Democrats will now have to put their money where their mouths are. That's one way of shutting them up and getting them to get serious about the pandemic.
2
@AACNY Absolutely. They should take a leaf out of Trump's book and divert money assigned to building the wall.
13
@AACNY
They always have. The problem is Republicans who do the exact opposite...because it's the 'opposite' of whatever the Democrats do, like healthcare funding dollars, or CDC funding dollars, or basic research funding dollars, where their mouths are. You name it, they can be counted on to do the opposite. Just because.
13
@AACNY ...NIH, CDC; but then Trump is a stable genius with unmatched wisdom. He certainly knows more than all the scientists.
7
The press is beneath contempt. They constantly promote hoaxes, panic and fear in an effort to undermine President Trump. You'd think readers would tire of the chicken little routine, but Democrats eat it up. Mulvaney calls out the press, and they act innocent "who, us?" It's a probably a good thing they live in their glass houses and bubbles.
2
You think this is a hoax? I’ll tell you what makes me panic. A president, Vice President, and their minions who seem completely clueless about how to handle this and, I should remind you, proposed cutting 16 percent from the CDC budget. And yesterday we learned about how the Trump CDC sent untrained workers to deal with incoming patients, probably leading to further spread of Covid 19. I’m sure the next conspiracy theory to come from Rush and taken up by Trump supporters will be that Obama and Hillary cooked up the disease themselves in order to get revenge on Trump. And you folks will eat it up. Please.
9
@TL So now reporting fact, and being assiduous and thorough about it, is somehow contemptible? This outbreak won't be reined in for three months, best case scenario. Get back to us then, but in the meantime, how about a dose of reality for a change?
3
Could we have a more perfect example of the msm's double standard, when pressed on its institutional prejudices, it just doubles down on its prejudices
1
When an innocent person is accused of lying about his innocence, he also insists he’s innocent of that. And he is.
1
@imamn Care to elaborate? Vague accusations may cut it in your world, but most of us would like to know what your problem is.
1
'the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.”'
True. And this is nothing new. Also, look at the comments here in NYT, the people almost blame Trump for the virus, the hatred for Trump never knew any boundaries.
As for covid-19, USA is in fact uniquely well positioned to withstand it since it is protected by the oceans. The vigilance is more than in place, awareness too, but let us not sow panic, it is by all intents and purposes life as usual here, in sharp contrast to the large parts of the world. Hence, keep it reasonable, pay very close attention, and carry on, all.
2
@ss "....As for covid-19, USA is in fact uniquely well positioned to withstand it since it is protected by the oceans..." Really?? How foolish of you to think that vast bodies of water are going to keep the virus out of the US. It's already here. And it didn't come from Asia in a row boat or on any other floatation device. Besides, the USA is NOT an island. Remember Mexico and Canada? Panic is not warranted, yet, but an administration that is focused on protecting its citizens from this very serious, infectious disease instead of its image or the health of the stock market, is.
3
@ss
Nope. I don't hear anyone but Mulvaney claiming anyone is blaming Trump. It's cover for his lack of leadership and THAT is what I blame Trump for.
Anyone is public health knows this is being bungled.
Yes, do be careful, not fearful -- but don't spread lies about who is being blamed for where we stand today.
He wanted this job -- he needs to do his job.
Classic Trump, duck and cover. Repeat.
4
@ss
Americans rightfully disdain Trump & his toadies because of their willfully ignorant policies. Trump & his minions sabotaged America's coronavirus response by shutting down the NSC’s entire global health security unit in 2018 & by cutting the CDC's global health budget by 80%!
Other White House foolhardy reductions included $15 billion in national health spending & cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS. And the government’s $30 million Complex Crises Fund was eliminated.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/
Tell me who you're going to blame when the coronvirus hits your town - the media or Donald Trump?
1
The media is utterly failing. The administration is not offering "explanations" of what is happening and Trump stooges like Kudlow should not be booked or discussed on any credible network. Trump and his brigade of morons are bungling the response, lashing out and scapegoating perceived political enemies and totally mismanaging the government's response in the worst way possible. This is the objective truth of the situation we find ourselves in. Trump and executive branch cronies are intellectually incapable of managing this complex problem because they lack any educational training in public health, government management, effective public communications, international relations, diplomacy or any other relevant field to manage this crisis. They are CPAC strutting around like buffoons right now. Imagine if Obama had responded to Deepwater Horizon by going to Netroots Nation and blaming the GOP. That these taxpayer paid stooges are also morally bankrupt makes it even worse. They don't care if people die as long as they keep their plum jobs and power. But stop according the administration any right to belief, credulity or the benefit of the doubt.
4
Dear Mick: "Get over it."
1
Clearly the most victimized, misunderstood group of white, wealthy men on the planet who BTW were asked to serve the ultimate sad victim who swore to protect the Constitution of the USA.
Buckets of tears flowing for them and due to them.
Pray for a American patriots and leaders to arise in November and give these babies the crying towels they have earned as they head back to their miserable, sad lives of comfort.
1
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday suggested that Americans should ignore media reports about the coronavirus amid fears of the deadly disease spreading into the U.S.[CNBC]
How about instead we just ignore your idiotic answers to a pandemic. I am listening for the other shoe to drop when Pence comes out and says "what virus" or "God's got this".
3
whatever works - evil must be defeated
Can you hear the virus laughing?
1
Nothing to see here, move along, nothing to worry about, it's all foreigners, we're well prepared, it's the Democrats, it's the media, it's a hoax, it's fake news, other viruses can kill you & so it goes.
Is the there no way to convince these idiots that this is serious & about to get much worse.
When a virus infects you it doesn't care if you're Republican or Democrat, if you're rich or poor, if you're healthy or ill; it has no interest in global financial markets.
As Trump might have said, we're all going to go through some things.
4
I wouldn’t believe anything that comes out of this administration. To do so would be like committing audio suicide.
1
When the virus starts taking its toll in the US we can anticipate that Trump will be tweeting, "...Well... Didn't I tell you to wash your hands !..."
1
We're all so tired of your incessant whining, Donald.
Man up and adult like the presidents before you.
Forget it, that will never happen. We're going to replace you with one who will.
3
There's a world health threat ... but it's about Trump.
Japan is closing it's schools.
China is locking down close to a billion people.
But, to Trump and his kool-aid drunk followers, it's about Trump.
Hey right-wing Christians....can you come to Jesus, please?
2
Yep...got it....right when we need some leadership, he’s WHINING...again! Whining that everybody’s picking on HIM. Nothing about the virus, nothing about preparedness, nothing about helping each other. Whining!
The virus is killing thousands all over the world and he’s, once again, only thinking about his sick narcissistic self.
Republicans? Helping with the whine.
His propaganda outlet Fox? Helping with the whine.
Yes..pathetic is the word...for every last one of them. Looks like we’re on our own and will have to handle it ourselves.
3
I have a rather unique perspective of the last 72 years of American propaganda. I am autistic and totally empathetic. There is nothing special about America; that is, what your founders told you. They said America will be what you make of it.
Samuel Johnson told you "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." What do you think he meant?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-woodrow-wilsons-propaganda-machine-changed-american-journalism-180963082/
3
If I didn't read this in the NYT I would have thought this was a HOAX. Like something from the Onion. Lord please protect us from Donald Trump and his sycophantic followers.
3
Does the Trump admin believe only republicans care about the markets? Why would we cut off our noses to spite our faces? Trumps not worth trashing my 401k over. These people are ridiculous.
3
Trump's incompetence is finally coming home to roost. He knows nothing beyond tweeting ignorant blather.
The nation has effectively run on autopilot. Our economy has been coasting on Obama's 2008 recovery effort. But it's been running low on steam. So the Coronavirus and Trump's incompetence were all that Wall Street needed to go into serious correction.
4
Dear Baby Jesus, Please end the Reign of Terror and I promise to go to church every Sunday.
3
Trump and his boot lickers define him as good and anyone opposed to him as bad. Americans are sick of Trump's narcissism and his rage. Vote him out on November 3, 2020.
2
Trump and his henchmen think Democrats and the media closed all schools in Japan, quarantined northern towns in Italy, convinced Israel to shut its doors to Italian visitors, and told Iran to take serious measures to contain the coronavirus.
Seriously.
2
“...they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.”
LOL--sorry, but your orange-faced daddy figure is doing that all by himself.
“He said, ‘I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can,’”
Indeed, as the Intifada President, he is trying wring as much personal profit out of his 'job' as he can. But 'eight years'?
Is The Trump thinking he can somehow win, and if he does, he can run for a third term?
It's just so.....pitiful.
Is Mulvaney referring to the news media in Japan, or Australia, or Italy, or Canada, or....?
5
Per usual, the Trump train denies, denies, denies. You can't deny away a global health crisis. In fact, such short-sightedness can contribute to greater spread of the disease and risk to human life.
You'd think in a campaign year, with loads of public appearances and hands to shake and babies to kiss, that Trump for once would take the high road and do the right thing by the American people. It will be interesting how the crisis plays out on the campaign trail.
5
If the virus is as mild as he says it is, Maybe Mulvaney would allow himself to be infected to show us just how harmless it is--I'm not holding my breath waiting
5
Whatever you say, Mick Huckabee Sanders. Well done upholding the Trump White House tradition of absurd lies, unabated even in the face of a global pandemic. For shame.
Newsflash: The coronavirus doesn't give a care about Donald Trump. It's not about him. A *true* leader would learn the facts about the disease, support our best scientific minds and focus on how best to protect health and lives here in the U.S. and around the world. But no. True to form, driven by his fragile ego, Donald Trump thinks only of himself and plays the victim.
2
trump should go visit people who are sick. it's the least a President should do to show his concern. that would be quite presidential.
3
Pssst. Hey! Over here. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but this whole coronavirus thing? Fake news. We liberals dreamed it up to make Trump look bad. Turns out, it’s not hard at all to make Trump look bad. All we had to do was create a health scare and he did all the work. Actually, he’d been laying the groundwork for the past three years, destroying the credibility of his administration by firing competent people, hiring craven hacks and constantly lying through his teeth. All we libs had to do was make up a story about a pandemic, and then sit back and watch him fall apart.
2
Don’t blame the Democrats. 45 will bring himself down all on his own.
3
Trump does not need the press to bring him down. The moronic talk he gave on Wednesday evening did it all by
itself.
3
The Democrats went to China, stirred up wild bats, and created coronavirus, right?
2
Just call it “an act of god”.
Mike
1
“He said, ‘I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can,’” Mr. Mulvaney said.
That clearly shows how much this government cares about the country - "I'm going to get as much our of it as I can". Exactly, a crook working for a dumber crook (potus - purposely used lower case letters)
3
Our VP is importing locusts from Somalia to eat the virus, an appropriate biblical plague v plague response. Stop worrying.
3
Whatever it takes.
1
Mick,
Your boss said the other day that we had a vaccine for Coronavirus. Did you tell him this is nog Ebola??
Somehow I doubt it. Do your job and at least try to inform your boss when he makes a bad mistake like that.
Of course is that is not in your job description, let the country know that.
5
No, Mulvaney, the Mesmer schtick isn't gonna work this time. Yes, it would be a great feat of magic and perhaps the ultimate "triumph" of this administration to convince enough people they aren't at risk, but this time, you guys look completely desperate and frankly, insane!
7
Well, if the truth about COVID-19 make the president look bad, by all means suppress the news the way it's done in Russia, China and other authoritarian countries. What do you think this is? A free and open democracy? Ha ha ha.
9
Trump, this is not about you! Grow up and start taking care of people and listening to the doctors. Stop thinking this world revolves around you!
7
We need a leader, not an insecure and incompetent attention monger more concerned with how he looks than the lives of the American people.
Trump is in charge of the government, and the government brought the virus to a California military base. The government let an infected individual come and go from the base, exposing the community to the virus. This exact type of incompetence is how this virus could become an epidemic.
Trump- Do your job, stop tweet whining, stop golfing, and stop blaming other people for your incompetence
13
The following quote is from Iran's Supreme Leader. “This negative propaganda about the virus began a couple of months ago and grew larger ahead of the election,” he said. “Their media did not miss the tiniest opportunity for dissuading Iranian voters and resorting to the excuse of disease and the virus.” Sound familiar?
14
This sounds more like a Trump scheme really. Let’s take a page out of his book. He caused Corona virus, then when it goes global and we all react normally and declare a pandemic he gets to blame us for it. That’s right he’s a genius (self-proclaimed) but still he’s created yet another thing to blame us for. Drop mike
4
From another article:
‘‘While other presidents in {stressful} moments like this have sought to transcend politics and assert national leadership, {President} Trump has framed the issue in {starkly} partisan terms while playing down the risk to the United States. Privately, he has been consumed by concern that his enemies will use the coronavirus, and the economic impact it has, against him as he seeks re-election.’”
I wish I could have placed my thought where it belongs.
He’s an American Nationalist, a divider — a “turncoat”, if you will — at a time when we need national and even international unity; an untested leader who was elected by a minority of citizens — by many as a protest vote against the status quo — who wishes in his heart-of-heart to destroy the bonds the bonds binding citizens to each other and their government, feeling none to it or to others themselves, only to himself and his immediate family — now facing an existential crisis of monumental proportions on multiple fronts for which he is unequipped to meet, by training and prior experience. He has only shown us that he will exploit it to the hilt for his own personal gain. We are thrown to the tender mercies of a proud, resentful man who has none, one surrounded by quailing sycophants and ‘yes’ men — enablers pursuing private agendas — and he doesn’t personally care so long as he emerges virtually unscathed.
Woe unto us. He’s not the man for the job of President of the United States, and never has been.
8
From another article:
‘‘While other presidents in {stressful} moments like this have sought to transcend politics and assert national leadership, {President} Trump has framed the issue in {starkly} partisan terms while playing down the risk to the United States. Privately, he has been consumed by concern that his enemies will use the coronavirus, and the economic impact it has, against him as he seeks re-election.’”
I wish I could have placed my thought where it belongs.
He’s an American Nationalist, a divider — a “turncoat”, if you will — at a time when we need national and even international unity; an untested leader who was elected by a minority of citizens — by many as a protest vote against the status quo — who wishes in his heart-of-hearts to destroy the bonds binding citizens to each other and their government, feeling none to it or to others not himself, only to himself and his immediate family — now facing an existential crisis of monumental proportions on multiple fronts for which he is unequipped to meet by prior training and experience. He has only shown us that he will exploit it to the hilt for his own personal gain. We are thrown to the tender mercies of a proud, resentful man who has none surrounded by quailing sycophants and ‘yes’ men — enablers pursuing private ideological agendas — and he doesn’t personally care so long as he emerges virtually unscathed.
Woe unto us. He’s not the man for the job of President of the United States, and never has been.
If this virus rids us of all these lying, traitorous, corrupt Conservatives it will have been a very good thing.
8
What a profoundly ignorant Administration. Flat-earthers got nothing on this crew.
8
You stop. You ponder. You try to comprehend. Until, finally, you surrender and leave it by asking the only question you can:
What is he talking about?
5
Alas, trump can travel the world in his super-sanitized bubble, Air Force One, but maybe one day, a week after some touch down, rope line, or press gaggle, he might start to cough.
5
The job of the free press is to report everything they hear, not to filter facts (or run it by the White House before reporting it, like Fox News).
6
Mulvaney ... whats wrong with him?
trumps cabinet ... confuse , blame, deflect , misinform, attack, lie...
so tired.
7
Now he owns the market and the virus, nice move.
6
I think the president does a fine job of that all by himself. I just keep seeing Chauncey the Gardner in the White House
5
Yes it is true--I heard it on Fox.
The democrats secretly created the Covfefe virus in their hidden, Deep State lab and injected it into the Chinese people--knowing that it would eventually kill the stock market bigly and make Trump look bad.
Everyone knows that.
10
Anyone who has gone through multiple bankruptcies, cheating on taxes, violation of the emoluments clause of the US constitution with impunity, violated campaign finance laws, molested women without paying any penalty (and offered advice to others on how to succeed in this enterprise), lied tens of thousands of times and is still believed by millions of devout Christians and contended that he succeeded a President who was not born in the USA, will not suffer politically by his remarks on the Coronavirus until more Americans are sickened, some die and he can no longer hide behind the mantle of Fake News.
10
I wonder if all of the people commenting that it's Trump's fault that there are a handful of cases of corona virus in the U.S. realize how idiotic they sound. You can blame Trump for some things but those that blame him for everything are really ignorant or so politically biased they can't reason properly. I think it's both.
Newsflash Mulvaney- Trump and the administration LIE LIE LIE, about everything. So please forgive America when we don’t fall for your hogwash, not all of us are Fox News fanatics.
8
trump’s incompetence and incoherent worldview is what is bringing down his presidency (aided by a skeleton staff of equally incompetent flat-earthers at the White House). The print and television media is simply doing their job and reporting it
8
Sycophantic pathological liars, in the mold of the Liar in Chief, continually perpetrate blatant untruths and misinformation that would make even the former head of the KGB blush.
Whether Mulvaney, Pence, Pompeo, McConnell or whichever other post democracy Republican mouth piece; the spectacle of the vast array and and extent to which their Machiavellian machinating aspire continues to amaze. It is all so depressing, not so much that they would say and do these things but that "Trump's Base" fully and willing consent to being mislead...
7
Trump’s misanthropic ways are on full display. He doesn’t care that Americans will get sick and die; he only cares about being re-elected.
6
Please, Lord, may the willfully ignorant viewers of Fox News contract the coronavirus and suffer horribly.
4
He has the constitution of a 5 year old. Image if he wasn't born rich...
3
These guys seem to spend all day complaining about the free press, the justice department, the judiciary, almost all law enforcement activities against rich white people, and the Democrats. But Putin can't do anything wrong. Go figure.
6
Watch the paranoia and projection of this pathetic administration and its enablers as it begins to self destruct. Pence is lined up to be the fall guy as our “stable genius” contemplates his navel and next round of golf.
4
Trump is just sore that a deadly virus running rampant around the globe is getting more ink than he is. That's essentially what Mulvaney is griping about. Amazing.
6
“He said, ‘I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can,’” Mr. Mulvaney said.
“I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much done for the American people as I can.” There, fixed it for you Mick...nah, you’re correct, never mind.
4
Unfit for office.
6
Near future: I have my MAGA hat on. My neighbors are dying from covid19. They must've done something wrong.
3
Yes, Mr Mulvaney blame the media, Democrats and anything else you can think of that deflects from your boss’s incompetence.
This president was the one that gutted the CDC and the NIH. He doesn’t believe in science and is not able to give a truthful coherent message that could quell the public’s panic.
Most of us know that Trump has zero credibility! So Mick “Get Over It”.
4
So people are getting sick and dying just to make Trump look bad.
But you have to admit it is kind of funny that someone who has based his whole presidency on instilling fear in people should accuse others of doing this.
Of course, Mulvaney's argument that one should feel better if you die from a disease less deadly than Ebola is hilarious in its own right.
8
What's happened to all these formerly smart and well respected people? It's like a bizarre sci-fi and Trump has stolen their brains and their integrity! They all just stumble around like zombies, mumbling and praising Trump!
7
Mr. Mulvaney—
If you’re going to detail Trump’s sleep schedule, do you want to tell us what kind of stimulants he’s being given as he’s hauled around on Air Force One at taxpayer expense?
4
Fanning fear - well, ya gotta admit Trump is an expert.
4
What a silly, juvenile thing to say. He sounds like the re-incarnation of Herbert Hoover "prosperity is just around the corner."
The shame is that Mulvaney doesn't believe this line of malarky for a minute. he's just been ordered to say it by Trump.
5
Poll:
Do you approve of how Donald Trump is dealing with the coronavirus by putting Mike Pence in charge instead of doctors with experience in epidemics?
3
Autocracy 101: the tighter one wants to control information during a crisis event, the less credibility one will be perceived to have.
But of course, like everything else, this administration is arrogant enough to believe it needs to reinvent the wheel for every darned thing experts have spent decades compiling knowledge and expertise for.
Instead of embracing such expertise, expertise is considered suspicious because it might reflect poorly on those who need to be seen reinventing that wheel (for their own captive audience)!
They're like toddlers, desperate for approval in performing tasks grownups have been doing since, well, forever. If they don't get it, like toddlers, they throw a tantrum.
9
To: Trump, Mulvaney, Republicans and Conservatives:
Re: The Corona Virus
1. This is NOT about YOU. This is about the American People.
2. You are public servants (for the time being). Therefore, YOU are SERVANTS to the American People. Not the other way around. The American people, including those who didn't vote for you, are worthy of your consideration and respect. If you disagree, learn to disagree in a mature, appropriate manner. Otherwise, you have no business being given the trust that normally comes with your offices. Stop scapegoating Democratic leaders and their constituencies.
3. Stop reacting defensively to every criticism and DO YOUR JOB! Protect the American People. Your ACTIONS will speak volumes. Your words are palaver. You also might listen to the criticisms and learn from them. That's what a true leader does. Your behavior is like a 6-year old's continual temper tantrum.
4. When Trump decimated the federal Center for Disease Control, he undermined our nation's ability to anticipate, meet, and effectively deal with pandemics such as the Corona Virus. That action speaks for itself. It shows that Trump has failed to protect the American people as well as those on the front lines fighting for patients: doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals. Trump's actions have endangered the health and safety of all.
5. If you are unable or unwilling to comport yourselves like professionals, then you have no business leading our nation.
9
Cool. Let's charge Mulvany with manslaughter for every death starting today. It's easy to say "Nothing to see here, folks," but then that's exactly what Trump has been doing to prepare, nothing. When the President has temper tantrums worthy of a 3 year-old daily is there any time is left for accomplishing anything, I wonder?
4
Nobody's blaming Trump for the coronavirus or the slide in the US stock market.
But the whining from the White House and effort to try to pin blame on others is ... well, disconcerting. The administration should be less engaged in hand wringing and blaming and more engaged in doing what can be done to contain the virus. In other words, less talk and more science, less effort spinning and more support for the medical experts would be the appropriate action from the White House.
3
The absolute epitome of narcissism, Trump has taken credit for luck and the accomplishments of others, effectively privatizing good news, and blamed everyone else for bad news, He fails miserably as a leader, just as he has in so many different areas. For everyone waiting to see whether he could manage an emergency? We have our answer. He passed the buck to pence, who’ll either fall on his sword, or display leadership that the president so obviously lacks. Should he succeed, trump will take credit.
7
All of the class of drugs including Otezla warn in their ads that these prescriptions are prone to make the patient more susceptible to upper respiratory infections. Maybe covid 19 will get these ads to disappear.
Sadly, it's about Mr. Trump all the time, for every reason. Always. Too bad about everyone else.
5
This is Trump's Katrina, so be it. Unfortunately, all Americans will be the victims this time.
3
If Netflix made a serial about an administration as incompetent, as self-absorbed, as corrupt and as arrogant as the current US administation, it would flop for being too far-fetched.
6
Is the word conservative now synonymous with paranoid?
5
Trump has expanded his egocentric view of his own life to our national politics and now its malignant reach includes the entire world. He literally functions like a huge infant.
6
Trump brings himself down every day. Just listen and watch his mouth move with nonsense. Mulvaney opened his mouth a few months ago and implicated Trump in the Ukraine issue. The two of them deserve each other. From one liar to another. My miniture violin on my right hand is playing "woe is me".
6
You are in charge you have to own this. No way you can pin this on the dems. After gutting the CDC and epidemic response team, how dare he blame the democrats. This is Trumps Katrina and I hope it brings him down. Now is the moment where the ignorant, science denying president shows us the true danger of having this narcissist in power.
5
Mulvaney calls Trump a “a terrible human being.”
Is it fair to say they deserve each other?
5
Is there no bottom to how low this administration's minion's sink?
On par with this week's stock market it seems.
Will they every crash.
Can't we just sell them off and reinvest in something more stable future oriented.
4
These are truly evil people. I knew they were cunning, manipulative and bigoted. But, I didn’t realize just how evil they are until this crisis.
It’s not just Trump.
6
You've got 326 days!
2
Now, now, Mick...be best!
3
How do these Trump right wingers sleep at night?
3
“Media Covering Coronavirus to ‘Bring Down the President,’ Mulvaney Claims”
So now we know. Trump will be the biggest victim of the corona virus hoax. Adding that to the Russia collusion hoax, the obstruction of justice hoax, the Mueller report hoax, the good people on both sides of the white nationalist rally hoax, the abandoning our Kurdish allies hoax, the Ukrainian shakedown hoax, the politicization of the Justice Dept hoax, and the gutting of our intelligence community hoax, this must be an unbearable burden for our stable genius. Well if it’s simply too much to bear, Trump is free to resign and spend more time with his family or at his resorts...
5
Demote the whistleblower, muzzle the doctors and scientists and continue to gaslight the American people about the risks of the COVID-19 virus. Republican playbook, page 23.
3
Infectious narcissism. Is that a thing? If not it should be. That’s exactly what’s happening this is not about you, Donny. It’s bigger than that. I know. Hard to believe.
2
Is everything about the President? So pitiful!
3
Mulvaney's comments are so bush league and juvenile that it really makes you wonder how some people ever made it beyond junior deputy regional sales manager at Dunder Mifflin.
2
I suppose he’ll be telling us next to just "get over it."
2
So are stock brokers then.
Trump: “Nothing to worry about - we’re doing a great job!”
1
Mick “Get Used to It” Mulvaney should prepare for continued slides in the market that cannot be corrected by lowering rock bottom interest rates. The markets were frothy before Coronavirus and overdue for a correction. The virus is just an excuse for sellers to take profits.
2
It must be very difficult when the lies that have saved you in the past come face to face with reality and don't work anymore.
2
One wonders how Trump's voters will react when people they actually know start dying from this exaggerated, media-manipulated, not-Ebola thing.
5
Mulvaney is delusional: no sane person wants a pandemic to take down the president - because the death and suffering it may cause could be a very big deal.
The funny thing is, viruses and other disease-causing microbes don’t care if you’re the guy on the street or the president, and they don’t care how much you try to politicize them. Everyone is at risk.
Lies and ineptitude will take down this administration sooner or later, not a virus or politics.
2
If Trump had been president during 9/11, I'm sure his only concern would've been how it affected him. Once again - the Trumplicans prove that the bottom still has a basement.
3
Can the president muzzle himself and his minions? Coordination of official information by scientists and officials with expertise is one thing. Spin, whining, and shameless self serving lies are something else entirely.
3
Mick will say or do anything to get himself back in the good graces of Trump. Pathetic. And at the cost of our national health, both physically and economically.
1
Really? Will someone just say, “Please grow up!” And the World Health Organization is them also to blame as part of the Mad House Zombie Mantra?
1
Correction: “is then also to blame. . .”
It would be quite a silver lining if the Coronavirus helped bring down this monstrous president.
5
He'll be whistling that back, too, once the staff around him and his family start dripping.
2
Back in October, Mick Mulvaney told the media to "get over it" concerning the administration's quid pro quo arrangement with Ukraine. Real tough guy. Now he’s whining about the media’s criticism of Trump’s response to a deadly health issue. He’s a pitiful, exaggerated version of Trump.
Sadly, this is the most important ‘quality’ Trump looks for in his administration. Professionalism? Ability? Who cares?
Stand up to a bully and you find a coward.
Maybe he’s angling for a plum job in Trump’s 2nd administration.
Good luck Mick.
1
Only Trump's actions will bring him down. No help needed. Nancy Reagan would not say the word AIDS yet it worsened. Ignoring the Corona Virus will not make it better here in the states.
1
Let's see....worldwide precautions are being made because the worldwide media are trying to take down Donald Trump. Now that's narcissism. Everything isn't always about you, Mr. Trump!
3
Sean Spicer was a clown... at Trump's order.
Scaramucci was a brief clown to please Trump.
Mulvaney s the current clown, all at Trump's command.
The show is sort of scripted, and the country is a Fox set.
Incidentally, anyone see Scaramucci on CNN last night? He's brilliant, educated, and explained, in perfect sentences, why Trump's clown act is pushing the stock market into collapse.
3
All the presidents enablers are crying "Stop picking on Trump* for his coronavirus reaction, he did nothing"!!!
That's the point.
1
Rock, meet hard place; If trump's base blindly follows his "head-in -the-sand" "it will magically disappear" fairy tale, they may be too ill to vote. And should they see the results of his cult's inept deception, they may finally go to the other side......
2
This administration should grow up and take responsibility.
2
These people are so grossly incompetent and maliciously deceiving. All they can think to do is blame the media, the Democrats, immigrants, the deep state, whistleblowers, FBI, NIA, yadda yadda. This is a catastrophe that they have made worse by neglect, underfunding, removal of competent medical people, scientists. All to make more available for their rich friends in the way of tax cuts. They also refused to take the CDCs advice on the travelers from the cruise ship. No one with a blip of a wave on a brain scan believes this blame splatter. This, so called, "administration" needs to step aside for some scientists and medical people.
4
Maybe, just maybe, the president and his toadies could for once stop whining and just deal with this crisis as mature adults “hired” as public servants (please don’t laugh too hard). And maybe, just maybe, the citizens of this country can think twice about electing, or re-electing, a lazy, severely mentally ill narcissist as president.
5
This virus has been contaminating the world for several years now. We need to stop it once and for all before it destroys us.
Oh, and coronavirus is a serious threat too.
4
This is all temporary. The stock market will come roaring back and in a few months this coronavirus hysteria will be a distant memory. Just like impeachment is now.
Note to Democrats: exploiting a real or imagined health emergency is NO substitute for exercising leadership.
1
Spare me. NOTHING is scarier than the echo chamber of ignorance, anti-science blathering, propaganda, and misinformation being spewed by the Trump administration at a time when the ONLY government voices we should be hearing are those of our highly qualified scientists.
Take a hike, Trump and sycophants, until science tells us it's over.
5
There are treatments for paranoia. Trump and his minions should avail themselves of them.
3
Incompetence is bringing down the "President".
Look at his track record.
4
Cool story, Mick. Your Republican friends in Congress are also questioning your master's plans to stop the virus's spread, many much more forcefully than your supposed Democrat enemies.
3
I was at Costco today at noon and the store was packed with people "stocking up" for when the coronavirus starts to infect us all and Washington DC closes down.
Seriously... I am starting to believe that the fears expressed by average, healthy Americans to what is essentially a case of the flu actually represent worry about something much darker: the very distinct possibility that in November we will have to choose between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, and with that decision, a choice between the inevitability of either communism or fascism.
Is there a psychiatrist in the house??
2
Trump is known to be a germaphobe. He’d better cancel any upcoming campaign rallies. He wouldn’t want to risk exposure to the virus.
1
The poor USA.
All the hard work by previous administrations and scientists for decades has been undone and wasted by a president who has zero understanding is science or reality.
One wonders just what is wrong with the Americans, installing such an inadequate human as president.
No respect for the USA here in Canada, just a feeling of sorrow seeing the US fall so far in the eyes of the entire world.
The poor, poor deluded Americans
5
It is mind boggling - absolutely mind boggling - that Trump believes concern about a deadly pandemic means people are out to get him.
Donald Trump is the _smallest_ human being I think I have ever known of.
5
My reaction to headline: If only that would work!
1
The truth is out to get Trump.
4
He’s can’t bully a virus.
5
It's about Trump. It always is. If a huge asteroid were hurtling toward the earth, threatening us with annihilation, Trump would say the Democrats launched it.
5
@Donald Seekins: There is only the one God Mammon, and Trump is His messenger.
Tell that to Wall Street
Mick Malarkey said that??
OK kids that means one thing;
Their response to the C.V. is take Trump down.
yay.
It's truly worth the hit to my 401K.
Democracy is not free, it costs money.
Karma, if you are listening, somebody at 1600 PA Ave. thinks the CV is no big deal!
(Hugh laugh emoji here!)
2
Trump disgusts me. I can hardly wait until that egotist is out of the White House,
4
Since when did badgering the media become the definition of leadership? Not!
Leaders lead. Incompetents complain and make excuses for their incompetence. In this case by blaming (who else)... the media.
Isn't this the same Mick Mulvaney who declared that Trump's interaction with Zelensky was indeed a quid pro quo and arrogantly declare, "Get over it." Before he devoured his tail and reversed himself. I'm surprised that he still has a job at the White House.
3
He may be dishonest and a groveling sycophant, but one thing you could never accuse Mulvaney of is disloyalty.
1
Except to America.
4
A sick woman on an east bound trans Canada plane was diverted in Winnipeg today. She was QUICKLY tested for COVID-19, found to negative and the plane continued on without her.
I get sick of the USA patting itself on the back for it's wonderfulness. Not.
3
i don't understand why the president is making stock values go down...i thought he liked them high...weird
2
When Mike Pence heads up anything that has to do with science you know we've gone beyond pale, if it's possible to go any further beyond pale than we are living every day at this point. These people are liars. They are fear-mongers. They will do anything to maintain their death grip on power. None of them understand enough about science to even voice an opinion and you can bet the CDC and other agencies that respond will have their wings severely clipped if they haven't already. Zero trust.
7
From the WP, re: Fox News coverage of Coronavirus/Stock Market Plummet: "Ingraham also bashed Democrats for “relishing in this moment,” adding, “How sick that these people seem almost happiest when Americans are hurting.”
Her statements are actually more based in reality when "these people" is understood to mean the Republican Party and "moment" is understood to mean the past three years...
4
What is the Trump administration worried about? It will warm up soon, and the virus will get better.
2
He is both morally and intellectually bankrupt. Just like his boss.
6
The Mulvaney sycophant is opening mouth and inserting foot again. This impression is at least from people like me in the general public. Of course, the message was for that notorious base that has taken on cult-like features and must continue to drink the Kool-aid. It's being served in small doses that deaden and eventually add up to kill any independent, critical thinking capacity. May we, in that majority of the general public who never wanted Trump, go and VOTE accordingly this year. For the elimination of Trump and all his sycophants, that one should be a no-brainer.
5
If Mulvaney is telling the truth about Trump not sleeping, that is very worrying given the magnitude of the decisions he is making, but it does explain Trump's cognitive impairment.
Also they seem to misunderstand how outbreaks unfold.
4
Mulvaney is the tip of the iceberg, namely the reckless mayhem below the surface where Trump and his undeniably ill-equipped and unqualified people choose to risk national public health. At the car wash today, a customer told the cashier that the federal government and FEMA had purchased $350 million in face masks and sanitizing gear in the past two days alone. Mulvaney is out of his mind.
4
Why would Democrats need to instill fear in people as Trump says when he is doing such a good job of that himself by politicizing the pandemic?
5
How evil is the far-right, not really "conservative," media ? Can't even agree or concur with the mainstream American and world-wide media to give the American people and the world an honest, totally truthful, totally material "real-time" update on the actual facts about the developing coronavirus pandemic? What comes first in importance in the right-wing media mind: the most-likely, potentially devastating impact of the coronavirus on the health, safety and economic and political security of the American people, or the deeply and truly felt, right-wing political "correctness" of supporting Trump in whatever the "The Great Leader" (Fqawi) wants to do?
And of course all Trump wants to do is win the election by hook or crook, take over the country by hook or crook, get as much money and other emoluments as he can from the American taxpayer (voters) and/or foreigners by hook or crook and show up Putin (“well, it was much, much, much harder for me”) so he can be a reigning member of The Club).
3
“He said, ‘I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can,’” Mr. Mulvaney said.
Well,he’s doing pretty well. Flying to campaign rants to be adulated by his mindless admirers. Flying all over the world trying to be important. Charging taxpayers every time he goes golfing for transportation, rooms and golf cart rental for Secret Service agents. Using his office to expand his business.
Not sure what the quote means in the context of dealing with the coronavirus.
7
The Trump administration employs the three D’s: deny, defy land deflect.
2
Does he think the World Health Organization is trying to jeopardize his re election, too? How about the stock market? Are brokers and buyers trying to ruin Trump’s chances?
4
It has become known that WHO owns every pizza parlor in America.
Why else would all the good slices come from Bangladesh?
1
@Jane K : in that empty head he probably DOES!
It is the 100th year since the journalism of the Creel Committee has been the main force in what the American public hears.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-woodrow-wilsons-propaganda-machine-changed-american-journalism-180963082/
I remember Paul Harvey and his rest of the story. It was a time when there was no place to go to fact check.
The world has changed and I suspect we will soon see an isolated USA that tries to fix the crack that lets the truth come in.
The truth is that the world is better place than it has ever been for homo sapiens but it needs to be a whole lot better. The patriotic propaganda of 100 years has done what it was supposed to do but even gaslighting has its unintended consequences. Truth is not whatever you want to make it and the crack creates a divided country of those that know the truth and those to whom Mick Mulvaney delivers truth.
America has long survived political divides but time will tell if it can survive a truth divide.
Why does America not learn about when truth became the enemy of the people. It was when Woodrow Wilson needed a cover-up for a needless and tragic war?
1
Since Trump does not read any briefings and hates the media he has probably missed the part about 56 countries and counting have had coronavirus cases start. Maybe he thinks we really are immune to all troubles....remember, he is one of the smartest people ever???
2
Yeah, I have two wonderful, cherished grandchildren, but I hope they get real sick so Trump looks bad. Right.
4
Pity this is occurring during an election year, considering IMPOTUS is the incumbent. What's worse is that all of his 'know nothing' sycophantic fanatics are being brainwashed by Sean Hannity, FOX News & all of the other fearless and feckless hatemongers. This, folks, is nothing more or less than kakistocracy writ large. It should also be properly categorized as treasonous behavior akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater.
Absolutely shameful beyond any pale.
3
There is something more frightening than the virus or the stock market tumble, it is the outrageous lies coming out of the White House to divide the American people, now that’s terrifying!
3
Mulvaney should be kept out of sight. He is as useless as trump and the rest of the trump toadies. We need the CDC and NIH to be the primary source of our info in coronavirus. Pence is the least qualified person after his HIV crisis in Indiana. We need serious, knowledgeable people who will not sugarcoat this epidemic.
6
Yep - he’s only got “eight years” to sleep in until 11:00 and play golf. Hard working, my foot.
2
@ North Star
And don’t forget about all of the tv tine and tweeting time. Sick.
1
The circular abuse of logic in this Mulvaney statement is mind-boggling: “The flu kills people,” he said. “This is not Ebola. It’s not SARS, it’s not MERS. It’s not a death sentence, it’s not the same as the Ebola crisis.” COVID-19 is just gearing up and has already killed 2,867 people, which is more than the global mortality rate of SARS (774) and MERS (858) combined. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, 2 people died of the disease in the United States. Is Mulvaney really saying that 2 American deaths from Ebola is an extremely high bar that COVID-19 will surely not approach? It's like something from Gilbert and Sullivan. "Lung cancer is not congestive heart failure. It's not even ALS!"
3
@Barbara: Tautology is the most convincing form of reasoning to these folks.
3
Steve Bolger
Thx. I had to look that up.
The reason for the offices that the Tump misadministration eliminated, was to be prepared and have assets in place to attack a problem such as COVID-19.
This might be the single greatest example of utter arrogance and foolishness by this misadministration.
Any high school honors biology student, or first year college biology student – or history students for that matter – could tell you that an epidemic was a certainty at some point.
It is never a question of 'if' we these viruses and pathogens, simply a question of 'when'.
Eliminating preparedness was and remains epically stupid.
5
My same advice, offered to Trump and his entourage, applies to Mulvaney and his: "Can someone please stuff a sock in his mouth ?"
We have brilliant, educated, experienced professionals who are happy to step up and report the FACTS. If the Republican fools in our country would only step down from their soapboxes and turn the micophones over to those who know FACTS, we would all be better off.
4
Willful ignorance is bringing down the president. Ignorance of government. Ignorance of history. Ignorance of science. Ignorance of micro and macro economics. Ignorance of others’ needs. And that’s exactly as it should be. At some point in this vile man’s wasted life, his refusal to learn needs to take a heavy, personal toll.
4
This is a bold new low for the republicans. Blaming a pandemic and subsequent stock market loss on democrats is beyond ludicrous. Trump has cut money from cdc, cut health watchdogs now wants to take money from people in need to pay for this virus.
Republicans are also blaming the news media.
News media, double, triple down on these bold face liars, can you imagine 4 more years of these people ?
5
And why then did the Dems give Trump 4 times the amount he requested to fight the virus? Because this is not a game, not a sport, not something for "winning". Fight a deadly pandemic, like fight for federally sponsored healthcare, like fighting against global warming. like not spending 4-5 billion to build a stupid worthless wall, like having taxes needed to pay for needed services... these are life and death. Not games for "winning". It's time for the Repub, and the President especially to stop their gleeful gloating and get to work.
5
@Steve :O : IT CAN'T! At its age it's NOT gonna change!!!
Mulvaney and Trump should go to Wuhan to investigate the crisis themselves. Take their smartphones from them so they can focus on the complex science involved with handwashing. Oh, yes, then quarantine them both until after Thanksgiving.
4
The phenomenon bringing down Trump is the mouth he uses to lie, dissemble and prevaricate.
With a public record of thousands of lies the only thing America can be sure of is that : 1. He will blame Democrats,. 2. He will disavow any responsibility and 3. He will posture in a public spectacle of stunning ignorance declaring "Everything is fine! Nothing to see here!"
4
Trump might be able to shoot someone and "get away with it", but only if he and his friends keep their mouths shut. The Trump take down does not need assistance Mr. Mulvaney, you are doing a very good job all by yourself. Please continue to hold news conferences.
2
Trump will bring himself down all by himself.
He accepts NO responsibility for his gross misconduct and projects it all onto others.
For the life of me, I cannot understand how any rational and thinking person believes a word he says, when he has been fact-checked by the Washington Post and found to have made nearly 16,500+ false and/or misleading statements (31 in his State of the Union address alone) in just three calendar years.
He has breached his duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States as he has ZERO regard for the rule of law or for the best interests of the American people.
Rather than care about our health and well-being, he only paid attention to the coronavirus AFTER the stock market tumbled.
He cares only about himself.
He is the most abominable person I have ever witnessed in public life. He makes Nixon and Watergate look quaint.
7
@Oliver: Whatever Trump does, somebody else did it first. Trump is void of creativity.
1
Recall the Obama’s Administration’s calm and competent response to the Ebola outbreak as Republicans flailed about uselessly screaming about the ‘Ebola Apocalypse!’.
Expect nothing more than useless hysterics, baseless finger pointing and general incompetence from this lot.
3
How can the administration have any credibility here, when their first move is to gag scientists and public health officials. Chairman Xi would be proud of the Donald.
3
@Jack: Trump humiliates scientists, as when he left them fidgeting waiting for his grand entry, when Trump commanded the media to broadcast his message to calm public qualms about covid 19.
1
Or maybe it's the media's job to report a global health crisis and how leadership is handling it (or not handling it). This administration sure spends a lot of time complaining instead of doing.
4
This article carries the misfortune of conflating diligent precaution with apocalyptic fear-mongering. Statistically, this virus is on course to roughly replicate the annual global fatality rate of influenza.
It seems that in what is indubitably the most peaceful time ever in the history of earth, we humans need a potentially world-ending catastrophe to sate our increasingly demanding, apocalyptic appetites.
I am ashamed to say this as a liberal myself, but yes, the Democrats and their media surrogates are politicizing this virus to shame Donald J Trump.
Trump better hurry. Four or, God forbid, eight years to destroy American democracy. He is off to a very strong start.
1
The virus is showing everyone that the emperor has no clothes.
2
How can anyone even feign surprise at performances such as Mr. Mulvaney’s at this point? This administration’s weaponization of ignorance is unrelenting. Mulvaney simply tossed red meat to a crowd eager to eat it. He lied. They knew it. Neither cares.
4
When it comes to trying to bring down the president, I hope these words will look familiar to Mick: "We do it all the time. Get over it."
6
And actually Mr. Mulvaney, the Covid Virus is related to SARS, but is a new virus.
4
Even the threat to human life is an opportunity for people in this administration to make it about their ambition and to blame others for speaking the truth. God forbid these people should turn their full attention to protecting citizens, which (breaking news) is the job of government.
3
When you dismantle qualified agencies, fire qualified and experienced personnel and replace them with “loyalists” with no experience, you cannot hide anymore. Everyone will find out that you have no clothes and lying your way out of it doesn’t work.
9
Trump's complaint that the Democrats and the media are expressing concern about the coronavirus outbreak to attack him is absolutely preposterous! His abysmal ignorance about how to deal with a global health crisis puts all of us in danger. His reaction to the news is certainly not the adult reaction to this challenge that we would expect from a President concerned about the welfare of his fellow Americans.
6
If Netflix made a series about an administration as callous, as inept, as out-of-touch, as tone-deaf, as self-absorbed, as mendacious, as clueless as this one, it would flop because viewers would find it too outlandish.
6
Wow. ALREADY looking for Scapegoats. Maybe if China hadn't SILENCED A WHISTLEBLOWER (who literally died for the cause) this could have been controlled. Cautionary tale.... Trump Anti-Democracy Virus.
7
Right. These guys have no original ideas at all. They get their talking points from Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh--and these talking points are crazy, crazy conspiracy theories. This is a serious matter. To claim that it is all some kind of political stunt to "bring down Trump" is an insult to the intelligence of the nation--but obviously no insult to the CPAC sycophants for Trump.
7
Mick Mulvaney tells the truth, it is why Trump values him so much. In a capital that stands out for the large number of lackeys for Congressional Democrats, he is a breath of fresh air. Mick has had strong principals as a deficit hawk his entire life and has never wavered. The public is lucky to have have him in a key position in the Trump administration.
Wow, I have never disagreed with every sentence of a post before. Impressive. I honestly don’t know how you find calling Mick Mulvaney an honest broker. He has lied to the American public repeatedly from the White House press room.
@Jeff Pulkowski Welcome to the mind of a Hoax Trump supporter. Yes it is a surreal and scary place to be.
This headline makes no sense. The media is trying to say this could become a major issue for the U.S. and yet we have a President blaming the news for coverage of what could become a global epidemic. It seems DJT’s staff and conservative news outlets are the ones making it an issue about why they believe the media is throwing punches at the President.
Mr. President, pull up your big boy pants and take this seriously. Quit it with the badgering headlines and leave the criticism to the media, you can mock them AFTER this virus has been put to rest.
The media reports the news. Trump makes himself look bad.
3
Interesting commentary, but what about right leaning media outside of Fox News, such as Bannon’s War Room, which was been pitching coronavirus risk now for a while?
Anybody else getting dizzy and nauseated from the Trump-Republican spin about the coronavirus epidemic/pandemic?
1
They might start to care once and if it hits his base territory. The US cases are currently in California.
1
Yes, Mulvaney is right. There is a worldwide conspiracy to bring down Trump using this fake virus news.
Wouldn't it be great if this coronavirus selectively infected only the Know-Nothings in the US?!
1
Those rallies will start to get much smaller once a few 'Mericans die from the coronavirus.
2
All this administration cares about is how it affects themselves. They care nothing about the country and the people in it! This is mindboggling that they cannot even make an effort to rise to the occasion. We are in real trouble.
3
It's hard to imagine anybody more illogically off his rocker than POTUS, but Mick Mulvaney is in the running for the top prize. This particular rant is dysfunctionally cartoonish in its whining, winding detour from any path that keeps us in the same universe that we've all come to know and love.
5
If only this virus would bring down not only the president but the entire Trumpian universe. Humanity would benefit greatly from a coronavirus that ends all of that criminal corruption and greed-fueled sycophancy.
3
I am on a little trip, and today I spent the entire afternoon absorbing the powerful and very disturbing exhibit at the National Museum of the Holocaust in Washington DC...I can barely count the number of times that, in response to the historic media presentations of the 30's and 40's at the museum, that I saw strong parallels to what is happening today in America...the meteoric rise of a "strong leader" who, aided by utterly loyal minions, attacks all perceived enemies...the press, opposing opinion, etc. I was chilled and reminded how close we seem to be to a repeat of that rise of facist, Nazi Germany as we allow Trump and his administration to manipulate every crisis to further his own power.
11
Donald Trump is cheap in every respect .He thought he could buy his way out of the coming epidemic with $ 2.5 million dollars.
He probably spends more on his extra curricular activities.
3
I’m sure his secret service expenses have accumulated to more than 2.5 million for himself and his wife, adult children, Barron and his grandchildren. It is maddening.
2
@Jane K Exactly. Trump is not just unfit to be US President, he's actually depraved- evil incarnate.
My initial fear about this virus was that it would lead to excessive response and racism against Asians. I was very wrong. Fortunately, I am not in charge of these things, and me being wrong has no consequence. Unfortunately, those who are in charge of these things are, apparently, even more clueless than me.
4
Nothing this administration says or does surprises me anymore. They are utterly clueless about this, perhaps because they harbor such suspicion of scientists and people who actually know something. Hence Pence. Maybe he is secretly an eminent epidemiologist. But Trump knows better, fo course. Dream on, Trumpeters and Trumpettes.
3
Estimates of the eventual "community spread" range up to 30% of the United States population. That's 90 million people. The death rate in cases so far is about 2% or so, across 80K cases... it is statistically solid to project that rate going forward. That's 1,800,000 people dying.
I'm glad Mick Mulvaney is sure that the reason Democrats and 'the media' are making a big deal about this, and about the readiness of the United States to address this situation is because they want to attack Trump. I'd hate to think that only a paltry pandemic that might kill 1.8 million people was something to make a big fuss about.
I'm relieved now to know that I have nothing really to worry about, since this is all being blown up just to make Trump look bad. Funny thing is, I actually think Trump does a really good job of doing that himself, without any help from Democrats and 'the media'.
Vote Them All Out!
7
Trump and his clansmen will never recognize or understand the difference between politics and government. Trump, despite his squawking protestations to the contrary, is nothing but a politician, and not a particularly good one. He falls flat on his face every time the situation calls for good governance. That should be no surprise, since his core doctrine seminars from the Norquist notion of shrinking the government to a bathtub dimension.
Having a guy like Trump in charge, who values nothing but his public approval and self benefit, is incomprehension dangerous in a time of crisis. I hope they're right about this virus being a teapot-bound tempest, but if they're wrong, they have squandered valuable time needed to prepare. Trump's deflections don't inspire confidence.
2
Are you kidding me Mr. Mulvaney? So the last time we experienced this type of economic situation was the housing crisis in 2008. Driven by sub-prime loans. Buyers that were unqualified but were grabbing for the American Dream. This is different. Disease has no boundaries. And if the world is reacting on a global level economically, White House aides following around POTUS with hand sanitizer is not very comforting.
6
...and here we go. The Trump cult of personality is so all-consuming that - even in the middle of a global epidemic - his staff is obsessed with Trump's popularity over the health of the country.
8
It has been 3 full days since the CDC scientists spoke about the potential crisis and then Trump appointed his assistant Pence as the czar to control messaging. After that all the news is gibberish from Micky Mulvaney and the like or attention on the stock market. Why not hold daily public briefings by scientists (under the watchful eyes of the czar if need be) and report facts instead of political / propaganda stuff.
6
Crybaby's trump/pence and mulvaney politicize the Corvid-19 crises when they should be addressing it with strategic medical tools to ensure the safety of the homeland. As suggested before the 2016 election, this president is the most ill equipped person to take the reins of this great nation. Anyone of the democratic candidates would have marshaled our many available resources to tackle this problem, rather than throw news spin to combat what surely will become a pan epidemic. With so much at risk, this administration lack of caring show incredible shallowness and indescribable selfishness.
3
The Trump Show is getting quite old and stale. I suspect this is the last season.
7
Trump is making a mockery of America, the Constitution, and the rule of law.
5
"Mr. Trump did not sleep on the overnight plane trip home from India or during the day before his news conference on coronavirus Wednesday night?" No wonder the President's judgment is so lacking! He's not smart enough to appreciate that sleep is necessary to clear thought and wise action.
4
Two things about this virus make anything Trump and his people say about today's situation irrelevant. One, it has a long incubation period of about 14 days. Outbreaks take more time to build than we are accustomed to, but when they do the numbers can start rising fast. Second, the mortality rate being quoted throughout the media is worryingly misleading. Putting a new patient at the early stage of their disease into the denominator tells us nothing about how COVID-19 mortality compares to influenza or Ebola, in which ALL patients are no longer sick. The only patients that can be counted are those whose final outcome is already known - that's the only proper denominator for rates of both mortality and recovery.
3
He criticizes because he can't do math and he can't see one step beyond the current one.
330 million citizens. If, say, conservatively 30% of us get the virus, and conservatively 2% of those infected are serious enough to be hospitalized, that's almost 2 million people who will need to be hospitalized in say, a year? That's in addition to the usual hospital admits for accidents/heart attacks/whatever. Not to mention the rest who will need medical attention. Are there enough hospital beds? Enough doctors? Enough money for people to get treated, or are we just going to let folks die on the street. This is indeed an issue worthy of lots of media attention.
3
I understand the administration trying to contain the rising level of panic for fear of stock market response. However, if the Pandemic Response team had not been decimated, and the US established protective equipment and drug stockpiles as per standard accepted scientific and Public Health Governance, there would not be such panic now to create "strategy . This thread is correct - at times like this people just want accurate information about how to protect themselves. This is a novel virus (@2% mortality so far, aerosol airborne & surface spread)- to compare it to flu (0.1% mortality, droplet and surface spread) is pure ignorance and an embarrassment. A vaccine is @12 months away at least. Let the experts control information release and you will gain the confidence of the public and hopefully contain this virus.
3
The President loves to complain about the unfair press. In truth he loves being in the press for any reason, the more controversial the event, the more outrageous he acts and the more press coverage he gets. This virus is dangerous and unpredictable, but it's his kind of high profile moment. He'll play it for all it's worth.
6
Medical experts - those who deal with science - are reporting that a 'bad' flu kills roughly 0.1 to 0.001. The worst pandemic known on the globe, 1918, killed in the range of 1-2%.
The current coronavirus is killing in the range of 2-4%. Unfortunately not fake news but scientific fact.
As the US has outsourced manufacturing, since 2005, the United States no longer manufacturers antibiotics in the country. The drugs are produced in India and China.
Quite an alarming scenario unfolding around the world.
4
Maybe Mulvaney and Trump could spend a couple of days in Solano County meeting with people and reassuring them that this is all overblown.
6
Mr. Putin must be elated by the panic and hysteria that is taking hold among American voters. The manner in which this issue has been politicized will go down in history as perhaps the greatest victory of Soviet disinformation in the modern age.
2
Its not going so good right now in Russia with containing the virus.
This admin is no better than the Chinese in the first 4 weeks of the outbreak in Wuhan trying to suppress REAL and accurate information from professionals. It is a real problem so forget the political diversions, and deal with the problem so this does not lead to panic. I will certainly not trust, unfortunately, what comes out at the WH at this point in time.
3
Very interesting to see how science denialists manage cope with a virus epidemia. Maybe the pray for it to go away. Did not work that well in the middle age either.
4
I knew that the radical right would try to politicize this mess. trump, pence, and the other right-wingers are out of their league on this one.
3
Republicans should realize by now that nothing can bring down this President at this point.
Republicans in government will obviously protect him from everything, including the Constitution and the rule of law.
He can even shoot someone on 5th Avenue if he wants.
3
Trump's abject lying is in full force.
"We closed the border very early." A restriction on foreign nationals who had recently traveled to China is not "closing the border very early".
And suggesting the plunge in the stock market is due to fear of Democratic presidential candidates—absurd, and another lie.
9
Same old stuff from the republicans directed at the “base”, that group of people assembled by bushie and cheney to follow orders on what to hate, without any questions being asked. It carries on until now, and catering to them is the basis of each move by the republicans, even when they rely on Emperor’s New Clothes techniques to convey said instructions.
Pence looks to be an equivalent of brownie, the guy bushie relied upon after Hurricane Katrina.
5
In this case, instead to criticize the media, the President has to focus in his role of a commander in chief in a serious human, social and political crisis.
2
Indeed! The falling market is a Democrat and media conspiracy.*
*indicates sarcasm for those who are unable to discern literary nuance.
5
Rich E
Thanks for the *.
Great idea!
Media -- get on this immediately!
1
I wish someone in the WH...anyone...would wake up and realize this isn't about Trump...or a joke. This is about world health. What we need now is cool, calm leadership. And thanks to Trump, the WH staff, and the Republicans, we have none.
16
Really? Complaints about fear-mongering from the people who brought us an national border emergency about a Central American Caravan? So they could drum up funding for a wall?
21
Talk about "it's all about me."
For the 40 millionth time in four years I wonder if I am reading "The Onion."
15
No surprise that Mulvaney is blaming the media. The President chose to make it political. I am so sick of a President who only cares about himself and his base. But he won't protect his base from disease . Real people and real lives who are Americans of every race, religion, and gender are in the hands of Donald J. Trump.
9
Remember good old President Harry Truman, who had a sign on his desk that said "The Buck Stops Here"? Quick, somebody go find that sign in the White House attic and put it on Trump's desk, because he has no idea what he is doing as President.
Truly, Trump's response and those of his lackeys and enablers to this impending epidemic/pandemic is "sick."
For it is characteristic of abusive persons to refuse to accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions, to never hold themselves accountable, and routinely blame others for their mistakes and the harm they do.
Why are other countries prepared, but the U.S. is not? Good question to keep in mind on November 3, 2020 on Election Day. This country cannot take 4 more years of Trump and the Trump-Republicans
12
Trump's inane decision to decimate the CDC and appoint Pence as the COVID-19 propaganda minister is destroying the Trump presidency.
He has ballooned the national deficit for stimulus spending that has no multiplier affect and hammered the Fed to ease monetary policy at the same time he was claiming the American economy was never better.
This is akin to his strategy of cash stripping companies he ladened with debt that could not be serviced by cash flow, and declared bankruptcy, 6 times in a row.
The trade deficit hit record levels in direct contradiction to his suggestion tariffs would reduce the trade deficit. I guess he never considered retaliatory measures, or the fact 7 billion customers are outside US borders.
GDP growth has been an anemic 2%, and wage growth half of that.
Trump is crumbling due to his own ineptitude.
Reporting facts, instead of using North Korea's propaganda ministers on Fox News, brings light on the scale of his failure as a president.
21
Everything is not political, everything is not partisan. What an embarrassment for our country.
12
The irony of 45 accusing other people of telling "untruths" would be hilarious if the thought of having 45 and his gang of gangsters in power wasn't so horrifying.
Trump's real plan to contain the virus is to build a dome over the White House and campaign from inside a plastic bubble.
11
Mulvaney, and Trump and Pence are not worth the paper they’re printed on.
24
Can’t think of a worse role model to have as a father than the pathologically narcissistic Fake President. I’ll bet that Trump’s caddy at Mar-a-Largo has more one-on-one conversations with him than his son. Just observing their non-intimate body language when they travel together is very revealing.
13
He's going to eat those words.
8
Mick, it's not only the President. They're coming for all of you. I would hang some garlic bushels around my bed if I were you!
16
Why is everything about Trump?
I have been voting for sixty years. I’ve voted for Democrats and I’ve voted for Republicans. I’ve found things that both of them have done right and things that both of them have done wrong. But until Trump, all of them have had a sense of humility. Even Nixon did quite a bit of good for the country.
Maybe the good that Trump will do is to get a lot more people to vote in each and every election (and get the Electoral College abolished.
33
@Melvyn Magree: Trump had the perfect opportunity to get the Electoral College abolished in 2016. He blew it.
I honestly tried to watch Trump's press conference the other night with an open mind. As a school psychologist who works in a school district where keeping a sneezing or coughing child home from school is a luxury a lot of working parents can't afford, I really wanted to be reassured that our government was equipped to handle a national health crisis.
The only good thing about Trump's responses is that he didn't slur his words for a change. I also heard some useful information about the process of developing a vaccine (as in don't expect one anytime soon), but that didn't come from Trump.
Other than that, there was a bunch of confused statements and misleading information from Trump. He tried to blame the stock market's recent performance on the Democratic candidates, called Nancy Pelosi incompetent, gloated about his approval ratings, mocked Chuck Schumer and mimicked his NY accent, kept downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu, rambled on about how frequently he washes his hands, lied about the mortality rate and disputed the 2% figure, claimed (without evidence) that his Muslim travel ban has stopped the virus from spreading to the U.S., whined about being called a racist, and could not give a coherent reason for appointing Mike Pence to coordinate the administration's response to this.
I am not reassured. Not in the least.
45
@Roberta: The structure on the virus that triggers the immune system has already been identified.
That doesn’t matter. Making vaccines against viruses is a long process. We are at least one year away from a vaccine.
1
True insanity. It's common knowledge that the president is sadly losing his desperate battle with reality, but for no-one in the White House to actually stand up for what has to be done is extraordinary. And for the Republican party, especially in the form of senators, to placidly accept it all is simply outrageous.
Mortality figures always lag: the latest (minimal) numbers from China indicate maybe 4%: much higher and we move into Spanish Flu territory.
This government gutted the CDC, and it had to reduce its external operations from over 80 to 10 countries. And the 10 don't include China. Oops: that was the first line of defence.
And as little testing has been done in the USA (last estimate: 500), with a test that appears to be compromised, of course the numbers are low: you won't find cases if you don't look for them. Unintentionally, Trump's government is doing precisely the same mistakes as China's: but the resultant rage will be even more fierce.
Potentially a lot of people could die: and the reason will lie firmly at the doorstep of the White House. Meanwhile, we can all entertain ourselves by calculating how many of Mike Pence's prayers are equivalent to a tab of Aspirin.
23
@John B
Somewhere there is a painting of people on an island looking at a sinking ship offshore. The people on the island presumably prayed to be saved.
Somewhere I read what about the people who prayed on the ship and still went down with it.
Or the WWI German soldiers that had “Gott mit uns” on their belt buckles.
Have you ever stood on top of IPunkt in Berlin and looked at the ruins of Kaiser Wilmer Kirche, bombed in retaliation for the bombing of Coventry in England.
Mr. Mulvaney's remarks about Barron Trump were bizarre. "He's huge, but he's still very young"? Perhaps he has been around Trump too long, and can no longer speak in coherent sentences. I agree Barron should be off limits to everyone, including Mulvaney who was using him to deflect from Trump's ineptness in responding to what is a growing crisis. Mulvaney in blaming the news media for Trump's incompetence is blaming the messenger.
Mulvaney did speak the truth about Trump when he reported Trump saying : "‘I’ve only got eight years, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can,’” Trump has only ever been interested in what's in it for him in being President. Now Trump is facing an uncertain crisis on two fronts - protecting public health, and an economic crisis. He is the student who failed to properly prepare for the exam that is about to begin.
32
Trump forgot Barron was his son when he and Melania talked about banning flavored vaping last year. He couldn’t even remember his name. Maybe the press should focus on that.
How one can go so low, take one for the team like that and look himself in the mirror is beyond me. And we ain’t seen nothing yet unfortunately.
9
Politicizing (or aiding/abetting politicizing) an emergency should be against the law, with a very stiff prison sentence (mandatory).
7
@Observer
A lot of Dems and the press would have to be locked up, too.
So, you want trump in jail then?
Mick has my full permission to attempt a mid-air, anatomically-improbable docking maneuver with a rapidly precessing, rolling breakfast pastry of roughly circular morphology.
7
Mulvaney is right, the corona virus is much less lethal than ebola, but if corona virus is 10 to 20 times more fatal than flu, and more infectious than flu, then we are talking about a million or more deaths within the US this year. Obviously this is not a trivial number, and I don't expect the Trump gang to show any compassion about this loss of life. But because these deaths will disproportionately occur among the elderly, at a minimum, the GOP should be concerned about a net loss of Trump voters come election day.
17
Trump's coronavirus response team consists of political commissars and Wall St. banksters.
As far as constructively dealing with a pandemic they're clueless, so they started a noisy fight to distract everybody while an assistant staffer visits the research hospitals and shouts at the doctors to hurry up.
Apologies to Stephen King, but from here out I'm going to refer to the disease as "Captain Trumps".
15
Distraction, distraction, distraction.
If only the media would ignore Trump's acolytes spewing criticisms and conspiracy theories and focus their reporting on what this administration is actually doing or isn't doing to combat this possible pandemic.
8
Not covering how much Trump loves his son? Oh sweet Jesus that's not news, it's tabloid fodder. Has Fox News been covering Baron? I don't watch Fox News maybe other readers can answer.
7
@George Something in the back of my brain says that Trump told him to say that. Why else would he? Trump wants to appear warm and fuzzy (I know) at this point so he pulls out the son. Crazy talk.
He forgot Barron was his son last year. Remember his attempt to stop vaping by adolescents? He was concerned for Melania’s son. Apparently, he forgot his name is Barron Trump.
He also forgot to care about health effects of vaping. He reversed his stance. Jobs were more important in the vaping industry than teenagers’ lives.
And on the same front page, there is a piece about China's propaganda machinery in full swing about its heroic fight against the virus . . . it's much the sameness isn't it - spinning a yarn which is swallowed wholly by the devoted . . .
10
The downplaying of the looming pandemic st a logical progression of falsifying the hurricane map, isn't it?
15
Actually, I don't know who should be held responsible for Trump's mindless screechings.
Should it be Trump himself, or the presumably intelligent people that serve as his deceitful apparatchiks?
11
@SAJP
Or the people who stayed away in 2016 because Hilary Clinton was not perfect.
Remember, Trump came in third to a de facto none of the above.
3
Viruses don’t lie. Trump does. Ironically he doesn’t realize that the easiest way to re election would be to put real scientists in charge of all things related to the virus rather than trying to “manage” messages.
18
The stock market is a reactionary animal, and it is reacting to the facts of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
A Trump rally audience may swoon when their leader crosses his arms and juts his jaw, but that’s not the reaction of the markets. The markets deal in realities. Trump does not. Trump’s pattern of deflection is not working here. Even Trump supporters don’t want this virus. Including the ones who believe it’s all the fault of Obama or Hillary or whatever.
Trump thinks the stock market millionaires and billionaires are enthralled with his business acumen. They are not. They supported his tax cuts, not the man. And now he’s compromising their portfolios via his ridiculous approach to this urgent issue. Why doesn’t he turn it all over to the CDC and WHO? No; instead his ego takes the lead. As usual.
13
When 45 is finally gone the world will have a great sigh of relief.
24
@Phillip and a fascinating obit in the NYT to read. Must be tough knowing his nemesis is going to have the last word.
The press and Trump are equally contentious, which detracts from the ability of each to do its job. And their childish behavior detracts from our sense of national self respect.
4
@michjas
Classic false equivalence.
1
I believe I’d take any member of the actual working press (note: if your last name isn’t “Wallace,” nobody from FOX need apply) as Prez over this fool, any old Leap Year Day.
This sounds perverse, but perhaps Trump ‘surviving’ impeachment was the best thing to happen to … the democrats ! He now feels so emboldened so there is no limit to the gross stupidity and incoherence of his actions and words. The real victim is the republican party, which has shuffled along behind Trump since their primaries.
I say this with the assumption that he will neither be reelected nor start a war, and I know full well that the 3+ years of his administration has been one step backward after another, a lot of wasted years.
After decades of defunding education I also hope we realize how important real, public education which gives young people the history, context and facts necessary to understand and effect government. This will not be easy. TV has great potential, but due to the commercialization of all media, it is increasingly used to create a passive, receptive populace.
15
The big question is why did Mike Pence give Mulvaney the go ahead on those remarks? He did, didn't he? After all, it was only yesterday we learned Mike was in charge and all communications have to go thru him. Or is this just another plan that had a shorter than 24 hour shelf life.
19
One can only hope so.
1
May I be totally honest here? The current administration are genuinely a bunch of clueless old rich guys who took the wrong turn heading to the country club and ended up at the White House.
The mere fact that 38% of Americans won't drink Corona beer speaks volumes as to where the US is at right now. Big sigh.
20
Could we be at that "Heck of Job Brownie" moment in Trump's management of this crisis? What should concern us now, is at least Bush had the sense to know that Brownie was a big mistake and his response was a big mistake---and, he corrected those mistakes--albeit late, but, he put people in place who knew what they were doing. The same cannot be said about Trump---he is incapable of admitting a mistake, has no clue what kind of crisis he is in, and has no one around him who could intelligently recommend a strategy. What we will get in the next few days/weeks is a lot of show, but no go. As a small footnote---is there a pattern to Republican incompetence---Bush left us with two wars going and a weakened economy---Trump's administration is shaping up to leave trapped in our homes and watching our retirement accounts dwindle to zero--heck of a job Trumpie.
11
This is the critical danger of having a narcissist-in-chief as president. All crises, even ones that pose a deadly risk to Americans and the world, are about his ego and electability. We are so far from the ideal of: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
21
Mick Mulvaney—
Since you're detailing Trump’s sleep schedule, do you want to tell us what kind of stimulants he's being given as he’s transported around on Air Force One at taxpayer expense or waiting to have his evening coronavirus press conference?
Amphetamine-like stimulants have an effect on health, mental status, and cognition.
A physician MD
23
@srwdm - Adderall. Back in the day, I did my share of coke and meth and can tell a tweeker from a block away. It would explain his attention problems and it sure looks like he might be a touch dyslexic when he says things like "Nambia" when he means Namibia".
It was apparent during the Republican debate that he had been snorting a line during the break.
Mr. Mulvaney: this is not a political stunt. This is a real life and death crisis and you should be glad there are people who actually know something about public health crises and are willing to speak up about it. If this is too unappealing to you I have three words for you to ponder for yourself;
GET. OVER. IT.
21
If markets in the US were the only ones down, Mulvaney's 'explanation' would make sense. But since global markets have also lost so much value, his comments make no sense.
Par for the course, as can be expected from another Trump sycophant.
19
“He said Mr. Trump is in frequent contact with his youngest son, calling to check in on him and let him know of his whereabouts.”
Wow, How warm and fuzzy. Surely Father of the year.
20
Consider the audience. They will believe anything that comes out of the White House.
12
Mulvaney might want to refer to the WHO said the virus, found in at least 56 countries so far, poses a “very high” global risk.
6
Lovely, the Trump admin in Full Monty, the King’s has started a fashion craze.
11
@Derry
The emporer has no knows.
When you're POTUS, you can't cherry pick what days of your term count; you're supposed to be POTUS every day, take it or leave it. Methinks POTUS doth protest too much. He hasn't worked a single day for the American people, just for his base (including the 1%), and now a virus that does not discriminate is upon us. Making COVID-19 another reason to keep foreigners out of the United States is not good enough. Not planning ahead is not good enough. Getting rid of the competent scientists who would have prepared the United States in advance and told POTUS to work with other world leaders ASAP is not good enough. Frankly, Donald Trump is not good enough.
12
We should let the virus cleanse our society of such personnel who can put politics before health of the county. . Sure there will be collateral damages.. but it will clean a part of the malice .
7
Since when is killing, or even only sickening, the innocent along with the guilty a way to improve society?
Leave it to the acting "Chief of Staff", to say the most alarming things when he has nothing good to propose at all. His entire political career has been one of smoke screens and deflections. Stop offering your short sighted opinions and get to work!
6
Of course the DNC is politicizing the virus. Of COURSE they are, so don’t be naive. Extremely low risk (of nothing really) versus extremely high reward (winning in November).
Don’t be so naive.
Dems are going to be laying everything on thick until Election Day and the Republicans would be doing the same if the roles were reversed.
It’s disgusting. On both sides.
1
@Jeff yeah well it's rather important to highlight how completely incompetent this president and administration are. If you call that "politicizing" then so be it. Who cares? At least it's accurate.
It wasn’t the DNC or the “libs” who fired the CDC pandemic team.
It wasn’t the Dems who slashed the budget for disease response. 
Only one covfefe owns that.
What exactly is this guy even trying to say? Because he’s largely unintelligible. Is he suggesting people haven’t died from the Coronavirus? Is he scolding the press for not traipsing around after Baron? Mulvaney needs to understand that any American citizen who is at all paying attention has long since learned to tune him out. And he needs “to get over it”.
8
@ForThebe
But will those who ‘tune him out” and show up in November?
We are in this fix because far too many people stayed home rather than vote for Clinton or Trump.
The only way you throw your vote away is to stay away.
My apologies to those who read my many “stay away” comments, but it is only until we have a 90%+ turnout that we can say we have a “democracy?.
1
How ironic, the preceding NYT article describes the World Health Organization rating the Coronavirus as a ‘very high’ risk. I’m sure they, too, are trying to bring down the president’
18
Trump blames the Democrats for instilling fear in people about the Coronavirus. What instills fear in me is this administration's lack of honesty and candor. They are now going to spin and filter the information coming from the scientific community through Mike Pence, who has already proven his ineptitude and lack of leadership as governor of Indiana.
For Trump, the stock market and the economy take precedence over human life. How frightening is that?
13
i fear Trump and his cabinet's response to Covid 19 is going to make the Bush's administration's to Katrina appear fantastically competent in comparison .
15
Little Donnie Trump is behaving like a little kid that has just walked into a room where a conversation that has nothing to do with him is going on, some people are laughing, and he assumes that they have been talking about him and are laughing at him. It's always about him. Make it stop. Please!
12
It tells you everything you need to know that the administration is putting so much effort into casting the virus as a partisan issue - because they have really no clue on how to deal with this other than blaming others for their own incompetence.
6
Well it's true. 5he liberal media has focused all of its coronavirus coverage on supposed shortcomings by Trump. There is no news media any longer There is only partisan noise outlets of one stripe or another. Polling shows quite clearly that the citizenry loathes our "news" media for this very reason. They are to journalism what Trump is to governance
3
@Mike James - The media just reports what Trump does and says. If the news is negative that's on Trump.
Yes, Mr. Mulvaney, I am sure the public will understand that the entire Covn-19 virus crisis is all about Trump and the party, not safeguarding the American people.
17
Trumps Katrina moment is upon him, and true to form it’s of his own making.
I’m afraid a sharpie won’t get you out of this Mr President
25
Trump administration is once again making an issue worse, while at the same time patting itself on the back. Releasing the “healthy” Princess Diamond passengers without testing them for exposure, or any limited quarantine? Greeting the infected and sick people on the plane with no protective gear? You can’t make this stuff up.
18
Trump owns everything about The Virus that is happening and will happen in the US - he fired our Pandemic Response Team in 2018 and has cut CDC funding to the bone. If anyone has made this a "political issue", it's Donald Trump.
24
“some of them are trying to gain political favor by saying a lot of untruths.”
It takes one to know one, doesn't it?
The Huffington Post said Trump had told 15,000 lies in office as of the middle of December. With 279 Democrats in office, that means every single of them would have to tell more than 50 lies each to match his output.
13
Respected public health officials are now comparing coronavirus to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Look up 1918 influenza pandemic. Whatever the White House says, believe the opposite, you’ll remain safer that way.
31
@TH Williams
True.
Trump and his minions live in opposite land, so that should work.
1
Excuse me, President Trump is clearly bringing himself down. The media is reporting the facts that our citizens desperately need. Past blame games by Trump has often worked. This time around, his blame games make Trump look like a desparte stooge.
24
If mulvaney & Fox & all the others will stop & think...the Meida & the Democrats did not develop this virus to use against trump. I believe it came from the country on which djt has the most trade tariffs. Is this administration truly so selfish that they will withhold crucial medical information that will let more people die? This is not hurricane target debate...this is something that will possibly kill thousands of people. Does trump actually believe he is so god-like that he can make the novel coronavirus stay contained in one person in California?
16
@Nostradamus Said So: One hopes Pence has gathering doubts that his God likes being prayed-at.
If the World Health Organization has increased its risk assessment, how can Mulvany make this claim with a straight face?
Health concerns aren’t partisan. We need real leadership by physicians and scientists. Politicians need to defer at a time like this. Older people and people with compromised immune systems deserve better than this.
21
'Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers..."
Oh for the good old days when only characters in movies were crazy.
17
I, alone.
Remember that?
When the stock market goes to 16,000 what will all the 401k devotees say?
15
If we are "blessed", perhaps all of the White House occupants will come down with COVID-19. That way, we can watch how well they cope with it, knowing that, as they see it, coronavirus is nothing more than like the common cold.
20
True story.
1990, I was boarding a Delta flight from Palm Beach to New York. A very blonde child in first class accidentally hit me while I was making my way to coach. He looked up at me with a slight scowl but a voice said "That's not nice. Be nice." The man next to him then put a hand up and said "sorry".
The man was Trump. The kid was Eric.
Not sure why he was on a Delta flight other than he really had no private plane but whatever.
We need that other Trump. The one who apologized for his kid and was among all people.
I'm not MAGA. I'm a regular American who feels we really need honestly and a strong and kind president at this hour.
8
@Mixilplix - Yeah and look how Eric turned out. There never was and never will be any other version of Trump.
So let me get this straight. The media is out to get Trump and Americans should just turn off their TVs to avoid being upset. And it's not just the American media but reports from all over the world where some 50-odd countries are trying to limit the transmission of covid-19 to their citizens.
Are they all in cahoots with the American media? Poor Mr. Trump. Someone should start marketing martyr T-shirts.
22
Never wrote in this media. Some of you may remember that Germany is one of your Allies. Few of you may remember that one of our most beloved Chancellors was Helmut Schmidt. Even fewer of you may remember that Helmut as Mayor of Hamburg was Fighting a natural flood catastrophy in 1962 by ignoring all the rules. Her broke the constitution by asking the German Army for help. Google it, its true. I'm not at all a Panicked Person, I just returned from a Business Trip to the middle east and saw all These paranoid People. I saw your fellow citizens ignoring the threat. If the American People really feels threatened by the Virus, one should take the lead. Could be a Mayor, a Senator or anybody else who can move Things. They only shall follow their heart. Just do it, remember that the American People was not built on Building walls.
13
Trump and his loyalists and supporters live in an alternative reality.
21
Mr. Trump told reporters, "but some [Democrats] of them are trying to gain political favor by saying a lot of untruths.”
. . . . .
It always tickles me when the premier purveyor of falsehoods gripes about others purportedly lying, while his gripe is predicated on but another one of his lies. Trump has turned lying into an art form that will be arduously studied for decades. I hope, however, that at least as much effort will be directed to finding an antidote to this one thing that Trump seems to do so well.
10
@Think
The antidote is to always vote. I wonder how many Electoral College votes Trump would have gotten if we had had a 90% turnout in 2016.
2
"I've only got eight years...". Let's hope he's as wrong about that as he is pretty much everything else.
20
I suspect that in a week or two - Trump will cancel all his travel and public appearances - and just stay in the Whitehouse -and have others wear masks - and keep 6 feet away from him. No more handshakes - no more photo ops - just stay back.
Don't laugh - it will happen.
38
@Randy: Maybe Trump will plead that he has bone spurs.
And television on 24/7.
"They think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.” Really? This sounds rather desperate. True, a great many Americans have never heard or care about Mulvaney, but after taking a stroll in the cold sun earlier in the day, We The People were all at one in being at our best, in understanding that this is a non-political virus and even better, looking after each other.
"The flu kills people", adds Mulvaney, and "This is not Ebola". Perhaps those of us listening to this enlightenment from the acting White House Chief of Staff, should be grateful for this clarification, a singular gaffe, where one disease has nothing to do with the other.
Preparations are being made; industrious workers behind the health counters are more patient than usual, and we are seeing how resilient America can be when placed to the test.
This latest from The White House appears to be grasping for straws, as 'Panic' engulfs Wall Street, if not Main Street and the Heart of America.
It might be of interest for The Press, during the duration of this unexpected virus, to sound out the possibility of a 'Pence Presidency' - Something new to take our mind off the flu.
5
Since his first day in office, Trump has attempted to manage information in a way that reflects well on him, beginning with a lie about the size of his inaugural crowd. According to the Washington Post he has told 16,000 plus lies since; yet he seems surprised that neither the markets nor the general public believe his claim that the Coronavirus is under control. Our president has zero credibility; he blames everyone else for his failures—it’s the media trying to bring him down or the Democrats playing politics with a pandemic. Actually, this time the blame for whatever happens falls squarely where it belong: on Trump himself.
15
@Judy
At last, we can say clearly that Donald Trump is the problem.
First, the stock market was smoke and mirrors and if it can be toppled in days due to a virus, start placing money (real money) elsewhere.
Wall Street needed a scape goat like they did in 2008.
4
Trump's first offense is to launch a defense. Start blaming the press, anybody, just blame. It continues to shock me.
The Mulvaney interview and his comments are beyond comprehension - drawing conclusions about severity comparing coronavirus to flu and ebola. He should leave that to the CDC. Here we have a serious threat calling for leadership, communication and preparation. Instead we get Mulvaney preparing Trump's defense... Mulvaney may well have just said "Trump can't lead, communicate or prepare for a global threat because the press is being mean to him. How can he do his job when the press is unfair. Yes, it sounds that bad.
13
Trump is president so he alone is accountable for the handling of the coronavirus in this country. And accountability is one thing he cannot handle. See the accountability about that huge wall that Mexico was going to pay for. See the accountability about the huge increase in US manufacturing and the opening of thousands of US factories and hundreds of thousands of jobs. See the accountability for controlling prescription drug prices and protecting people with pre-existing health conditions. See the accountability for the huge increase in federal revenues after the tax cut. None of these things materialized, none of them ever will, and he is 100% at fault. And you'll never hear him accept one iota of blame. The mishandling of the coronavirus is just another place to blame the media while Trump does nothing.
8
Always all about Trump. This is not about Trump. This is about all Americans. Of course he can not see that. He does not care about us. This is a serious situation that needs immediate attention. We have an administration that does not serve the public as they should.
8
Remember when a president faced with with a public health crisis would set politics aside and make protecting the public through infection identification, containment, and prevention the top priorities? I know... the whole concept is so four years ago.
11
Comforting to know that Trump's thoughts are first and foremost for himself. The health and safety of Americans pales in comparison to the importance of Trump's reelection.
45
The main thing we can all do to avoid this virus is to stay away from people. It is time to stock up on things that you use regularly, not because there are likely to be serious shortages of most items but because it is safest to stay away from places where people congregate. Do your shopping at off hours in fact one AM would be the best time to go shopping at places like Walmart. Use the shopping aps and either pick it up or use home delivery. Most pharmacies will deliver. Stay away from your doctor or dentist for routine visits. Vote by mail. Don't go to concerts movies and make sure your kids don't.
Once a reasonably good immunization is available have it done.
5
I listened to the audio briefing from CDC. You could hear a definite struggling push and pull in Dr. Messonnier's response to questions. The dance around was obvious compared to her previous content oriented briefings before the Pence thumb came down.
I've never heard so many um's and um's um's as she tried to stay close to whatever "instructions" she has received from the administration as she took questions. This was not how she presented in previous briefings. Today, some questions were answered with her characteristic directness and competency and others were an exercise in saying less and being evasive.
This style is distinctly different from her previous briefings where she did a pretty good job of trying to be transparent while also realistic about unknowns and issues. I've listened to several over the last week, and today's has the distinct fingerprint of the administration interferring with what this professional infectious disease expert is sharing with the public. Clear political fiddling in the job these experts are tasked to do in communicating to the public.
23
Sure hope he does NOT get eight years!
16
@Jane Scholz Between his age, his weight, and his diet, there's still an excellent chance he won't see out four.
15
@CritterDoc
One would think that ... but he is surprisingly robust. He's of those people who can abuse his body for decades, and somehow be 'okay.'
Maybe the Sudafed will catch up to him, but he seems to have developed a tolerance to that as well.
I wish no harm on anyone, only observing how some people manage to keep upright, if not all there, despite all the negatives. He seems to have a strong constitution (oh, the painful irony of even typing that!)
1
The fact that Mike Pence is in charge of filtering information means the Republicans absolutely plan on lying and deceiving the American people. Trump’s re-election campaign is more important than National Security or public health. House and Senate Republicans have ALL stated this publicly by dishonestly clearing Trump on the impeachment charges. Trump and Republicans are the most dangerous thing facing the American people right now.
40
Wouldn't it be something if this tiny yet powerful virus could actually "bring this president down."
I sincerely hope no one suffers any dire consequences from this virus. We have this guy as president. That's pretty dire in and of itself on so many levels.
32
The coverage of COVID-19 appears to me to be equivalent to the level of coverage given to H1N1, MERS,Swine flu and SARS. The administration's ongoing need to dismiss this as caused by the big, bad media's desire to "get trump" only undermines my confidence in their ability and willingness to process the data given them by the medical community and take appropriate measures.
15
At this moment I am reflecting on how far we’ve come from expecting leadership for our basic survival from our leader(s).
28
One way to try to extend a regime is to build a big tent and give those who show up and behave sincerely a say at the table.
Another is to build a concrete bunker and create a culture of paranoia to squash dissent.
Despite history's many verdicts on this second strategy, Trump and those like him still see no other path.
13
Not sleeping is a significant cause of Trump's obvious problems: lack of concentration or even ordinary comprehension, error-prone inability to communicate, delusions, mania. Many psychiatrists would likely agree. It's under these conditions that he gets his "information" from Fox News in the middle of the night. Alarmingly, his fans don't seem to care.
18
And the copious amount of Diet Coke he is reported to consume.
1
@Charles Beggs
Nor do they care when he starts rolling with the 3am tweets.
1
Why not? A crisis that Trump didn't create is a crisis he cannot cope with.
11
This is One of those times when citizens needs to be able to have complete trust in the intelligence, expertise, and honesty of the leadership of the country. Unfortunately the history of lies, evasions and misinformation handed out daily by our current President and his staff lead to a bleak forecast for any kind of organized and effective handling of this health emergency.
The only things on Trump’s mind is re-election and weekend golf. The path to re-election lies in the same kind of name calling and lies that worked the first time.
12
Short explanation for extra-terrestrial beings unfamiliar with the Trump administration: Trump out of media spotlight - bad, main stream media (except Fox News) - bad, stock market plummet - bad and also media’s and Democrats fault, stock market increase - good and also totally Trump’s achievement, people dies of decease - sad, but let’s talk about something else like what a great leader Trump is.
8
It's unbelievable that the administration is downplaying the start of a possible pandemic.
Denying climate change was bad enough, but with this, the deaths can be confirmed if they just want to look.
Instead they're treating the virus like a financial nuisance and a campaign problem.
They're showing no empathy, no compassion and no human decency!
18
Mulvaney: The press is trying to bring down Trump; FAKE NEWS!
Actually, the press is reporting accurately and tracking progress/developments as they happen, as a free press should. As far as I’m able to see, Trump and his administration hate the First Amendment, but love the Second Amendment.
Bravo, inter-press!
16
Always eager to stoke the hatred and anger, Republicans have become inured to their own messaging. To them, it seems normal to see enemies behind every comment, every action. They assume that the fear-mongering that defines them is the same as what everyone would inflict on America. They have no sense of the civic "us", just a lot of me, me, me.
14
We Americans are hamstrung by a president who has lied all his life. Therefore, it is his prism of deflection/defection that is in play as we fast forward to, say, April 2020:
The virus has taken hold and uprooted American society, hundreds (thousands?) die — and Trump crows that we were well prepared as a nation and that he did “the best job that anybody could’ve done.”
Hope I am very wrong, but the science and DJT’s lack of ethics and credibility says I’m likely right.
8
@Concerned Veteran scary indeed!
Mr. Trump has said that there will be a miracle that will overcome this virus. And if there is such a miracle he will take credit for it. If there's no miracle it will be because the media and the Democrats have conspired to prevent the miracle that Mr Trump is expecting.
7
True story, before I read this article, I hadn't thought about how this coronavirus was Trump's fault. Really strange, I know, I guess I missed the memo that I should be blaming this virus on Trump, and I didn't see this as something that would bring down the president.
Seems to me like they've used this line so often they forgot to think if it actually applies here.
5
The media is conspiring to take down this president? Right Mulvaney, right.
The thing is, the media doesn't have to try to hard to point out the inadequacies and chaos in this administration.
And, Mulvaney bringing this up only confirms for me that they are aware of the bungling, and know they need to throw up flack.
It'd be comical if it wasn't so depressing.
5
And when you get the virus, Mulvaney will tell you to "get over it". Clearly, he's a short timer and he and Pence will take the fall.
9
This is what a reality distortion field looks like.
16
Take heart residents of the United States here's what the Secretary of Health & Human Services has stated about a potential coronavirus vaccine: "Azar argued that the pharmaceutical industry is best poised to discover, manufacture, and market a vaccine for coronavirus. When asked about the cost of vaccines, Azar, the former pharmaceutical industry lobbyist, responded that the price may be high, but that this will ultimately deliver an important vaccine, even if many Americans cannot afford it." From:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-says-coronavirus-vaccine-may-not-be-affordable-2020-2
8
@Harvey Botzman
"even if many Americans cannot afford it."
Are you serious?
I would hope that someone would have ripped his face off for saying that.
1
Perhaps it’s time for the White House to hold regular press conferences if they want to get the word out on this and all other issues.
4
@bounce33 Can’t imagine Sarah Sanders, Grisham or Trump himself offering much in the way of trustworthy information in regular press conferences. Just more opportunities to further abuse the press instead of answers to legitimate and sensible questions from the journalists.
2
And this guy's boss has the Codes too. Good thing the boss-man seems rational and seems lookin out for the national interest....if not?...Heart of America.
2
How can the public have confidence in this administration when Trump, Mulvaney and other Trump appointees and loyalists choose to politicize this pandemic instead of being forthright, affirmative and constructive. Americans have had enough of this administration's obfuscation, deceit and incompetence. See you in November.
9
Are you kidding me?!? Unbelievable. The Republican party has sunken to a new low with that one. I hope the Democrats steam roll them in the upcoming election and get those guys out there. Fear mongering at it's finest.
13
There is nothing that Donald Trump cannot make all about himself.
20
@Me
Yes there is. The impeachment. He made that all about everybody else.
6
“Requiring that any experts' information about COVID-19 and its risks be managed by the VP or WH Chief of Staff” . . .
The administration policy is consistent, Do not let Americans know what trump is doing.
8
This the same guy who's says something on National TV then a while later denies he said it?
Gee this seems to be the explanation for everything that goes wrong, Dems did it and fake media promotes it. I do like the new word "socialist" added to dangerous liberals.
Its not any governments fault its how they will react to this, We will see if trump group is interested in the pandemic and preventing disease or if they really just want to protect Trump.
I woulld say Pence and Alzar already being set up to blame.
4
@Richard Head But when they fail it will still be seen as Trump’s failure. People remember
“Hekuva job Brownie,” more than they remember what Brownie did or didn’t do. Or remember even who Brownie was. It is referred to in articles as “Bush’s Katrina,” not Brownie’s Katrina.
This has already been called the Trumpvirus by a few. Of course Trumpvirus has already been with us now in another form for three years.
The only failure Trump will recognize is a breach in the secrecy he most likely will want to maintain. If we start to hear numbers about diagnosed cases that seem logical and about problems with food and medical deliveries, Trump is likely to explode. We won’t be hearing about any of these problems from Pence either. Whistleblowers, we salute you and please get ready to go into action. I know that one brave woman is already facing the wrath of the administration.
3
is he accusing "us" of making up the facts? or is he saying that we shouldn't talk about it because it embarrasses the President and points out the foolishness of some of his policies?
5
Let's send the Trump administration on an all-inclusive cruise to any infected destination of their choice.
11
Mick, just get all those Trump supporter Evangelicals to pray for him. All will be good.
10
I suppose we have to accept the 2800 plus who have died from the virus worldwide were all anti trumpers.
10
Aside from the fact you might wonder about the Vice President, "What else is he doing?" you might remember the administration's, and Mr. Mulvaney's, mantra: "Just get over it." They will ignore this threat, like any other, as a Democratic threat to undermine their regime. Somewhere, Hillary and Nancy Pelosi will have to pay. Maybe we could put BIG tariff on this Mexican beer that's causing the whole thing.
6
Just another example of Trump's delusional egocentricity. The media hype such things to get viewers, regardless of who is president. Anyone remember the flesh-eating virus?
1
Narcissism continues to plague the psyche and mental focus of POTUS. We have a pandemic disrupting lives across the globe, and he manages to whine and turn the focus on himself.
13
Trump and his Republicans toadies have so perfectly demonstrated incompetence that it has become inescapable.
Just ask the stock market.
7
Trump and all his loyalists are paranoid and susceptible to any conspiracy theory that serves their narrative.
5
Bring down? Trump's already a bring down.
6
*insert eye roll emoji here*
8
The blame game extraordinaire.
I am surprised that I haven't yet heard them blame Obama for the virus.
I have not yet learned of a scientific, cogent, coordinated plan that deals with this covid issue for the US and its world relationships.
Where is that, oh blamers?
8
Has anyone sat down with Trump and explained to him - slowly - that he could get the covid-19 virus too? He's in the public a lot.
9
I can't imagine what Trump will say and how the germaphobe-in-chief will react after someone at the White House becomes ill with this virus.
11
@M.
How will he attend rallies ...standing in front of shouting , screaming, spitting supporters?
2
No, Mt. Mulvany: the flu is deadly serious. Just as in earlier generations measles, polio, and chicken pox were as well (the latter a generally mild childhood disease but lingering to strike as shingles painfully later in life). As a nation we have taken robust health for granted. I cannot do that. I have seen the ravages of diseases with good recovery rates. Even a mild flu often leads to complications and death to any with weakened immune or respiratory systems.
On your second point: As a mother, I am also very cognizant of Mrs. Trump's repeated pleas for the press to NOT cover her son, and for the most part, her wishes have been honored. Now you believe that the media is acting badly?
Healing of this very fractured nation requires respect and truthfulness all around -- and respect also requires listening to voices, studies, and competencies beyond those held by oneself and even contrary to them. Mr. Lincloln's team of rivals during a critical period in US history attests to the value of that. It is not a positive attribute that Mr. Trump does not sleep or in other ways indulges in unhealthy lifestyles, not only becuase he needs to model those practices but also because he needs to be alert, responsive, and able to engage and reconcile diverse viewpoints. Contrary to your assessment, I believe that the media has been very tolerant of his dismissal of any views other than his own-- whether domestically or abroad.
19
@Vera Fessler: The media is inhibited from publishing truths that drive away advertisers.
3
@Vera Fessler
Meanwhile, the Canadian health authorities in British Columbia (who has a large Asian population and the largest number of cases) just announced that they're no longer going to make any attempts to contain the virus, and will treat it like the seasonal flu. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/empty-streets-unlikely-should-covid-19-spread-widely-in-b-c-1.5478069
His loyal adherents continue to amplify Trump's overriding message - that he is the center of all attention. They only exacerbate it by attempting to deflect bad news. Why not just admit that the President hasn't the power to do anything but prepare and respond to the best of the government's ability?
13
Given the Trump administration's history of outright lies, attacking whistleblowers, denigrating science and scientists, and singular focus on retaining power, those with even a modicum of critical thinking skills would be justifiably skeptical of any "information" the administration may provide about the virus. I for one am profoundly grateful to the mainstream media for its posing questions to, and reporting on information received from, ACTUAL experts in public health and virology that have not been directed to selectively moderate their message (sorry Alex Azar and Mike Pence, but former pharmaceutical lobbyists and "messaging" overseen by conservative Christians having no scientific or medical qualifications does not inspire any confidence whatsoever) .
24
@Evelyn: The whole US media is doped on prescription drug advertising. If I never see another ad for Otezla, it will be too soon. I will have dropped dead first.
3
This seems to be how politics work. A president comes into office and tries to take all credit for everything the previous president did. Unfortunately, they also get to take the bad that comes during their term. How Trump deals with this threat will show what kind of president he really is. Trump is no leader and has no skills to deal with a real crisis.
Being president isn't only about the economy, it's also keeping the public informed and country prepared for anything. This administration needs to stop pointing the finger at the media and lead by example.
8
@Jamal Q "A president comes into office and tries to take all credit for everything the previous president did." except for GOP presidents never left anything "good". Bush left us in several wars and massive recession and deficit after he plundered Clinton's surplus!
1
It's been a few days since the alarms for the virus started in the US and I'm already worn out by how politicians on both parties are using it. If a looming pandemic is not a reason enough to find some consensus, then we truly are doomed.
6
Mulvaney and Trump are prevaricators of the first order.
COVID 2019 is potentially much more dangerous than Ebola, SARS and MERS for the very reason that it is far more readily transmitted from host to host. The metric used to compare epidemics is not the # of deaths but the # of deaths among those infected.
In the case of COVID-2019, transmission occurs as readily as it does for the common cold (also often a Corona virus) and whereas MERS, SARS and EBOLA are much more virulent and kill a higher percentage of those infected, those viral pathogens were not as readily transmitted form host to host. COVID 19 depending on the studies, kills between 0.4 percent to 3.4% of all infected persons (for reference seasonal influenza/flu kills 0.1% ).
Do the math, if America has 325 million people and COVID 2019 infects just 100 million people (roughly 1 in 3), the expected mortality rate would be from 400,000 to 3.4 million among those infected. If transmission is not stoppable than the above numbers could double or triple.
So we could looking at the a pandemic event which would kill a population equal to that of New Hampshire or Maine or Missouri or Massachusetts. When you think of the damage in those terms, this country should be on a war footing and we should be activating the national guards and federalizing them and stockpiling antivirals and nationalizing production of respirators and ventilators and activating reservists in medical units to deal with this.
10
Public Health is a National Security Issue - this is not a game. The administration needs to grow up (fast) and take its management role seriously. It isn't a game of us and them, conservative versus liberal, or an opportunity to demonize the media. It is an opportunity to stand up to the role and stop sniffling through with a sense of entitlement.
12
There is no way I would have put the officials through the ordeal of fidgeting while waiting for the Almighty to emerge as Trump did before entering to announce his learned response to the covid 19 crisis.
4
I'm on record is disbelieving anything that the administration says until it is thoroughly proven to be absolutely, positively, indomitably true, but here is a request for the press.
What preparations should I, Joe Average, be making right now to prepare for a possible emergency, and, to minimize the risk to myself until it arrives.
I am not real worried, but an ounce of prevention is worth several hours of Trump press conferences...
12
To summarize: It's outlandish to suggest that Trump would have illegal dalliances with Russia and Ukraine, despite all the evidence suggesting otherwise, to help boost his electoral prospects.
But it's reasonable to suggest the media, Dems and, uh, China, I guess, have conspired to create and hype a new virus to hurt Trump's electoral prospects.
12
Trump brings down Trump and everyone who associates with him. His downfall is not created by the media. He does it to himself and his supporters.
18
Drought in the south, storm in the north, virus in the east, fires in the west. Panic rides the air we breathe, it seems. But never mind, says Trump. All just a plot to make Trump look bad, seeing that all the workings of history and the universe are about Donald Trump. This is megalomania, and now the man allows only those who agree to his delusions to hold power or speak, having driven out even partial candor. How much pathology would infest the nation even if the virus never came? Even if the market never fell? The greatest sickness is in those who know what he is and still abet him for their ends, a moral illness even more wicked than that avatar of deadly sins hulking in the White House now.
24
It should be easy for Trump to pretend he’s an adult, show some command of the situation, and possibly calm the markets by doing so. FDR and others have responded to crises this way.
Instead he and his team of third-raters can’t help but make it clear that he’s incapable of leadership, and paranoid about being voted out of the White House if the economy tanks, and therefore subject to prosecution. So he’s lashing out at the media and Democrats instead of at least pretending to be presidential.
He can’t even fake it. He is his own worst enemy, as well as the country’s.
16
This entire scenario about Mulvaney trying to drag the father/son relationship between Trump and Barron is bizarre, to say the least.
My gosh - I am NO fan of Trump, but for crying out loud, leave his youngest son out of the media! I completely agree with the First Lady's wishes to keep him out of the spotlight.
Apparently, things in Trumpland must be getting pretty desperate for Mulvaney to stoop so low by attempting to deflect the coronavirus and stock market problems with happy and blissful moments between the president and his son.
It's great to read that the president stays in touch with his youngest son and has a loving relationship with him but he's still a terrible president who makes less than stellar decisions for the country.
Good dad / bad president.
Most people know and see the difference without having to have Mulvaney drum up some kind of story.
8
@Marge Keller - He's not a good dad. He calls the poor kid Melania's son and there's no footage anywhere of him being kind of affectionate towards him, nor will you find any comments from Trump talking about him in any way that is kind or loving.
9
@Marge Keller Bet we won’t be hearing any complaints from Melania over Mulvaney’s mention of her son. Even if she wanted to complain she wouldn’t be permitted. It is impossible to take anything put out by anybody in this White House as an honest statement. Even the most sensible requests or remarks come off as political fodder to use against enemies.
Last week trump’s so-called“best” week kaput, History; stock market plunging deplorably, trump’s worst week so far.
6
Trump's dismantling of CDC is what will bring him down....another example of him getting hoisted on his own petard (and blaming the media)....woefully predictable.
15
Mr. Mulvaney, "acting" though he is, is nonetheless skilled at the art of propaganda in service to his boss.
7
Mick - nope he brought this on himself when he started denying that there was a problem in the US. Donald has lost the narrative, well except for RW media and every Republican should know that and care if they care at all for their constituents.
4
Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you. But maybe it's time to be paranoid about the right thing.
1
We don’t need a pandemic to bring down Donald Trump. He has created all by himself , hundreds of valid reasons for the need to be rid of him by any legal means possible. We don’t need the coronavirus to bring him down.
Instead of all of this toxic verbal garbage that is being spewed out by Donald Trump‘s team in the White House maybe they should think about saving America from the misery that awaits them and the rest of the world. Maybe they should think about something other than themselves for a change.
If you really want to know the truth amidst a cesspool of disinformation,we are dealing with two diseases: the disease of Donald Trump which is tearing the country apart from the inside socially, politically, and spiritually. And then there is the coronavirus which threatens to kill us physically. Both of these diseases are reprehensible and lethal and they each need to be eradicated by any means possible.
10
Thank you- honest and accurate. Not something the Trump Admin seems to be capable of doing. Ever.
1
Curiouser and curiouser, to quote Lewis Carroll's Alice. Have we somehow stumbled or fallen into the crazed realm of the Queen of Hearts (off with their heads! screamed Trump, re the media), or perhaps crossed through the looking glass, where everything is backwards and makes no sense at all? It's all nauseating, like being trapped in a circus funhouse with no means of escape. Excuse me while I go toss my cookies. Maybe the coronavirus will save me from this nightmare.
5
Can anyone ask more devotion, passion and loyalty than Mulvaney? This guy is so phenomenal that just makes me want to throw up...
maybe because this is the only job he can do, nobody else would hire him...
10
A bit like the liar Sarah.. Remember her? I hear she is going to run for office in her home state.
Yes it’s all about Trump the narcissist. Let’s get him and his cronies out of office before it’s too late for our Republic and our world. That includes taking back the Senate and the courts. Wake up
MAGA supporters: he cares nothing for you or America.
12
They don’t care.. MAGA.. they are getting theirs..at any cost..but still they seem sure it’s all great...the hate and all..
Dangerous though it is, COVID-19 is also a warning shot. The next epidemic could combine the ease of transmission of this virus with the lethality of Ebola.
To defend against it we will need a healthcare system that includes everyone. Millions of people who can't afford to see a doctor are at far greater risk of transmitting communicable diseases, even to people with great health insurance. Your medical coverage can protect me, as mine protects you.
We need leaders who face reality unflinchingly and tell the truth to the people, not pander to their prejudices. We need leaders who respect science, even when it tells them things they don't want to hear. And we Americans have to make it clear that we won't settle for less.
23
Many of these posts talk about how deadly the virus is, how contagious it is and how many people have been diagnosed in the U.S. These posts contradict each other, which is unsettling when it comes to a deadly disease. We clearly are not getting good information. The inconsistencies are coming from the President, his staff and the media too. I think these posts demonstrate how important it is to have the CDC and experts such as doctors and scientists providing us with information and being supported and utilized to be the official sources of information. Maybe there is an agenda to use this as a way to bring down the President. I don't care and neither should he. Focus on the situation and just give us some solid, consistent expert-provided information.
8
Serious question, cos I don’t actually know the answer: In the USA, if you have no cash or private medical insurance; and if you suspect that you might have Covid-19 symptoms, can you actually go get a medical consultation, and treatment?
4
In answer to your question, yes and no. If one presents at an emergency room, under US law, that person must be treated regardless of their ability to pay for care. This law is called The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, and was passed in 1986. On the other hand, getting an appointment with a primary care physician would not only take a while if you don't already have one, but they could opt not to accept you as a patient due to your lack of health insurance.
3
yea. and then you will be sued by a collection agency when you fail to pay.
7
I cant take it anymore. This is beyond Alice in Wonderland. What has made these people so paranoid?
12
They aren’t paranoid. It is just part their attempt to make us distrust the media, intelligence agencies and science.
4
"these people"? - do you include the 60 million who gave him the Codes in 2016 and likely will try again. Those people? Your question contains your answer.
1
Umm I'm pretty sure Donald and Melania specifically requested privacy for their son.
7
It's just the coronavirus, get over it.
Seriously people this is all about Trump, not about American health in the face of a pandemic.
It's what you voted for.
12
This administration has gone far beyond crazy. Soon they will say the Democrats created the virus either to take attention away from their primaries, or to embarrass Trump or some other beyond the pale idea.
How much longer can this country take this illness?
12
@russ lemcke - The Dems did create this virus.
Trump has built his entire Presidency and professional career on misinformation. We will not get good information or honesty from this President, and Americans will die because of it.
18
Trump's incompetence and hubris will bring him down. The media doesn't need to make this type of stuff up.
18
Does the White House really believe it's own word? If so they need to go. Do then think that China, Korea and Japan are taking the strident measures they have because this strain of the coronavirus isn't a real threat? Then, Donald Jr. comes out and accuses the Democrats of wanting to have the virus kill millions so that his father looks bad. These are egotistical folks with a deep seated sickness.
19
A mind is a terrible thing to waste ... on a person who doesn't use it.
11
Good lord, why wont you clowns just shut up and try and catch up on this pandemic you’ve been ignoring for the past 6 weeks. Wake up, America lives are at stake!
17
This not what the average taxpayer voter would call competent leadership. It is not a game any more and a rally with the base is not the answer.
14
I live in a remote, rural area. Now that Mulvaney has verified the current administration cares more about its image than the public's well-being, all the more reason to stay home.
13
@Maria Stay home if you feel better doing so, just be sure you get out to vote come Election Day.
2
I just received an email blast from my doctor's office, listing the kinds of symptoms to be on the look out for, various precautions to take and to contact his practice with any questions.
And yet, all I read from the acting White House chief of staff is that "This is not Ebola" and the media is "exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because they think it will bring down the president."
I am grateful to have a physician who is being proactive and is reaching out to his clients to assure them that he and his staff are and will continue to be available in any capacity necessary.
But shouldn't a similar kind of reassurance be coming from the president and his staff?
All that those guys are accomplishing is the creation of more fear and uncertainty because they care more about Trump than the American citizen.
Talk about priorities being skewed and self serving.
18
Preventative medicine was politicized for one man's ego. As expected, this has backfired. Irony is not dead.
12
If Mr. Trump and his team took 1/100th of the time he spends criticizing the media and used it to prepare for the coronavirus, we'd be in good shape. But, that's not going to happen. It's all about him, and nobody else. And it's ALWAYS someone else's fault.
13
The media keeps reporting the spread with some reports on the best way to protect yourself. What I really want to know what is the survival rate broken down by age? I’ve down a Google search but I can’t any info on that. I wish there were articles on the survival rates because then such info might calm people’s fears.
@HFlegel: The elderly who die from it are probably more likely to self-medicate with antibiotics they've saved from earlier prescriptions. These don't work on virus infections, but they do devastate the patient's defensive biota community.
As a physician the administration needs to show responsibility and leadership and not to underplay the potential seriousness of this virus.
This is not the time for political theater and for people making arguments that this is all about politics
No this is about a deadly virus and keeping the public adequately informed with scientifically accurate data
untinged by political overtones.
9
By the usual standards, Mulvaney received a good education. I have my doubts about the adequacy of the two year real estate curriculum to which Trump was exposed at Penn to prepare him for leadership. But I doubt either of these had a course in microbiology, so why would anybody listen to them about a new virus? Scientists are underrepresented in the government power structure, and I suspect even a rudimentary science education is missing for most of these people. Of course Trump won't let us see his transcripts: those documents he skewered Obama for not releasing.
6
When the wonderful comedian Tim Conway passed away, a lot of people posted a video clip of him playing a bumbling dentist who had to resort to an instruction book on how to treat a patient as the guy squirmed in the chair. I'm flashing back to that clip now as we face a real health emergency, but I'm not laughing.
6
The Trump Administration: Desperate, flailing, and failing.
l taught at an academic regional medical center for more than 30 years. There is no better way to understand and appreciate the harm that lies can do to people and society than when it comes to medicine and contagious diseases.
I'll go further. As I watched business values and corporations take over medicine in our country, it is clear that the values of business and the private sector are at odds and too often work against the values of medicine, health care, and the public sector.
You can't propagandize and politically advertise your way out of an epidemic. In fact, the Trump Administration has done everything to make the situation worse--starting with blocking affordable universal health care for all Americans, cutting funding for medicine and science research, and driving competent professionals out of government.
The Trump administration is about to reap the consequences of what it has sowed when the coronavirus comes to town.
12
It's always about someone else or the media coverage. It would be refreshing to hear this administration own just one their many failures.
5
First of all, we are depending on scientists and hoping that those who govern are too. But in a nation where the Governor of Texas once stood on the shores of the Gulf and tried to pray away the BP oil spill, right along side the ex Governor of Alaska, that hope is problematic. Now add in the Trump selected Virus Czar; Praying Pence, and you can never be sure whether the science will be funded and followed, or denied and denigrated.
6
Mulvaney is so paper thin.
Simple search of the last 5 weeks major events (back to Jan 24) shows that the coverage of the outbreak in China was happening along side impeachment.
And the return of the US residents from the cruise ship happened well after impeachment vote in the Senate.
The return just a couple of weeks ago.
I don't think the administration wants to have scrutiny of that return because they apparently messed it up with unprotected personnel.
Everything these guys say should be taken like a gang of criminals - a mob - all spinning to make themselves look good.
Not a hint of decency.
9
He doesn't need the media. He's doing a great job all on his own.
6
He is right. It is all about him and his policies. Even those that have benefited by the tax break, voterwise, people who have 401k's can easily see that what Trump represents is wrong. The amoral, unethical behaviour. The appeal to authoritarian methods and governments. The inability to believe anything that he says about anything.
We are all terribly nervous, horrified by the direction that he is trying to take us. Only the desperately lost find his rage engendered approach appealing.
7
Mulvaney's response is exactly the type of response that will bring down this administration all by itself. Who do they think they serve? - because it sure sounds like themselves. The media has figured out the people want to know about this, and about what the government is doing about it and what the government CAN do about this. The administration serves the people, but it sure seems like this administration thinks the people, including the media, serve it.
8
If the death rate of influenza were the same as Corvid19, 540,000 would die from flu. NOT the same.
7
And to think that Mulvaney sought to be considered for the presidency of a university (South Carolina, I believe) not so long ago. What a disaster that would have been.
5
Again, when non-partisan observers report what is happening---as when the whistle blowers (the "perfect" phone call and now the unprepared and unequipped health workers exposed to the virus) do what duty and decency demand--Trump and his cohorts lash out and in a vindictive rage blame the observers. With the whistle blowers Trump loyalists could only get their clutches on the latter, but would have loved to destroy both. Only the incompetent , the "keystone cops" in-politics, are so totally involved in blaming. Trump goes further in hiring Charles Harder and his law firm and spends more than two million to sue the media for saying "bad things" about the perfect genius. If the media does not wildly praise and applaud they are evil, in the eyes of "Trumpists".
Here is a most imperfect leader who is seized by rage and reacts irrationally when his actions are not applauded as great. He should never have entered the spotlight. The Blame Game.
5
We have seen this crisis coming towards us for months. Being hostile to science (and reality), this administration lacks the expertise to deal with this issue.
More mundanely, I think the President and the people around him are simply, but extremely, lazy. A competent response would have required real work...not just bloviating in front of the cameras. And 99% of what this President has done (besides hanging out playing golf or staying at Mar A Lago) is talk to a camera after first enjoying his TV time...I mean 'executive time'
4
And, so, out come the conspiracy theories. Seriously, this spin is appalling and totally unnecessary. The deflections are fierce and are going to get worse. At this point, do we expect anything different from these people? I get trying to put a positive spin on things but just read the reports and look who's actually been given the power to do something about it. Confidence is in the dumper for a reason, but I'm sure somehow Hilary's emails, Biden's contacts in Ukraine, Bernie the Red, or Obama just because will be spun up ad nauseam as a way to either blame or just create a smokescreen.
Just be careful out there, folks. We'll get through this.
3
If the epidemic were not a serious problem it would be utterly hilarious that Mulvaney is blaming the media on this one. It is Mr. Mulvaney's job to help the president execute strategies and policies. If the response to the virus is not going well, Mick need not look beyond his mirror to find someone to blame. The press reports on events after the fact, not before, so Mick has every opportunity to get ahead of the media and do things right. It's the same as the fantasy Trump tried to sell that the Democratic debate on Tuesday NIGHT was the cause of the market slides on Monday and Tuesday-really?
3
I am shocked that the public has not seen the results of any polling on this?
Do you trust Donald Trump to tell Americans the truth about the coronavirus?
I suspect that the reason that very obvious poll is not being taken is because a shocking number of Trump supporters would admit "no, don't believe half of what Trump says."
Or a better question:
Who do you believe, Donald Trump or the doctors at the CDC who might be Democrats?
3
I would most strongly suggest that Mulvaney embarks in a fact finding mission to the affected areas in China, or for that matter to Italy if he so prefers, to prove his point the alarm about the corona virus is a plot to bring Trump down. Am sure many of us readers would happily contribute to financing his trip.
4
"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.”"
This is pure projection on the part of Republican operatives and their Fox propagandists---- that is exactly what Trump, Fox and other Republicans were doing to try to bring down Obama during the Ebola epidemic, in spite of pro-active, science based expertise.
Now the (real) fact is that Trump slashed funding for preparedness and for the CDC itself, and purged from the White House science-oriented leaders with the expertise to handle this.
5
Mulvaney is trying to recover some of the good graces he lost from Trump when he said in England that the USA needs more immigrants. Mulvaney had no self-respect, which means he agrees with my opinion of him.
10
Donald Trump has been a failure at everything he ever touched -- except marketing. He could market himself a businessman for reality TV and he (with some Russian assistance) managed to market himself to a minority of voters who gave him the presidency. Since then he has attempted to market a poor administration as a series of successes.
Reality is starting to assert itself, and Trump does not know what to do, except try to blame others.
5
I think the president is doing an effective job of bringing himself down without any help from the media.
6
Books have been written about how authoritarian governments put their citizens at risk through efforts to control the narrative. See Midnight in Chernobyl for an excellent example. It's foolish to believe the same cannot happen here with an administration bent on telling any lie it can to improve its image or to find someone or something other than its own failed policies to blame. Our responses to recent natural disasters do not inspire confidence. And Mulvaney, a man whose raison d'être is to defend an indefensible president, is among the worst of this White House's messengers.
5
When asked what are you going to do to calm the markets Mulvaney response was tell people to turn their televisions off.
It may surprise Mr Mulvany that many Americans for close on four years now have been following his advise.
Every time his boss Trump is on TV we garb the remote and turn the TV off .
We do so to 'calm our nerves', and keep our blood pressure from boiling over.
6
Pence was assigned the national virus/damage/PR control responsibilities, what, 48 hours ago? And he’s off to Sarasota, Florida this afternoon for a big GOP fundraiser lovefest. He must have solved that minor outbreak issue already. And he didn’t want any homework over the weekend. This administration has absolutely no ability, or interest, in governing. None. It’s all just a big, fat, completely transparent cash-grab. And oh so grotesque.
7
When Donald can produce a single microscopic organism with a press pass or registered as a Democrat, I will start to take Mick's criticism more seriously. Until then, accurate information is one of the most important weapons against the spread of this disease. This is a case where more than truth dies in darkness.
4
We've had our fingers crossed for over three years that the revolving door of unqualified Trump minions, few of whom have any tangible experience in government, and all of whom are apparently comfortable with continuous and constant lying about things big and small, would never have to handle an actual crisis. Here we are - hopefully they'll figure it out.
3
So the takeaway to the media is don't report about the virus and possible pandemic, talk about Barron. I feel safer already.
6
Apparently, Trump is always the"victim". Except when something positive happens - then he's the responsible party. Clearly a theme in Trump's existence. Absolutely a manifestation of his personality disorder and narcissism.
5
@Think Before You Speak
You should not say that about the father of the nation. But then you didn't. You said it about the creepy uncle of the nation.
It is tragically clear that the Administration is willing to risk lives, or consider the lives of American citizens in a flippant manner, in order to defend their perceived political interests. Before the President opened up his mouth, Pence was appointed, and now Mulvaney downplays the emergency, I thought the United States had demonstrated a reasonable and appropriate response. In the past 48 hours, based solely on the actions of the WH, I have come to the conclusion that we are in serious trouble. Clearly, none of us should believe what the administration announces.
Additionally, the straw man argument of comparing the coronoavirus is a false comparison. The virus has a higher fatality rate, spreads more easily, and would have an additive effect on top of all the deaths we already see.
Scary times are even more frightening when the people are led by fools.
4
This pandemic is giving us, finally, a clear view of what these frauds are all about. Instead of expressing concern about the pandemic, they are already trying to deflect their missteps onto their political opponents and the media. The chickens may finally come home to roost on this one...but not before a lot of people pay a huge price for their incompetence.
9
This piece from the Guardian is illustrative of the problems facing many Americans on a day-to-day basis. With the coronavirus it could be catastrophic.
I watched Alex Azar the other day dodging around the issue of costs to the public. These people have no shame.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/28/coronavirus-millions-of-americans-uninsured
5
@pepys
"And as a team of Yale epidemiologists discovered in a study recently published in the Lancet, a single-payer healthcare system in the US could simultaneously save 68,000 lives and $450bn in taxpayer dollars each year."
Great article, thanks for posting.
3
Here's a thought Mr. Mulvaney: stop politicizing a potential health crisis and do your job as a public servant in helping to prevent its spread.
6
The ignorance and incompetence represented by the Trump, Pence, Mulvaney White House is unbelievable.
Instead of addressing public concern by allowing experts at the CDC to explain that the first recorded case of infection of a US citizen occurred near Travis Air Force base in California because people with COVID-19 were flow into that base and allowed to mix with unprotected citizens (despite strong objections from the CDC advising against allowing infected people to mix with unprotected people). Such gross negligence and incompetence is just unbelievable.
This is why everyone is so concerned that COVID-19 is now "out in the wild" and propagating freely in the USA.
In the article, Mulvaney states that COVID-19 is not SARS. However its scientific name is in fact SARS-COV-2 because it is a derivative of SARS and shares 80% of SARS-1 DNA. Further COVID-19 is far worse than SARS-1 since COVID-19 has already killed 4 times more people in just its first 3 months than the original SARS epidemic did in 8 months. Further the original 2002 SARS outbreak only infected 8,098 people, whereas COVID-19 has already infected more than 84,168. SARS-1 only spread to 29 countries, SARS-2 aka COVID-19 as already spread to 60 counties in just 3 months.
3
It looks bad because it is bad.
Marc Lipsitch - a Harvard epidemiologist, not a tax and regulation cutting right-wing extremist political hack like Mick "The Razor" Mulvaney, has opined this virus likely will infect at least 40% of the world's population. The current estimate of the mortality rate is 2%.
Do the math. We're talking about tens of millions of deaths as a result of the virtually inevitable spread of a highly contagious virus, at huge human and economic cost.
Yet all Mulvaney, Trump and Trump Jr., Rush Limbaugh and the whole demented chorus of cynical, hate-fueled right-wing cultists can come up with is "everyone is being so unfair to poor, persecuted Donald J. Trump."
At what point do all of those fools in the made in China red hats wake up and realize they're being played for suckers, just like the contractors, lenders and investors in the Trump Taj Mahal; the students of phony Trump University; the purchasers of non-existent condo units at failed 'Trump-branded' developments...
Meanwhile, Trump's flunkies have been tasked to purge our government of experienced, knowledgeable personnel who are 'insufficiently loyal' to Fearless Leader Trump. He's taken an ax to the CDC and other agencies that should be geared up to address an emergency of this sort, handcuffed the scientists and replaced them with golf buddies, ex-football players and religious fanatics who still believe in spontaneous generation and creationism and claim that climate change is a hoax.
5
No, Donald Trump’s tragically ignorant and cravenly self-serving response to the COVID-19 outbreak is what is “bringing down the president.” The people pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes are not the one who elected a man who’d stripped himself naked and has been streaking across the landscape at least since 2015.
Trump, not the media, cut CDC’s budget by 24% well before COVID-19.
Trump, not the media, axed our pandemic response well before COVID-19.
Trump, not the media, slashed CDC’s overseas disease surveillance by 80%, starting in 2017.
Trump, not the media, appointed a COVID-19 Czar who had botched HIV so badly as governor that it led to the worst HIV outbreak in the state.
Trump, not the media, is calling for public health messaging to be channeled through the White House to make sure it is politically palatable to his administration, thus endangering lives.
Trump, not the media, has downplayed the risk in order to save the stock market because a plummeting Dow makes it harder for reelection.
The people in charge are dangerously ignorant. Even before COVID-19, we in public health were saying his decisions would mean people will die. Now that we are seeing how that is playing out, it would be grossly irresponsible to not say anything.
8
Seems like the Coronavirus has already stuck Mick Mulvaney and the Trump family's brain!
We are led by an administration of certified, malicious and mentally unstable imbeciles.
4
This is not news; it's propaganda. Publishing this uncritically as news enables this incompetent administration. Do better please, NYTimes.
2
@Peter B Well said , it high time the press stared talking back and refusing to air their lies. Anything less is enabling them.
4
Truly idiotic. The last thing we need is a sleep-deprived President, much less one so delusional he thinks he has eight years left.
3
I think The NY Times is shady for not reaching out to Diamond or Silk for comment on this story.
How stupid do you have to be to think that, if everyone is saying you are stupid, it must be the fault of the media for reporting all of the stupid things you have done?
We'll find out soon, I guess.
5
What an idiot.
9
@Febr2301
Who exactly? There is a range of options.
1
@Bob Guthrie I was referring to Mulvaney, but you’re right! The options present an embarrassment of riches!
Mulvaney is a certifiable moron.
15
Stupid statements like Mulvaney made is exactly what we don't need for the Trump admin and their total paranoia about everything. At a time when you want US citizens to heed warnings and actions that may be needed to squelch the epidemic you have a moron like Mulvaney turning this into a political issue with his lies and finger pointing. This admin has no shame, in light of the seriousness of the situation, about turning everything into an anti-Trump crusade.
There will plenty of time for that come Nov. White voters need to heed the fact that thesis a totally failed admin and we need to throw Trump and his moronic staff out of office in Nov.
4
Mulvaney, get real. You are delusional.
Or are you still drinking the kool aid?
Read the label:
Trumpian Kool Aid
Any flavor. Known to rot the soul and impact the intellect negatively when taken internally.
4
Paranoid much?
3
What a bunch of morons.
7
The disease of pathological lying, narcissistic psychopathy and sociopathy has spread to Mulvaney, the entire entire administration - and Republican Party. It is far more dangerous then the Coronavirus. Hopefully the cure will come in November.
9
Yes the Corona Virus is the lamestream media's ultimate Fake News. This virus was designed to get Trump because absolutely everything is about Trump (sarc).
4
It's not about you. Get focused.
4
Now we can clearly see how, while stupid can get us through routine time , stupid in a catastrophe can be fatal.
You got your judges, GOP senators. You got your Senate Majority Leader who blocked legislation you didn't like.
Now prepare for the deadly consequences of your choice of a President.
7
So irresponsible.
2
The people who inhabit this administration are nuts.
3
@Gabe Mancuso
Pistachios? Almonds? Cashews? Peanuts? I will go with walnuts- pun intended since they are nuts about the wall that can never be built.
Dear Mick Mulvaney: In case you haven't received the message just issued (as reported in The Times) from the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), "'This is a reality check for every government on the planet,' said Dr. Michael J. Ryan, deputy director of W.H.O.’s health emergency program. 'Wake up. Get ready. This virus may be on its way.'” It's not a world-wide conspiracy by Democrats, the media, China, or the W.H.O. to undermine our insecure Narcissist-in-Chief, but a real virus that "kills people." So please, "Get a grip!" and yes, "Get over it!"
8
Instead of complaining and accusing , it is your government, do something about it. Stop protecting your incompetent know nothing boss.
8
The public can not trust an administration lead by a compulsive liar wanna-be dictator. What Trump has done is to make "Republican" a synonym for liar.
4
I’m all for that, haha! Keep up the good work media! But does it really help to get rid of the imbecile?
1
Always blaming someone else. So pathetic.
4
"the press wants to point out that he's a terrible monster.” - FTFY
2
I do not think we could possibly live in a dumber country.
5
Italy has emptied Venice to bring down the President of the USA.
China has attempted to lock down 45MM+ people to bring down the President of the USA.
2,800 people have died to bring down the President of the USA.
80K+ people across the world have been infected to bring down the President of the USA.
The Trump Administration fired the US Pandemic Response team in 2018 and did not replace them to take down the President of the USA.
Doctors at the CDC got medical degrees and have spent their professional lives girding for this moment to take down the President of the USA.
If mother natures doesn't kill us all these morons surely will.
13
This article makes Mulvaney look like an idiot. So I am glad Pence is running the task force and Mulvaney is not involved. People's lives are on the line -- keep the political hack's away.
Meanwhile the WHO says we are at the highest possible threat level. Mick, please get a clue.
1
@Observer
And Pence isn't a political hack?
This administration comments make look China as the grownup in the room. Lol.
3
Is this Obama’s fault or is it Hillary’s fault ?
4
Trump’s enemies want to bring him down
Said Mick Mulvaney wearing a frown
But the spread of disease
Might bring us to our knees
Thus debunking the words of this clown
5
Remember “The buck stops here,” or Nothing to fear but fear itself”. Now we get “No, I don’t think it’s inevitable. It probably will. This will end. Nothing’s inevitable.” ....incoherence.
The Republicans are freaking out. Stuck with a man they have to protect. CPAC reminds me of the Romans titillating over risqué plays and innuendoes while Rome burned.
3
If Mulvaney is upset about lack of proper media coverage, it would be prudent to hold Daily Press Briefings, but then...
Should also keep idiot Don Jr. out of the media. What good does he do for anyone in politics.
5
We have a fool in the White House.
10
Mulvaney shouts at media muffled by sand surrounding his head
3
Is every member of trump's cabinet now as sociopathic and megalomaniacal as he is?
16
That is right, Mick. It has nothing whatsoever to do with your team's complete incompetence. They just need to get over it!
6
Is Mulvaney insane? The press should be covering Trump’s loving relationship with his youngest son, instead of providing information regarding this virus? Meanwhile, Junior is spewing garbage about democrats wanting millions to die to take away Daddy’s successes. Do these people have two brain cells among them? Why is he talking anyway? Where is Pence?
Gawd, these people are exploding my head ...
8
No Mick, he doesn’t need any help bringing himself or the administration down he’s doing that all by himself with his complete incompetence and so are you just by opening your mouth.
3
If only.
1
I suggest that he go hang out with people who have this "cold" if he thinks it's not an issue. And he should bring the whole Trump team along so they can laugh about this Democratic scare tactic. Go ahead, make my day! What a bunch of idiots in this WH. I don't like to wish ill on anyone but these folks deserve [... fill in].
9
When Trump makes dumb and unfounded comments like "Coronavirus Risk in the U.S. Is Very Low", "coronavirus will die off in warmer weather", he must have heard this information from Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. The guy is clueless about everything such as Kansas City is in Missouri and not Kansas. A known moron should not make statements sounding like he knows what he is talking about. Most of the population knows that he is a pathological liar and don't believe anything he says anyway.
6
What next, Goldman Sacks is a Marxist Socialist venture.
2
You "sky is falling" liberals should get a life instead of tearing down our President. The leader in chief is way ahead of things and doing a "GREAT" job in all areas. He will handle this with the same foresight and skill that he used in Puerto Rico with Hurricane Maria, totally freeing us from the nuclear threat form N. Korea, soving the both climate change, the nuclear threat from Iran, establishing peace in the Middle East, Syria, cleaning up our water and air,keeping safe from the invasion on our southern border...oh WAIT...don't forget the "best ever" stock market."
Just keep moving folks...nothing here to see.
5
@AJR
Thank you for my funny today.
George Orwell is smirking somewhere, saying "I told you so!"
Big Brother, aka DJTrump and the Ministry of Truth is telling us that today is not Friday February 28th, and that everything is the fault of the Muslim Communist who previously ruled over this hemisphere.
3
@Nat Ehrlich
True.
Voltaire: “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities”
Absurdity: I am a very stable genius. I am the chosen one. I have unmatched wisdom. Nobody knows more about (x, y or z) than I do
Atrocity: separating children from their parents, putting them in cages as a matter of policy and losing track of who and where their parents are
Atrocity: Abandoning the Kurds on a whim.
For those of you looking for additional information: Have a look at https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/novel-coronavirus-china
This website is published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Lot's of information...
1
Lies, bluster, threats and tantrums won’t stop this virus. The only silver lining is the President and his sycophants are all laid bare and will have this mess pinned on themselves.
1
"People are gonna die. Get over it." Mick Mulvaney
6
Did I see a COVID-19 headline about a drug shortage, but the regime won't say "which" drug?
Yeah, build that public confidence and trust...
Poor babies, whining and whining.
Is there a GoFundMe page for tissues to the WH?
2
Mr, Mulvaney,
The COVID-19 virus does not care if it’s victims are Democrats or Republicans. And ignorant statements like yours don’t give us much hope in this administration’s response to this virus.
7
How is Mulvaney still WH Chief of Staff? He messed up in the Ukraine scandal and now complaining Barron isn't covered in the media? Oh, wait, I know.. no one else will take the job.
7
Are we talking about Melania’s son?
6
Obviously a liberal virus. Good conservatives have no worries.
2
People don't die from impeachment.
3
trump has very deservedly been crashing since he was elected. Looking forward to seeing him gone come November. This latest trumpfu is just the tip of the iceberg...
5
With the White House megalomaniacal leadership, I believe the public would prefer communication and statements with respect to the Corona-virus developments from Dr. A. Fauci MD, at MIH than the appointed Vice President Pence
3
Shoot the messenger. How can we mobilize a response if we are only suppose to listen to what Mike Pence deems necessary and we are allowed to hear? Did the media start the virus? Did the media close down the supply chain that is now limiting production around the globe? How dumb are they? How dumb are any of us to fall for it?
4
Dear President Trump: This isn't about you!!
7
This is the same president who tweeted "Everything is A ok!" after our troops were bombed in Iraq. We later learned that over 50 of our soldiers are being treated for traumatic head trauma. Was that fake news too, Mick?
8
If only...
1
Come on Mick , Cry me a River.
The president is playing you, his supporters, and the country. Any positive media coverage about him is good. Any negative coverage is FAKE NEWS, Deep State, Liberal Conspiracy, Never trumpers, or worse...True.
You all need to stop whining and open your eyes. Look in the mirror. It's been three years and the only excuse your boss has is 'it's Obama's fault', it's the media's fault, it's the whistle blower's fault, it's Nancy and Chuck's fault, it's Stormy's fault, it's Michael Cohen's faulty...this list could go on forever
The point is...It's NEVER EVER trump's fault. Think about that for a second.
8
Sure thing, Mick - the entire global media is to blame rather than the inept, rambling, ranting, lying, ignoramus Trump.
Your lies may play well in front of CPAC but the sane, rational adults among us know the truth.
7
Blame, Blame, Blame. Is that all you got Mick?
5
What a ridiculous comment by a so-called senior advisor to POTUS. With this level of monumental stupidity at the White House no wonder there has been a total loss of confidence and a resulting market crash. Trump expected a record Dow Jones to get him re-elected. What will save him now?
7
How typical of this President and this Administration to see a global health crisis and see it only for how it may impact him
Are we to believe that all major news organizations in the world that are reporting on this issue have on Trump in mind.
This man is not only insane and egotistical but the embodiment of stupidity and arrogance.
6
Inquiring minds want to know: Will Trump be golfing this weekend?
10
Hey Mick, Mulvaney, that’s just what it is. I would suggest you get over it!
5
Mulvaney?
That “we do quid pro quo all the time!” Mulvaney?
Hahahahahahaha!
Only the best people, indeed.
3
Mulvaney thinks we're all stupid. Just today he talked about things being under control because of all the "professionals" in the administration that are handling things. You know, the "professionals", like Azar, the pharmaceutical industry lobbyist who knows absolutely nothing about the job he was put in charge of. And how about all the other upper level professionals, you know, the real ones with decades of experience, that Trump has fired because they wouldn't get on their knees and adore him. There are a few of those real professionals left and to their credit they have told us the truth. Look for them to be fired by Trump fairly soon for doing just that.
8
Of course he would say that it's all the media's fault. What else would one expect from the Emperor's court jester.
11
The administration is using the "only 60 people infected" as proof that they are doing a "good job." That number, however, is not a reflection of how many people are actually infected but rather a reflection of the CDC's stringent and restrictive testing practices as well as its faulty testing kits (which they have yet to replace).
Once the CDC gets its act together and provides valid testing kits to communities/health care professionals, that number of 60 is almost certain to drastically increase.
6
Mr. Trump, it's not always all about you!
9
Why is there now a gag order on respected medical authorities at CDC and NIH? Is Mr Mulvaney now the "Acting" spokesperson for the invisible Mr. Pence?
Isn't Mr. Mulvaney only conversant with the 'dismal science' of economics? Trickle down economics....trickle down Virology now?
WIll Mr. Mulvaney "blab" on uninformed or ill-informed on medical issues of great national consequence? Or, might he "go back to school" (per Mr. Mnuchin) to learn some virology before diminishing the seriousness of COVID-19 infection?
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@George Knowles: The panic must be managed to front-run the stock markets predictably.
Mulvaney, get real and do your job of containing the virus, not critics.
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