[Genuine Realist]

My sense is that for many in the Democratic Party and the media, the evils are reversed. They would far rather undercut every effort, cast doubt on official good faith, see the virus run wild, than have Trump win a second term.


Which seems to me contemptible.

I hope you're right. I'm more confident about the Democrats, not so much about media.

The basic point is that this isn't about Trump - and to the extent that it becomes about Trump, you lose the thread.
This bullshit again?  ***** off with that.  There isn't a democrat alive who wants people to die from this virus.  You may have forgotten this amid the pandemic, but one party wants to expand access to healthcare and make it cheaper or even free, and the other party has fought for 50 years to limit health care options for the poor, retired, etc.  I think you know which party is which in the previous sentence.

What's contemptible here is how the utter failure of the Trump administration on this is bringing out projection in republicans.  "The real villains here are the democrats who want everyone to die so Trump loses."  I've seen this 3 times already on this board.  ***** that and ***** anyone who believes that.

---

The Atlantic article seems to be a lame attempt to defend Trump’s inaction.

Taiwan, which has no formal relationship with China, knew what was going on in Wuhan from the beginning.  It took quick steps to act and has the virus well-controlled (only several hundred confirmed cases and 5 deaths).

Can we assume that America’s vaunted intelligence operation did not have the same information or that the administration could not easily get this information from its tight partner, Taiwan?

It seems much more likely that Trump and his cronies willfully ignored the information right in front of them.  If they really believed that Obama had left the pandemic cupboard bare, they had 3 years to fix the problem.

Taiwan learned from the SARS epidemic.  What evidence is there that the US has learned anything?

I do know that the superior South Korean response was caused by a disastrous embarrassment that its health services suffered with respect to SARS in 2015. This caused its legislature to thoroughly review and update its response. Also, it dealt at the outset with a single cluster.

The US was not embarrassed at all by SARS. I think both of the last two Administrations - Trump and Obama - had a confidence in the CDC that was unwarranted.

The better question is where was Congress in all this? The real Constitutional crisis we face is the total paralysis of Congress, now in its third decade.

---

My sense is that for many in the Democratic Party and the media, the evils are reversed. They would far rather undercut every effort, cast doubt on official good faith, see the virus run wild, than have Trump win a second term.


Which seems to me contemptible.

This bullshit again?  ***** off with that.  There isn't a democrat alive who wants people to die from this virus.  You may have forgotten this amid the pandemic, but one party wants to expand access to healthcare and make it cheaper or even free, and the other party has fought for 50 years to limit health care options for the poor, retired, etc.  I think you know which party is which in the previous sentence.

What's contemptible here is how the utter failure of the Trump administration on this is bringing out projection in republicans.  "The real villains here are the democrats who want everyone to die so Trump loses."  I've seen this 3 times already on this board.  ***** that and ***** anyone who believes that.

Do you think there are REPUBLICANS who want people to die? Or who ever have?

I doubt that, too.

[Genuine Realist]

My sense is that for many in the Democratic Party and the media, the evils are reversed. They would far rather undercut every effort, cast doubt on official good faith, see the virus run wild, than have Trump win a second term.


Which seems to me contemptible.

I hope you're right. I'm more confident about the Democrats, not so much about media.

The basic point is that this isn't about Trump - and to the extent that it becomes about Trump, you lose the thread.
This bullshit again?  ***** off with that.  There isn't a democrat alive who wants people to die from this virus.  You may have forgotten this amid the pandemic, but one party wants to expand access to healthcare and make it cheaper or even free, and the other party has fought for 50 years to limit health care options for the poor, retired, etc.  I think you know which party is which in the previous sentence.

What's contemptible here is how the utter failure of the Trump administration on this is bringing out projection in republicans.  "The real villains here are the democrats who want everyone to die so Trump loses."  I've seen this 3 times already on this board.  ***** that and ***** anyone who believes that.

---

The Atlantic article seems to be a lame attempt to defend Trump’s inaction.

Taiwan, which has no formal relationship with China, knew what was going on in Wuhan from the beginning.  It took quick steps to act and has the virus well-controlled (only several hundred confirmed cases and 5 deaths).

Can we assume that America’s vaunted intelligence operation did not have the same information or that the administration could not easily get this information from its tight partner, Taiwan?

It seems much more likely that Trump and his cronies willfully ignored the information right in front of them.  If they really believed that Obama had left the pandemic cupboard bare, they had 3 years to fix the problem.

Taiwan learned from the SARS epidemic.  What evidence is there that the US has learned anything?

I do know that the superior South Korean response was caused by a disastrous embarrassment that its health services suffered with respect to SARS in 2015. This caused its legislature to thoroughly review and update its response. Also, it dealt at the outset with a single cluster.

The US was not embarrassed at all by SARS. I think both of the last two Administrations - Trump and Obama - had a confidence in the CDC that was unwarranted.

The better question is where was Congress in all this? The real Constitutional crisis we face is the total paralysis of Congress, now in its third decade.

---

My sense is that for many in the Democratic Party and the media, the evils are reversed. They would far rather undercut every effort, cast doubt on official good faith, see the virus run wild, than have Trump win a second term.


Which seems to me contemptible.

This bullshit again?  ***** off with that.  There isn't a democrat alive who wants people to die from this virus.  You may have forgotten this amid the pandemic, but one party wants to expand access to healthcare and make it cheaper or even free, and the other party has fought for 50 years to limit health care options for the poor, retired, etc.  I think you know which party is which in the previous sentence.

What's contemptible here is how the utter failure of the Trump administration on this is bringing out projection in republicans.  "The real villains here are the democrats who want everyone to die so Trump loses."  I've seen this 3 times already on this board.  ***** that and ***** anyone who believes that.

Do you think there are REPUBLICANS who want people to die? Or who ever have?

I doubt that, too.