[OutsiderFan]

I agree completely with OF on this...

I have an idea. Tell the goddamned truth for once.

If the POTUS leveled with the American people, told them how hard things were going to be but that he had their back, took full responsibility for everything, was visibly working his butt off, while providing transparent data, and otherwise demonstrating competence, it would be a demonstration of leadership that would make re-election easy, no matter how bad things are. Instead, the white flag is waved, and there is now an effort to suppress truth - the same thing that was supposedly so unconscionable for China - from the American people, while blaming others.

The facts demonstrate the guy's mind is unfit for the job he has. Maybe we should all feel sorry for psychopaths. My sorrow is more reserved for the lives of those they destroy.

And I'd like to add some specificity. We discuss opening the economy or not, and/or the health/economy dilemma, against the background of gross mismanagement and divisions that should never have been. To see how substantial the problem, compare our situation today to what would have been under any past president since Hoover. Or what it is compared to any G7 or G20 nation. What is supposed to happen is a cohesive unified national purpose. In times of crisis people want to turn to their leadership for these horrible judgment calls we now face, pitting health against the economy. That doesn't happen in this country because leadership at the top doesn't want unity; it wants culture wars, and at all cost. How devastating is it that now we're mapped on these crucial health/economy decisions into political tribes. One wants health and the other wants economy. Didn't we pull together as a nation during past crises? We haven't changed, but our politics have. And it's not equally distributed dysfunction either: Trump and the Trump campaign thrive on divisions.

And there's another factor here too: the mismanagement. We struggle with these terrible health vs. economy decisions now in part because we did not have a massive unified campaign to address the health risks from the beginning. We missed the entire month of February. And since then we have continuing mismanagement, misinformation, failure to focus on the testing, PPE, and related factors that would have made opening up after two months of shut-down much safer than it actually is now.

I hope you didn't see the new White House Propaganda, err, Press Secretary's SNL act today. The propaganda must be believable to work. When it's just plainly absurd, it only generates laughter.

[OutsiderFan]

I agree completely with OF on this...

I have an idea. Tell the goddamned truth for once.

If the POTUS leveled with the American people, told them how hard things were going to be but that he had their back, took full responsibility for everything, was visibly working his butt off, while providing transparent data, and otherwise demonstrating competence, it would be a demonstration of leadership that would make re-election easy, no matter how bad things are. Instead, the white flag is waved, and there is now an effort to suppress truth - the same thing that was supposedly so unconscionable for China - from the American people, while blaming others.

The facts demonstrate the guy's mind is unfit for the job he has. Maybe we should all feel sorry for psychopaths. My sorrow is more reserved for the lives of those they destroy.

And I'd like to add some specificity. We discuss opening the economy or not, and/or the health/economy dilemma, against the background of gross mismanagement and divisions that should never have been. To see how substantial the problem, compare our situation today to what would have been under any past president since Hoover. Or what it is compared to any G7 or G20 nation. What is supposed to happen is a cohesive unified national purpose. In times of crisis people want to turn to their leadership for these horrible judgment calls we now face, pitting health against the economy. That doesn't happen in this country because leadership at the top doesn't want unity; it wants culture wars, and at all cost. How devastating is it that now we're mapped on these crucial health/economy decisions into political tribes. One wants health and the other wants economy. Didn't we pull together as a nation during past crises? We haven't changed, but our politics have. And it's not equally distributed dysfunction either: Trump and the Trump campaign thrive on divisions.

And there's another factor here too: the mismanagement. We struggle with these terrible health vs. economy decisions now in part because we did not have a massive unified campaign to address the health risks from the beginning. We missed the entire month of February. And since then we have continuing mismanagement, misinformation, failure to focus on the testing, PPE, and related factors that would have made opening up after two months of shut-down much safer than it actually is now.

I hope you didn't see the new White House Propaganda, err, Press Secretary's SNL act today. The propaganda must be believable to work. When it's just plainly absurd, it only generates laughter.