Trump Fails Again Only 6,563 Americans Tested As Of Today

He's in charge. It's his responsibility. Don't forget that he takes credit for everything even remotely positive that happens. He therefore deserves the blame as well.

He would have known about the initial failures of the test kits if he had read his daily press briefings. However, as we know, he never does. Maybe he blows his nose on them. The CDC tried to tell him they needed emergency funding for more test kits. On that day, he was at a hate rally blaming Democrats and calling the virus a "hoax."

However, even though he is and has been an incompetent, pathologically narcissistic liar and fuckup, I want him to succeed now. His address tonight was disturbing. He focused on xenophobia and travel bans--and even those bans aren't comprehensive enough. He also seems not to understand how widespread the epidemic is in the US. Travel bans won't mean shit.

South Korea has tested 200 times as many people, proportionately, as we have. Do they have a better system than we have? 200 times better? Maybe so! They don't have Trump!

I agree his speeches have been poor on this issue. He needs to spell out what is being planned behind the scenes. Unlike you I trust things are being planned behind the scenes because the people in charge of the actual medical end are the best. However, its not his reponsibilty to allocate more funds to fight this virus its the congress job to do that. Every politician tries to take credit when things are good. Remember 3 weeks ago when Obama wanted to take credit for this stock market? Think he still wants to? The blame game is getting old. I think you can start criticizing the actions of local governments and overreactions by sports leagues when the risk/reward response that wont mitigate anything and instead cripple many ancillary buisnesses that feed off them (most of them who employ the working poor) are put into effect. Phoenix has a very low cases of local spread. The experts here think its because of the hot weather. If thats true perhaps the flu will mitigate itself like most flu's once the weather heats up. Of course if that happens what Trump said in the beginning will be true. Wont that be a kicker... 

I don't think things are being done properly "behind the scenes" because Trump fired all the people who knew how to handle this situation in 2018, and most of them can't be recalled. You know very well that Trump officials are chosen for blind loyalty rather than ability. Emblematic of this is that Mike Pence, eminent scientist and famous health professional, is at the helm of the new task force.

What isn't Trump doing behind the scenes do you know about that isn't being done?

Rightdownthemiddle speaks (or types, LOL) sensibly, IMO.

THats easy.   All the stuff thats happening today: closed gathering places, limited flights, suspended sports seasons,  small business relief, and general public preparedness should have been happening a month ago when the president was calling it all FAKE NEWS dreamed up by liberals.

The difference between getting the result in SOuth Korea vs Italy is time and testing.     So far the US is looking more like Italy.     And thats not an accident beyond anyone's control

Italy has warm weather. California has warm weather. There doesn't seem to be any mitigating effect. Trump is very much responsible for the loss of containment. It was his job to make sure Federal agencies were prepared and up to the task. He had a two-month lead time instead of preparing for COVID-19  he was content to test the warm weather theory. As of today, the Federal agencies under Trump's management still aren't delivering working test kits. It isn't reasonable to continue to accept failure after failure when people's lives are at stake. 

Key Trump Failures:

1. He fired the CDC's pandemic response team in 2018 and did not replace them. 

2. Trump declined to use the WHO's test kits and decided it would be much better to develop our own from scratch. 

3. Rather than alert the nation to this threat he continued to downplay it and said several times the flu had a higher fatality rate.  The flu has a .1% fatality rate Covid-19 a 3-4% fatality rate.

4. Trump himself has been exposed to and in close quarters with COVID-19 positive people. He refuses to have a test himself or self-quarantine which encourages other idiots to do the same thing.  

5. Trump has said several times that COVID-19 is a hoax.

6. Trump continues to say things like anyone can have a test and there are millions of tests available seemingly unaware of his own failure to produce working test kits or outright putting people's lives in danger to hide his own incompetence. 

7.  Early on he gagged the CDC insisting all health warnings be filtered through Mike Pence so nothing that was said politically hurt Donald Trump. We know for certain Trump had Pence strike the CDC warning that people 60+ shouldn't fly on commercial domestic flights. 

8.  To date, Trump has failed to produce working COVID-19 test kits and a working testing regime. Every other nation has working test kits. 

9. To date, he has done nothing to prepare hospitals for the coming onslaught of patients.

10. He has done nothing while we run out of protective gear forcing the CDC to downgrade what type of gear is acceptable when treating COVID-19 patients.

11. Instead of taking responsibility for his failures he is promoting a racial and/or ethnic scapegoat. Publically he refers to COVID-19 as the "Chinese" or "Foreign" virus. Conservative politicians and commentators have followed this disgusting lead.  I predict Asian citizens will soon face violence and discrimination because of this. 

How can you trust things are being planned when everything so far has been a massive failure?

More bullshit.

Mark - if you want to communicate effectively  with David you are going to need to speak his language.

Do you have a meme from Facebook that makes your point?

If it's behind the scenes, by definition, we don't know exactly how he's failing. All we know is that he IS failing. Miserably.