Science.... schmience. Please pass the N95s.
30
It really is assuring now that we have a self-made idiot (Mike Pence) in charge, so that he can make the proper decisions that have the ability to consign many people to early graves. Pence doesn't care, same as his boss, and if he can make some political points for our idiot president, so much the better. Actually, it appears that Pence is now first in line to become a fall guy when things go really bad, say some time next month.
How lucky we are that so much money was saved by dismantling those stupid groups of scientists who knew what to do in case a superbug came after us. The Donald has done it again, demonstrating just how dumb he really is, and how much human suffering he can inflict on millions of people using nothing but stupidity, ignorance and lying.
206
From the book, "The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution" by Mark Roseman.
“More than any specific goals laid down in that decade, is was the emerging ‘syndrome’ of eager subordination, shared [ideological] values and competitive co-operation in pursuit of those values that proved the most disastrous omen for the future.” (P. 14)
Ideology over evidence. Faith over facts. And appointees exercising "eager subordination" to our 'dear leader.'
99
Uhh, didn't President Xi have a problem with information control ... recently?
326
Given the choice between Hillary Clinton, Trump, Sanders, or Biden in handling this situation I’ll take Trump.
Why? Only one with actual managerial experience.
105
@Arch Stanton And of course, as everyone knows, there are no bad managers.
736
@Arch Stanton Well, you're in luck, since in the real world where 60% of Americans live Trump IS the President and your hypothesis is being tested in earnest. Unfortunately, if the stock market is any measure of confidence in his management skills to handle this situation, so far his management skills appear to be nonexistent.
1074
@Arch Stanton Do you mean his experience running his failed airline, or his experience running his casinos that went bankrupt? I’m sure I am probably forgetting other examples of his stellar managerial experience...
1748
I am loving it every bit and Trump will get reelected still ! why He is a White Man .He says its good for us..
He must be looking out for us.. from his Golden cell sorry presidential cell!
The VP is the guy in charge who said the cigarette smoking is NOT injurious to health. How many died really ... they died since God thought their time was up !
16
It is times such as this that we need a calm, rational leader that knows how to execute a game plan, you know that man trump likes to slam, President Barrack Obama.
69
It's sad to see folks on the left using this epidemic to bash Trump
5
It seems that, with Trump, we reached "the age of idiocy"; in other words "do not believe the facts, believe me." What?
And then, a parade of ignorant and inept people in his cabinet, with a Senate of lame, trembling republican senators for their income, not for their job.
59
Krugman is an economist who has no expertise in epidemiology. He adds nothing towards prophylaxis here and should be silent.
7
I'm looking forward to seeing Rush Limbaugh and the more strident members of the Trump cult contract the Coronavirus to show all those pernicious libs just how harmless it is.
I'm only half-joking because in this idiocratic times, I half-expect them to pull such a stunt.
36
Faker Trump is over his head.
He should ask himself,
"What would Obama Do?"
Maybe he can call him up and ask.
38
The silver lining is that the virus might shut down Trump's idiotic rallies. Does our Dear Leader have the courage to face thousands of spittle-spewing fans shouting, "Eight more years"?
80
The liberal left is adamant that this is Obama’s economy then one must also give him credit for impact of the virus!
2
Following up your own advice, do you listen or read anything by Donald Trump?
2
Let's take funding away from trump's unnecessary wall, restore the taxes on the wealthy ( especially developers ) that were lowered and use these funds to help with this Public Health Crisis. This virus is exposing the lack of trust Americans ( and Wall Street ) have in this anti-science, anti -truth sociopath in the White House.
50
Folks, this is the disaster that we've been waiting for - the Trump Virus. It will illustrate what an incompetent con man he is as it spreads across the land. The tragedy is the illness, death, and economic chaos that will ensue. It will be ludicrous to watch the lies and machinations the "administration" will go through with this...
24
Does Pence need to clear his public statements with Mother?
69
Lots of people will die.
And eventually the cult will break.
The truth will come out.
16
The abject cruelty and incompetence of the Trump regime is unfathomable. They constitute a crisis within a crisis, a bumbling, arrogant, mean-spirited cohort of villainous monsters hellbent on capitalizing on the looming pandemic while ensuring that Americans remain off-balance. It’s ironic; the behavior of this administration in response to the coronavirus is sick.
45
Mr Krugman is an economist. Why would anyone give weight to his views on other matters?
4
Pence to control the message, not the virus.
Pence the fall guy. Trump can get another VP for next term.
38
Managed himself into multiple bankruptcies, wives and the single highest tax write off loss in history.
48
Trump is old enough to remember when children his age died from wide-spread diseases, before life-saving vaccines were developed.
Did he ever explain his decisions to dismantle our medical "wall" that prevents deadly diseases from entering our country?
33
So this is how the unraveling of a democracy starts. If this were a film or a series on Netflix a la House of Cards, I would be fascinated. But this is all too real, and I am truly frightened now (I was frightened before, but not as much as I am now, watching how this "administration" is taking it step by deliberate step, and turning a virus into a political weapon.
I'm fervently supporting Sanders, or whomever is chosen to do battle with this maniac and his minions. I'm neither particularly political nor inclined toward upheaval, but something inside me is now saying that something along the lines of civil disobedience, if not outright rebellion, may be necessary. (As I wrote that, I was actually thinking, "What if my saying that would make "them" deem me someone whose views are dangerous?"--that's how paranoid I'm feeling at this point, ridiculous as it might seem).
33
Reading the London Review this week I found a phrase for Trumpers that really hit the spot - people living in an alternative reality.
41
The Democrats are making this a political matter and blaming President Trump for not doing enough for the coronavirus. There are funds left over from the Ebola disease and he has proposed $2.5 Billion. He is sure to request more if need be. He has excellent medical staff watching out and studying this. The Dems are just a bunch of sour grapes who hate President Trump. They criticize him every chance they get. They must not get near the presidency in 2020.
5
The politically correct WH is now not letting scientists and doctors speak. SAD! Instead, everything gets filtered by the politicians so it does not anger Trump. What we will get is rosy stories and incredible acts to stop the virus. Meanwhile, millions are without health care and are likely to spread the virus to everyone. The WH can only whine and has no coherent response.
31
It’s as if Trump and his cronies have spent the last three years figuring out the most effective ways to destroy the economy, the physical and mental health of millions of Americans, and the planet. When will be rid of these criminals?
40
The stock market is falling because of the disruption in the supply chain, mostly China. Another benefit (?) of globalization. Didn’t anyone foresee this? Or was it ignored because of greed?
8
Ah yes--have the doctors' statements cleared by the president. That's how they do it in China.
53
COVID-19 is a serious issue. Politics should have no place in the fight to contain and eradicate it. Politics is being played on both sides, it’s clear that The NY Times and Paul Krugman, in particular, hate Donald Trump. He is not a likable person, for sure, but he is our President. The pettiness is rampant among Democrats and Republicans.
2
President Trump did propose budgetary cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but they have not taken place. Congress not only did not approve them but requested more funding. He is bound now not to make any serious cuts while the coronavirus is affecting our country. He would not think of putting people’s lives at risk. He is not heartless like the Democrats and leftists make him out to be. He is as concerned about this dreaded disease as is any Democrat. He is willing to spend any amount to wipe out this scourge to America.
3
What do you mean Trump is anti-science? He correctly analyzed and forcasted the path of hurricane Dorian landing in Alabama when TV experts targeted Florida. Sparing lives and saving property in Alabama his forecast later lauded by NOAA experts. He also knows a lot about bone spurs so medicine also one of his gifts. Most people agree global warming is a hoax. Trump is a stable genius.
34
In noting Wilbur's comment about the virus' potential for bring back jobs to America, maybe he should pay attention to history. When the plague hit Europe (several times), it killed off about 1/3 of the population. These were mostly serfs.
The end result? Feudalism died and workers were able to demand and get better pay.
I don't think this is what Wilbur is hoping for.
25
What did we expect?
However, I'm thankful that so many news organizations, especially those with decades of experience in trustworthy journalism, are still free to make needed contacts with trustworthy scientists, doctors, and health professionals so that Americans can be updated and advised on a minute-by-minute basis.
The Trump organization seems to be living in a separate reality from the rest of us and is not to be trusted in this very serious health situation.
43
:Dr. K,
At about 5:40 this afternoon, the Washington Post reports Second coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed in California, indicating virus is spreading in the state
"The patient is a 65-year-old person from Santa Clara County, with no known history of travel to places hit hard by the outbreak, and no contact with a known case of the virus. Santa Clara is about 90 miles from Solano County, where the first case of community transmission in the United States was confirmed this week."
This is interesting, a 90 mile leap seems illogical but I hope journalists and health care professionals will bear down on this persons whereabouts over the last two weeks or so. It is extremely important that we know how this virus is transmitted. The origins of this second case in California is extremely important.
14
I just went to the surgeon general’s website and the Corona virus is not mentioned at all. His latest blog post is about sickle cell anemia.
24
With us right now: an emerging pandemic;
upcoming: Springtime flood season, Summertime fire season, Fall hurricane season.
The upcoming floods, fires and hurricanes occur every year. So far this administration has not handled any of them well. Remember Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria?
It is not wise to expect this emerging pandemic to be handled well either.
33
@Robbie J. "Confidence men" conjure unwarranted confidence. That is Trump's racket.
15
Brilliant. Dr. Krugman's cynical opening paragraph is hilarious. Well, it would be if there wasn't so much truth to it. Besides the uncertainty, financial markets are tanking so precipitously because there is absolutely no confidence in Trump's leadership to deal with the crisis.
He puts Mike Pence in charge, who is a know-nothing. It's transparently obvious he's just there as Trump's gatekeeper to watch his back, control the message and prevent experts like Dr. Fauci from speaking out. If this is Trump's idea of restoring confidence in the markets, be prepared for plenty more carnage on Wall St.
42
Ebola and HIV/AIDS needed an intelligent way of thinking by the Health experts in order to be controlled. And it did not happen overnight. There is a strong possibility of coronavirus affecting the campaigns and election results. Candidates with protective masks would be a common situation. How the outbreak would affect the rallies? Hackers would try to take advantage. What a difficult year.
5
@M Martínez: Imagine if Trump called a "Lock up all the Democrats!" rally and nobody came.
5
Paul, you’re guilty of further politicizing this health crisis. Let’s judge Trump’s efforts after his team has had a chance to act and not before. There are only 60 cases in the United States currently and as new cases begin to drop in China, this pandemic maybe over sooner than most people expect. Given the terrible track record that the media and Democrats have predicting ‘end of the world’ Trump catastrophes, it might be prudent to wait and see how he does.
8
Don’t worry! There are only 60 cases so why be concerned! That was China’s view a month ago before 1,000 deaths occurred. 60 cases can multiply fast when a virus can be transmitted so easily. I’m sure the King of England said that when bubonic plague started - “hey don’t worry it’ll be over soon”. King Donald I knows best.
13
Democrats response: Panic and blame Trump for everything.
6
Trumpism is all about an alternate reality--his. The tragedy, however, is not that we have him at the helm during such a terrible time. The tragedy is that our country has devolved so badly that he could even get there. And quite possibly remain for another 4 years after November. As Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there comes a time to form new government. We need that more than ever now. And sadly, it won't happen. We will just descend into a Banana Republic structure.
Jefferson's exact words are below:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…"
So.....Bye-Bye American Pie!
20
@dajoebabe: Even Jefferson would concur that humans evolved if he lived now. We were not deliberately created, and we are infinitely diverse at the level of psychology.
4
@dajoebabe: Jefferson wrote that the Constitution as originally written might endure only 20 years. After the abolition of slavery, aiding and abetting Jim Crow was the only reason to preserve unequal Senate representation and the Electoral College.
5
Make China Great Again - emulate the initial Chinese response to the virus has become the Trump response.
15
(re: The Corona Virus)
Trump constantly equates a booming stock market as a measure of how good he is for the country. I've seen comments before to NYTimes stories where some people (I'm afraid I count myself among them) have hoped that the economy wasn't doing so well, in the hope that Trump's re-election would be that LESS assured. It's a reluctant hope, but the thought of 4 more years of Trump is THAT terrifying.
Now that the market is in free-fall, I've made some mental associations with an old, treasured sci-fi movie "WAR OF THE WORLDS" (1953).
PLOT: Aliens invade earth, chaos and destruction ensue, man seems doomed. Suddenly the aliens begin to die.
Their demise? Due to common germs that humans have long since adapted to!
Donald Trump (invading alien) defeated by common germs, a lowly virus* that "God in his wisdom put on this earth"~!
*(quoting the book: "slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; . . . slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth"
8
If there is one good thing that could come of a COVID outbreak, it's that it might help build public demand for mandatory paid sick leave and universal, affordable healthcare. Wait until Americans start dying in higher percentages because those who can't afford healthcare wait until the disease is very serious before seeking help, at which point for many it's too late. Wait until low-wage workers with no paid sick leave show up to work ill and infect hundreds of others. Can you imagine the US government imposing a quarantine like they did in China? Heavens, how would people get their Amazon Prime packages? Gotta keep those wage slaves chained. If they get sick, oh well, more where those came from. Maybe it will take a worst-case scenario for the US to see the light on universal health care and sick leave.
19
And yet, people continue to support him...
17
Among Trump’s most avid supporters were the alumni of Trump U., until they weren’t and took him to court.
30
Last night (2/27) on MSNBC there was an physician with expertise in virology and clinical practice. His primary complaint was that there was a complete shortage of Covid-19 testing kits available for Doctors. He believed that is is necessary for literally every health care provider in their office to have at their disposal a testing kit for any patient with symptoms, right at the point of service and not in some big hospital testing lab. He explained that the CDC had failed in this regard while other countries had done vastly better. Specifically, he mentioned that in South Korea there was a company manufacturing 100,000 test kits per day and wondered why we just couldn't buy them on the market.
This caused me to ask myself how the CDC and NIH could have bungled this point so badly. And then it occurred to me.
Is it possible that the shortage of testing kits represents a desire by the Trump administration to intentionally NOT know how my true case of Covid-19 there are? I'll admit I have no tangible evidence that this is true but given the administrations clear desire to suppress the facts re Covid-19 can anyone tell me this is out of the question?
Perhaps what looks like simple incompetence is in fact a twisted and deranged policy.
44
It just dawned on me that in addition to DJT’s many notable and “excellent” and often “perfect” attributes, we can now add another: He can foresee the future!
Back during the election, we were told about MAGA being about American greatness, but it clearly means Make Another Great Antidote in reference to our truly great scientists, particularly those at the CDC!
I am so keen on MAGA now.
5
This is what happens when an uninformed public votes for a reality show host to be president. Maybe America will finally wake up.
57
This is just the kind of reality that does not respond to lying; an inversion of Mr. Trump, who does not respond to truth.
19
7 bankruptcies, utter disdain for non supplicant media, minute by minute pathological lying, every day being “opposites day” in Trumplandia, outright hostility towards science and intellectualism, 6th grade level name-calling, clannishness, overt bigotry, and continuous tribalistic revenge...I have likely missed a couple of the man-child’s other glaring characteristics.
My god, why do I feel queasy? The real test will be if this outbreak is severe enough to get his wantonly enabling base to emerge from their opium smoke and begin their long overdue recovery to reality. This situation is precisely the litmus test to demonstrate why a big government has real value to our large nation, and why we need our government to be run like a government and not a business.
53
The Trump personality cult is now facing the most dangerous international environment in memory. As Donald Trump struggles with the calculus of an ugly re-election in light of his utterly incompetent response to the exploding pandemic threatening global economic & political stability, Vladimir Putin has undertaken a ground & air offensive on the Turkish border with Syria. Suddenly Turkey is confronted with an influx of up to a million Syrian refugees while it's troops & air defenses are under attack and are calling for NATO aid in repelling Russian & Syrian forces. These simultaneous crisis require a level of competence, character and leadership on both a domestic & international level, that far exceeds the abilities Trump has ever demonstrated. I am at a loss to identify any leader in American history that would be assured of meeting such a challenge. I can't imagine what personal resources Trump will call on at this point.
24
I believe that Trump supporters have known all along that he was a huckster. They enjoyed the upset he caused in the political machinery that they felt excluded by. Watching Trump's bloviating response to COVID-19 was nothing more than what he has repeatedly used to counterfeit the appearance of competence from the first day he was in office. I think those who enjoyed his style of sticking it to the establishment have enough sense of self preservation that this will galvanize them to leave his camp.
9
Watch --
President T go to Mar-a-Lago? Not until the coast is clear (and then some), I predict.
How long before he, or anyone high up in his administration, goes anywhere, for that matter?
China?--Don't even think about it. Japan?--Nope. Macdonald's?--Doubtful.
T's one BIG strong point is his ability to lie effectively.
For a good sense of how much he actually fears COVID-19, see if he self-isolates; see if he meets (face-to-face, or even in the same room) with anyone at all; see if he quarantines his cabinet, or his driver(s).
14
See how many rallies he holds. See how many continue to attend his rallies.
12
Chaos, panic and death sweeping thru the USA and the absence of a real President to deal with it all must make Putin ecstatic - he got a quid pro quo for helping/causing Trump's election far greater than he could ever have imagined.
15
Ironic, to say the least when the red baiting and fearmongering of socialism and communism goes on in this election cycle concurrently : the predicament we are in regarding gutting of our disease control center, and the denial and lying to the people reminiscent of authoritarian totalitarian regimes.
17
It's agonizingly obvious that Trump has no idea what he's talking about. Even if he still has any intelligent and informed advisers left, I doubt they could make a dent in his formidable ignorance, and his derangement is such that he feels entitled to pronounce with confidence on any issue.
"You're not entitled to your opinion. You're entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant" (Harlan Ellison)--especially, one might add, the POTUS, but the U.S. will probably re-elect him anyway.
16
Tell the American people the truth Mr. President. Give us the facts so we can protect ourselves. This is not the times for politics as usual. All Americans will support you and your efforts if you do the right thing. Allow the scientists to guide you and help the nation through this crisis. The truth shall set you free.
5
@Bernard Oliver Fortunately, the truth has already convicted many Trump insiders. It's his pardons that will set them free, and his base won't care. They might possibly care if they start dropping in the thousands from COVID-19, but they'll find a way to blame the Democrats.
(I just heard a rumour that Trump has ordered the extermination of all ravens, crows, jays, etc. because he think corvids are responsible for the virus, but I don't believe it--he wouldn't understand the word "corvid.")
3
The first thing that should happen is a bipartisan DEMAND from congress that CDC issue a daily unfiltered briefing so that the American public knows what is really happening and how to respond to it. This should appear simultaneously on all major news channels.
GHC
25
It's not just Trump's ridiculous words, it's his incompetence that is now on display.
Other countries are right now testing 10's of thousands of people for the virus.
We don't have any such capacity, thanks to Trump's shortsighted policies and his indifference to the well-being of ordinary people who did not inherit half a billion dollars.
15
Step aside Trump, Pence, Republicans and Fox. We need the Public Health Scientists leading this crisis.
24
Trump has a real problem with the coronavirus. This is a public health emergency, and a possible pandemic.
Diseases require science to solve. Science deals with facts, and research, and takes time.
Trump deals with lies and spin, Trump already knows "more than the experts", and likes quick easy solutions.
Trump believes that to "build a Wall" is a solution, and will keep out the root of all his problems, poor brown people. For Trump, isolation, fear-mongering, and delusion are the go-to solutions for every issue.
Diseases, unfortunately, ignore borders, and citizenships. Diseases make no distinction between wealthy and poor, or between any races. Diseases affect both red states and blue states equally, unlike Trump's policies. Diseases attack Trump's supporters and Trump's opponents. Diseases ignore Trump's lies, and reveal his ignorance, his incompetence, and his lies.
17
Given his position on the Coronavirus, President Trump can now take credit for the creation of the 51st state, the state of denial.
23
Dealing with this pandemic should be left to the states as much as possible, which from the looks of things will be so in any case. If the consequences of not believing in science and reason, and of electing officials who do the same, are immediately fatal to enough people that the fatalities cannot be hidden or written off, we will be much better off in the long run.
The people who live in those states and think their elected state officials are incompetent should move. The people who live there and voted for these officials should suffer the consequences of their actions, and those who did not vote for them should abandon attempts to rescue those who did. If people are unwilling to listen to reason, they will sometimes listen to the consequences of their actions, and the consequences of downplaying the coronavirus come much more quickly than the consequences of downplaying global warming.
4
Can each state isolate itself so that the potential incompetence of the government of any single state is not visited upon its neighbours?
1
This is so depressing.
No words. I am just acknowledging that this moment has that effect on me.
9
Mr. Krugman,
I do not disagree with anything you said except, "Remarkably, we've gone three years without finding out [how the Trump administration would] deal with a crisis not of its own making." Have you forgotten the post-hurricane debacles in Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands?
26
So much for “Making America great again”. Now, the war-cry of the Democratic Party should be “Make America HUMANE Again.”
But it can’t happen as long as Democrats don’t regain the Senate and keep the House.
Conscientious America has a lot of work ahead.
9
It's not that he doesn't believe in science; he doesn't know what it is.
28
The coronavirus is a serious threat. Mr. Krugman's assertion that it might be as serious as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic is speculative at best. So far, this is nothing like the Spanish flu outbreak.
John M. Barry, in his book The Great Influenza says:
"Although the influenza pandemic stretched over two years, perhaps two-thirds of the deaths occurred in a period of twenty-four weeks, and more than half of those deaths occurred in even less time, from mid-September to early December 1918. Influenza killed more people in a year than the Black Death killed in a century; it killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years."
We're not quite there yet.
2
@Rick Bogle I believe Mr. Krugman was referring to the possible death percentage among number of people with the illness. If this cornavirus has a 2-3% death rate that would make it 20 times more deadly than this seasons influenza at 0.10%.
5
@JK, maybe, but his allusion to the Spanish flu wasn't qualified.
The coronavirus could turn out to be as deadly, as could any fast-moving highly virulent new virus, but it is far too soon to suggest that this one is moving in that direction.
To be clear, I'm not downplaying the risks. I am not convinced that the virus isn't something that escaped from Wuhan's BSL-4 lab. It's clear that accidents and errors in these labs will continue and that viruses with enhanced virulence escape from them, but so far, this virus hasn't had nearly the impact of the 1918 pandemic; suggestions that it has are false and that it could are mere speculation.
1
"And in case you’re wondering, no, the coronavirus isn’t like the common cold. In fact, early indications are that the virus may be as lethal as the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed as many as 50 million people."
In 1918 the global population was about a fifth what it is today. So could we see 250,000,000 = a quarter of a billion deaths worldwide from this novel coronavirus?
The answer is yes. And they could occur over the next year.
Consider that up to 70% of the world's population could be infected by the end of 2020. (That's because it's so easily transmittable, with most people not even knowing they have it. And one infected person can spread it to 3-4 others on average.)
It appears to be 20 times more lethal than the seasonal flu, but the numbers coming out of China are not completely reliable, so let's say it's really more like 40 times more lethal. That means 4% of people who get it will die from it.
And a viable vaccine will not be available for at least a year.
Four percent of 70% is about 3% of the globe (about 8 billion people) = about a quarter of a billion people who will die over the next year.
Hardest hit will be countries like Africa with poor medical services.
I would expect panic and a really bad year ahead. Trump could declare martial law and cancel the election?
Who knows?
4
This editorial and others are on the mark concerning the administration and it's behavior. Yet you miss the mark and fall into a trap if you continue to cover the virus as a Trump story for too much longer. It isn't.
Our medical system awards patients treatment based on their ability to pay. It even decides who gets to be a patient or not based on money. That would be the case even if the democrats were in power now.
In America, good insurance is more likely to get you overmedicated, unnecessary surgery, boutique drugs, high tech devices and longer stays in hospital. Bad insurance here gets you given the minimum, delayed testing, sent home early, half steps and jury rigging. No insurance can be a death sentence in freedom's land. Medical bankruptcy can hit you no matter what your insurance.
Expect all of these unique and passive aggressive features of our system to be compounded and magnified in an epidemic.
The sick in the wealthy suburbs of the North East corridor or the Bay Area will have plenty of respirators and Oxygen tents to spare. Meanwhile in the Dakotas and the Mississippi Delta. No. Not so much. The line between Red America and Blue America will steer the effects of this epidemic like all else in American life. Ethical decisions will have to be made. The time to live in denial about having left whole regions behind and telling them it's their own fault is over.
9
"And now, according to The Times, government scientists will need to get Pence’s approval before making public statements about the coronavirus."
So we're no better than China or Russia now. An autocracy of incompetence, aka a kakistocracy.
So much for freedoms, of speech in particular, and patriotism. Freedom of speech doesn't apply to private corporations, but it definitely applies to the government itself, which is supposed to protect the speech of anyone protesting government policies, or really anything. Here we have overt suppression. Never mind the fact that far too much stuff is classified and buried, and that journalists and concerned citizens have to pry information loose by filing Freedom of Information lawsuits.
A 2% fatality rate could ease the homeless problem (it will spread far faster among those living in the streets) and alleviate housing crunches in expensive cities which tend to skew blue. Will Trump try to take the credit for such an anti-accomplishment?
It's happening here folks. What was that bit about Trump keeping a copy of 'Mein Kampf' on his bedstand?
8
@Ignatius J. Reilly: Religion isn't taken seriously in China the way it is here in the US. Pence is probably crying "God help us all!" in his office right now.
4
Nobody believes that Trump reads, much less that he reads German. That strains credulity.
2
So many people I know, including people I love, have said all along, “Trump hasn’t bothered me with his pronouncements and actions. And my investments are soaring!” Perhaps when the coronavirus comes to the door and/or the stock market goes lower or stays there, a few more people will wake up to reality.
21
I’ve heard it said that every lie incurs a debt to the truth that must eventually be paid.
In the case of the oncoming crisis, that debt will be extremely high.
20
Consider that in 1918 the population was much smaller, most people lived and agrarian life and international travel was only available for a very small percentage of people. Yet it took out 50 million people.
8
@Paulie OK, but don't forget that a World War was raging and hundreds of thousands of otherwise "agrarian" people were being sent all over the globe as soldiers.
8
Watching the charade of this administration is appalling and grotesque. Putting an incompetent VP who has little to do in charge is downright disgusting, especially given his record on health care in his state (truly sickening and deadly in this case).
So, Trump, you fired those with expertise and now we have at swallow the incoherent babble you spew daily in the face of a serious emergency that requires scientists -- solution -- muzzle them!
Vote this man and his sycophants out of office!
27
@Romy: Bad stuff will get worse if Pence's God is made irritable by being prayed-at.
3
Unbelievable. Trump's moral depravity and megalomania appear to know no bounds.
Trump is evidently willing to let people die needlessly--and of course the virus will kill members of his base as indiscriminately as it will Democrats--to burnish his image in an election year.
And--wait for it--his supporters are actually congratulating him for lying to them and endangering their lives and the lives of their children.
When one reads of the absurd, supposed feats of physical strength and acrobatic prowess of Kim Jong-un, it's impossible not to laugh out loud. But now we have a truly deranged and criminally negligent man here at home--occupying the White House--and congressional Republicans willing to lick his boots even now, when their own constituents could lose their lives?
What will it take for them to let go of their allegiance to this maniac?
22
It seems the Very Stable Genius doesn't know what he is talking about with infectious diseases. Expect things to get much worse going forward as they did in 1918. Historians say that its spread was made worse by President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to pretend everything was just fine.
We seem to be repeating the same mistake.
16
With this virus killing mostly elders, perhaps we’ll have an overnight change in our electorate. The younger people are the more likely they are to be liberal.
18
Cue the GOP insisting dead people can vote.
5
Trump's ineptitude, his ignorance and his diversion of resources from critical areas have made us acutely vulnerable to pathological and financial contagions. Meanwhile he has been building a 1930s style Maginot Line along our southern border to ward off a phantom menace. Our enemies are laughing their heads off. Our few remaining friends are ready to throw up their hands in frustration.
14
Do not trust any numbers that come of the mouths of Pence and his boss. They know nothing of medical science, epidemiology, and prevention measures (other than praying to the very same god that made the COVID-19).
The official stuff from the CDC should be the banner headlines.Anything the president and his #2 say on this matter should be relegated to page 10 in a small box on the lower left hand corner.
12
Trump is the ultimate proof that you don’t have to be smart, thoughtful, honest, or knowledgeable to be president. The only thing you really need is to be is obese, lie a lot, blame others for everything wrong, take credit for everything right, promote hate, appoint incompetent people to important jobs, and most important of all have orange skin.
19
In the impeached liar's latest budget, he CUT the CD's funding by $700 million
Way to go Donnie /s
Yet another example of total incompetence. Keep putting money in defense so we can wage more wars and drop more bombs
Re: Stock Market Crash
My stupid father-in-law and brother-in-law praise Trump and all they cared about was there return on their 401ks. Now that all of those gains have disappeared and are actually closer to what they were 12 years ago, I bet they STILL love the guy.
12
No worries.
The Senate is going to vote against Coronavirus for Donald.
Take that do nothing Democrats!
8
This is a horrible way to disclose Trump's true self, but it is what it is.
Trump has finally found an entity that he cannot bully or lie to. The virus does not understand either of those concepts.
He can bully the truth-sayers and can lie to his doubting followers (Rush Limbaugh, etc.), but the virus won't change its course.
A truly terrible way to shine a telling light on this president.
10
Are there any republicans anywhere that don't see how reckless trump is? How irresponsible, dangerous, self-serving...any one? It's like they've all gone mad.
21
It definitely seems that Trump has drained the swamp. And replaced it with sewage.
21
I like how you demonize anyone that is a Republican. Nearly every business owner I personally know votes Republican, including the guy that signs my paycheck. But you say "Cult of Personality." That's the way to sway things, act like people that vote Republican are too stupid to know better. I'm not a Republican, but he's getting re-elected.
4
It's loyalty and only loyalty to 45 that will save this nation. As they used to say "gag me with a spoon".
2
I wonder whether the coronavirus epidemic will become Trump's Hurricane Katrina moment,. If it turms into a real pandemic, will Trump declare, "You're doing a heck of a job, Mikey"?
5
Not looking to pile on here, honest. I just dont want to get Coronavirus.
The ost plausible explanation of the origin of this virus seems to be that it jumped from an animal that is prized for its "medicinal" qualities in China. I know we cant become vegetarians overnight but we our first and last Progressive president did institute a meat inspection program for USA which has never been threatened with right wing extinction because it is effective.
It seems that right wing regimes like those of Trump, Xi in China, Putin in Russia, Bolsonaro in Brazil, et al, immediately categorize any perceived threat as a "hoax" probably because the siege mentality has become so ingrained in their fiber that they are unable to any longer distinguish fact from fiction.
If knee jerk blame on the "other" (immigrants, gays, Muslims, .e.g.) isn't available, then the blame is categorized under the general heading of "hoax" which is a generic "other" to be specified at a later date.
Somebody in the media pointed out that Trump blamed the Democratic debate for a fall in the stock market which had occurred before the starting time of the debate. Hey, we had an alias this time.
4
Exactly, Paul. Now Trump's total lack of leadership ability is on full display. Instead of being prepared on Wednesday evening he stepped up to the podium once again and just ran his big stupid mouth. Some of the things he said were so outrageous that he's literally exacerbating the problem. For instance he claimed the flu was as dangerous as the coronavirus. First of all the coronavirus is 20 times as deadly, but why would a president our leader even make such a negative reference?? (Because he's an idiot.) The night before he blamed the Democratic debate in South Carolina for the stock market losses on Monday and Tuesday. A debate that happened hours after the stock markets closed on Tuesday was responsible for market losses on Monday and Tuesday?? A real president, like Obama, would have been coordinating our efforts against the coronavirus like a finely tuned machine. With Trump we get Pence, who I imagine intends to pray as a means of quelling the impending pandemic. We are up against a very complex issue that will affect not just our health but our economy, are livelihoods, and even our freedom. We need a competent leader and we don't have one. Period.
14
So no public statements about the virus without Mike Pence's approval. Not surprising but WOW!
Pence, who abhors gender nuances, has his work cut out for him as there is some confusion on the gender of virus, in Germany at least: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/2735/what-gender-does-a-virus-have
And then there's the fact that thus far the coronavirus takes a greater toll on men (number of cases and deaths). Surely fodder for labeling the outbreak a feminist liberal plot.
Why should we expect anything different from the vacuous Pence and this dumb, incompetent fact-spinning administration?
Next up Mulvaney who will tell us to "just get over it".
13
@GM
He basically has, and worse.
3
" government scientists will need to get Pence’s approval before making public statements about the coronavirus."
Oh, just like in Communist China where the doctor-hero Li Wenliang who tried to sound the alarm in time to stop the virus was silenced (and died).
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/opinions/coronavirus-bociurkiw/index.html
Trump following the uninformed dictators' playbook, enabled and protected by Senate Republicans
12
When Trump was waiving around the report from Johns Hopkins on the Coronavirus at his press conference as an excellent analysis, showing he was on top of the crisis - he didn't mention it came from the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yep, Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins and helped fund the school.
8
The Republican machine was built on controlling the message. That spin doesn't work in the face of a pandemic.
If there's any consolation, I just heard that there is a near earth orbit asteroid that has a 2% chance of crashing into earth. Somehow that seems remote and unlikely. It's the same 2% chance of dying from Covid19. Maybe things aren't that bad.
The asteroid was redirected by Trump
If Pence doesn’t ‘fix it’ will Nikki Haley become Trump’s running mate?
2
@Irene Kaplan You beat me to it.
I urge you to call or email your elected representatives about the administration's plan to have all communication about the coronavirus go through Pence's office. All the better if they are Republicans. The American public needs to hear directly from the CDC and other health care professionals. The current administration is filled with sycophants, liars, and propagandists. Demanding direct communication from health professionals in the government is warranted.
8
To paraphrase Franklin D. Roosevelt: "The only thing we have to fear is Trump, himself!"
9
I think the people of Puerto Rico would like a word when you say "...some of us worried how his administration would deal with a crisis not of its own making."
7
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
9
Trump wanted to treat the coronavirus like he does global warming. He wants people to make believe it’s not really real.
It’s not working. It’s all too real.
His press conference yesterday was one of the worst performances of his presidency.
He’s nothing more than a Twitter troll who just got handed a very hot potato.
15
Trump appointed a science denying homophobic religious fanatic to quarterback the response to the outbreak and to serve as minister of coronavirus propaganda. Well at least he did not turn it over to Fox and Friends.
12
This is a very fine piece. Thanks.
Because there is a very narrow gap between the eyebrow and the hairline - a characteristic of all right-wing Populists - they operate in slogans. I suggest the following is the one Trump, Xi Jinping, Bozo Johnson , Bolsonaro and the clown running North Korea adopt:-
“Cruelty in all things.”
A good outcome of the current epidemic / pandemic would be to see all the above wiped from history. Think - how great it would be to wake up in the morning and not to see their evil names in the headlines.
3
Indeed, so far trump has been lucky. Not a single crisis has hit his administration, other than the self-inflicted ones of course, like Krugman also noted. I concluded a long time ago that this trump, given his continuous luck, is protected by the devil himself (Pence should know all about that character). In any case, given the incompetence and totalitarian tendencies of this administration, I think we are heading for a disaster of biblical (again, Pence!) proportions. And if trump will lose his re-election over this, well, I hate to say it, but that might very well be the ONLY good thing that might come from this.
3
“So the Trumpian response to crisis is completely self-centered, entirely focused on making Trump look good rather than protecting America.”
Surely that won’t work. Surely your fellow Americans will see through this transparent sham. Just like in 2016.
Thanks for dragging all the rest of us down with you, neighbour (with a “u”).
3
The staggering incompetence and corruption of the Trump Administration comes home to roost.
5
The U.S. actually has a posotion known as Surgeon General
https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/about/index.htmlwho
who is charged with protecting the health and safety of the
American people.
This office, amazingly is not vacant.
VADM Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H. is the Surgeon General
So why haven't we heard from him??
548
@MBR because he worked for Pence in Indiana during the HIV crisis and he's a team player
51
@MBR
Mostly because it seems that this new virus is being used as another reason to attack Trump, and only secondarily to report what our scientists and medical professionals are stating.
I read the news from Hong Kong, China, S. Korea and the other hot spots, where thousands have already died. Rarely can I find any articles that focus on attacking their political leaders. Rarely! There is no rioting, looting, and even the minor panics have been limited to standing in line for tests or hoarding of things like toilet paper. There are few loud complaints about even shutting down their outdoor food markets or having to change their eating habits.
But the calmness over there in the midst of this new unknown disease makes the response by our most respected media, like NYT and WP, read like opinions from a panic-stricken lynch mob, mostly concerned with the stock market, or who can we blame, sue, or elect.
Over here, any comment by Trump, even though it obviously meant to calm the public, is magnified into mega headlines, even though their mostly irrelevant compared to our CDC and science experts' opinions.
11
@MBR he/she is probably qualified, a scientist, sensible and community minded. Doesn’t fit with Trump’s requirements of staff.
20
Oh my God!
We have come to this - we have to trust an anti-science and fool of a president AND his anti-science religious nutcake of a vice president to save America from a plague.
We are doomed, until we vote this yahoos out of office. I can't wait!
14
Maybe the wall will keep the virus out?
2
I fully expect a future Trump photo event will be of him throwing bottles of hand sanitizer to crowds of desperate people in MAGA hats.
6
Trump costs us 133.8 million in golf trips so far. But he has cut the CDC budget by that and more. Yep, let’s start by cutting aid to the poor to ge us back to what’s needed now as this crisis deepens. 200 virus testing kits in California, 200.
6
The incompetency and corruption and deceit of the Trump WH is stunning. Other than declaring the rapid spread of this virus as “fake news”, I see no other low road the president can take other than throwing the likes of Pence and Kudlow under the bus when the infections soar and the markets continue to tank.
2
If Mike Pence is running the show now, we all better start praying:
Not to Jesus Cristo, but to Louis Pasteur...
6
“Almost as soon as he took office, Trump began cutting funding for the [CDC]…80 percent cut in the resources the agency devotes to global disease outbreaks…[and] shut down the entire global-health-security unit of the National Security Council.”
But he sure stuck it to us liberals!
6
The only thoughts that come to my mind after reading your column are Albert Einstein words:
”Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”
USA is living a 21st century Medieval Dark Ages. Scary.
14
Wash your hands and don't panic.
4
Trump and his minions have a vested interest in under reporting the outbreak. If you're a Trump supporter and get sick, don't call your health professional. It will make the President look bad.
5
Those of us who have read "The Fifth Risk" by Michael Lewis aren't the least bit surprised by all of this. Unfortunately, with our country led by a willfuly ignorant fool & his willfully ignorant appointees & minions, this is the natural progression of the Donald Trump Presidency.
9
The last (3-line) paragraph of thr article synthesizes perfectly the card he usually plays!
2
I wish no one harm... but let those who believe in the narcissistic cult leader drink his cool aide, go to his rallies, live as if the world according to Rush is reality and experience the natural consequences. As the Scots say, “if you do the dance, you pay the piper.”
As for the rest of us critical thinkers, wash your hands often; sanitize your phones, cars and homes; stay home, hydrate and rest if you feel sick; wear face masks when in crowded places and take good care of yourself and family.
Oh yeah...and vote like your life depends on it.
18
The most amazing for this foreign observer ,is the serenity of respected liberal public figures like prof Krugman, and democratic voters in the face of a situation, which in other times would have generated a call to action. Squeaky clean Town Halls, endless childish debates ,more show than substance, poorly organized primaries... The collective hypnosis president Trump has managed to cast over his followers and opponents has to be the biggest magic trick ever performed.
This new unexpected black swan event exposes the naked mediocrity of the administration ,its inability to grasp the potential threat to the nation's health,and its clear preference for the defense of the president's image and the stock market performance.yet nobody seems to think there is now a real need for efficient intervention led by competent ,caring people.
To paraphrase good old Cicero, I'd like to exclaim :Until when Catilina- Trump will you continue to threaten the Republic 's institutions and welfare...
From far away,one can only sit, observe and hope.
4
@Marcelo Brito Sorry,in my 69 years Hope never worked!
When my dad had a stroke in 1993, the timing and precise nature of the medical event were a surprise. That something terrible happened wasn't the slightest bit surprising. He had multiple risk factors for a cardiac event.
The timing and the precise nature of what's happening now (corona virus + Trump administration's feeble efforts to address it) are a surprise. That something terrible is unfolding isn't the slightest bit surprising. There have been multiple risk factors present since Day 1, obvious to anyone who's paid any attention at all to what's going on.
7
It was just reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC was scheduled to speak on five of the "Sunday Talk Shows" regarding coronavirus, but was told not to do so by the Trump administration. This is a bridge too far. Dr. Fauci has informed us about AIDS and Ebola, not to mention many health issues that face this country. Regardless of our race, religion or politics, we have come to trust him. We are lucky to have NIH, where intelligent, dispassionate scientists spend everyday working to treat and cure disease.
Donald Trump may be the president but he does not have the right to endanger us all, with his deceit. Two weeks ago, his actions against his own DNI made us less safe. Placing political hacks in leadership roles threaten us all. It's ironic that the primary mission of the POTUS is the safety of the American people and Donald Trump is singularly disinterested in our well being.
21
@batpa: Trump doesn't want the public to see any example of the confidence that can be built on science. The notion that God runs the US underlies its politics at this moment of singularity.
6
I wasn't terribly worried about the coronavirus until I read this and a few other articles that show how utterly incompetent our government's response is going to be.
Based on that new information, I'm terrified. And I don't scare easily.
805
@Joe Sabin
Well, I’m going to Costco to stock up on...everything!
21
@Joe Sabin
For all of you like Joe, I can only say, “better late than never “.
18
@Einstein Same here!
5
politicizing the virus which is spreading globally?
8
And so another arrow into the dying heart of a Democratic Republic.
4
The policies of this administration toward public health are a real throwback. Way back to the 1300's. Italy, now one of the most newly infected COVID-19 countries, then gave us quaranta, the 40 day period in which a plague-infected ship would be prevented from entering an Italian port from which the modern word quarantine is derived. Even today in an echo of the plague times, custom inspectors still ask a question of all arriving ships: are there any dead aboard?
To the #IMPOTUS, a COVID-19 outbreak is not inevitable in the US because he says so and, given enough concern, he would likely close the borders from all countries with COVID-19 outbreaks. That may very soon be all travelers except those from Antarctica.
Excluding the sick or feverish from America cannot stop the virus. I have a word for our president: latency. A person incubating a disease may show no signs of it whatsoever for many days and may be contagious before they are symptomatic. Attempting to stop the spread of disease with a virtual wall will fail unless travelers are placed in a prison (without human contact) for at least 14 days if not a quaranta immediately on arrival.
Couple latency with an R-zero between 2 and 6 (the theoretical number of susceptible contacts who would be infected by one patient) and we are in for heavy weather. Even if you can find a Dr. Pangloss to parrot your nonsense, Mr. President, COVID-19 will out just like truth and science.
12
Looks to me like we ordinary citizens are a bunch smarter than Trump and his lackeys think we are, thinking for ourselves and taking individual and community measures to deal with this mess. Hope his supporters begin thinking for themselves too, and vote him out.
6
"Cruelty in all things." Here is the perfect summary of Trump and his Republican ilk. It flows like sewage from his and their self-centeredness and greed. The sooner we clear out not just that swamp but cesspool through saving ourselves with our votes, the better!
13
Couldn't have happened without Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch twisting facts for decades.
We finally have to wonder if Putin is secondary to those two is wounding America through ceaseless poisoning of the public well.
13
The ineptitude of this administration is truly breathtaking.
16
I am truly frightened and I'm sure that George Orwell is sitting up in his grave taking a bow wearing a T Shirt that says "I told You So!"
8
The Coronavirus Pandemic is a genuine worldwide disaster, and Trump has made it worse by denial and incompetence.
Trump is concerned that this looks bad for him. His natural response to any crisis is to lie, cover up his own mistakes, and blame others. VP Pence will do whatever Trumps says. We cannot trust anything they say.
Under Obama, the US government was prepared. But after Trump cut the budget of the CDC two years ago, experts predicted that this would hurt American preparedness:
“Why American could become vulnerable to the next major pandemic”
https://time.com/5177802/cdc-budget-cuts-infectious-disease/
Every American death will be on Trump’s head.
16
If you thought you were embarrassed by Trump and his actions, wait til you see what Pence does as the czar of medical emergencies! This is a man who stalled off any meaningful action to halt an HIV epidemic in Indiana, while people by the dozens were getting infected. Then he stalled some more while he "prayed" on it. Then he finally took the most minimalist action he could. All the while people were getting infected for no good reason other than his Christio-fascist ideals.
If Mike Pence can't grasp the need for action in that case, how will he possibly save us from a mostly unknown?
And if you think he is that bad, look at who drafted him to bungle this job.
13
Trump mouthpieces declare that "He was right to close the borders". What are they talking about? 300,000 people a day cross the US Canada border. Canada has the virus. Over 130,000 people travel between Europe and the US every day. From countries like Italy, France, Germany, and others with the virus. None are tested when they come here. There could already be dozens of cases in the US. Even hundreds. We just haven't looked.
These people don't all arrive in one distinct place. They travel to places such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicaco, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Miami. To Orlando to spend a few days at Disney World. To give Trump credit for "closing the borders" is just stupid. There is no such thing.
We need a strong, scientifically-based approach to this issue. We need to plan and educate; not deny.
14
yes, let's blame Trump for letting any Coronavirus patients into the US, but look the other way when he wants to close our borders. Spin it Democrats, that's what you do. You want open borders?
2
@Bruce from Boston. Ever been to the border? There are in the neighborhood of a million legal crossings per day across the US Mexico border, counting northbound and southbound, from the Pacific to the Gulf, either people as pedestrians or vehicles.
Are you somehow saying that CVD-19 is able to distinguish between legal and illegal crossings? It only infects potential illegal immigrants?!!! Is that what youbare saying?
I never thought I would see such anti-immigrant hysteria in my life.
13
Trump whistling past the graveyard. Dear God, we are in big trouble.
4
I think it is time for a new term to describe the Trump team: the Trump "tame" where a "tame" is a group of sycophants operating as a cult (and an anagram of team).
1
Long Live H.G. Wells.
3
He has told Dr. Anthony Fauci, A world renowned position in infectious disease, may not speak about coronavirus without consulting with the president and now the Vice President. This unforgivable and endangers the nation and the world
14
@shirley Dr Fauci is not going to hold back the facts no matter what trump threatens.
3
@vervissr
We’ll see.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
8
I don't know if I should thank Mr. Krugman for the discomforting truths, or go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. This article has shown me someone possibly even more incompetent, delusional, and doltish than Donald Trump is a heartbeat away fro the highest office. And that is the boob who has been put in charge of our countries response to a possible pandemic on our doorsteps. Maybe Trump's rallies could could have a new chant, 'where's my face-mask!'
4
trump and his gang of not ready for prime time virus busters... too bad he slashed CDC budget, fired scientists. the ANTI -SCIENCE politician will regret this amongst other things. ANYONE BUT TRUMP.... a national threat on so many levels, enabled by the GOP
3
noble as 45 is, he should volunteer
to assist the infected.
7
I will be sending thoughts and prayers to all the Trump supporters who contract COVID-19. That should suffice.
12
There is simply no end to the bottomless depravity of this horrid man, turning this news conference into yet another mini-MAGA rally when the topic could not have been more serious.
Everything has to be be about trump and his pathetic followers. Now we find out what it is like to be essentially leaderless in a crisis.
11
I’d like to see the CDC scientists ignore Trump and see if he’d have the guts to fire them.
16
Trump and his administration along with his lackeys in the media are making the case for the need to remove Trump from office. Trump is a clear and present danger to the national security as his vile narcissistic nature surfaces. Trump will try to replace reality with his endless tweets of grievances and self praise and like the Big Lie in Germany 1930's hopes by repeating it again and again will declare another hoax of endless hoaxes al to destroy the most stable genius the world has ever known in his mind anyway. Without a booming economy Trump has nothing to offer as a reason to keep this lying carnival barker in office.
8
The coronavirus outbreak is dangerous and potentially a pandemic we all must pay attention to, not 'a la Trump', full of nonsensical vanity in controlling the narrative, but in having public health expertise in the matter, and without political interference. That Trump's is trying to 'kill the messenger' if the news are not favorable is beyond stupid, it is treacherous. But what can be expected from a brutus ignoramus, and charlatan, in the White House? You see, Trump (and Pence) is so, but so ignorant, that he is convinced he knows more that 'the generals'. And that's the 'rub'.
4
Now that Pence is in charge, Canada should seal itself off from the United States, by land, sea and air.
9
Bring on the top scientific triumvirate of Pence, Mnuchin and Kudlow to be in charge. This administration knows no depths to which to sink.
8
Trump's very existence is the natural result of the self-destructive nature of the American people. We smoke, abuse drugs and alcohol, overeat, drive cars that destroy the environment,reject immigrants necessary for national growth, deny science, and engage in other behavior all against our individual and national self-interest. We do these things, in part, because we seem to be increasingly stupid, emotionally challenged and uneducated. Why should we be surprised that we have a president who nicely fits into each category?
7
Maybe Corona Virus is what this country needs to dispose of this President. Corona is causing a huge sell off in the stock market. Trump is always touting how well the market is doing, because of him. If this market crash helps to remove this President, it will be be worth the sacrifice of health and money. This is the price. Sorry folks. Barry
3
My comment goes to general stupidity A few of us (who lived through Vietnam) were very worried as the country went off to war in Iraq and the comment could have been exactly the same as Paul's last paragraph
Maybe Trump (Bush) — and America — will be lucky, and this won’t be as bad as it might be. But anyone feeling confident right now isn’t paying attention.
6
Anti-intellectualism and contempt for science is deeply rooted in American culture. Certainly the cuts in education (and school nutrition programs) under Reagan have contributed to at least 2 recent generations of science deniers, all rallied by a bellowing, senile grandpappy.. And thanks, Betsy De Vos, for cutting programs that help students learn how media affects them. We have made America Stupid Again!
This virus will impact people on the left and the right without discrimination. Attempts to politicize it are absurd, but the spin doctors (sic) cannot stop their lying.
I would recommend we immediately make Fauci--or someone of his stature-- the Corona "czar", with the ability to deputize many specialists in infections disease, and and get real as fast as we can. Pence's stumbling will lose critical time. A briefing does not an expert make.
This virus may well take down this administration. I am so sorry that people will have to suffer and die at least in part because of cover-ups and willful stupidity.
9
Donald Trump's total incompetence should surprise no one. Mr. Krugman is correct in that the nation has been lucky - until this health crisis, he has not really been tested. (Think "You're doing a heck of a job Brownie!") But luck is not a strategy, and his "press conference" yesterday was beyond embarrassing.
The United States can now compare two presidents: the best and the worst. Abe Lincoln is the former. Three guesses for the latter.
If nothing else, the Trump Presidency has proven the axiom to its fullest interpretation: that anyone can be president. Yes, even an incurious, incompetent, insecure and incorrigible person can sit in the Oval Office. Now the question is, how can we get him out?
5
And just now "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.”
Yes, indeed, Paul hits the nail right on the head: those who support Cadet Bone-spur are some of the most surreal cultists I've ever encountered. Really, Mick, there's a serious, world-wide health threat and you think it's all a conspiracy to bring down the Cadet? Yikes..
14
Long before the C Virus, we’ve had a Political Virus—an infection of our political culture, being passed to millions, weakening our democracy. How to inoculate against this?
The C Virus now offers an opportunity for 2020 candidates to push for national paid sick leave, and universal health care, using various models of financing exemplified by dozens of democracies. Must be a major issue now in the debates.
Wikipedia—“Paid sick leave is a statutory requirement in most European, many Latin American, a few African and Asian countries…”
It's also a common norm of decency. But our diseased, infected politics blocks it.
W. Post-- “Employers who don’t offer paid sick leave are making flu season worse --- and hurting their own bottom line.”
Says … “ Per BLS statistics, 28 percent of U.S. civilian workers — about 45 million — have no access to paid sick leave.”
So millions of Americans “have a choice: go to work sick, or stay home and forgo pay.”
And millions need daily pay for rent and food.
NYT– How to Prepare for the Virus -----
… “many people who work in minimum-wage jobs do not get sick days….. they often must work when ill, despite public contact. ”
So this affects us all.
Some feel--- to keep us FREE FROM GOVT MANDATES is worth the possible illness and deaths. Our politics has reinforced this callous attitude, making us an outlier among democracies.
The candidates must expand their scope and frankly admit it. It's bigger than Trump.
5
Fear not: Underdog to the rescue. Pense will marshall his "prayer warriors" and vanquish the evil virus.
4
Watching the government response here in the US and in Germany for a few days made me feel like living in a totalitarian state with a regime on top that learned its practices from the Kremlin in Soviet times.
6
Half of America lives on every word he says and think the cultist can do or say no wrong. Take care of yourself and get out of the market for a bit. Republican white men who are anti-science look like the buffoons they are when faced with a real crisis.
Far right thought is the problem with the entire planet. It is very sad humanity would rather believe lies than truth. But that is what humans are about - believing lies.
3
Yep. In a word, if we don't all die, it's gonna be due to nothing other than luck - dumb luck.
2
An 80% CUT in resources for our CDC.
In a fair world Trump would be canned for just that level of
audacious ignorance.
And then the misinformation machine at Fox is still pumping out the garbage. The "entertainment" bunch over there needs to shut down for good.
15
The Chinese government has taken a lot of flak for the way they handled the early stages of the Covid 19 outbreak. Namely, trying to cover it up and pretend it wasn't a problem for political reasons.
Now we've got the Trump administration doing the same thing. Spouting "it's totally contained" and "there's no problem" rather than doing anything useful about it. Because the stock market crash is embarrassing Trump, so they're trying to sweep it under the rug for him.
9
You are unnecessarily get exercised Paul. I hear that Mike Pence and mother are going to lead a national prayer to ward off the corona virus. The same way he did against HIV and the Opioid crisis in Indiana.
So a few thousand people, best case, will die across the country, is that a big problem? they have silenced the scientists and the whistleblowers who find serious problems. They actually sent in unprotected HHS workers into action to receive the virus infected travelers into Travis AFB and possibly the base in Texas. This is incompetence beyond belief.
But I full "faith" Pence and Mother will deliver. Get ready with a prayer...
6
Long before this current C Virus, we’ve had a Political Virus—an infection of our political culture, being passed to millions, weakening our democracy. How to inoculate against this?
The current C Virus offers a golden opportunity for 2020 candidates to push for national paid sick leave, and universal health care, using various models of financing exemplified by dozens of democracies. Must be a major issue now in the debates.
Wikipedia—“Paid sick leave is a statutory requirement in most European, many Latin American, a few African and Asian countries…”
It's also a common norm of decency. But our diseased, infected politics blocks it.
W. Post-- “Employers who don’t offer paid sick leave are making flu season worse --- and hurting their own bottom line.”
Says … “ Per BLS statistics, 28 percent of U.S. civilian workers — about 45 million — have no access to paid sick leave.”
So millions of Americans-- “have a choice: go to work sick, or stay home and forgo pay.”
And millions need daily job pay for rent and food.
NYT– How to Prepare for the Virus -----
… “many people who work in minimum-wage jobs do not get sick days….. they often must work when ill, despite public contact. ”
So this affects us all.
Some feel--- to keep us FREE FROM GOVT MANDATES is worth the possible illness and deaths. Our politics has reinforced this callous attitude, making us an outlier among democracies.
The candidates must expand their scope. Frankly admit--it's bigger than Trump.
2
Too bad 45 can't bankrupt the virus, something he's good at.
2
15% of my ETF portfolio evaporated during the past 4 days but I consider this a price worth paying to get a new tenant into the WH come November (--> Economist and 2008 crisis predictor Nouriel Roubini stated in an interview in German magazine der SPIEGEL yesteretrday that in his opinion markets markezs will suffer a 40% meltdown and he considers Trump history. Also said that this was on the record and reporters welcome to quote him )
2
The amount of incompetence in this administration is staggering. Mix that with their malice, greed, and appetite for total power, and the threat of a dystopian future that fueled so many novels and films may quickly become our new reality. #Vote2020 like your life depended on it ... because it does.
7
Thanks for summing up all of the horror in one place. It had been freely floating in my brain for the past 48 hours, interrupting sleep and weakening my immune system, and now I am hoping the horror is "contained" in the Krugman piece and I can move on and think about other things, like washing my hands, not touching anything, and fleeing coughers and sneezers.
4
Instead of criticizing the appointment of Mike Pence to head the task force - we should be truly grateful that Trump did not appoint Rush Limbau.
3
When Ebola was a thing, certain prominent 'christians' loudly proclaimed it was God's punishment because of what the Democrats had done to America.
What do they say now?
If the Almighty was angry at the misguided Dems, he surely is livid at the havoc created by Trump and his Conservative backers.
A plague of locusts in Africa, floods in Mississippi, panic among the money-changers, what next?
Better Vote Blue, No Matter Who!
7
Ladies and gentlemen, let me now present: The. Government.
We.
Deserve!
Let's all give it a big hand!
3
On the downside there is the Coronavirus, on the upside we are going to have the pleasure of watching a bunch of fools try to do something about it. If it doesn’t kill us, it will be a good chuckle.
2
Maybe Rush can test the "common cold"theory personally for us... Seeing is believing
5
Coronavirus is not a political/partisan issue. You're guilty of politicizing it just to get your anti-Trump points in!
Two points on this column that are obvious falsehoods:
1). Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, cheered it on as a development that would “accelerate the return of jobs to North America.”
Krugman provides a link, so anyone can read and see Ross wasn’t “cheering it on,” he was saying it was a very bad thing they could ultimately have a small very small silver lining down the line:
“Every American’s heart has to go out to the victims of the coronavirus, so I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,” Mr. Ross said. “But the fact is, it does give businesses yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain.”
2). Rush Limbaugh weighed in: “It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump.”
Unfortunately for Krugman, one only had to look at the story below his on the Times most popular articles page, a piece by Gail Collins with the headline:
Let’s Call It Trumpvirus
If you’re feeling awful, you know who to blame.
Once one reads pieces by a certain writer that he it she discovers contains obvious, verifiable falsehoods, it’s not really necessary to read anything by him or her again.
1
Mr. Krugman has deftly laid out the makings of a perfect storm. I hope this will not be Trump’s Katrina because many will die. Again, the Republicans sit idly by and watch us disintegrate. They have no shame.
5
"Trump began cutting funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading in turn to an 80 percent cut in the resources the agency devotes to global disease outbreaks."
Proud of yourselves, MAGAs?
13
Oh the Poetic Justice if Trump's hero and maestro of misinformation, Rush Limbaugh, became ill with Coronavirus
6
The common cold does not kill health care workers but the COVID 19 does.
8
Not to worry. We can all just hide behind Trump's wall.
2
The other problem.......drug supply. Many of the drugs we use are manufactured in China. Has Pence’s brain grasped this problem yet? The Republicans have yet to pass a pharmacy bill letting it turn into mold on Mitch’s desk. Will big pharma jack up prices on medication? This will affect the pocket books of Americans. If you do not have insurance be prepared to pay for Trump’s great nothing plan. If you do have insurance your copays will go up.
8
@Llewis: Public policy is motivated to find cures, rather than palliatives, to aliments. A variety vaccines for this virus will probably be widely available before the year is out.
1
@Steve Bolger
If you read my comment it isn’t about a vaccine. It is about the availability of drugs that people need this week and not next year. A shortage of drugs is a way to jack up prices by pharma.
1
@ Lewis
I was in line for non viral drugs at a Walgreen’s yesterday. Four of the five people ahead of me were told they could not fill part or all of their prescriptions and would be texted when they became available. Same with me, no generic sleeping pills, either. It’s just begun.
I can understand an Administration wanting a coordinated response to inquiries and distribution of information. Unfortunately putting Mr. Pence in charge of this was the wrong choice. He is an anti-science sycophant. I will immediately question anything he says because of the Administration's record on lying and misinformation. Trump and his inner circle have one main concern - not making Trump look bad. I'm relying on my Governor to assure the public health of citizens in my State. Hopefully they can coordinate with professionals at the NIH and CDC with minimum interference from Pence and the other political minions.
5
If you want to hear how both Japanese and American officials did a horrid job regarding this virus so far, see this link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/02/21/coronavirus-americans-limbo-post-diamond-princess-cruise-ship-quarantine/4818075002/
2
Given the president's fear of contagion I am sure that he will find himself a secure bomb shelter somewhere far from the madding crowds meanwhile tweeting to everyone how great he is and how much he cares tor the American people.
7
All the magical thinking in the world won't help now. I was never sure if Donald Trump's
public show of ignorance was a cynical manipulative ploy to endear himself to his supporters or if he is actually that stupid. I'm starting to think it is more the latter.
7
You can go online and hear the now-muzzled government experts discuss the virus at their February 11 Aspen Institute talk. These include:
Anthony Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Ron Klain, JD, former White House Ebola Response Coordinator
Nancy Messonnier, MD, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Moderator: Helen Branswell, Infectious Disease and Public Health Reporter, STAT News
Of course, this may not last if Trump—who clearly knew more than the generals, and now the doctors—decides to extend his wall to the internet. The best action Americans can take to protect their health is to wash their hands of this administration.
14
As Plato says in the Laws, praying is a risky business, if you don't use your intelligence!
2
Trump's pathetic ill informed and self absorbed press conference reminded me of the incompetent corrupt Mayor of Amity Island. Intent on keeping the beaches open for the big summer holiday, he refused any mention of a giant killing fish to hamper the money (or re-election) that will come in.
4
Trump is the prime example of what can happen when a
self-centered ignoramus takes over the ship of state……….
OR
Put another way -
The President of the United States confirms the Peter Principle prediction………….
5
yes he has no idea what he is doing. he has gutted
the CDC and is at war with science and facts.
good thing it won't killl anyone
Pence? Hah.
3
Just like Trump. Mocks a Pandemic. Surprised he didn't personify the disease and called it that beer virus and attribute it to Mexico.
3
What’s scary is that if the virus somehow is contained and outbreaks reduce in the US by April, trump will tout his sheer genius and the evangelicals will call it a miracle performed by the dear leader himself.
2
Trump assigned Pence, a governor that had some experience in running a states healthcare system to lead his team. Obama named a “czar” to lead his effort against a more deadly disease, Ebola. Ron Klain, a Democrat attorney who represented Gore in the recount, who was demoted by Gore earlier in his campaign. Trump’s choice was a far better one. Why all the praise for Obama’s plan?
@jay
Because Obama’s plan worked. Mike Pence is no Ron Klain and trump couldn’t shine Obama’s shoes. Clear enough?
3
Everyone knew that the corruption and incompetence of this administration would eventually catch up with us. The train wreck is happening because we put bozo and his clown car in charge. We reap what we sow.
6
Anyone tired of this bad drug trip??? Press 1 for yes...
10
Nothing new:
Donald Trump in not incompetent* to deal with this crisis.
Exhibit 25:
He put his toothless lap dog in charge.
* Refer to "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump"
1
Is this, could this be Trump's Hurricane Katrina moment?
There are lots of things about this virus that are unknown. It is possible that Trump is lucky once again and that the worst fears do not materialize and this virus fizzles out, despite poor preparedness and lack of adequate testing and precautions.
If that were to happen, we will see much chest thumping by Trump and his minions, believing like a gambler that it was their genius that trumped this disease. Just like they got away with encouraging Russian election meddling, or trying to enlist Ukraine for help with 2020, they got away once more.
But sooner or later, a gambler's luck runs out; if it happens in this case, it is the whole country that has to pay for the recklessness.
Is this any rational way to run a country ?
2
Any thoughts on how this will it affect political rallies this summer?
1
It will be interesting to see if he cancels his political rallies. It will be a battle between the health of his base and his ego. Image a stadium filled with MAGA hats and N95 masks.
2
No idea where we are headed but this hand basket is getting mighty crowded.
3
The pandemic is like the economy. The president has some control over it but not anywhere near as much as people think.
If this costs Trump his re-election because he looks incompetent and there's a small recession, then at least there's a small silver lining to the misery.
1
Medicare for all doesn't sound so extreme now, does it?
How many 10,000s of people are going to hurt financially or go bankrupt because of COVID-19 hospitalization costs?
5
Trump is going to find out the hard way that mean tweets, obvious lies and belittling comments will have no effect on a potential viral pandemic.
2
With the world in the mess that it is, with autocrats rising & incompetent, vainglorious, ideologues in charge, the only thing I'm confident about is reading your column to find out what's really going on.
2
This is where the rubber meets the road. You cannot lie or spin the coronavirus away. You cannot censor news of its spread when your neighbors start dying. And you cannot disguise your own ineptitude in how to handle a pandemic by appointing a task force of loyalists as incompetent as you are. Whatever Trump does or doesn't do, he owns this crisis and it may result in more than a stock market "correction." It may actually "correct" Trump's adoring fans from seeing him as a savior to to what he really is, a con man whose lies cannot save them from a modern-day plague.
5
Your imagination fails you. The virus was created in a Silicon Valley biotech company. Thantotic Systems, as a Hail Mary pass to solve so-called Climate Change.
Cults all have one thing in common; their members put their lives into the hands of the leader and will die for them if told to do so. Heavens Gate, Jonestown, most Branch Dividians, etc. Trump is a cult leader. His followers are not “the base”, “white working class”, “the forgotten”, or “voters”. Stop referring to them as such. A very small minority of them might turn against their leader if maybe their own children become infected, but even some of them will blame George Soros or CNN and what’s dangerous is their leaders will tell them that’s who they should blame.
Unless the DNC or candidates are expert deprogrammers they should give up on changing their minds Fox and Limbaugh are the ONLY ones could ever get them to turn on Trump. Limbaugh will pass on and no one is poised to replace him so that leaves Murdoch who is also old. Maybe his sons will sell out to Disney eventually.
WE NEED NEW FACES to attack Trump. No more Nadler, Schumer (“Mr. Perfidy”) Schiff, Meuller, Pelosi etc. We need the only thing that the cult is more afraid of than a job, or an opioid prescription with no refills; a strong and powerful Black or Brown voice!
1
A prediction: Trump's Wednesday presser on Wednesday will go down as his administration's "heckuva job, Brownie" moment.
5
Trump chose Pence as the coronavirus “czar” because he knew that Pence would not come out with any announcements, however true; that would make the fearless leader and his administration look bad. As with many issues, it’s all about Trump.
4
How much damage and death worldwide must Trump cause, before he is held accountable by the American people?
The problem now is that no one trusts Trump's goverment to tell the truth and many people are afraid to hold him accountable to his lies.
Trump is the guy that wants to get re-elected, I think we have had enough lies.
Vote Democrat
6
trump's entire presidency has been extraordinarily stressful, but this takes the cake. Having a malignant narcissist in charge, with encroaching demential (and possibly also now dealing with small strokes) is bad enough. But now - with this virus possibly reducing our population as much as the Spanish Flu - and zero leadership or "allowed" actual expertise on the part of this administration... makes me just so angry and so sad at the same time. Our very lives are at stake and there is zero competent leadership. Actual expertise will be muzzled.
What on earth kind of person would ever vote for this ignoramus of a president ever again???
4
What about the crisis that started WW3? When Trump took out the Iranian general? Nobody died from that and nobody has died from this virus here either. Crisis is a big money maker for the media. Perhaps they do embellish stories for money.
How about more coverage of the homeless crisis in California. That is a real crisis. But wait. That is a heavily democrat state. No crisis there.
@jim
You have a very short attention span if you truly think this plague or the Iranians are done with this country.
1
My worst fear is they embrace their inner Scrooge and let the virus decrease the surplus population. Surely a good Christian like Mike Pence would not let that happen.
We’re witnessing a world and history changing event on the scale of 9/11. This will also be the thing that brings down the moronic inept prez when all the trumpsters realize that the “gubmint” aint gonna save ‘em at a time we actually need the government to save us.
1
New editorial rule:
You can only comment for or against Trump if you voted in 2016.
2
We don't need a personalit cult like Trump anymore. What we need now is Bernie for president. We Bernie supporters are ready to bring the Socialist Revolution to America. Bernie will soon join the great pantheon of Socialist Revolutionaries - Lenin, Castro, Pol Pot, Mao, Ceauscue, Maduro - we are coming in November. Raise the red hammer and sickle high. America will soon feel the Bern!
The American citizens of Puerto Rico found out two years ago how a racist anti-science inept personality cult responds to a crisis not of its own making.
6
Trumpers are willing to put their lives at risk by turning over their health care in a time of real danger to an ignorant egomaniac called Donald Trump. The religious fanatics who adore Trump are particularly offensive in this regard - they see this as a path to Armageddon. Pence is one of them. Shame on them all!!
6
What else can anyone expect other than this type of reaction from the Trump team? After all this is a president who says that he knows more than......the generals etc. This is a president who said that global warming was a Chinese scam. Trump has an uncanny knack for grabbing the narrative & running with it.He can spin like no one else. Unfortunately this time it may cost lives. Now any news has to cleared through Pence. Nothing worse than two idiots leading each other and all of us over a cliff. Once again a whistle blower is threatened with retaliation for bringing into the light the facts . The more events come & go the more consistent is the Trump team. That is just as bad as the potential of a Corona virus pandemic.
1
Prior to the gag order, Dr. Anthony Fauci had appeared on several news programs discussing the virus. Donald can't stand it when anyone gets more publicity than he does, and that's why most of his toadies tend to stay behind the scenes. It's a shame when respected experts have to take a backseat to this gang of morons.
I don't know if Rush is taking chemo as part of his cancer treatments, but if so, he's vulnerable right now, and certainly in no position to be dismissing anything as a "common cold".
6
There was one intelligent OpEd in the NYTimes recently: "To Take On the Coronavirus, Go Medieval on It" by By Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science reporter for The New York Times, who has covered epidemics since 2002.
Mr. McNeil will probably lose his post with the Times because dared to say Trump's decision to restrict travel from China was correct.
Krugman on the other hand, who has been one of the single biggest cheerleaders for globalism and the set of rules that now finds us with an extraordinary crisis due to the outsourcing of key drug ingredients and protective needs, Krugman, will be praised on high by the readership of this paper. He may even get a raise.
The stupidity of globalism becomes apparent now. The idiocy of open borders becomes apparent now. The foolishness of foreign supply chains for critical health care needs and key drug ingredients becomes apparent now.
Where does that leave Krugman?
1
This would be a hilarious comedy if it wasn't real life. Trump is panicking because the stock market is falling, and realizes that it is due to thousands of people dying from the rapidly spreading Corona virus. Trump puts Mike Pence, a man who believes in the power of prayer over science, in charge of containing a pandemic. [[Que laugh track!]] But, uh oh! Trump has already cut 80% of the CDC budget because he wanted to give money to rich people and run up huge deficits, leaving the entire country exposed to this pandemic! [[Laugh track!]] As the disease spreads throughout the U.S. and baby boomers start dying by the thousands, Trump will continue to claim that the Democrats are somehow to blame for it! [[LAUGH TRACK!!]]
2
May not be the best time to re-read The Stand by Stephen King.
3
The coronavirus doesn't care about gender, color aka race, ethnicity, national origin, faith, politics nor socioeconomics.
Leaving the most best adapted offspring over time and space is the essential characteristic
that drives biological evolutionary fit selection in all living things including the coronavirus
Donald Trump governs by political supreme arrogance and hubris by ignorance and stupidity. Not knowing that 2+ 2= 4 is ignorant. Believing that 2+2= 5 is stupid. Trump is also a pathological liar.
5
It may (or may not-- probably not, but here goes--) be pertinent to mention at this point that Elizabeth Warren put out a detailed plan to deal with a global pandemic ONE MONTH AGO. If we had a President Warren right now, we would already have been preparing, helping manufacturers find alternative supply routes so we could increase the supply of testing and health care goods such as masks and isolation gear. I am not aware that any of the other candidates have any plans in place, and don't even ask about the current administration, they couldn't find i with both hands. But we never elect the best candidate, so there's that. We are on our own. Wash your hands. That is all-- keep calm and carry on.
5
It’s Friday so Trump will be golfing in a few.
Meanwhile, Pence has already let Jesus take the wheel when it comes to COVID-19.
I feel safer already.
9
Does the august doctor not realize this is a problem of Trump's own making? Tax cuts for the investor class and corporations do not a healthy bull market make.
Expect Trump to blame any spread of the disease on Democratic state governors.
7
For those who fall in with Mick Mulvaney, who, this morning declared that the media is trying to undermine Trump's "heroic" efforts to stem the Coronavirus threat, I invite them to read Michael Lewis's The Fifth Risk. Published in 2018, Lewis's book describes the cavalier way the Trump transition team and administration treated various government departments whose purpose is to keep the country healthy and safe. The book stresses the fact that the Trump administration was hell bent on dismantling various government agencies long before a risk like Coronavirus was on the horizon. And, as Adan Schiff has said, "Here we are."
789
@jhand - The question for those who voted for disruption/chaos under djt is whether they wanted to bet their very lives and the lives of their loved ones on 45*?
103
@jhand A fantastic book, well worth the read!
38
@jhand I was thinking the same exact thing. And, yep, here we are.
21
May this be Trumps waterloo, nature has a way of eliminating the foolish and incompetent.
7
Trump and his band of misfit misanthropes are going to crash the economy, bankrupt the nation, and get a lot of us killed.
4
Stunning, willful incompetence. Cover-your-tail excuse-making. Trump's gotta look good! Of course! Exactly what you'd expect from these fools. This is not leadership.
2
What Donald Trump and his administration doesn't know or understand about this virus could probably fill every morgue in the country.
BTW: I'd like to see the 100 tweets Trump sent out regarding Obama and the Ebola outbreak. Then again, no, I guess I don't.
5
vote people. forgawdsakes vote this time. -C
7
Donald Trump just presided over the worst Dow point drop in history.
What’s that Trump supporters say again? Oh yeah—“maga! maga! maga!”
(slow clap)
6
Rapid, expanded testing that is reliable is critical. This should have been done yesterday. Without this intel we are potentially in very bad shape. Quarantine and medical treatment will become more effective when we can identify the carriers. Time may be running out.
1
All this coming from a man who is terrified of germs. Remember when Gerald Ford got vaccinated on TV to show it was safe? How about this, Don. If coaronavirus is just the common cold, like the great medal winner Limbaugh says it is, how,about you and Rush do a Corona Just A Cold Tour together and visit afflicted Americans and not wear any protection? Amazing that a guy undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer would downplay the significance of a brand new virus. These are the type of people who, if they were at a mass shooting, would tell those around them it's not a big deal and not to hide as they snuck off to get in their cars and drove away as fast as they could.
6
Nothing is more stupid about the US than entrusting political power to clueless revanchists in the 21st Century.
7
On top of all of this madness is the fact that potentially 35% of the voting population (Trump supporters), will be walking around spreading this virus all over the place. Why, because they believe Trump and Fox news. It's all a hoax, just like a cold, nothing to worry about, buy stocks. Thank you Republican Senators for your allegiance to the worst and most dangerous President in the history of the USA.
7
@SLF In the end, we could end up with a lot fewer "deplorable". This might turn out well after all.
We who prayed for an end to Trump may have engendered our own version of the Monkey's Paw - a virus that rids us of his plague but causes its own.
1
You are spot on and we are in more trouble than ever with a clueless captain at the helm.
2
That about says it all.
1
Quoting the eminent Mama Gump: "Stupid is as stupid does." And oh, do we have a surplus of stupid in this country. Our Stable Genius chooses a religious zealot (rather than, say, the only Medical Doctor that he has had in his cabinet!) to head up our defense against this new virus, and his Meddle of Honor winner is meddling, big time, in medical matters about which he knows absolutely nothing. If there weren't millions of lives at risk, the Trump Administration's approach to this possible pandemic would be hilarious.
3
@Metrowest Mom
And, if the corona virus gets a hold on the US and spreads, Our Stable Genius will blame the Democrats, for purposely infecting ourselves to make him look bad...
1
When the corona virus arrives on our shores and spreads, will Trump will denounce Pence as "moronic Mike" and make him the fall guy for all that follows. Can Trump fire the vice president? No doubt Bill Barr would say yes. Would Nancy Pelosi be next in line to succeed him? To be resolved on twitter.
2
Ignorance and it’s cousin blind allegiance will prove deadly in this pandemic.
5
So far, I only know of ONE CORONAVIRUS CASE in the U.S. where the INFECTION OCCURRED IN THE U.S.
This article and all the others like it are a pathetic and desperate attempt to discredit this administration, nothing more.
To credit them is to play the fool.
1
And lo and behold, that person was likely infected by uninformed staff dealing with exposed evacuees at Travis AFB. Why, because the administration didn’t send people trained to deal with epidemics and previously cut the CDC division specializing in pandemics. Some response.
3
PR, the PR man of the stable genius, just google pandemic and learn something about the COVID-19. Actually there are more than 75 cases in California alone. Don’t be taken up by your leader who can’t even spell coronavirus. He spelt it “Caronovirus.”
@Peter Rasmussen
You raise important issues, how will we all find out about the size and impact of the corona virus, how many people have been tested, how many tests are available and at what costs?
See below for 2/28/2020 CDC update at website below.
2/28/20: "Fourteen cases have been diagnosed in the United States, in addition to 39 cases among repatriated persons from high-risk settings, for a current total of 53 cases within the United States. The U.S. government and public health partners are implementing aggressive measures to slow and contain transmission of COVID-19 in the United States." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6908e1.htm
1
Let's see Donald Trump go to hospitals and visit some victims of the virus. Will he do that?
4
Trump just needs to pull out his magic Sharpie Pen and circle the USA and say “there is no coronavirus here” loudly and confidently on Fox News.
Simple.
6
I am looking forward to hearing George W. Bush exclaim “Heckuva job, Trumpie.”
2
Global financial markets plunged for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday, with coronavirus fears shaving over 1,100 points off the Dow (^DJI) — its biggest in history — and sending the S&P 500 (^GSPC) swooning to its fastest-ever correction.
“Global markets were down $1.83 trillion today, with the U.S. down $1.33 trillion,“ S&P Dow Jones’ Howard Silverblatt said in an email. He added that over the past six days, global markets erased $6 trillion in wealth with U.S. markets losing $4 trillion.
Don't worry about your 401k's, Trumpsters, Donny is going to bail you all out...'in a week or two...'
4
I can’t take all this in anymore.
If we as a people were stupid enough to put a man like trump in power, then maybe we deserve what we are getting.
If we are too lazy and apathetic to protest all the terrible things he is doing which are too numerous to list, then maybe we had it coming.
What more do you expect from a lying carnival barker real estate con man? That he’s going to care about you? Sadly trump in the white House will result in deaths: of ourselves, our democracy, our civil rights.
Elections have consequences.
4
Of course people will have to die before this President is removed. How could it be otherwise.
1
They’ll look like even bigger idiots and further demean our standing in the world since he’ll be tweeting political nonsense that it’s all a plot of the “radical left out to destroy America” while the global scientific community forges on with facts and strategy. Pence and Hannity will act as his buffoonish cheerleaders on the sidelines. Hopefully, America will finally see the emperor has no clothes...
1
Well I was hoping for more on how this virus has put a pin to The (current) Bubble. Bubbles being endemic in Capitalisms DNA from its beginning. The promise of some pot of gold at the end of a distant (space/time) rainbow, like in the South Seas or Mississippi, is all too familiar.
Everyone plugs in their last spare sou then the day comes when some realize there is no there there. And the Big Fish, like the Duck of Orleans, go pull their moolah out of the deal and the whole ponzi bit goes belly up.
That's the thing, how does the stock game really work. Why doe do values defy "gravity".
Take NYT biz page yesterday. THAT SPIFY CHART! Just a
little down blip! What is the driving function on the market since the chart clearly shows that value growth decoupled years back from the Real Economy GDP?
(& word to touts- if decoupled then the strength of the Real Economy means zip to stock levels.)
Two things work there. Big Fish, who need to maintain their control of boardrooms, and relativistic level of wealth. And Dumb Bunny Money. That is the 401K type automatic investments that are put in technocrat hands. The Bunnies can change options, but that does not happen anywhere at the speed of the market for Big Fish. Your 200K can stand in line while the guy/gal with 2 billion is served.
In fact, one can see how dumb bunny $$$ drive values up generally around the 1st and 15th of every month.
What should a dumb bunny do? Well, if the market "renormalizes" to expected value...
1
Perhaps Mr. Pence can put up a web site to help people find the nearest Christian Science Reading Room.
1
Trump is a known germaphobe but is he rational enough to recognize the dangers ahead. I’m guessing he’s petrified and I expect to see this reflected in his rally schedule and his social activities at Mar-a-Lago.
1
More than a few people have pointed out that all of trump's crises have been his own creation. Now we are facing a real crises and trump and his merry band of twits are in charge. A germaphobic jerk who wreaks everything he touches. God help us.
1
The trump "administration" is a hollowed-out shell of crooked cronies, toadies, incompetents and blowhards led by a mentally unfit and incapable con man. What positive expectations could one possibly have?
1
I always thought that one of our safety valves was that Trump is such and idiot and so incapable of holding any thought for more than a few minutes, that the amount of of harm he could do was limited. But, I was wrong his war on science and decimation of the CDC and all health care are a real and present danger.
1
I sort of get the feeling Pence and the rest are close to emulating the Chinese Government's response the virus.
But of course Mike Pence and his evangelical sycophants think they can just pray it way, to them science is bunk, it is some liberal plot to take over the world.
Hey! You were right! The market crashed! Your Brilliant!!!!!
Its going to take a major crisis of stupidity and narcissism to make this president look incompetent to his supporters. Well, maybe this is it. He hates professionalism and science and cannot comprehend either, but they both are just what we need to save us from the worst of this crisis.
1
I have nothing good to say here. Perhaps the worst thing about the Coronavirus is that it started in China and they have not been very forthcoming as to its severity. It was a pandemic from the get go because 90% of the general population has no clue as to how their own immune system operates or how viruses work. Add to that the fact that we have a moron in charge. The media is not doing its job, either. The upside is that the human population is too great and that this disease may bring it more into line with where it belongs. I have had almost 80 years, so I am good to go if that happens. I wish you luck.
Pence relies on prayer in all matters. In earlier times, Pence and his wife were part of a group trying to "cure" homosexuals with prayer. Pence believes global warming is the will of God who controls all things.
Deal with it. This is America in the year 2020.
1
It seems like the jury is definitely not yet in on transmissability. I had a trip scheduled to Singapore in March which I've cancelled. But I follow the case reporting there closely. There is nothing like an exponential increase in cases that one might expect or fear. The virus has been there for at least a month and almost all cases are traceable to specific source(s). It makes me hopeful that community spread via casual contact will be much less than the worst case scenario.
None of that, of course, has anything to do with the Trump Administration's unprofessional and incompetent handling of the public communications of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Still, I don't think Krugman is maintaining factual neutrality when he raises the spectre of the 1918 Spanish Flu. That level of disease spread, while it could happen, seems to me to be highly speculative at this time and not supported by CDC's own current guidance on individual risk.
@Gregg54 The CDC does acknowledge that this is likely to become a pandemic, in which case the risk picture changes dramatically. Given some estimates that up to 40-60% of the world's population could eventually carry the virus, the 1918 "Spanish" Flu is a useful comparison point.
Fortunately for us, the NY Times, the Washington Post, and similar news outlets have highly experienced medical and science reporters to keep the public informed about the facts. These media sources can present interviews with nongovernmental experts. We don't have to rely on the trump administration's alternate-reality show.
5
This is indeed a time for prayer. But not because of the virus and the risk that it represents...
The Hurricane that hit Puerto Rico - and that they're still trying to fully recover from - was an illuminating test of this administration's response, or lack of one I should say.
This will be much, much worse.
1
Arch Stanton: Oh Yes, if you count all the experience in multiple scams to defraud people, banks and government.
Let's not count multiple bankruptcies that would have resulted in his financial ruin had it not been staved by money flowing from Deutsche bank and Russian Oligarchs.
And yes, he has the grand experience in selling snake oil to a good fraction of the American electorate on way to the White House, and that must count for something !
Sooner or later, your gambling luck runs out--you gamble away American people's health and well being by decimating CDC and other institutions precisely set up to deal with this kind of exigencies, and you expect they will be there when you need them.
3
Why is it not surprising that Trump’s response to the virus is the same as Xi’s? Denial, happy-talk, dismissing warnings, while also resorting to draconian restrictions on civil liberties? In sickness and in health, Trump and Xi are cut from the same cloth.
7
Arch Stanton - President Trump is not managing the Coronavirus. He is controlling and manipulating what information will be presented. He is dictating what the public will be told. That is not managing but imposing his political agenda into a pandemic.
12
What will surely become a major issue, surely sooner than later, is the accuracy of information that will be released by the task force headed by a true believer. Who controls the
accurate data about spread can (and surely will) also control the media spin on it and its political consequences.
The ability to hide information, to disinform about it, to exploit it for political ends, is boundless. Putting on happy faces, lying through one's bared teeth, pointing fingers at enemies in a time of pandemic, are inevitable byproducts of the underlying mindsets of the people, now nominally in charge who are firm adherents of an us vs them perspective.
How the national scientific and health officials will be coerced to toe the party lines, in one or another ways, will also become significant narratives as events unfold. These will probably not tell us pretty stories about how the basic institutions that focus upon national health matters have been thoroughly put under the thumb of ruthless, amoral, propagandists, skilled disinformers, and delusional fantasists.
The depth of the deluded depravity now in power will only be convincingly exhibited to those not yet willing to look at the incompetent evil staring back at them when events turn bad, people want to know how bad, and the answer that comes back is utterly nonsensical.
If that happens, electoral politics may unfold as in the summer of 2008.
2
Don’t forget that this administration has been faced with other disasters and has reacted dismissively. The ongoing response to struggles in Puerto Rico, the mass migrations from Central America, the abandonment of the Kurds in Syria, just to name a few, have been so cruelly ham-handed that no country in the world trusts the USA. The only reason these things have not brought down this administration is that they effected people(yep, human beings) that are already marginalized. Grinding them further into the dust, while shocking and inhumane, barely registers among average Americans. Out of sight, out of mind, and not in my backyard are among the prevailing sentiment. This time the bogeyman lives among us and freaking out has become our go-to reaction.
6
Wait! Isn't a vaccine right around the corner? Wait! Aren't the numbers of infected people in America going to be zero or close to zero very soon? Now the health experts have to weigh in to Pence before being approved to speak publically. Just what this government needed: another filter to block us from hearing the truth. Sounds like the autocracy that Trump has spend the last 3 years creating just got another boost.
3
"From the day Donald Trump was elected, some of us worried how his administration would deal with a crisis not of its own making. Remarkably, we’ve gone three years without finding out:"
I think Trump and his minions really made a mess out of the Puerto Rico hurricane recovery. Which is still a problem.
Whatever happens with the corona virus, Trump will claim victory if it goes well and blame anyone and everyone else for any problems--especially the democrats. (repeat that theme for rest of his administration)
3
I am utterly chilled by Wilbur Ross's comment that the pandemic would "accelerate the return of jobs to America". China is currently, like it or not, the world's biggest, "job shop". The forte of thousands of small firms is custom manufacturing, which, again, like it or not, they do very, very well. Mr. Ross's myopic view that this would help U.S. business shows quite eloquently why he was a poor choice for that position. He clearly doesn't understand global commerce... so of course he's Secretary of Commerce. Great...
6
As much as I admire Mr. Krugman, maybe the worst fears (other than political ignorance and hyperbole) have not been confirmed and one should pay more attention to experts as the situation evolves: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387?query=RP (a recent New Engl J Med editorial). They point out several things that everyone should understand:
1. Children are not at particularly high risk.
2. Like the usual seasonal flu, the elderly and frail are at risk.
3. We do not know the case fatality ratio yet since so many people can be minimally or non-symptomatic.
4. An average flu pandemic can cause 3-5 million SEVERE cases each year, resulting in 300-500 thousand deaths (WHO stats)
5. Maybe look more at CDC updates: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html . We should all hope that Trump and Pence cannot fiddle with those.
It might be helpful to consider the Christian Evangelical prophecies through which Pence will view this situation. Plague is often viewed as the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Pence may be more invested in affirming the disease and deaths as a fulfillment of prophecy, instead of fighting the disease and protecting our lives.
9
Does the United States still have a Surgeon General? If so, it’s odd they have not been consulted on this impending pandemic. In the 80s during the AIDS crisis the surgeon general (Koop) under Reagan sent a pamphlet to every household explaining and demystifying the disease. AIDS was much less contagious than the corona virus but he wanted to stop the panic which can be as damaging as the pandemic.
3
should probably buy more stocks. Trump has escaped everyhting in his life. he will escape this too.
Will all of the bad decisions finally come home to roost? Infection sweeps through homeless populations. Technological shutdowns due to lack of parts, lack of labor. Amazon Prime trucks and DoorDash deliveries primary transmitters. Small rodents, drunk on large quantities of pinyon nuts produced from climate change, help spread disease? We keep edging closer and closer to the tipping point, wondering if this time will really be the Big One.
When Larry Kudlow makes his typically crazy predictions( see 2009) I'm afraid it 's time to run for the exits. I have a evil invested and Trump-loving relative in another state. I'm having a hard time not calling him for his reaction. When the value of his stocks falls,he suddenly becomes a realist just like the science deniers (see Mike Pence) stop praying and flock to the scientists to save them.
1
Is it time to invoke the 25th amendment? How much incompetence is required?
2
A lot of good that would do. Do you want Mike Pence as our next president?
Whoever the Democratic candidate is, he or she should jump all over Trump's duplicity about the Coronavirus crisis and his administration's wilful lack of preparedness.
This national atrocity, this attack n the nation's health and economic well-being should be the leading argument against re-electing a man who is morally, temperamentally, and intellectually unfit for any public office.
3
I am disturbed by the fact that Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC, has been oddly and publicly muted concerning COVID-19. Dr. Redfield is a virologist and was heavily involved with the HIV epidemic in its early years. He should be one of the key people speaking to the public and not those under him at CDC.
Quoting Redfield: "[The agency is] science-based and data-driven, and that's why CDC has the credibility around the world that it has.” Being the virology expert he is, he should be front and center in this developing crisis.
3
Nitpicker here. As much as I despise the current administration, I think Mr Krugman needs to cite more accurately (and not with a link to the Washington Post, please) the "80 percent cut in the research.." at CDC. I think this refers to departments of the CDC rather than their entire budget, which looked like the following. Yes, it is alarming, but people will easily misinterpret Mr Krugman's reference. Source is NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/juanita-constible/presidents-budget-proposal-takes-hatchet-our-health
This crisis is only proving that in the face of a real crisis....lies don't work. Calling this fake news isn't going to cut it with this event. On another front,Fox Business News is citing the recovery of the stock market after 2009 as evidence that the market will rebound but,of course,they're not talking about who the president was at the time. They just can't say that Obama did something that may have saved the economy and boosted their precious stock market...."Sad."
2
While an excellent column, what's the big deal? What I mean is, what rational person not in the cult of personality would take the word of anyone in the Trump administration? I'd much rather listen to the fake media anyway.
Surely trump deserves all the criticism that is coming due to his ineptitude handling this developing crisis. But where were the legislators from his party who supported these budget cuts? As with pretty much every authoritarian who assumes command of a country, he is not capable of making these poor decisions alone. Or, if he proposes to cut the CDC by some amount, who are the republicans who went along with this? Please, let's see names and allow citizens to understand who collaborated in the hollowing out of these critical government functions.
2
Since our self-proclaimed stable-genius president rejects information and expert advice, and never anticipates the consequences of his impetuous decisions, we really are between a rock and a hard place, with, of course, the GOP's blessing of whatever wrong-headed and damaging thing Trump does.
Too bad Trump and the GOP have been slashing away at the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid--just when many people will need it most. Of course, many Americans may not go to the doctor to get tested, because they don't have decent health insurance.
But then, according to what I heard on CBC radio last night, the U.S. doesn't have nearly enough testing kits anyway,
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/epidemiologist-warns-of-major-coronavirus-outbreak-contradicting-trump-1.5478081
This despite Trump's assurances everything is under control, and we should be glad that He, and not the Democrats, is in charge,
Too bad all those top scientists and doctors have left Trump's administration, been fired, or laid off to pay for the Trump-GOP tax cut for the rich and perhaps that Trump Wall of Shame.
Plus, to make it worse: Trump, his administration, and the GOP will try to lie their way through a coronavirus epidemic, as they are already doing. Muzzling the health care and public health experts is unbelievable, and "let-us-pray-rather than-do-anything" Pence is in charge?
One small irony: Trump is a germaphobe. Maybe not so many Trump uber-alles rallies for awhile.
Meta-moral: Republicans believe government is bad and are committed to "shrinking it until it can be drowned in a bathtub." Yet, when major crises happen there is no institution capable of handling them except government, as imperfect as it may be. A Republican president flew over desperate New Orleans drowning from Katrina. This Republican president tossed paper towels to desperate Puerto Ricans. And now, the most incompetent (Republican) President ever, with his equally incompetent cabinet of cronies is what stands between us and what could be a rerun of the Spanish Flu of 1918. Meta-moral: Republican leadership is a far greater threat than Coronavirus.
3
DJT's trolling, divisive rally speeches, and administrative incompetence rarely resulted in harming or benefiting a broad spectrum of American voters. Success of anyone the likes of DJT relies (falsely) separating the good from the bad. CORVID-19 is different because it is indiscriminate and may ensnare millions of Americans (Republicans, Democrats, Trump supporters or Trump opposers) who can be walking around infected and infecting others.
If any American dies because of the coronavirus, which surely will happen, it will be due in part to trump and pence's lack of care and their cutting funds for preparedness, thereby making them guilty as accessories to homicide. As leaders who are charged with protecting the welfare of society, they should pay a high price for their criminal negligence and be publicly executed... after a reality show trial.
1
I am disgusted by the politicizing of this pandemic. But I do think sensible things will be implemented in spite of the Trump Bozo clan. Tony Fauci, the very competent head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, was sitting next to Pence yesterday. I really don't think Dr. Fauci will be or can be muzzled. He has enormous cred and experience. The American people hopefully will pay attention to and follow common sense recommendations: stay home as much as possible, wash hands a lot and when in crowds, wear masks, ideally N95 versions fitted well.
1
@Edward Clark We've been told repeatedly by credible public health folks NOT to wear masks unless WE are sick. I humbly suggest you do some research and confirm that, but I've seen MD's and other public health folks make that point a few times in the last day or two.
A key point omitted in this article is that Covid-19 is a unique strain that infects Democrats only, especially socialist democrats. Why else did it originate in China? The only antidote is to vote Republican.
1
Should this result in a long over do recession we may get a new president.Paul's points will I hope be absorbed by people who will vote.
1
"He has also repeatedly insisted that evolution is just a theory. "
well, when you consider the source? he may have a point. at the very least evolution is selective I guess.....
Unfortunately, I think this will be Trump's Hurricane Katrina, except much worse, for him and for us.
2
trumps record on management is pretty bad. he bankrupted all his businesses which were just family money vanity projects. Of course he does play one on tv.
2
The evolution of the "response" seems to be the normal political swagger and hot air. If only we can keep control, which for Republicans is critical, who cares if a few million members of the electorate die? At worst we can talk any virus to death? Just look how much of the hard earned taxes the electorate has paid, we have saved by cutting the CDC, NIH, and anything else not needed immediately like another aircraft carrier or more tanks.
1
Pence is the proverbial yes man. Trump is paranoid. At this moment he and his administration are combing the halls for anyone who does not have "loyalty" to Trump. Enter Coronavirus. He had no interest in understanding the basic facts about the virus or the risks it poses to the nation of 327 million. The press conference revolved around him and his re election. Reporting on the virus is a "media hoax to hurt Trump". "Democrats weaponzing the virus". Now because professionals, shared the truth about the risks and the lack of a vaccine both of which Trump gave misinformation to the public, Trump he has banned anyone holding news conferences without Pence's approval. 80% budget slashed from preparedness. We are the only country not doing surveillance testing! The initial test kits were defective. That was weeks ago and we still have no tests available. Everywhere else are doing testing to monitor spread. The first case of community spread Coronavirus walked into a hospital and it took 12 days and 2 hospitals before she was confirmed to have Coronavirus. The people the President have picked to head up the outbreak are non medical non science backgrounds. So rest assured because Larry Kudlow says "The virus is all contained!"
Yes it’s all about Trump!!
He has to look good. Always plenty of blame to go around when he and his troop falter.
The Dems, fake news, deep state etc...
Pence as the Coronavirus czar makes perfect sense, a science denier with no medical or scientific experience to control the message.
More of the same, just control the message and the cult will gleefully follow.
Sadly we are more and more becoming an us against them society, very troubling.
The country needs real leadership right now to bring the country together, not a celebrity narcissist. With all the serious issues that we face, we just can’t afford to plod along like this for another 4 years.
1
This is what happens when you treat public safety as a P.R. problem.
This is laughable. He has six bankruptcies and too many to count lawsuits to count over "fake' companies, charities and universities. Where have you been?
The best advertising the democrats can have now.
A gift from this deadly virus to the democrats is an ad which can be produced by the democrats proclaiming WHAT this administration HAS ALREADY done to the CDC.
In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure.
In May 2018, Trump ordered the National Security Council’s entire global health security unit shut down, calling for reassignment of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer and dissolution of his team inside the agency.
The month before, then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured Ziemer’s DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team.
Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams have been replaced.
The global health section of the CDC was so drastically cut in 2018 that much of its staff was laid off and the number of countries it was working in was reduced from 49 to merely 10.
Meanwhile, throughout 2018, the U.S. Agency for International Development and its director, Mark Green, came repeatedly under fire from both the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
3
When I listened to Mr. Trump during his press conference, I was reminded of beauty pageant contestants as they attempt to answer a question on a topic they know nothing about.
4
I just read the article you linked supporting your claim that corona virus is as lethal as the Spanish flu, I find it very dubious.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov
2
Well said. Ignorance over knowledge, indolence over preparation. Over the cliff we go...
I think every time this administrations does something like this that is so devoid of objectivity we should all just say, "OK, Donald!"
Maybe Trump and Pence, and Trump's family should go visit some of the Covid-19 sufferers. it would be a great photo op.
1
Maybe Trump will come down with this hoax infection and pass it throughout his administration. Then we’ll see that things improve for the US, just as zero is better than a negative number.
1
Apparantly Trump, Mulvaney et al believe the corona virus is a plot to destroy Trump's "legitamite" election. At least that's what they say. Sounds like a great plot for science fiction. Political chemical warfare!
Bannon said that Trump's goal was to dismantle the administrative state. To prevent the state from administering to the health of its citizens, they installed a flagrant stock manipulator and tax thief as HHS chief. Then they moved to undermine, understaff, and underfund the CDC, NIH, and other agencies. Americans are about to learn what the "administrative state" is unable to do for them now that it has been "dismantled."
1
“When a Pandemic meets a Personality Cult” ? Before reading the article, I was wondering, what has Bernie Sanders have to to with the coronavirus ? It turns out it’s about the other personality cult...
Trump lives in the same world as everybody else. What happens to all of us will eventually include him. But Trump’s persistent drive to make the destruction of the earth inevitably faster, suggests some one suicidal.
If Trump needs money to deal with the corona virus, he could hold off on his trips to Mar-a-Lago. These TGIF trips are costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. Flying off to Mar-a-Lago, spacing out about the corona virus crisis, do we have a Peter Pan for president?
1
Pence and Co reluctance to “believe” in evolution is merely a reflection of he and his gangs bitter reality. No evolution whatsoever. They definitely confirm for us that in these people, it doesn’t exist. Let’s hope the electorate evolves this time. Vote blue no matter who
1
I recommend that the NY Times, Washington Post, NPR, PBS and other credible media outlets collaborate on the coronavirus news by hiring a trusted source of medical knowledge concerning this outbreak with truthful and helpful daily updates for people to stay informed and take appropriate action. Stay outside of pence / trump orbit on this, we know they are incompetent liars that cannot be trusted. This must not be about spin. Are truth and trust really so damaged that trump / pence are actually believed? May as well listen to Limbaugh and Hannity, even better, my 6 month old granddaughter. At least she'll bring you a smile.
Exponentially more people die from gun violence every day than they do Coronavirus.
China has a travel advisory for its citizens that travel to the USA, warning tourists of a gun epidemic.
But I would argue we do know how he deals with crises - Puerto Rico, and fires in California to name 2 off the top of my head.
With the cancellation of many sporting events and guidance to avoid large congregations of people (initially in countries like China, Japan, S.Korea), one would think that gigantic petri dishes of international organizations and gatherings of officials and politicians around the world would inevitably lead to accelerating transmission of the coronavirus.
In fact Washington DC is crammed with people who regularly travel and mingle at such venues. They’re not even tested or monitored after attending such events. Events like gatherings in India of 100,000 people in a cricket stadium, and standing admiringly up close and personal to the surface of the Taj Mahal.
1
Interesting the author jumps to a may be like the 50 million killing 1918 pandemic virus. It suggests less than an ideal grip on the reality of his essay as a whole. It is serious or those in power would not be taking special measures. Its lethality is clearly higher than the flu. However data is still being collected and the largest source, China, has the least trustworthy data. Anthony Fauci, the American virology genius, is leading the charge and is quite content with his interaction with the present administration per his own words, not per "sources." Can't we all hang together on a life threatening contagious condition and its management? I sure hope so.
3
Trump supporters who think this is all a fairy tale should stop buying masks and hand sanitizer so the rest of us snowflakes can get them...
After all, they're not concerned, with the Gibberish Master in charge of things....
I can GUARANTEE that Republican Trump supporters will get sick if this virus takes off in the US. That's the problem with this picture. They can idolize the moron in chief all they want, but when someone in thier family gets sick, get ready for the REAL blame machine to take off...
Hey Trump: It's a WORLD WIDE slide. The Democratic debate has NOTHING to do with it. Have one of your brilliant advisers explain it to you.
ANd if there's no worry, get going to California and meet with the people. At least Xi had the guts to do that.
Scientific facts typically fail to align in perfect harmony with supine adoration of the ultra-needy Megalomaniac-in-Chief.
Now that the president has stacked the senior roles of his administration with sycophantic ciphers, we can believe any White House guidance as much as we believe the Head Charlatan himself. This is to know that if his lips move, he is lying.
No person of sound, independent, intelligent, moral character can work for this president because he demands that all underlings check their personal dignity at the door on the way into his benighted cabal of malignant toadies.
1
Maybe Pence can get a blow out photograph of the virus and modify it with a sharpie. That'll take care of it! Who needs the CDC?
None of the expert opinion, based on epidemiological science, says we will necessarily be lucky. They say the higher probability is that we won't be. Only a pristine idiot would take pleasure in a killer disease as a vehicle for job creation, and an unqualified fool to pronounce this disease contained when the public health experts are warning that it isn't the spread of the disease is indeterminate because the Administration is incapable of providing the necessary testing, so impossible to say anything intelligent about containment. The very notion that technically unqualified politicians have been placed in charge of muzzling expert scientists is expected from authoritarian regimes and banana republics, not the USA.
Pence needs to get down on his knees and pray that all of the talented scientists who were shut down by Trump's government will come back to work. We have run out of time indulging a government of idiots.
2
A virus is reality, if you label it as a hoax it doesn’t hear you, you can’t smear it or fire it, you can’t threaten its family you can’t pretend it doesn’t exist and hide it behind a bogus executive privilege claim, your cult in the House and Senate can’t cover it up for you, you can’t scribble it out with a sharpie pen, it is real, it is deadly it is not a made for TV situation comedy. Let’s face it, we all know what Trump is, even his cult knows what he is, he is a lying idiot and he has surrounded himself with those who are even more incompetent than he is. Happy talk will not make this go away, this has a long way to go and if your putting your faith in Donald Trump, you are a fool.
2
The truth is likely to upset everyone: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/sunday-review/coronavirus-quarantine.html
1
Donald, meet your Katrina...
The sky is falling!
1
God help us - these nincompoops can't and won't.
1
In an issue of Time Magazine devoted to the science of climate change Bill McKibben wrote a piece that included his musings on the coming election. He posits that the polling was too close to call until a major environmental catastrophe showed the total ineptitude of the t rump administration and the election became a blowout against t rump. One can hope.
Where are the regions of this Nation that stand to suffer the most? Those states where sane and responsible legislators expanded Medicaid coverage (meaning democratic controlled states) or those states where the ideology of republicans refused that expansion?
The states controlled by republicans, with a couple of exceptions, tend to be the poorest among US. And the rural hospitals in those states are closing. Will t rump's zombies have to do what they do when they want an abortion? Cross a state line into a blue state for salvation?
The laws of unintended consequences seems to be on the verge of catching up to another law, the survival of the fittest. And someone tossing their brains onto the bonfire of F(alse)ox and the so called president's b.s. is a sure fire way to prove that law.
Those still thinking that t rump is OK because, you know, the stock market, might be realizing that he has as little to do with its vitality as I do.
Good luck to one and all.
Donald Trump is pompous, self-serving idiot. And now, that incalculable idiocy may just end up getting a whole lot of people killed. All I can say, is that it's too bad it won't only be his moronic supporters who will end up paying the price for their ill-conceived support of this walking dumpster fire.
Odd that people aren't panicking so much as the trump administration is panicking because the markets are somewhat panicking. Damn. It's a widespread panic.
With the free movement of goods, services and people ("globalization") came the free movement of pathogens
I have read all the papers of Mr. Krugman , and in none does he consider the economic impact of the free movement of pandemics that had to accompany the free trade he promoted
It is, in economic terms, just another non-anticipated derivative effect of globalization, and needs to be incorporated into future economic analysis of it.
I looked it up. Only 11 people in the USA got Ebola. Most were cured in USA hospitals. Yet Trump raged and raged over Twitter. The Republicans used scare tactics to garner votes during the midterm. Obama set up a program to fight these type of outbreaks. Trump eliminated the whole response because he can hire doctors on a whim.
This is a serious situation. But, in Trump-world, turnabout is fair play.
1
When Dr. Krugman writes of the 2019 novel corona virus, "In fact, early indications are that the virus may be as lethal as the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed as many as 50 million people," it puts current events into a new perspective. The CDC says wash your hands and don't panic.
The CDC, the WHO, NIH, etc. should not induce panic, but also should not sugarcoat matters. People need to adequately prepare. Another article in the New York Times states that people should have three days of food, water, etc. stockpiled. However, the usual period of quarantine for this virus is at least two weeks. If Trump decides to take the route of the authoritarians he admires such as Xi, we could have massive forced quarantines in which I wouldn't want to count on the government bringing food to mine and millions of others' doorstep for almost two weeks. Trump and his cohorts are not noted for their administrative competence in natural disasters.
Also, a minimum of two weeks stockpile is a safer bet if services are disrupted, as they undoubtedly were during the 1918 flu pandemic. Sick truckers and transportation workers will not be moving as much food and goods around.
However, don't panic, be greedy and rush out to buy and hoard six months worth of toilet paper. Be prepared, but reasonable. Start investigating day care arrangements now in the event schools close. Don't count on Trump to even take that issue into consideration.
Trump's and his administration's handling, especially the recent disclosures of unnecessary exposure of CA and other citizens reminds me of Chernobyl.
Two excellent quotes from the series:
What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.
The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. It doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait, for all time.
4
This response has focused on economic outcomes is just so cold.
We are talking about an illness impacting people, possibly millions. There is no indication this potential for global suffering means anything to the president and his loyal messengers beyond money.
1
Being hard of hearing, when Trump first announced his running mate I heard: “My Pants”. And it has come to pass: Trump has handed over his Coronavirus pants to to crash dummy Pence who’s been too busy bothering God about homosexuals to bother with biological truth or scientific fact....Pence probably thinks CDC an the acronym for Center for Democratic Clout.
5
Your vitriol knows no bounds..
Would help to refocus
1
Mr. Krugman you forgot to mention Dr. Robert Redfield, Trump’s appointed boss of the Center for Decease Control and Prevention. He (Redfield) is another little “Pencer”, who has been associated with religious groups who claim that AIDS was
“God’s judgement” against homosexuals ! So, what we have addressing this threat are two idiots appointed by an idiot.
6
The man is a blithering idiot.
North Korea-like is the only way to describe the way Pence and others were forced to praise Trump.
Are we going to see Trump on a white horse on the National Mall next?
3
Another daily dose of the Times politicizing the Corona virus epidemic. Couldn't get past the first paragraph of misrepresentations.
Outrageous
Well it makes perfect sense to me to have sycophant Pence lead the fight against global pandemic.
Trump wants to win reelection. I the stock market crashes and the their is a global recession, his fake powers to manipulate such are nakedly revealed.
Why have actual scientists discuss the actual implications of the coronavirus in order to save lives, when you might be able to con your way into extended the aged expansion.
Donald Trump is a fake and a phony, responsible for cutting the budget of the CDC by 80%.
Pence is a moron mouthpiece.
Hashem Elohim is intervening in this election to stop the evilness and corruptness that is destroying America and the beautiful Earth he created.
1
Krugman, you are despicable for writing this pack of Les. What's more disturbing is reading the comments from my fellow Americans.
How very frightening. I now feel fury toward this group of slimy, repulsive thieves who have spent all of their time stealing from the American people. From day one, Russia, Carl Ichan, the Saudis and anyone other Trump pal hanging around in the Oval Office, the plan has been to rape the treasury. As the con and grift collapse, the president will have nothing to offer but reflections of his own fear and will go into hiding to avoid 'germs' and the reality that he is ill suited to anything but Epstein sex parties and golf.
2
He's a sociopath with a cult following.
4
One can be too smart for one's own good in this infantile land dominated by twits like Pence adulating jerks like Trump.
3
“Smart” is a very lonely place to be on this planet.
If Pence could pray away the Gay a little virus should be easy.
4
Win-win for Trump.
If there’s no contagion: ‘I told you so’ and ‘Helluva job, Pencey’
If there is contagion: ‘The CDC is a disgrace’ or ‘Fake news spread by Never Trumpers’
1
Dumb people put dumb politicians in charge. Now we get to see exactly what we get...which is exactly what we deserve. Until Americans wise up, do the research themselves and stop messing around with social media, this will continue. This country is quickly being flushed down the toilet. By its own citizens. Get out and vote this bunch of buffoons out; to say they are all incompetent is to give them too much credit. Wake up AMerica!
5
I hope Arch is being facetious! Trump is simply a self centered idiotic simpleton who doesn't know or care about anything or anyone except himself.. He could't manage a horse drawn wagon!
1
The Trump Administration response reminds me of the scene from the movie Animal House, where Kevin Bacon's character stands astride the panicked masses fleeing the chaos, holding up his hands and yelling, "No need to panic. All is under control."
Appears Trump, Pence a& Co. are also taking a page from the Geo. W. Bush (or Chairman Xi's) playbook - muzzle the bureaucracy by demanding all public communications go through Administration toddies.
3
I was Director of Disease Control San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic. I can't conceive of not having had open access to the press. Information about the disease was as important a tool in control as testing. Without being able to freely provide it many more would have died. Moreover, simply telling the scientists that whatever they say has to vetted by politicians in and itself will now cause even more suspicion of those trying to control the epidemic
6
The article says:
"And in case you’re wondering, no, the coronavirus isn’t like the common cold. "
Actually it is more similar to the cold virus than the Spanish flu virus. Rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, is a type of corona virus and both Covid-19 and the rhinoviruses are RNA viruses while the flu is a DNA virus. That is important because RNA viruses mutate more easily than DNA which makes them harder to develop lasting immunity to as well as harder to develop an effective vaccine.
The problem here is that Covid-19 could become endemic, like the common cold, and just circulate through the population annually. We really don't know what will happen.
2
And now, according to The Times, government scientists will need to get Pence’s approval before making public statements about the coronavirus.
This may be the single most shockingly UnAmerican thing I have ever heard--although I am aware that this has been going on from the beginning of this Reign of Terror.
12
When I was Mayor of a small city in Oregon I realized that the best way to fight forest fires was with preparedness. Planning and Preparing saves lives and limits damage. I also realized the planning and preparedness cost money. Like all publicly funded things people with a stake/interest in the thing support it. People who don't, don't support it. It's up to the political leaders to build value in the thing to make it happen. Value building takes Trust. No one in the right mind should ever trust Trump. Trust and Trump and two words that don't fit because he is untrusted worthy.
5
Outstanding moment of 45's statement on the pandemic: "You're probably not going to die."
Stated uncharacteristically without affect, expression or inflection.
6
Saying that Rush Limbaugh's comments were a projection misses out on a larger reality.
Limbaugh, Fox and others in the conservative propaganda apparatus literally coordinate their messaging with Trump and the GOP.
If this isn't obvious, you are not paying attention.
5
Thanks,Mr. Krugman for speaking out in a real way about the absolute selfishness of Trump and his hand picked henchmen. Why people are more afraid of healthcare and education for all that they continue to support a Fascist Dictator like Stalin is beyond me. THanks, again.
4
Why is anyone quoting Rush Limbaugh??
The man told his own listeners five years ago that smoking was so harmless that "it would take 50 years to kill you"- he is now apparently stage 4 lung cancer.
Mike Pence, Trump's Baghdad Bob, managed to turn rural Indiana into a hellish HIV epidemic.
Trump started blabbering about how the stock market will "take off like a rocket" when he is re-elected in his address to America about the Coronavirus. Maybe they haven't told him about the market today and are saving a cheeseburger to hide the information in.
You could not make up Team Trump - this will be studied as a moment of outright insanity in America.
12
Trump has always been a crisis waiting to happen. Thankfully the coronavirus may be that crisis because a lot less people will die from the virus than would have died if the crisis had been a war.
2
To show that the coronavirus is an overblown hoax, Trump should visit the hospital wards where the victims are, shake hands with them and tell them to get over it. General Bonespurs to the rescue.
11
“America Held Hostage: Day 1133”
Yes, it’s three years and 38 days since President Obama handed the keys to the Chaos President.
Thanks to the Electoral College, voter suppression, the Murdoch Right-wing propaganda apparatus, Russian disinformation and other meddling, and — most of all — the breath-taking stupidity of tens of millions of American voters, the rest of us have been held hostage to some of the most corrupt, ignorant, awful human beings in the country.
And now they’re going to “protect us” from a historically catastrophic pandemic that will likely kill millions.
Decades ago, as an 18 year-old, I left the “Heartland” state I grew up in for California, where I attended UC Berkeley and then Stanford.
I thought I had escaped the miasma of religious fundamentalism, reactionary right-wing politics, and mind-boggling stupidity that so many wallow in in such places.
But, like a bad horror movie, I’m now within their evil clutches again, as they bungle their way trying to manage a crisis they have no idea how to handle.
So, indeed, I feel I am once again a hostage to the kind of people I thought I had escaped nearly half a century ago.
I can only hope their willful stupidity doesn’t lead to the deaths of my friends, family, and others I care about.
20
The problem is that, as per the old adage, you can still fool some of the people all the time. Specifically, 45% of the people will believe whatever Trump says even up to the moment when, penniless from a broken stock market, they succumb to a disease that "will miraculously disappear when the weather warms."
8
Pence is set up for the fall. He’s being anointed to attend to the details while Orange Ball is looking for someone to blame for the impending recession. Germs! They’re not contained by a border wall. It’s a Broadway musical in the making. Hello Nikki!
7
Well, Pence will be who Trump will blame, but the VP is the ONLY Federal employee that Trump cannot fire; he was elected, right alongside Trump.
The message here is clear: We must rid of country of this evil ( that is what it really is) in the White House and retake the Senate in 2020. Vote to get these self-centered incompetents out of office.
4
FINALLY! An exogenous event to demonstrate that in addition to it's staggering corruption and hypocrisy, the trump regime (which not a real legitimate administration) is incompetent and cannot be trusted to manage this crisis nor protect it's citizens,
3
The inmates have taken over the asylum. The fox is in the hen house. A sheep in wolves clothing.
This may help the simple minded make a good decision this November.
4
I despise Trump and most, although not all Republican politicians. Trump’s a horrible joke of a leader and the modern Republican party is an incompetent treacherous menace to our country . But, I don’t think the Coronavirus will end up as bad as the SARs and MSRA viruses, although I admit I’m pretty uninformed. However, there is probably a really bad global pandemic coming within a few years, who knows exactly when, and Trump is not man enough to handle it.
1
After Trump's performance yesterday putting Pandemic Pence in charge of the Coronavirus I think the two of them should be jailed for incompetence. What a disgrace making Pence the "Gatekeeper of all information the public is to hear.
Wake up America this is the work of a Dictator not a President.
7
The greatest irony would be for Trump, Pence and their families to get the virus.
2
Let us imagine this was the Bubonic Plague and the king does not know what is causing this terrible pestilence so insists the peasants have nothing to worry about. Pray for your sins, citizens, and protect your king. Scientists, astrologers, and prognosticators get thee away. This kingdom shall have no doomsayers to mar it's golden hours. Heed Prince Pence and fear not.
5
It’s Enron all over again- Hubris fixed mindset groupthink without any basis in reality and opposing views are ridiculed
3
What cracks me up is when Trump brays at his supporters to "look at thier beautiful 40ks".
These dopes don't even know how to SPELL 401k, which makes that directive even more ironic.....
And, before the 2016 election, 401ks and IRA's were the tools of the hated Wall Street.....somehow Trump has managed to convince his supporters that something most of them don't have, that they hated when Obama was in office, is now a good thing.
3
While likely not intended as a comedic piece, I could not stop laughing while reading this well-written chronicle of ineptness and stupidity.
Thank you Mr. Krugman for the unintentional comic relief, I suspect we’ll be needing more of it, albeit at great cost.
3
@Kevin Greene Is that you Donald?
If obvious incompetence, cruelty and political expedience was going to damage Trump, it would have happened already. The base will continue lapping up what he feeds them, even if they have to do it from their deathbeds.
5
Poor Pence. He’s the sacrificial lamb, the fall guy, the designated Loser. If the Virus fizzles out, Trump claims Victory, and full credit. However, if a Pandemic happens and Hundreds Of Thousands Die, Pence gets full Blame. That’s obviously Trumps plan. NOTHING is ever HIS fault.
But this just might be his long awaited undoing. His very own Iran Hostage Crisis, Katrina and Chernobyl. It’s very difficult to blame “Fake News” if Bodies are piling up in Hospitals, Morgues and FEMA Refrigerators. His Fans will finally turn on Him.
4
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
- Issac Asimov
Unfortunately, the Republican Party has been running a very effective national campaign of cultured greed and stupidity for forty years now and it's starting to bear some very fatal fruit.
In 2000, Republican operatives forced George W. Bush on America, the guy who was too lazy and incurious to read his Aug. 6 2001 “presidential daily brief” warning that “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”.
In 2003, Republican stupidity shined again as America blew up Iraq and the Middle East.
In 2008, Republican stupidity, malpractice and greed resulted in a Great Depression caused by Republican public policy and incompetence.
From 2009 to 2017, Republican stupidity was limited to drowning the Obama recovery in obstructionism and screaming about the evils of universal healthcare for 330 million Americans.
And now we are blessed with more Republican genius, the Trump-Pence-GOP shredding of good government, the CDC, and the 2018 firing of key US pandemic response officials who were not replaced.
All of these critical funding cuts were done to help cut taxes for the rich.
Republican ignorance, greed and stupidity inevitably leads to American disaster over and over again.
11
@Socrates
I would add st ronnie's destruction of PATCO, deficits, and 'welfare queens', Granada, etc. to take the timeline back another 20 years.
2
@Socrates And can you imagine what Issac Asimov would say knowing that Pence the religious right claquer and science denier will edit real scientist. He was picked by trump for the job with "monarchical impunity.
(stole that from a book I am reading by Winston Churchill, I
don't think he would mind since it describes Trump to a T)
1
Maybe he will keep having his rallies.
4
He does not care how many die
He does not care how much it disrupts our lives'
He cares how much money he loses in the stock market
He cares about how it impacts the election, because the new administration next year is going to prosecute him and all the rest of them.
Fox is already lying to the lemmings about it being a Democratic conspiracy
Fox is lying about the source of anti-viral medications, and trying to blame Democrats.
When "leaders" are craven cruel ignorant criminals who lead the gullible by lying, a real emergency becomes a catastrophe.
5
One thing is clear. It certainly is a case of a Cult of Personality.
A collection of people who have all lost their mind in pursuit of fealty to an evil, willfully ignorant and stupid yet brilliant, man. We've seen this movie too many times in human history haven't we?
Let me know when it reaches the point where the grape kool aid starts to be distributed. That will signal the crescendo. Shake me awake for that sign 'cause I want to watch this one self-immolate.
That said to be fair, in good conscious, I should ask...does wanting this make me a bad human being? If so I'm sorry, but I can't help it. I understand the collateral damage for all the rest of America (if not the world) is setting up to be epic, and tragic. As a consequence however it plays out I can't help but feel they will get what they deserve.
So it may go..
John~
American Net'Zen
3
A month ago, the World Health Organization issued a statement, noting that all countries should be prepared for containment and prevention of the onward spread of this virus. WHO also noted of confirmed cases, 25% are severe.
After this announcement, in early February, Trump's proposed FY-21 budget cut CDC's budget by $1.3 billion compared with FY-20 -- a 19% cut -- including $25 million from public health preparedness and response outlays.
Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, decried the proposed cuts to public health agencies, noting that "The spread of the coronavirus is evidence that we need a strong permanent defense system to stop threats before they start and contain them when they do."
Instead of focusing on the virus, getting scientists together to solve this global pandemic...here's how Trump spent his time after WHO issued its warning:
campaign stop: January 28, 2020 Wildwood NJ
campaign stop: January 30, 2020 Des Moines IA
campaign stop: February 10, 2020 Manchester NH
campaign stop: February 19, 2020 Phoenix AZ
campaign stop: February 20, 2020 Colorado Springs CO
campaign stop: February 21, 2020 Las Vegas NV
campaign stop: February 28, 2020 North Charleston SC
Bottom line:
With Trump at the helm, the U.S. is and will be woefully unprepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of this infectious disease.
4
Trumpers or Trumpsters?
l say Trumpsters.
I said the Trump era would be a flash dark age. Now we even have a plague to go with it.
Thank you for getting in front of things Trump!!! May you reap what you’ve sown.
3
Time to use the word dangerous more than ever with this administration, as so many commenters have done. Humor, disbelief, eye-rolling, outrage, time for all that is past.
Trump is a sick and dangerous person and his ability to appoint ill-informed and equally dangerous people to important posts in our government is frightening. He is making our nation less safe for its citizens.
5
Well like all Americans, Trump is not immune to the virus.
2
I wonder if Trump, Limbaugh (that great Medal of Freedom winner), Hannity, and Ingraham are going to blame the Democrats for the spread of the coronavirus in Japan, Italy, Iran, and other places. Is it the Democrats fault that Japan just closed all schools to contain the virus? Maybe this was an over-reaction and maybe it wasn't. Is it the Democrats fault that Israel won't allow any visitors from Italy to enter? Is it the media's fault that Putin has taken a number of steps to restrict the spread of the virus?
Is it the Democrats fault that Trump has cut public health budgets?
The Blamer-in-Chief just can't help himself.
There is no problem that he won't blame on the Democrats and the media, or his most recent disaffected employee.
What a fighter he is.
8
This "crisis" shows the wisdom of Trump's America First policy, doesn't it? Build the Wall, keep immigrants out (except virus-free Norwegians), shift all manufacturing back to US, dump NATO/UN/EPA, etc. Putin probably explained how this works to Trump after Russia annexed Crimea and was sanctioned. It's all good. And if some leftie reporters, columnists and politicians get the virus, lock 'em up!
2
Clearing all statements about the virus with the VP office smacks, no, SCREAMS, state control of information, as they do in other countries with autocratic rule.
Will information be trusted at all since the representative of this Administration is a documented liar?
Not a good time for America. I sincerely hope we are not all too sick to get out and vote in November.
4
I predict a boom in mail-in ballots in those places which permit them.
At the same time, in rural districts where mail ballots are not used, and where there may be minority voters in any numbers, such as the South, Republicans will place voting places under quarantine and use germs as their agents to suppress Democratic votes.
Perfectly encapsulates the disaster that is this administration. Thank you for the cohesive review.
We are most definitely .... "attached to another object by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis."
2
Not to worry. Should the Covid 19 virus invade the US Mike Pence will institute conversion therapy programs to change the virus to something harmless.
5
My meager 401(k) is down $30k in 4 days. When should I expect my bailout check?
7
Are you selling it, borrowing against it, or taking distributions? We’re you bellyaching in prior months when it went up? Investments in the casinos of finance are like elevators: they go up and they go down and it’s no surprise. Don’t watch it unless you need it to stop at your own floor, you will make yourself needlessly crazy. Wall Street will earn commissions whether the market goes up or down.
Taking oil subsidies from the poor. All those poor world travelers, heating their 2nd homes for free, while they have been on business and vacation around the globe. I went to India and had no problems...what's up with these poor people? Maybe we should send them to an Ebola country if they want a disease for free....the future anti-virus vaccines will definitely help pharmaceutical stocks rise, and will Keep America Great.
Don't expect this vaccine not to cost you poor people....tax dollars are for the wealthy! @DJT
2
It truly is the "Trump Pandemic".
1
It truly is the "Trump Pandemic".
If HHS officials keep being as blase as they are about contagion protocols then it would not surprise me if the whole administration contracted Covid 19.
1
Laughing and joking about hand washing while people are dying.
Hillary was right - deplorable.
6
Fantastic, well-written article. I guess it's inevitable at this point that somebody is going to photoshop a gold corona crown onto King Trump's head.
3
Americans (rank and file Democrats AND the DNC) need to fully unite behind whomever is the Dem nominee for president.
3
We who voted for Trump were warned. Before the 2016 election, Barack Obama said: "This is not reality TV. This is reality."
6
Since Pence does not believe in evolution, does he think God created this new virus to punish us for our sins? Maybe he'll explain in the statements he now controls.
4
Astonishing.
Trump has muzzled Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading US CDC expert on infectious diseases for decades, who has led us through countless outbreaks.
Instead, he has placed Mike Pence—who said that “smoking doesn’t kill” while his family ran a chain of cigarette and gas convenience stores called Tobacco Road.
We truly have no adults at the head of this government.
7
If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention!
5
Are they screening at international airports in America now? They should.
1
But we have been assured we have absolutely nothing to fear. If a case appears “we will send in our world’s best scientists to quickly quell the virus’...says Trump, with Pence standing and looking like the Dunce he is.
When will this Trump nightmare ever end?
3
In 1918 when the Spanish flu came to the world we did not have many major drugs and medical treatments for any kind of real emergency. This is disinformation from this writer who should remove this statement. We are in some danger mostly being led by a complete incompetent but we have the best medical system to handle this emerging threat.
I fear for America.
The biggest danger comes neither from presidential incompetence nor from the virus. It comes through a window to declare a national emergency and cancel presidential elections indefinitely.
It is this window that has been denied to DJT by the calm approach of Democrats.
A.J. Deus
Social Economics of Poverty and Religious Terrorism
2
Easily summed in one word: incompetence.
1
Why is it that bad things happen under Republican Presidents? GW Bush -Sep 11 to recession; Trump coronavirus to stock market tumble and probably recession. Just saying...
2
Mike Pence? I don’t know him. I take pictures with a lot of people.
7
The only thing that might change a Trump supporter's beliefs about coronavirus is if they find themselves dying from it.
But even then they won't change their beliefs about it, and with their very last breath will blame Clinton or Obama or Pelosi or Soros or China or Mexico or science or the "deep state" or flying saucers – in short, anybody and anything except what's actually happening to them.
This is of course clinically deluded, het it still offers a bright side for all the non-clinically-deluded people on the planet, because the result will be one less toxic nutjob on the voting rolls.
Darwin in action, nature batting last.
1
Has anyone told Rush Limbaugh that the highest mortality for COVID-19 is among men over 50 who are smokers with lung disease???? Just a cold? Good luck to you, Rush.
2
So, early on when Trump made proactive moves to restrict travel into the country from affected areas you were calling him a racist.
He sets up a task force and you predict they will fail.
You realize nobody takes you seriously, don’t you?
Trump is incompetent and very ill, both physically and mentally.
Congress should subpoena his health records and take appropriate action..
3
Short sweet and to the point Paul. This is what happens when a malignant narcissist and his pack of yes men control the country. Not a one of them has any business at all being in govt.
3
"In fact, early indications are that the virus may be as lethal as the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed as many as 50 million people." C'mon, Paul. You undercut your argument with fear mongering like this.
@john fisher facts. The 83,000 cases worldwide now have a mortality rate of 2-3%. Spanish Flu mortality was 2-3%.
3
Science and medicine are the only things that will save many American deaths from the coronavirus! The CDC response so far had been appalling as only about 500 people have been tested for the virus. South Korea has just one factory producing 100,000 test kits per day. Yet, the CDC will not allow the State of California’s own labs to conduct coronavirus tests in the Sacramento area!!! MAGA, Make America GOOD Again, this Fall!!!
3
@Mark Funding cuts, or incompetence or both. It is inconceivable that the US is not conducting surveillance of the population for community spread!
1
@jeansch
Agree 100%!!!
1
If for one am completely confident that when things really get bad, Trump will be there to throw us some Kleenex boxes.
3
Maybe the president could find a moment to check in on his dear friend Kim. The North Koreans must have a few cases of Coronavirus.
1
Cults are formed and held together by ignorance, superstition, and beliefs. The Black Death was sustained by ignorance, superstition, and beliefs. When learning, science, and reason are applied, neither cults nor epidemics can survive. A reason why Republicans fear science?
1
Only one element is missing: why hasn't Trump demonized one of his favorite bugaboos for causing the Trumpvirus? You know, like blaming it on illegal immigrants?
2
Another episode of South Park becoming reality!
The only thing missing from Trump’s recent press conference on the coronavirus crisis was a large banner behind him declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”
2
Now we have the opportunity for this campaign Slogan:
Anyone but Trump,
Your life depends on it.
1
"Rush Limbaugh weighed in: “It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. … The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.”
He said as he adjusted his Presidential Medal of Freedom over his tie.
The scary thing is, Trump supporters, all 60 million of them, will believe all the lies that come out of this administration and it's sycophants. What could possibly go wrong?
1
"...and things would be so much worse if we didn't have these Chinese tariffs in place - I mean - Vladimir assured me the Russians had nothing to do with this - and I don't see why they would have - I hear it's not so bad - like the common cold - so - feed a fever, starve a cold - or is it the other way around - I don't know - I mean - we'll clarify that for you as soon as my new temporary head of the CDC comes over from Fox News - and really - it's all just a hoax - a witch hunt - I hear Nancy Pelosi is coughing all over the place just to get me out of office - can you believe it..."
2
They have to run everything by Pence before publishing it; the Chinese dead doctor who warned about Coronavirus and was censored comes to mind!
2
Thank you, Paul Krugman. Thank you.
1
This president threw paper towels at hurricane victims. Expecting anything more to deal with a pandemic is wishful thinking. All of us will get a box of tissues. And more lies.
2
Just a reminder; there was another mass shooting. This time at a Milwaukee brewery. Have these mass shootings become so commonplace they now just slip past us in the news cycle?
3
This guy is worry what the administration can and can't say. Not a single word how is going to manage the crisis. A crisis that is 2 to 3 weeks far.
It sounds like a Nazi fear campaign, but on the other foot...!!!
This incompetence and cruelty could have gone on for a lot longer before the return-of-the-repressed of Reality eventually re-asserted itself if it weren't for this plague. Incompetence and targeted cruelty have been embraced as completely in-line with the entire Ideology that brought us Trump, they welcomed his every destructive move, his peopling Departments with those hell-bent on destroying them, his non-stop chaos and blundering and malicious meanderings! Up until now these all satisfied the Fox/Republican/RIght-wingers and their ecospheres, but anybody with a sense of Reality could see the repressed coming back with a catastrophic bang even without a Plague at our dinner tables, it was inevitable that all the false image-Leadership malarkey that is Trump was going to reveal itself through some dark misery visited on all of us, Citizens of the US and the World alike, but now we can see it up close and it's time has come!!
With the Whistle Blower's accounts of complete unpreparedness and bungling reception of this Plague we can get a real view of the inevitable failures that come when 'Anti-Gov' folks try their hands at Leadership.
Will this wake up the American People?
I wonder how many Billionaires are already in their safe Bunkers/Mansions/Ranches in New Zealand? Can we keep them there when it's all over?!
1
An extra added benefit for trump selecting pence to oversee this developing pandemic? When pence screws it up, as he is bound to do and since no one can actually "contain" this before real damage is done, trump can blame pence and select nikki haley for VP - which is what he has wanted to do for some time. Why? Because he no longer needs pence, because trump already has the evangelicals. Plus be must resent pence's really thick, nice hair.
Of course I wish all the professionals involved in the control and prevention of these periodic diseases that are fighting for the survival of their species. I am confident, homo sapiens will eventually win the battle, particularly if we can agree to cooperate. But let me assure you that we need to know a lot more than we do to assure the dominance of our species.
After listening to some of the professionals and our system for producing a vaccine that would have been tested for safety, it is not too much of a hype to realize that this virus will dramatically slow the global economy. So it will be dicey time for those who manage money and a bit of hell for businesses that participate in the global market trading system. So as seaman say: Standby for the Ram.
There is an area of research that I would propose in this fight and it came from the need to find out how we can improve the natural human immune response systems. It should be a goal of medical research to understand this system. Remember the miracle of the experimental work that was successfully tried with former President Carter. I see this approach as a possible use in Type II diabetes, H.I.V. etc. Anyway, I am been around enough scientists who know and understand the concept of evolution in nature.
My friend, the late Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma, an imminent amine scientist, coached me through the world of fundamental biological research, and there are questions that need to be explored. We should invest.
2
The funny thing about this thing is, for those of us who have had to deal with this thing on a daily basis for the past 5 weeks, it's NOT AT ALL political. In the least. It's a huge, pain, stressful, depressing pain in the butt. I have talked to 600 Chinese students the past week online, teaching them as we are all stuck in their homes. They are clearly getting depressed. "What are your plans for this weekend?"
"Eat in bed. Sleep in bed."
Of course, it's not a pain in the but if you have it, and you're old and weak, then it may kill you. So one of the two: a pain in the butt, 24 hours a day, or lethal. Hopefully, the former if you're lucky.
It's so facile to talk about Rush Limbaugh and Mike Pence. That is NOT what THIS is. Yeah, they're morons and jerks. But they're irrelevant.
1
Not only is America sick and dying, but the “doctor” (really a marketing dweeb just dressed as a doctor) has closed the door on the patient’s bedroom and denied there’s anything wrong as a prescription.
The reason Trump appointed Pence? To reduce Trump’s risk of catching SARS 2.
The reason Pence in turn delegated responsibility to a couple of PR people? Same reason.
Like the GOP surrounding them, not only do these cockroaches not care about anyone but themselves, but it seems they are now actively looking for ways to commit genocide.
May all their evil dealings turn on them, leaving them suffering in the extreme for an eternity.
Pray they are all condemned to Hell, a Hell of their own making.
And soon!
It will be worse. There was an article out yesterday stating that asymptomatic carriers of the virus could represent upwards of 10% of those infected, suggesting there could be as many as 10,000 people carrying it around with no symptoms and who themselves don't get sick, though others around them would.
Given how pathetically Trump's administration is preparing for Covid-19 when the proverbial fecal matter hits the fan, the likely responses from the public are 1) panic, 2) widespread paranoia and bias. None of this is good.
Worse, Xi's government's response is China demonstrates very convincingly how pathetically useless authoritarian populist regimes are (take note that's the kind of country Trump and the Rs want; they basically remind us every day) because out fear of looking weak and not in control, the Chinese government isn't sharing data from its Covid-19 sufferers with the rest of the planet, making any response erratic at best.
Finally, the reason we should be worried is that what data we do have suggests that Covid-19 has about a 3% death rate, which doesn't sound bad until you realize that a worldwide pandemic killing 3% of the population is 200 million people and nearly 7 million here in the US.
All this explains Trump's response. Remember that he and the Rs want us to believe they are the only sage intelligent adults in the room and are completely in charge. They literally can't have something as inconvenient as reality intruding and showing otherwise.
Thank goodness I live in a blue state with public health officials and a university hell-bent on relaying honest information.
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Quick, you stupid staffers, organize a campaign rally somewhere, anywhere, and the crowds have to be yuge, the biggest ever!
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Trump could pass out face masks at his rallies to show he is taking the problem seriously but he can’t admit there is one.
trump's life has been one screw-up after another. One bankruptcy after another. He was able to achieve financial success mainly due to family money and government subsidies. So far as president, he has increased the deficit to record levels, while cutting the funding to the CDC. Where will trump be this weekend? Golfing, of course.
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The constant need for ego stroking is getting exhausting. Trump needs people to tell him what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear. Loyalty in place of expertise and experience.
"...some damn fool thing in the Balkans..." brought down the last adventure in global capitalism, and it appears that some damn fool thing in China will finally wake us up from the dream of cheaply manufactured goodies originating in a cruel, totalitarian autarchy that is the CPR. Thus far, people seem more concerned about losing money and trade than the fact that lack of food handling regulations leading to species-to-species infection in one large country is contaminating the entire world. Millions may suffer as a result. Too bad, but way overdue.
And we were all worried about China's propaganda machine.
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"early indications are that the virus may be as lethal as the 1918 Spanish Flu" -- Dr Krugman, that is fear-mongering. The lack of reliable knowledge is described in your linked article. We just don't know the severity of the illness yet.
Trump is, of course, incompetent. This is another encounter for him with Reality, which has an anti-conservative bias. But we liberals should not run screaming into the streets -- let's maintain our good relations with Reality.
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Even if we manage the best case scenario of containing the virus with minimal contagion or loss of life, the process of containment is itself going to create economic disruption. Indeed, it already has -- business and personal travel and multinational supply chains have all been disrupted. This is the point that seems to be eluding Trump. It's already too late to try to contain this problem through correct "messaging."
So far, there is one person in the US with the virus that contracted it here, and we dont know how or where.
One.
The other 59 or so - we know exactly how they got it. They either traveled to China or got it from their spouse, who traveled to China. 45 of them were on that cruise ship off Japan.
The reason that number is so incredibly low?
Trump banned any non citizen who has traveled to China in the previous 14 days from entering the US a month ago. Any US citizen who is re-entering the US, and has traveled to China, is immediately separated and tested.
So please, tell me how Trump is not prepared, or is screwing this up?
If it werent for his decisive action in banning non US citizens from entering the country who had been to China, we'd have a serious problem here.
But we dont. One person is not a reason for panic.
Throwing around blame like hysterical children as if we have some full blown avoidable emergency is silly.
Too late. The virus has spread well beyond China's borders. There's only so much that immigration restrictions can do. We need a coordinated response to minimize the damage. Sticking your head in the sand and praying for it to go away won't help.
Travelers coming from other countries are not being screened or quarantined, and as of now the virus has spread to 59 countries. And if you think the one person here with no links to China is an isolated incident, you're crazy. Why do you think they call it "community spread?"
I see a number of comments along the lines of "how is this legal?" or "this can't be legal".
People who write such things do not yet fully grasp the situation we are in. Whether or not the president's actions are legal is irrelevant - he has the power to do whatever he decrees, and our laws be damned.
What more evidence could one possibly need than his recent attacks on the Supreme Court, or the Justice Department arguing the, yes, he could literally shoot someone and the police are not even allowed to stop him.
Our laws will not protect us from this tyrant, only our actions will.
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Professor Krugman, looking forward to you writing a book on the Trump Crash of 2020 and that it was predicted.
It's interesting reading some of the conservative sites and how they blame it on the "socialists" who caused the crash.
Great to have a stable genius at the wheel just when we need it.
Earlier I made comments that only a depression could enlighten people enough to bring down con man Trump, however, there are other possibilities. The threat of an unnecessary war and its actual implimentatation. or a world pandemic could do the trick. The Trump administration is ill prepared, especially for the latter. Stripping the government of expertise and research in order to seat loyalists and ignore science may be his undoing if this virus gets out of hand. Lies and deflection do not stand well against high death rates and a crippled economy.
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Pay no attention to those scientists behind the curtain. The Great Trump has spoken.
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What I want to know is this: How did Trump eliminate so many Obama era, Congressional passed legislation that created divisions in CDC and other types of protection of the public?
I thought that laws funding and creating such were not subject to the whims of the President. If it is so, then we have created outsized power to the Presidency that really, really, REALLY needs revamping so incoming presidencies cant just stop previous laws.
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I've heard fatality estimates range from 0.4 percent to 5 percent right now. That would make the disease 4 times more dangerous than the common flu at the low end. Possibly twice as deadly as the Spanish flu at the high end. Hard to tell. Odds are good everyone is going to catch it eventually though.
That's the real problem for the stock market. They can't predict which business operations will get disrupted. Not when, not where. No idea about longevity or severity. Everyone is focused on health care professionals. Just imagine what will happen to your everyday IT technician.
Let me give you a pretty realistic scenario. An office confirms an employee has contracted the virus. The business responsibly closes the office for a two week self-enforced quarantine. Every employee in the office needs telecommute capabilities which they don't have, haven't been trained, and probably can't work from effectively anyway. IT has to set all this up overnight.
An average office size of 400 employees is 16,000 labor hours in lost productivity for just one week. At a median wage of $52 thousand, you're looking at $800,000 a week for one office. That's before people even start getting sick, much less dying. We then start calculating the numbers for missed contract deadlines, rush shipping, late deliveries, and on and on.
The only thing amazing is it took Wall Street this long to realize the economy is facing a gale force headwind. Even a mild disease can bring the entire economy to a halt.
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Thank you, Dr. Krugman, for your cogent analysis. Let's see how far the "messaging" goes in the face of a true public health threat and the fact that people will continue to become infected and there will be more deaths before this (probable) pandemic will finally be contained. We have more than one public health threat: the incompetent POTUS and his chosen minions. It's hard to know who is more inept.
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For some of the comments that support Trump, I cannot distinguish if they are sarcastic or serious. I took biology years ago, but, I remember a lot and read scientific magazines. Every time Trump speaks about science, I think, -that is not right- and look up the correct answer.
Trump’s supporters take everything he says at face value.
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Anthony Fauci, an outstanding public health expert, is a national treasure. After Trump claimed there would be a vaccine in a few months, Dr. Fauci stepped to the microphone and explained the realistic timeline for vaccine development, testing, and deployment, taking over a year, while Trump stood behind him.
Unsurprisingly Trump has now silenced People Who Know Things from speaking publicly.
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@SPPhil
There is only one response to Trump's silencing of public health officials. They must defy him at every turn. It's time to step up and do what is right for the country.
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@SPPhil
Dr Fauci will not be silenced even if he has to resort to Morse code. He is an American hero, an accomplished scientist, agency director, great public speaker and on top of that his compassion and empathy can be felt through the TV screen.
In the 40 years in my lifetime that he has been in the public eye, not once did he exhibit any ego. Just the Fauci science based facts!
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Yes SPPHIL! Trump is dictating what will be told to the public. He has created a party line and pence will enforce it. We are going towards state regulated propaganda.
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Trump is not interested in the overall health of those in the country. He worries more about the level of the stock market, since to him that is the economy. And so his response is to control communication from the experts through the totally unqualified VP who has been appointed to manage this. Result: more uncertainty and less believable information which fuels the markets drop. Such a great move by "such a genius". Is this Trump's test of Pence so he can be jettisoned in the 2020 election? Is there anyone more qualified as a sycophant to run as his 2nd?
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@Onyx M I think he’s planning on Ivanka.
Consider this; Trump claims to be wanting to wind down and end our foreign involvements but is trying to kill, that's right, trying to kill us instead, from sabotaging health care and food assistance, to psychological butchery. Do you smile much any more? I don't. Trump is the Black Cloud over America.
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What is especially frustrating is that Trump's spin goes on unchecked even when he's on a platform with health professionals who have just issued contradictory information.
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Unbelievable the straws you folks grasp upon. Trump apparently is even pulling the levers that facilitate the creation and proliferation of deadly viruses originating all the way out in China! He is a powerful man indeed; you might even say omnipotent.
Lack of sufficient funding at the CDC has literally nothing to do with the position we now find ourselves in, and nor would more funding over the last few years have had any material impact on our preparedness. This a global problem (obviously).
Moreover, Trump’s endeavors to calm people down in this world where people are overly inclined to imagine the worst and where perception equals reality, are probably exactly the right medicine for the moment. Mr. Krugman thinks we’d be best advised to freak out. That day may well come, but we’re not quite there yet.
How about we see how this thing plays out a bit more before we start panicking. Ok?
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Centers for Disease Control (CDC) funding for global outreach and containment efforts has everything to do with the current crisis. The best way to prevent wide spread disease is to keep it contained when first detected. Hence why China has shut down several large cities over this.
CDC’s programs were designed to help other countries detect and keep diseases contained before they could pose a risk globally and to Americans.
It’s similar to military or intelligence agency spending in that you pay for 1000 days to use it on the day you need it. Weakening those programs and the other related government programs as Trump did puts us all at greater risk. We are getting a demonstration of that currently.
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@Bob
"80 percent cut in the resources the agency devotes to global disease outbreaks", Bob. Try to understand what that means for America. By the time "that day may well come", it will be too late.
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Funding the CDC is exactly like funding the military. The enemy is quite different but the goal is the same... to invest now and protect American’s from harm in the future. Just like a powerful and effective military defensive force cannot be built overnight to protect Americans in a crisis that suddenly appears, so too is the situation with the CDC. Investing in a powerful military with research and weapons development is no different than investing in research and development in the medical field. This administration has foolishly gambled with the health and safety of all Americans by not recognizing that these are smart and worthwhile investments.
You’re right we shouldn’t yet panic about the disease as it stands today inside our borders, but we should panic over the potential inability of our government institutions to combat an epidemic should this or some other pestilence take hold amongst our citizenry. It’s no different than if we significantly defunded our military investments while watching an enemy gear up to invade our borders.
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Actually, Trump has been very good here. He acted in January, banning travel from the affected area, etc. The Dems in January were seeking impeachment, to refresh everyone’s recollection.
Trump’s a germophobe who wants secure borders. In my book, that’s the ideal president for a potential pandemic.
Sen. Hawley is producing legislation to secure America’s pharmaceutical supply chains. We are beholden to China for our drugs, mainly antibiotics. That needs to end now.
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@Cjmesq0
Earlier in 2020, Democrats were doing a lot more than pursuing impeachment against a corrupt president. They were highlighting the 400 pieces of bi-partisan legislation that appear to have been blockaded by the Republican majority leader in the Senate.
My ideal President for a potential pandemic is one who values science and recognizes the need to fully fund it. The ideal President recognizes that specific expertise matters when confronting crises, not politics. A germaphobe whose main way of dealing with contagion is refusing to shake hands is pretty useless at times like this.
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A germophobe is only interested in his own health. trump will have every protection, but won’t bat an aye when the elderly and poor become infected. As Mr Azar said, “ not everyone will be able to afford the vaccine.”( Of course most of us know there is no vaccine yet). This will be just another heartless reaction to the people he pledged to serve.
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@Cjmesq0 interesting, isn't it, that the market based pharmaceutical supply chain is seen as counter to our health needs. The effort to secure our supply of medicine should perhaps be extended to secure our access to a physician, regardless of income or our status with insurance companies... and without the threat of personal bankruptsy if we dare to actually seek medical help.
20
Maybe this is America's wake up call. It will test our ability as a nation to respond to REALITY using our best and only tool set designed to characterize and deal with reality, that is SCIENCE. Will we tolerate fascist authoritarians who issue edicts of silence to the scientists working in our collective interests? The difference between this case and global warming is two fold: 1) the PETRO DOLLARS that were and remain deployed against climate science are not in play this time 2) the TIME SCALE of contracting and dying from a global pandemic disease is much shorter than the time scale for killing the planetary ecology through human caused global warming. In this case the CURRENT global economy itself is the ally of science and it will CRUSH political resistance to a science driven response.
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"...early indications are that the virus may be as lethal as the 1918 Spanish flu,..." this statement is then supported with a link to the WHO official who offers a strange rationale. First, he acknowledges that the fatality rate is far lower outside of Hubei province, about 0.7%. We also see a similar rate in the rest of the world. But posits that the Hubei fatality rate is somehow more accurate, because outside of Hubei restrictive measures have not only slowed the transmission rate, but somehow lowered the fatality rate. This doesn't make sense. THere are enough cases outside of Hubei, in China and across the world, to have a separate estimate of fatality, and it is significantly different. My assumption is that the healthcare system in Hubei, with inadequate resources for the population in 'normal' times, is completely overwhelmed and incapable of coming up with a reliable estimate of the denominator of the fatality rate.
1
Coronavirus is the Problem, but the fear and control of the virus is what’s making the markets tumble. That is the correct answer to the obvious disruption of business on so many fronts.
Buying stocks will solve nothing, getting people in a safe condition to work,meet or travel again will
To date, Covid-19, the new coronavirus, appears to be as contagious and as lethal as the 1918-1919 so-called "Spanish flu". With 150 million Chineses in quarantine, the Chinese government buy us some time we should use to prepare ourselves to the epidemic. That's what we are already doing in France.
4
If any foreign nation gets even the slightest whiff the US Republican administration is sanitizing news from the CDC, their borders should be closed to US travel. You think the market is in free fall now? Wait until that happens.
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The last thing Trump is thinking about is protecting the American public. Everything is seen through the lens of what personal benefit he can gain from any situation. He has been waiting for an opportunity to give Pence a sure-to-fail assignment so he can ditch him for someone like Nikki Haley without too much blow back from the evangelicals. Trump may be mentally unbalanced but he remains shark-smart, always sensing a target where he can stir up blood in the water.
6
I wonder if this will affect the size of Trump's rallies. One infected MAGA supporter could wreak havoc.
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Corona Virus?
Not to worry. The Administration has everything under control.
You betcha!
2
It’s all well and good to put the frat boys and party planers in charge of the tax cut kegger, but you just might want the competence of the nerds when your Mom and Children’s life’s depend on a strategic response.
At a minimum we need White House daily briefings to be reinstated!
3
Hey, laugh it up. I'm not gonna get another pick for months anyway so I can afford to be funny now.
Everybody wants to get to Heaven, but nobody wants to die.
1
If, as Rush Limbaugh says, it's just the "common cold", I suggest that Trump invite some of those with the virus to the White House to prove that this is all fake news. He should shake hands with them. Give them a kiss. Share a box of popcorn with them while watching "Gone With The Wind". There are all kinds of ways he can quell the panic.
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Xi censored the Drs and told everybody it was not a big deal. And now trump is doing the same. No wonder they get along.
5
"Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called farm price supports.
Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan “Down With Socialism” on the banner of his “great crusade,” that is really not what he means at all.
What he really means is, “Down with Progress — down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal,” and “down with Harry Truman’s fair Deal.” That is what he means."
– Harry S. Truman
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@Rob
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right.
from the great economist - John Kenneth Galbraith – in The Age of Uncertainty
It’s a proven fact that Republicans are fans of golden oldies.
Hey there is some potential light at the end of this tunnel. The people who vote blue generally believe in science. We use vaccines. We know to wash our hands and sneeze into our elbows not our hands, or just sneeze on people. They call us snowflakes for caring about the animal, the environment, and trying to eat healthy. The folks who support dump do not believe in science or healthy eating. Death rates from disease and opioids are highest in dump counties. We. snowflakes, need to stay the course. Be calm and sensible. Wash those hands; keep clear of the coughers/sneezers; eat right; get your regular flu shot; phone bank for our candidates. Remind the independents/sensible few republicans that they just lost a 10-20% of their portfolio, or the rest that they lost a job because we are not prepared and are led by fools.
13
Apparently, the Chinese approach has metastasized here, too, with the notion that the Vice President's office has to first vet all comments from the CDC.
Reminds me of Dirty Harry: "How lucky do you feel?"
Not very, these days.
2
I the corona virus turns into a serious public health emergency, the solution is simple. Trump will fire Mike Pence. Problem solved.
3
My worst fear is that the virus will become the pandemic predicted by the experts world wide. Then our "fearless leader" will declare martial law and cancel the November elections. Then we well and truly will be toast on the ash heap of history.
2
Just wondering when trump will hold his next campaign rally? This is definitely cramping his style.
3
Maybe #45 will now conduct his rallies via television. That way he can sit in the White House and won't have to mingle with the plebeians that might have the virus. Or he could show up with his mask (which actually is to prevent those with the disease from spreading it to others.
1
In other words, it's a Thursday. Trump's response to a potential pandemic could never be any different than his response to anything else. Spray on the orange makeup, go to a microphone, bluster for a while, and then blame someone else. Things just got real.
3
Perhaps Mike Pence is correct; it may well be that all we can do at this point is pray. But as long as Trump is in office, we don't have one. Sauve que peut!
1
Does ANYONE believe one word out of the mouth of this administration? Trump has made sure his team is all singing the same hymns, drinking the same kool aid, playing the same crooked games of golf and lying the same lies about just about everything. A stunning lack of leadership and credibility.
1
Sad to write, but even the Trumps are not immune to catching the Coronavirus. Not that this will help them understand that a healthy country means all of us have access to health care.
Contrast this to our successful elimination of polio. everyone was immunized simultaneously.
Granted, there is no vaccine yet, but Sec’y Azar would not commit to making any future vaccine available to all regardless of ability to pay.
Herd immunity: viruses depend upon a reservoir of non immune people to allow it to propagate itself by sequentially infecting people. If this virus is like its relative the common cold, immunity is relatively short lived, unlike chicken pox. The present case Trump supports to destroy the ACA would throw 20 million Americans off health insurance.
Trump may be the best friend Coronavirus has in the US. His admin’s ineptitude May already be silently Coronavirus throughout the country.......as his people who met the returnees from Wuhan, China, .....ground zero.....were unprepared and not protectively clothed when they met them. And they have now dispersed throughout communities.
Given that lying and withholding information to the public is now standard practice by Trump and his “best” people........Trump has only himself to blame for the Stock Market response. It HATES uncertainty.
1
@Susan it's not just the impeached one. It is all republicans because they all deny science and facts while supporting white male supremacist policies designed for maximum cruelty targeted at the least among us. Period. Full stop. No reconciliation without truth.
Two things need to happen.
Major news outlets such as the NYT and WaPo need to keep pressure on this regime.
Blue and Independent voters must turn out in large numbers to defeat this Cult.
We need to act like our families lives are in danger let alone our Country.
3
It seems that Mr Krugman has been waiting and hoping for 3 years for this virus to come along (now that collusion and Ukraine have failed) so that he can yet again find something to blame the president for. So if Corona turns out to be less serious than the media is portraying, Mr Trump is nothing more than “lucky”.
What people should be considering as lucky is how feckless the left is and continues to be . Good luck Mr Krugman
1
5 stars for that one !
It is highly likely that American citizens will die. We cannot know just how preventable our domestic spread may be.
We do know that the whole world knew of the threat over a month ago. 30+ days.
The utterly incompetent mobilization of resources, the lack of effective planning, and the preemptive dismantling of structures that would have kept us safe is unforgivable. For all his bloviating and obfuscation, only one thing really matters: electing an imbecile is costing American lives; you cannot depend upon a doting ignoramus to run a first-world power to good effect.
And here we all are.
2
Trump opined that firing all the CDC scientists and closing down their programs was not a problem "if we need them we will just hire more."
He really is clueless. I was at the CDC during the Anthrax bioterrorism attack after 9/11. I was in the lab that was working around the clock to test samples form people exposed to prove it was anthrax. we did the for 6 weeks straight, working thru the night to get results out. You cannot "hire people if we need them" to do that kind of work, that fast. We had people with many years of experience in outbreak work behind them. We had field experience. We had the tests ready to use when needed. We knew how to identify new bacteria viruses (and new ones pop up every single year that had never been seen before). And our lab also identified the SARS virus for what it was- the first in the world to do so. Because we had the experience to do so.
The idea that any President could eliminate all that capacity and expertise on a personal whim is very dangerous. Trump and his sycophantic groupies are obviously completely clueless about the challenges ahead and his declaration that he knows more than anyone about everything is a clear danger to the American People.
2072
@Joe Rockbottom, What we need to do is hire a new President. There are a lot of good Democratic candidates now running for this position.
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@JerryV
None of them have executive job experience in high tech, or science. The Democratic candidates, with the exception Bloomberg, are unqualified for ANY executive branch. Mayor of Burlington or Racine is not applicable.
8
@JerryV Too bad we have to wait until November to do so, at which the cards will already have been dealt.
39