Which is none. What a fucking tool.

Jim at said...

My mother-in-law (who pays no attention to politics) remarked yesterday about how the non-stop panic in the media and the Democrats was nothing more than another attack on Trump.

Keep it up, assholes. You're creating more and more Trump voters every day.

Jim at said...

How DARE Trump politicize the coronavirus! Only WE can politicize the coronavirus! - every leftist every where

FOAD. All of you.

daskol said...

Poulos' imagineers believe that if they repeat it often enough, it will be so. Accuse Trump of calling the virus a hoax: it's of a piece with all the other things they've accused him of, of a piece with the caricature they've created. Get all the right people on TV to say it over and over again. In the olden days, that would have made it true. Nowadays, there is an ever smaller segment of the population for whom this imagined reality is theirs, but this transparent attempt to imagineer turns off more and more people who aren't in that hermetically sealed bubble. The good part is that these institutions of media and other authority haven't deserved their status in a long time, and they were very dangerous for a long time because of their power to control the narrative. The tough part is that they are still sufficiently influential to do damage, and they are wreaking havoc during times of elevated uncertainty such as now, when many people otherwise inured to their games are susceptible to the imagineering as they seek reliable information in the olden ways.

Jim at said...

I now just scroll past both of them as neither has anything intelligent or insightful to add, just hostility and petulance.

Just now? I've been doing it for years. The avatar makes it much easier.

Lucien said...

Trump has called upon South Carolinians to interfere in the election by voting for Bernie today.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Poulos' imagineers believe that if they repeat it often enough, it will be so. Accuse Trump of calling the virus a hoax: it's of a piece with all the other things they've accused him of, of a piece with the caricature they've created. Get all the right people on TV to say it over and over again.”

Starting with the Dems (including the MSM), led by the Clintons, starting the Russian collusion hoax, when he humorously asked the Russians for copies of the 30k emails that she had illegally had deleted. They deliberately confused this with the DNC emails that Wikileaks was publishing, and then claimed that they had been hacked by the Russians (highly unlikely, which everyone except, probably, Inga, knows by now - it was almost assuredly an inside job, likely by a dissatisfied Bernie Bros DNC staffer).

Amadeus 48 said...

Without reading all the comments above, I would observe that that the “it’s all turning” line means it’s all turning against them. Trump is great at turning the tables on his critics.

Susan said...

And while the cats in the press chase this laser pointer, John Ratcliffe's nomination for DNI drops completely out of the picture.

By the time they notice it again it will be too late to gin up hysterics about that.

David Begley said...

I was hoping that Trump would have referred to Ann’s post at his press conference today.

POTUS,”You people in the Fake News should read the Althouse blog today on that dishonest Politico story. She broke it down. Analyzed it. Showed the deception and dishonesty.

For those that don’t know Ann Althouse, she is a retired law professor at the University of Wisconsin. Highly respected. Didn’t vote for me. But she’s fair. She practices “cruel neutrality.” You people in the Fake News should try it.”

MayBee said...

The best part is the media reporting this, asking about it at Trump's press conference today, and then lamenting how dangerous it is that we have a president we can't trust. Hahhahahhaha. Our media is really awful.

Bilwick said...

"Liberals" lie? To paraphrase the Claude Rains character in CASABLANCA: "I'm shocked--absolutely shocked--that people whose basic agenda is legalized looting would tell a lie!"

Meade said...

“Didn’t vote for me.”

Didn’t vote for me last time. But who knows—maybe she’ll vote for me this time. She’s fair. And she’s smart. Oh boy is she smart! Independent thinker. My people tell me she was born on the very same day Rush Limbaugh was.

So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

eddie willers said...

My people tell me she was born on the very same day Rush Limbaugh was.

Good enough for me.

Doubting Richard said...

"He jumps from one idea to the next..."

No, I think he is doing something more interesting than that. He is talking as if the audience know what he is talking about, which is saying to them "I am reading the same things as you, and I think the same things about them; I read the news beyond the NYT too, and see the world as you do". He is identifying with them.

This also explains why those who hate him don't see it. They are either not reading the same things or, when the do, they interpret it differently. They do not read the right-wing news sites that point out fake news in the legacy media, so when he says "fake news" they do not understand why so many applaud him. They read that fake news so when so many read the same thing and know it is fake they cannot understand why people don't see him as racist.

SDN said...

"That is why I would like to double-fact check run it through you whether 25 women have or have not REALLY accused Donald J. Trump of sexual misconduct.

What say you, O Fact Checker? Is it fair to say that the reactions among women to the way they feel he has handled them has reached "Cosby" proportions?"

Well, first we have to complete the audits of their bank accounts. Accusers are a million a dozen:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/365068-exclusive-prominent-lawyer-sought-donor-cash-for-two-trump-accusers

"California lawyer Lisa Bloom’s efforts included offering to sell alleged victims’ stories to TV outlets in return for a commission for herself, arranging a donor to pay off one Trump accuser’s mortgage and attempting to secure a six-figure payment for another woman who ultimately declined to come forward after being offered as much as $750,000, the clients told The Hill.

The women’s accounts were chronicled in contemporaneous contractual documents, emails and text messages reviewed by The Hill, including an exchange of texts between one woman and Bloom that suggested political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton were contacted during the effort."

What's in their wallets?

wbfjrr2 said...

Althouse calling out Politico (why read it anyway), but her obtuse gene also cut in to make an unorthodox speaking style difficult for her to follow. Meanwhile people with far less academic education follow it easily.

It’s kinda like farming is for Bloomberg, Althouse parsing Trump.

But I do appreciate her taking the time to dig out the entire transcript. Kudos for that.

Darrell said...

Pinguinis impennis, more commonly known as the Great Auk, was the closest thing the Arctic ever had to a native penguin. A flightless bird with black and white plumage, for hundreds of thousands of years it enjoyed a wide distribution across the North Atlantic coast, from northern Canada to Norway, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It was agile and graceful underwater, could dive up to 1 km (0.62 miles) deep and, speeding to the surface, it burst through the water and leapt onto the rock shelves above much like the penguins we know today. Standing at about 75-85 cm (2.5-2.8 ft), the Great Auk’s size kept it safe from all but the largest predators, like polar bears and killer whales. But in the 19th century, growing pressures from humans, who had long hunted them for meat, oil and down, drove them to extinction.

Although the Great Auk was never a ‘real’ penguin, its legacy lives on in the naming of our feathered friends in the southern hemisphere. When sailors down south came across beaches covered in flightless birds with black and white plumage and an impressive way underwater, they called them penguins, after the pinguinis impennis.

Gk1 said...

"Trump's Katrina" The problem with telegraphing a roundhouse punch is an experienced boxer knows what to do and let's it miss effortlessly, like Trump has been doing. After 3 years of this, the media is getting winded much like George Foreman vs. Ali.

The gestation, launching and failing of these hoaxes is becoming more compressed. This hoax is already being tuned out by half the country a few days after it was launched. The next phase will be "How dare you question my patriotism when I'm openly rooting for a pandemic!"

Sebastian said...

"The next phase will be "How dare you question my patriotism when I'm openly rooting for a pandemic!""

Already launched, by a Dem Rep, against Don Jr., threatening violence in that fashion.

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PaoloP said...

I live in Lombardy, Italy.
As of now, we have 29 deaths in the whole country, all of them either elderly or with preexisting serious condition.
Last year, the deaths for seasonal flu were 198.

Prudent policies are certainly necessary, but avoid hysteria.

HT said...

There is no question that he assuredly was trying to convey that Covid-19 was little more than a Democratic hoax.

As a result of that desire for the pandemic to be nothing more than a hoax, he has been a terrible leader.

"I object to the deceptions in the Politico" - hardly an attempt at cruel neutrality.

I think with time, we see that Politico was much closer to the truth.

Cameron said...

"There is no question that he assuredly was trying to convey that Covid-19 was little more than a Democratic hoax.

As a result of that desire for the pandemic to be nothing more than a hoax, he has been a terrible leader.

"I object to the deceptions in the Politico" - hardly an attempt at cruel neutrality.

I think with time, we see that Politico was much closer to the truth.

3/24/20, 12:00 PM"

Your comment has not aged well now that all the lies have come out.

Trump was right.