[Goose]

Goose, read the Politico reporting. I understand the desire to be even handed and make sure "correlation doesn't equal causation" but it's now clearly obvious what I posted is the truth.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/16...egy-446408

1. POTUS wanted to win election
2. Economy was seen as path to victory
3. Pandemic closures put that at risk
4. POTUS didn't want to deal with the pandemic and doing nothing was easy
5. Every apparatus of the government was moved in a herd immunity direction since April

John Heilmann had a great characterization of Scott Atlas. He was an "ex-post-facto" hire to push the herd immunity strategy, meaning, he wasn't brought in to initiate it. He was brought in to continue it. The scandal here is not only that they pursued getting people infected as their strategy, but that they tried to keep it a secret that this is what they were doing while they were doing it, and tried to pin the whole idea on Atlas, as if it was his idea and hadn't yet been implemented.

These people are sub-human, despicable liars. The good news is I don't have to work very hard to defend what I am saying because the truth always comes out. Eventually.

I buy 1,2,and 3.
I don't buy 4. Trump would have loved it if there was a solution like drinking bleach (pun intended), or perhaps some quick, easy fix. There weren't any, so he didn't really know what to do, other than pretend there wasn't a problem, which he did.
5 is demonstrably false. The CDC continued to function. The FDA continued to function. Many, many government employees continued to behave professionally. I totally agree that this was no thanks to Trump, but the idea that he actually succeeded is clearly false. He tried to exert undue influence, and in a few cases, he succeeded, but in most he did not. Fauci is still there. You also give Trump way too much credit. There was no "herd immunity strategy". There was no strategy at all, other than 1, 2, and 3. The "ex-post-facto" hire was exactly that. He was hired to give credibility to doing nothing, which was what had already been done. This approach did appeal to some politicians who also endorsed 1, 2, and 3, unfortunately.
The fact herd immunity was discussed does not prove Trump endorsed it or even understood it. I guess where you and I differ is that I don't believe it was a coherent plot to get herd immunity. I believe it was just people trying to figure out how to justify doing 1, 2, and 3.
From the Politico article:

In a statement, an HHS spokesperson said that Alexander’s demands for herd immunity “absolutely did not” shape department strategy.

“Dr. Paul Alexander previously served as a temporary Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and is no longer employed at the Department,” the spokesperson said.

Yes, he was an idiot. Fortunately, the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been because it was obvious he was an idiot.

The health department has worked to distance itself from Alexander since his mid-September departure, and several Trump appointees said that Alexander was often isolated during his roughly six-month stint advising department officials.

Yep.

[Goose]

Goose, read the Politico reporting. I understand the desire to be even handed and make sure "correlation doesn't equal causation" but it's now clearly obvious what I posted is the truth.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/16...egy-446408

1. POTUS wanted to win election
2. Economy was seen as path to victory
3. Pandemic closures put that at risk
4. POTUS didn't want to deal with the pandemic and doing nothing was easy
5. Every apparatus of the government was moved in a herd immunity direction since April

John Heilmann had a great characterization of Scott Atlas. He was an "ex-post-facto" hire to push the herd immunity strategy, meaning, he wasn't brought in to initiate it. He was brought in to continue it. The scandal here is not only that they pursued getting people infected as their strategy, but that they tried to keep it a secret that this is what they were doing while they were doing it, and tried to pin the whole idea on Atlas, as if it was his idea and hadn't yet been implemented.

These people are sub-human, despicable liars. The good news is I don't have to work very hard to defend what I am saying because the truth always comes out. Eventually.

I buy 1,2,and 3.
I don't buy 4. Trump would have loved it if there was a solution like drinking bleach (pun intended), or perhaps some quick, easy fix. There weren't any, so he didn't really know what to do, other than pretend there wasn't a problem, which he did.
5 is demonstrably false. The CDC continued to function. The FDA continued to function. Many, many government employees continued to behave professionally. I totally agree that this was no thanks to Trump, but the idea that he actually succeeded is clearly false. He tried to exert undue influence, and in a few cases, he succeeded, but in most he did not. Fauci is still there. You also give Trump way too much credit. There was no "herd immunity strategy". There was no strategy at all, other than 1, 2, and 3. The "ex-post-facto" hire was exactly that. He was hired to give credibility to doing nothing, which was what had already been done. This approach did appeal to some politicians who also endorsed 1, 2, and 3, unfortunately.
The fact herd immunity was discussed does not prove Trump endorsed it or even understood it. I guess where you and I differ is that I don't believe it was a coherent plot to get herd immunity. I believe it was just people trying to figure out how to justify doing 1, 2, and 3.
From the Politico article:

In a statement, an HHS spokesperson said that Alexander’s demands for herd immunity “absolutely did not” shape department strategy.

“Dr. Paul Alexander previously served as a temporary Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and is no longer employed at the Department,” the spokesperson said.

Yes, he was an idiot. Fortunately, the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been because it was obvious he was an idiot.

The health department has worked to distance itself from Alexander since his mid-September departure, and several Trump appointees said that Alexander was often isolated during his roughly six-month stint advising department officials.

Yep.