Trump ignores everything. He is in his own little world and does not care about people. He doesn't care about animals. Nothing. Trump cares about Trump and Trump only. I miss Obama who cared about all of us and it showed on his face and his demeanor. I can't wait for the reign of terror to be over. And Pence is no better. He believes his god will save people. Well. that's not how it works. Maybe Pence can be raptured. Even though I don't believe in the rapture. Goodbye to both of them But how many people have to die because they just don't care?
10
Deny. Distract. Disparage. Same old song.
And now it will be Mike's fault when 'Muricans continue to get sick.
That screeching noise is the bus that is futilely trying to stop, before Mike goes under the front bumper.
-C
6
It, most assuredly does NOT take "a hoax, or a conspiracy by the liberal media to make Donald Trump look bad."
Donald Trump looks bad today, he looked bad yesterday, and he will look bad until midnight tonight, and will continue to look bad until the end of time. No one so self-serving and void of any true human feelings can never, ever look anything except bad. We will all be dead and gone before Trump has love or compassion for anyone or anything.
11
"...In today’s case, analysis was skewed toward not seeing a threat — and the skew was enabled, in part, by claims that all the evidence that there was, indeed, a threat was a hoax perpetrated by the liberal news media."
So the administration doesn't want to see the threat. And while they do way too little to control the outbreak, it will spread more rapidly and will hit so many more people who will in turn pass it on to more and more people, a lot of whom won't receive treatments because they have no insurance, and that's how an epidemic spins out of control.
Are there no normal Repubs to call out this madness? Real people are going to die needlessly because of this craziness.
9
Donald Trump is who he always was: a mobbed up grifter from New York who learned from his father that you can welch on debts, pay people off and game the system, and when you get caught, walk away.
13
How many infections/deaths will it take for the Trumpublicans to wake up from their stupor and apply the 25th amendment?
5
“Are the South Korean and Italian media also part of a conspiracy to get Trump?”
Of course they are, right along with the Ukrainians.
Jeez, Paul, haven’t you been paying attention?
6
Trump and his failed administration know what they are stating is incorrect but they know their audience: Dumb white voters who believe anything Trump says as long as he claims it comes from the "liberal" media. Trump and his followers are the most unenlightened Americans in many generations. Of course the internet is the basis for much of this "ignorance is bliss" crowd. With idiots telling people what they want they already believe, instead of the facts, ignorance is being reinforced on a daily basis by nefarious individuals who are not acting in the country's best interest. Remember Rush Limbaugh never graduated from college as didn't many other right wing propagandists. The "liberal" media is populated not only by college graduates but many with advanced degrees. Professionals are now part of the 'educated elite " not to be trusted by the uneducated populace. This is where we are as a nation. Behind nearly every other industrialized nation in education and being factually informed.
6
Let's get REAL about the U.S.- the world's biggest economy. As in Capitalism. Money is the ultimate religion. When people lose money, all hell breaks loose. But the roller-coaster we're on is not going to end anytime soon. What Bill Clinton tried to do is reign in companies that polluted the environment, while still promoting growth industries (especially technology). Under The Circumstances the path he chose was rational and he also raised taxes on wealthy earners. If Hilary had been elected she would have continued the effort plus expanding healthcare for women and children.
She was an "establishment" candidate- a truly harmful label for someone who was going to do the heavy lifting whether or not she possessed a clever gimmick. Now we face a severe health crisis
and we're not TESTING for the disease so medical experts don't have the information they need. Math and science are tough subjects, but it's too bad if you didn't take it in school. Which means don't lecture those of us who did. Fund this thing to the hilt like Obama did when facing a similar problem. Vote 95% of republicans out of office. As for Bernie, it will take 20-30 years of consistent policy in Washington to achieve the goals he talks about. Therefore he can't deliver any of it, least of all in his lifetime. Tucked safely away in Vermont, he can give all the speeches he wants, write more books about Denmark, etc. 4 out of 10 people living here STILL want to re-elect a mentally unstable man.
2
By not taking the covir-19 seriously, Donald Trump will lead a lot of Americans into complacency and much suffering.
Normally a disease should not be politicized, but since Trump started it, and this flu is not normal, it should be called the #TrumpFlu.
4
No one needs to conspire against Trump and his administration. It appears that they conspire to undercut themselves every day in every way by lying and making things up when they have no facts on which to make an intelligent decision. When the facts are revealed in the full light of day, they hold on to their original lies and accuse the informed critics that they are conspiring against them. I usually see this kind of rationalizing in 4 year olds.
79
Is right-wing paranoia and denial really nothing more than cloaks for short-term financial self-interest?
6
There's a meta-message in all of this for those of us in the Vast Left-wing, America-hating Cabal: those who would make us their enemy are loudly announcing to us how weak and frightened they are. For all their gun-toting bluster of hyper-masculine, hyper-cartoon-patriotism, they are deathly afraid. Afraid that demographics and economics is not on their side in the long run. Afraid that 'we' are brilliant manipulators who are constantly scheming to ruin their lives. They stink with fear, and that's what makes all of them irrational and some of them violent.
7
It is a complete HOAX and LIE that the USA is unable to manufacture and deploy millions of COVID-19 test kits to mitigate a COVID epidemic in the USA. We have large volumes of the kits stockpiled, deployed and ready for immediate use at over 100 test centers. OOPs, the truth is a wee bit different.
3
While many continue to lament the rise of Donald Trump and his craziness, one wonders whether he may have finally met his match in the coronavirus. While not for a minute downplaying the seriousness of the virus and the destruction it is wreaking around the globe, it may have one unforeseen benefit. As was the case in War of the Worlds, when a simple virus brought down the aliens, could it turn out to be Trump's Waterloo? One can only hope.
5
And so the venerable CDC will go the way of the Department of Justice, including the FBI (once the most respected police force in the world), the Department of State. All tainted (shredded?) by Trump because they stood between him and his goals. As a leader of an administration you don't go against your own team. You address any issues quietly. And you don't destroy them for personal gain.
5
Trump's do-nothing paranoia may not be spreading to all of his base, given those empty shelves where hand sanitizer usually resides. Fear of coronavirus might actually reduce cases of flu if people use the hand sanitizer they bought, as well as protecting against colds and Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Trump Jr. may have done the GOP a favor with his crazy Democratic conspiracy theory. Perhaps they will be less willing to vote for a Trump dynasty in the future.
2
Oh lordy, can't Krugman write a column without a dig at Sanders? Never explaining the pros/cons of Sanders ideas? Why this outsized, remarkable hostility?
Oh, ok, Paul, big money doesn't lie behind EVERY policy dispute. But it lies behind the downgrading of the public interest, & the domination of the private interest---with ripple effects on every part of our politics & society.
Obviously, opposition to fair & adequate taxes is funded by financial elite donors to our elections. Polls show, not only the ‘left wing’, but most voters of both parties & many politicians want to get the big money out, and increase citizen influence on politics.
Big corporations get huge tax breaks and our elected officials let US jobs be offshored and wages and benefits be reduced or stuck. How many millions of employees and retirees now lack pensions? Multi millions lack paid sick leave & insurance.
It’s not left wing to say that mega donor wealth and power has strengthened, while the financial security and political influence of the citizen majority has weakened.
The international GINI Index of equality shows the US ranking behind many countries. PK never mentions it.
Not accidental---it stems from mega donors making politicians to vie for campaign funding, thus setting political norms of what's labeled Left vs Center in policy making.
These norms influence news reporters and opinion writers. To strongly defend the public interest today isn't prestigious and cool.
2
If the past 3 years are any indication, get ready for a truly massive bungle on the coronavirus problem.
And it's probably not great that America lacks an adequate medical system.
Not to mention Trump's decision to decimate funding for pandemic preparedness.
I'm sorry to see a great country falling apart like this.
5
Krugman implies that the Corona virus is likely much more virulent that the flu. Spreading fear and misinformation. Two weeks ago the estimate was a 2% mortality. 90% of deaths were people over 60, 60% of those were over 70.
Then, over the last week, the scientists have a better idea and are now estimating it to have a mortality rate of 0.7%.
There is a new virus from China and it appears to be more contagious than the typical flu viruses we see every year. But they have just developed tests and expanded testing. It is likely that we'll see many more test positive as the belief is that most just think they have a cold or flu, if it produced any symptoms.
This is not time to panic, blame, attack, or play politics. This is the time to recognize that we will always have new flu bugs, and that some practices in the Chinese culture and others may increase that number. Wash you hands. Trust the scientists, and know they are human. And do not panic or react to the fear mongering promoted daily by the NYTimes and it's board. They do so for political reasons and are behaving irresponsibly, at best.
1
In the event that the outbreak of COVID-19 is limited and the death rate is less than that of the seasonal flu, I could already hear then how the right-wing conspiracists would be crowing of their righteousness, louder than ever. At this point, criticizing the administration and its incompetency is not a good idea; for the "inconvenient objective reality" may be that COVID-19 will not do more harm than seasonable flu in the US. Let us focus on personal preventive measures and stop paying any attention to the federal response.
1
Shame on Republicans who support this incompetent 'crew'. To use the the word administration to describe this chaos is fools folly!
4
Silly, they aren't denying the virus is real, but that the herd mentality of fear and loathing and dire predictions of mass deaths are.
Would that there actually were "liberal media."
6
trump·er·y
noun: trumpery; plural noun: trumperies
1. attractive articles of little value or use. practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing but have little real value or worth.
adjective: trumpery
1. showy but worthless. "trumpery jewelry"
How did so many people miss this definition back in 2016?
7
So Paul, I've been a huge supporter/believer in your ideas for going on 15 years now. Please don't tell me you're really NOT going to tell the truth that the DNC is going to try and repeat 2016 and anoint Biden the nominee.
You do, you'll be losing tons of credibility. But I find it astounding how beholden to power others I used to respect have become, so nothing will surprise. I dearly hope you're not another.
13
@Gregg C My goodness. The leadership of a political party prefers that a member of their party be their nominee. I'm shocked!
26
@Gregg C Please explain just how the DNC affects individual voters. We have primaries. People vote. In 2016, Sanders was at a point, BEFORE the California primary, and others, that he could not possibly win the nomination. Instead of dropping out, as Clinton did to help Obama in 2008, he insisted he would go on. Well, we all saw how that worked out. When he tried, at the convention, to tell his flowers to support Clinton, he was booed off the stage. Additionally, how is supporting a candidate other than Sanders an indication that someone is "beholden to power?"
18
Gregg C, your comment proves Krugman's pointt:: the DNC did not anoint anyone in 2016 and has not done so this year: Hillary got far more votes and delegates in the primaries. You are pushing a dangerous conspiracy theory.
22
The thing that scared me is not the existence of a Trump style person, but rather that so many millions of my fellow citizens know he is a self-serving, bad person, but they just don’t care. I do not understand it. I cannot forget or forgive.
10
Humorously, but I object to the oxymoronic juxtapositional use of 'conservative' and 'intellectual' in one sentence. Even if to qualify the population and its leaders of thought. Being intellectual would require to reason and consider objectively. Just thought can be spurned by just belief.
Now, at least since Gingrich, the conservatives have been brilliant in out-maneuvring us, stealing the truth.
Not surprisingly there is no Corona news on Fox News front page. Maybe we should not blame our conservative friends if they are not informed. Maybe in their eyes it is not happening...
Sad, sad, sad.
6
What's resulting more challenging nowadays is two 'unexpected' features: one, the prolonged peace status the world has been experiencing, which has permitted however the development of that incredible intermingled world commercial links we shared today. And Nature, which is immersing in our lives day by day, through microscopic life or macro phenomena like the Climate Change both of them caused unmistakably by the same intermixing of our activities. It's time perhaps for us to take a serious look at ourselves and our common world. But please, no war...
Right on target again, as usual.
This is why Democrats need to crusade against Republican candidates from Trump all the way down the ticket.
The Republican party is the biggest single obstacle in the world to bringing the world together to fight world-wide problems like climate change, pandemics, and war.
That is why Democrats have to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win back the presidency, flip the senate, and win back several more state legislatures.
Here in Oregon, Republicans have simply left the legislature to scuttle a vote on climate change they cannot defeat if they do their duty to serve and vote.
That is what Republicans do. They have no moral principles, no compassion, nor any belief in democracy if it doesn't serve their goals.
If Dems can take advantage of the disaffection with Trump we saw in elections last fall where Democratic candidates won in Alabama and Louisiana, they can set up to govern the nation for years.
With the right ticket and the right strategy, we can not only turn out Trump AND McConnell, we can control enough state legislatures to undo the Gerrymandering that generates toxic politics.
Joe Biden's campaign is the best way to win against the most down ticket Republicans this fall.
Running to restore decency, rebuild our institutions, and govern the nation with compassion and kindness is a winner when the nation is simply tired of Trump's angry and ugly act nearly every day. Let us reap what they have sown.
4
Trump only has one tactic--insulting his enemies in personal, juvenile terms. That doesn't work with a virus--the virus doesn't care. So he just randomly insults his enemies, blaming them in fits and starts depending on his level of depression and the latest Fox conspiracy theory he's watched on TV. It's an amazingly childish way to operate--a way only a coddled billionaire could have gotten away with all the way to age 70. The rest of us would have had it knocked out of us in 5th grade.
6
With the involvement of the Fed, the Trump Inc. neo liberal consortium’s strategy toward the Coronavirus is crystal clear. They will do whatever is necessary to protect the investor class by propping up the stock market while denying sufficient funds to those programs which the 99% will depend if and when we are in an epidemic . The 99% will be left to fend for themselves
We can only hope we are spared an outbreak which will overwhelm our already stretched and failing health systems. Pandemic response, like with everything else in this country is for, of, and by the 1%.
1
Seems the dumpster's paranoia comes from his inability to see that he is not really truly the center of the universe. Nor do most of us care enough to exert the effort needed to 'get him." His magic is his ability to feed the public's latent paranoia and fear.
He so clearly has a dangerously warped view of reality that when the historians state their piece I think they will focus on the criminal and inexplicable unwillingness of the leaders of the repubs to stand by and even support him in his sickness.
There can be no excuse, no rationale, no philosophical defense. The entire party will be conspirators and enablers by the future.
The only hope is that we will learn to look at our electoral processes with the gravitas and skepticism they deserve. We got hoodwinked once; we dare not let it happen again.
3
"Now, this kind of conspiracy theorizing isn’t exclusively the province of the right. You can, for example, see some similar tendencies in Bernie Sanders's team."
Once upon a time, Trump was just a nutty, bigoted, reality TV, fake entrepreneur who trafficked in conspiracy theories. And then suddenly he was the president, fronting for a party that was already neck deep in the paranoid style. Easy to forget how different things looked back before we stepped through the looking glass. How will things turn out, if the ineffective go-it-alone senator with the socialist schtick and the culty base and zero executive experience becomes president? Burlington, for the record, is one quarter the size of South Bend and as homogeneous as the set of people who self-identify as very progressive (92% white).
2
When the king is unhappy, his subjects tremble, the knaves go out and paint the roses red and some people lose their heads. So it goes in the trump regime. Members are rated on loyalty only. Like the woeful amateur but loyal republicans that Bush populated defeated Iraq with, none of trump's loyal knaves have much ability beyond figuring ways to undermine our Constitution.
There'a also a thing called research bias, where the bias of the researcher taints the results. It's why important research is peer reviewed. When the king is also an imbecile, such reviews are thrown out the window if they don't support the king's whimsy.
We deserve better leaders than this. I hope we get some soon.
2
"It’s all a hoax, a conspiracy by the liberal media to make Donald Trump look bad. "
In keeping with any/all Trump/Trumpie criticism.
The marketing strategy?--anticipate the criticism,--accuse critics of the same thing or worse--accuse them of benefiting from Trump criticism--as though criticism of perfection MUST BE due to a conflict of interest.
This is just another kind of ad hominem. It only fools fools. But that's no reason to be sanguine.
1
"It’s all a hoax, a conspiracy by the liberal media to make Donald Trump look bad. "
In keeping with any/all Trump/Trumpie criticism.
The marketing strategy?--anticipate the criticism,--accuse critics of the same thing or worse--accuse them of benefiting from Trump criticism--as though criticism of perfection MUST BE due to a conflict of interest.
For example, at his North Carolina rally he actually said--
"If Mr. Biden won the presidency, Mr. Trump said, his staff would actually do the governing. “They’re going to put him into a home, and other people are going to be running the country, and they’re going to be super-left, radical crazies. And Joe’s going to be in a home and he’ll be watching television.” --WP
This is just another kind of ad hominem. It only fools fools. But that's o reason to be sanguine.
I see that you hurled the required rock at Bernie "It was dismaying to find a senior Sanders adviser declaring that all those disagreeing with proposals for a wealth tax — which, by the way, I support — “are the types of groups and academics that are funded by the powers that be, the establishment, the billionaire class.”
How about he said 98% instead of "all those"?
Or this one"The thing is, while corruption by big money does happen — it’s the main force keeping zombie ideas alive — it doesn’t lie behind every policy dispute.
How about 85% of the policy disputes... Oh, could you mention a Policy dispute that the tumps are not coming from corruption on.
Come on Paul. The current system is the property of the billionaires... It does not work for a Democracy. Sanders/Warren are trying to bring a tiny bit of balance into this destructive, over the top, failed thing your calling capitalism.
If they elected and were able to get even 30% of what they have on the table which is probably all they could get. It would be dawn in the USA.
4
The Trump administration is the gang that can't shoot straight and from the top is only concerned is retaining its control over the rents on the levers of power. That said, within the CDC there are responsible people dispensing good advice. The focus on playing down the epidemic by its apologists does harm to the chance to do anything effective. COVID-19 does seem to be out in California and will spread, I have seen it. Better to encourage rest homes and hospitals to mandate masks for all visitors and staff and respond quickly to symptoms to protect vulnerable populations. This differs from ebola, which has a mortality that impedes infection. COVID-19 is dangerous because of its high infection rate, which is a function of relatively low mortality.
Paul mentioned conservative intellectuals. To whom was he referring to. Conservative intellectuals no longer exist, at least not in public.
3
@Paul P
Once upon a time, their notions were still interesting hypotheses. Now, however, they have been disproven. They are just fig leaves. For the party that we know and love. Which is driven by greed, mad for power, and too clever by a country mile.
2
While I agree that a relatively minor fraction of of Bernie supporters go around making blanket statements that anyone who disagrees with the thrust or even the particulars of of Sanders platform, I have yet to read a criticism of the wealth tax principle that wasn't based on the premise that taxing the billionaire class would backfire because they would run off somewhere else and/or reduce investment. Sure, a few would. But the majority will fight it and then adapt themselves to the new reality. For the US, it's a radical proposal that challenges the right of the the 0.1% to politically dominate. Whether or not those who oppose the wealth tax actually benefit from that is immaterial. I believe it is a verifiable fact that opposing the wealth tax only benefits the very rich and their coterie of assistants.
1
@Paul from Oakland
How is your comment pertinent? Krugman writes here that he is in support of a wealth tax? Yep, it is possible to both call out the Sanders people for their neck-deep indulgence in conspiracy theories and be for a wealth tax. Oh and it is more than "a minor fraction of Bernie supporters" who do this. It starts at the top of the ticket and is in evidence, for example, every darned time St. Bernie accuses the massive secret cabal of media corporate establishment elite Republican-lite whatevers of conspiring against him.
1
@Robert
"call out the Sanders people for their neck-deep indulgence in conspiracy theories"
"neck-deep indulgence"?
LOL! We can find supporters for every candidate who indulge in unfounded theories and conspiracies!
"and it is more than "a minor fraction of Bernie supporters" who do this."
Evidence?
You don't have any. No one has does the requisite analysis; it's far easier to simply cast aspersions!
@Marsha Pembroke
"Evidence? You don't have any."
I said that Senator Sanders sometimes indulges in these kinds of conspiracy theories himself. We have all seen it. In that light, there is, as it were, top-down support for it. And so it is quite reasonable and based on evidence to say that the problem with conspiracy theories in the Sanders campaign is not just due to a minor fraction of his supporters. Unless you are willing to assign the candidate himself to such a minor fraction.
1
Of course the party of trump and Darwinism run amok doesn’t want to deal with the Corona virus. Really, a virus that pretty much only kills the old and the weak while leaving the young and the healthy alone except for a case of the sniffles is right up their survival of the fittest ally. It sounds like something out of James Bond movie. Or is it. . . .
1
@Patricia
Oh. I see. You mean social Darwinism. They wouldn't have anything to do with real Darwinism, i.e., the scientifically proven theory of evolution.
1
Funny isn’t it. How Darwinism is taboo, but social Darwinism is their North Star
1
In Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" aristocrats flee to a closed off refuge to escape a plague only to find that the plague breaks out among them. Similarly, Trump and friends flee to Florida.
1
What drives the political behavior of legislators, executives, and the judiciary in the face of any given challenge? What drives the political behavior of voters and non-voters faced with challenges? What drives human thinking in general? Reason is last on the list. Lust for power and control hovers near the top. Fear is always in the mix. Thus, our social behaviors are tangled up by the inability of a preponderance of folks to use reason to face challenges, not because we are bad or stupid, but because our brains are not configured for reason. They are configured for lust, fight, and flight. In the deep past that kept us alive. Now, given our technology and hubris, our chief challenge is evolving our old brains into ones predisposed to reason so we can solve the problems our ancestors and we have created. Do we have enough time to do so, given the many crises our old brains have wrought here on Earth, blue among the Stars? COVID-19 is a challenge we are not doing so well with. Worse, our fears and lusts for power and control are spoiling our chances of learning from this challenge. I need a drink.
2
A solid column. But I'm surprised Krugman didn't mention Pompeo's shameful refusal to deny that the coronavirus is a hoax at a bipartisan house hearing last Friday. He was asked *repeatedly* and couldn't even say, "I don't believe it's a hoax." The fear Trump's lackeys have of even *appearing* to disagree with him is just astonishing. Footage of the hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGwkXF3bNd0
188
@Tom Loredo
Cowardice is not fear of actual physical danger that you allow to make you avoid it.
Cowardice is an intellectual fear that you do not confront in your own mind and allow to control your thought processes and actions.
10
@Tom Loredo The Pompeo footage, refusing to answer a simple question, is shocking.
5
Actually, this is Trump's conspiracy. He wanted to get the Fed to cut interest rates so he conspired with the Chinese to start a global epidemic. That made the Stock Market crash. That made the Fed lower interest rates. Trump wins!
Trump is to blame for the whole thing.
3
"Truth" is very much an unknown philosophy in the Trump kingdom of conspiracy mongering.
4
Trump isn't so much downplaying the risk as seeking a means to assign blame. That's what he does. If your child or parent dies from a mystery illness, no one can tell you that didn't happen. However, who you blame is an open question. Trump is the buck passing President.
His ignorance, denial, and incompetence will certainly kill more people than necessary. However, the pattern resembles everything else in this administration: BLAME SOMEONE ELSE!!! Republicans only take credit for success and deny all failure. That's why they are detached and even untethered from objective reality.
They've adopted a leadership where responsibility is absent. What other result would you expect?
3
If liberals were so powerful, wouldn't they control the Presidency, Judiciary and both chambers of Congress? The right wing conspiracy mongers are well into paranoid, lunatic, fringe territory where the lack of any facts supporting the existence of the conspiracy is taken as further proof of the conspiracy as it shows that it is powerful enough to conceal all evidence of its existence.
Sanders is the last person I would consider voting for simply because his supporters are much like Trump's - utterly, incoherently, ridiculously refusing to accept facts - and I've had enough of that garbage.
That said, if he wins the Democratic nomination, I'll vote for him in the general. But then I'd vote for a folding chair before voting for Trump.
I can say that I believe Sanders would react swiftly and intelligently to contain the virus whereas we know Trump is weaponizing it in a desperate attempt to keep his voters (who are equally as rabid as Sanders') whipped up into a frenzy.
2
The last sentence herein concerns me, especially as it comes from Dr. Krugman. Growing up in the 50's and 60's, and listening to discussions of governemnts not allied with US foreign policy, the term "Ruling Party" was used as a pejorative. We roundly criticized those governments as Third World or Banana Republic dictatorships. It meant illegal or extralegal actions by those governments to suppress dissent in government agencies, blatant corruption of their judicial systems to assure maintenance of power, control of the domestic press, and blocking of international news. Those who objected loudly and publicly to the Ruling Party simply were disappeared.
While we haven't gotten to disappearing political opponents, the emerging parallels are disturbing.
152
@Billfer Trump began his reign with insults and criticism of the US intelligence agencies. Then he started saying the press is the enemy of the people. He has now evolved into an outright enemy of democracy. A president who disobeys the law and the Constitution and acts as if he were a king is not a president at all.
41
@Billfer At the start of Trump's presidency Trump got almost the entire congress to get on a bunch of old buses for a ride to the White House. I have wondered if this was a test to see what it would take to quietly remove an entire branch of government.
8
@Billfer
Emerging?! This has been the rule in every republican since 1980. The only difference between then and now is that they have consistently tried less and less hard to hide it as time has moved on. "it's only kinky the first time" or "familiarity breeds contempt".
9
Mr. Krugman's piece is mostly about paranoia, secondarily about COVID-19. I don't know which will kill more of us, but they both deserve our concern. The thing is, the paranoia makes the virus outbreak worse. The paranoia has been around for a long time, and perhaps we could have worked harder on the problem before now.
American health care outcomes lag far behind other developed nations, despite our outspending them all. Is there any reason to expect that the outcome fort the COVID-19 virus epidemic will be any different? Not if Mike Pence has anything to do with it.
208
@William Romp Those who receive the best healthcare in the world in the USA do just fine. That America has so many drug addicts and fear-addled people (anger, anxiety, depression) along with over-eating obese people at the 40% rate doesn't mean our healthcare outcomes are bad.
@David Addiction, obesity, anxiety, anger and depression are all health issues in their own right. The fact that they exist is a bad healthcare outcome in itself.
9
"But the right is where the paranoid style goes hand in hand with real power, and can do real damage. Indeed, it can be deadly."
Well. If he were elected, then the paranoid style and conspiracy theorizing of Bernie Sanders and his team would have real power, too. They paint each and every criticism of their guy, big or small, justified or not, as a conspiracy against him. And the online swarm of pro-Sanders bullies is willing to say or do anything at all, in defense of him, including a whack-a-mole tendency toward misogyny and the like. From the outside it looks like a fanatical cult. Senator Sanders is human, with human failings. He has, believe it or not, made mistakes, though he is the last person to ever admit that--which is probably part of the problem. In any case, the last thing I want to do is replace one paranoid style president with another one, even if the new one who is morally and ethically nothing like the first one. At present, the Sanders team and the Sanders supporters are referring to calls for compromise and unity as a conspiracy to undermine him. That is, out here in the real world, simply crazy.
1
There is a difference between "compromising" and "abandoning your positions". The wild claims about the supposed costs of Medicare for All from the establishment coalescing clearly around Joe Biden are not calls for compromise. They are calls for Sanders to abandon the most attractive, popular, and central plank of his campaign. He might has well go home as do that.
@d ascher
Do you recognize the following? All of the Democratic candidates agree that good and affordable health care is a human right. Given present constraints, all of them will be able to get roughly the same stuff done, contingent on their own pragmatic executive skills and experience. We all kind of realize that Sanders is a big idea guy. But that does leave him open to valid criticism, particularly vis-à-vis his lack of real plans or credible cost estimates. For example, most climate experts endorsed Inslee's climate plan but most of them believe the Sanders plan is not credible and will not do what needs to be done. Why for instance didn't he just adopt the Inslee plan? That kind of stuff makes some of us worry. In that case, for instance, it looks like he did the wrong thing because he was blinded by ideology, that is, blinded by the fact that Inslee was not a Sanders minion.
1
Whether or not they realize it, trump's GOP, his administration and his cheerleaders in the media are already treating him like a dictator immune to criticism. The only complaints I can ever remember hearing after he locked up the nomination in 2016 are mealy-mouthed murmurs about "..well, I wish he would Tweet less..."
Beyond that, these same people are now trying to browbeat the rest of us into shutting up as well.
No thank you. The last I checked, the first amendment hadn't been repealed.
3
What is WRONG with Trump? No, really. He cannot keep reality in his mind. He keeps saying that a vaccine will be ready in two months, even when told publicly that it will be a year before it can be used. His ears will not hear that; his mind will not hold on to that. Is it dementia? Sleep deprivation? Drugs? There is clearly something incredibly off about Trump. This is frightening. He is the leader of the free world!
When people ask why Ivanka travels with Trump so much, I actually think it’s more than hubris. I think she baby-sits him, preventing him making a fool of himself. The whole lot of them are in on the secret. He is not in his right mind.
It’s our media that’s going to be on top of COVID19. If the experts keep contradicting Trump in front of cameras, they’ll be canned. Thank you NYTimes. So many of our citizens depend on you!
4
@Kathryn "I think she baby-sits him, preventing him making a fool of himself."
Then she's failing miserably. Besides, the idea that Trump would actually listen to what a woman says is laughable. Remember the Access Hollywood tape? In TrumpWorld, women are objects.
As to what's wrong with Trump, there isn't enough space in this column for a comprehensive list. As to why he's that way, the answer is two words: Roy Cohn.
2
Few people are talking about how the way we pay for health care in this country will seriously hamper efforts to contain and treat victims of any pandemic. Millions of Americans have no health insurance or are saddled with huge deductibles and co-pays. Millions do not have paid sick leave; they will go to work sick and spread the virus. Others will avoid seeking treatment out of fear of receiving outrageous bills they can't pay. Right now there are probably thousands of untested victims out there spreading the disease, and our president is concerned about this epidemic only insofar as it affects his re-election prospects.
2
The country is getting conflicting signals from authorities about corona because if anything is obvious by now, Trump absolutely must control the message. He cannot stand to have any factual information out there contrary to his sunny, optimistic bromides. It's why he put Pence in charge, since he controls Pence. Having Fauci, other scientists and state authorities speak candidly about the challenge the Covid-19 virus will be to this nation contradicts the White House narrative. But it is happening and Trump is furious. And it is obvious why - he is very well aware that any public perception of failure to control the outbreak will be on him and his administration. He won't be able to spin it or Tweet it away, it will be a visible and inconvenient truth, even to his base. And we all know how Trump feels about the truth.
94
@Rick Morris
Ironically, Trump's attempts to control every governmental utterance and massage the truth will make the situation much worse, as it already has.
If Trump wants a more convenient truth, he could rise to the occasion and try to be a hero instead of a paranoid, prevaricating, pumpkin-colored tinpot dictator with a second-grade vocabulary and a fourth-rate imagination steered by id and ego instead of a moral compass.
(Deep breath)
Maybe he should consult Giuliani. Personally, I felt Giuliani for short stretch in 9/11 was unrecognizably competent. Even Dubya tried to rise.
It is a measure of Trump's dysfunction and decompensation that he is taking an epidemic personally.
14
@Rick Morris "And we all know how Trump feels about the truth."
Most politicians won't acknowledge the truth if it goes against their narrative. Ditto for the pundit class.
2
@Rick Morris
Trump and Pence have muzzeled their experts - Dr. Faico. et al, from speaking directly to the American public.
All information issued to the public by the feds must henceforward be approved by the most science-ignorant person in the US government - God-fearing Mike Pence.
Tune into Gavn Newsom and his California emergency team to fight the spread of the virus. Their team is composed of experts, none of whom are to my knowledge muzzled in any way.
The best way to fight any epidemic is with full disclosure. This has been proven again and again and again.
Now is the time for the House of Representatives to impeach Trump again - for concealing life saving information from the American public. No one cared about Ukraine and what happned there except real Democratic political junkies. Almost every one cares about whether they themselves and their children and loved ones catch the COVID-19 and die.
Trump's actions on the viral pandemic are high crimes. Ditto Penced.
9
I was fortunate to hear a talk by UNC Chapel Hill epidemiologist Myron Cohen a few weeks ago. The talk mostly dealt with his inspiring work on the AIDS virus, but he fielded questions on the coronavirus outbreak at the end of his presentation. Dr. Cohen emphasized that epidemiologists don't yet know the "rules" of this virus. Rules include how transmissible the virus is, mortality rate, various means by which it is transmittable, how long it lives outside the human body, how seasonal it will be, etc. Dr. Cohen expressed concern that there are indications that COVID-13 will be a very serious global outbreak, and this was while it was still only confirmed in China and other Asian countries. Unfortunately, his concerns that the outbreak will be global and serious, shared by many epidemiologists, have been born out. Unfortunately, the rules still aren't known. Hopefully, there will be existing drugs that prove effective as treatment. Effective vaccines also may be developed quickly. Panic is not helpful. But serious, concerted, dedicated effort to counter this epidemic is absolutely needed and the U.S. has the capabilities of playing a leading role. Unfortunately that role is hampered by poor leadership from the current administration.
2
Without a vaccine, which is not expected for about a year, WHO estimates that between 40-70% of the world's population will become infected by CoVid19. That's 3-5 billion people, of which 31-108 million (1-2%) are expected to die. Health systems are going to be overwhelmed, supply chains for everything will slow to a crawl, pretty much everything we do as a society will be impacted.
This is very different from any of Trump's frivolous day-to-day conjurings. It hits people directly; in their bodies, in their homes, in their communities. More simply put, this crisis is a real one. Even Trump can't conjure a lie big enough to cover that. If you're looking for something else to worry about, imagine him not leaving office at all.
2
As usual, Dr. Krugman has it right. Trump avoids the truth and drags his whole party and his band of followers along with him. Trump seeks not solutions but reasons to blame those who disagree with him.
Wisdom decrees that one should "hope for the best but expect the worst'; in other words, be prepared, especially when an entire nation depends on your preparation ( and -possibly an entire globe)--but Trump has his own version . Trump believes "hope for the best and prepare for the best[sic]." If the worst does happen it's always easier to blame the other side than to have prepared. So Trump
scrapped Obama's measure to deal with pandemics; Trump's group ---led by Pence---did not have diagnostic tests ready;Trump tells the American public that the new virus is not very dangerous (much less dangerous than the flu) and don't worry--- his group led by Pence has everything under control. Only his enemies, the media and especially the radical Democrats exaggerate the danger. Also, he says, the Democrats want millions to die, so he will look bad.
And then in keeping with his disdain for science and truth, he uses this same approach to climate science. The Times reported yesterday that all reports issued by the government regarding climate change must include reference to scientists who do not agree--saying in effect that there is no scientific consensus that the increasingly destructive weather is man-caused. Here too, "hope for the best and prepare for the best [sic]."
3
Trump appointed Mike Pence to say "God bless you" to anyone who sneezes...
6
"And the fact that this kind of paranoia has infected our ruling party is scarier than any virus."
Scarier still is that half (roughly) of Americans vote, and will continue to vote, for that party. Changing the minds of GOP leaders is a walk in the park compared to dragging millions of "regular folks" into the real world.
4
The claim by Trump, and his sycophantic Republicans that the news about Covid-19 is a hoax or a conspiracy by the left is more than paranoia--it's criminal if it results in deaths because of a lack of funds to treat the virus. The bottom line is that America is now being run by madmen, and some of the comments stating that "I'm OK, so I'm not worried". indicate the failure of so many to realize that the status quo is untenable.
We may be able to contain the corona virus in this country, but our democracy cannot survive another four years of Trump. We need a strong majority to vote for "anyone but Trump" in November no matter which Democrat makes it through the nomination process.
6
Thank you for this insightful piece. One line in particular seemed rooted in nostalgia:
"Last time I checked, however, criticizing America's leaders was still legitimate."
I wonder if the Vindman brothers would agree.
7
Unlike climate change, Trump's elderly base isn't going to have to wait long to see the error of their ways.
3
"Donald Trump Jr has accused Democrats of wanting to see millions die."
Except that the democrats are the ones who have been pushing for Health Care that will cover more people. Democrats have been fighting for the ACA. Democrats have been promoting Medicare for All.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been trying to kill the ACA and any chance for a better health care system. Our "great" health care functions just fine for those wealthy enough to pay for it. For everyone else it is not so great.
Maybe Jr doesn't really want millions to die. It might be that he just doesn't care if they do.
2
Major faux-pas Mr. Krugman: using "conservative" and "intellectual" in the same sentence. I will have to take off points for that.
4
We not only got a classic Narcissist, but also a classic Sociopath with Paranoia and pathologic lying in a president. How could we have been so blinded to these major problems. Perhaps these major deficiencies weren't clear when he was first elected but they are now. Who could possibly vote for such a mentally ill person and why?
3
Paul Krugman talks about "Zombie ideas." I might add trickle-down economics to that category: the notion tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves with vastly increased economic activity.
Supply-side econ should have died in the 80's when Reagan had to increase taxes 11 times. Now deficits are skyrocketing and Republicans are whistling past the graveyard.
Dr. Krugman was interviewed on CNN yesterday and he talked about Zombie ideas. I want to read his new book "Arguing With Zombies," and I'm betting he wins the argument.
3
As usual, Dr. Krugman is right on point. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter what Trump and his acolytes say about the virus’ impact as it will have its way the population until an appropriate response is formulated and implemented. If we do nothing, then the US population will be the control group for the rest of the world. Too bad for us.
2
At present we have no clear idea of where the coronavirus decease will lead and damage to the national or global health. But we do have good information on where the infectious psychological decease the nations suffers will lead if not stopped by voting for the removal of trump, members of congress, house and senate, who cowardly gave verbal support or worse stayed silent despite their disgust.
3
Paul,
Glad you could work in a dig against Bernie, even though you didn’t seem to provide any evidence that what his team is saying is inaccurate.
It is pointless commenting in our echo-chamber here, where we may find just the occasional thoughtful Conservative who is not at all representative of the typical Trump voters.
Instead, we need to personally take responsibility for addressing the biggest challenge the world has faced in this millennium - getting Trump out of the White House before he does any more damage.
Personal responsibility means hard work, talking with voters who disagree with us, one-to-one, and trying to cajole them gently into seeing why supporting Trump is not what they (not we) really think it is, engaging with people who might vote for Trump, or for other Republicans who enable him, in a very constructive, understanding way; explaining to them the difference between Conservatism (a very valid political strain) and Trump/McConnellism (a stain on the face of humanity) without using those kind of words. Help them to see the damage the is being caused, without accusing them - speak about how some enlightened Conservatives have decided that in 2020 they will vote Democrat in order to purge the party they love of Trump's poisonous influence.
And of course, it means encouraging everyone who does understand Trump to get out and vote against him.
I refuse to believe that there are 60 million people in the US who would actually support Trump if they thought through the implications. But they will if we make it an us vs. them battle.
1
The book by Barry, the The 1918 Great Pandemic, demonstrates the immeasurable value of political leaders telling their citizens the truth in a life-threatening global pandemic.
President Trump and his hired minions (they are all working for money and connections to making money) are lying daily to the American public as we confront the worst national security threat to our country since WW2. Republicans who have swalllowed his diet of steady lies must wake up to the fact that this threatens their health and the health of their children. They need to speack up and call their represenatives in Congress to say only the truth from now on.
A person versed in science and ethics (as opposed to religion...) must take over announcements about and management of the US effort to stop the pandemic and treat those who are positive for the corona virus.
This is no time for partisan poitics. The House of Represenatives should pass a requirement that all data from the CDC be available daily on its web site - however that it is put into some sort of legal requirements.
4
I've always related contemporary entrenchment to the uncomfortable feeling we have towards change. Right now, it is easier than ever to retreat into a bubble of repeatable facts, like a mantra or chant, which comforts. For a good read, I would suggest Pariser's "The Filter Bubble" then the NYT's tech editor summary when he disconnected alerts and news flashes from their "incoming" feed.
The new Big 3 barely monitor or enforce evenly their policies regarding disinformation, alternate facts and conspiracy propagation. In the end, the management and leadership at Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook prefer the profitability in the firm belief that mass freedom of expression is better than a well-informed electorate.
1
What is seriously ironic is the 'sides' switching places on the nature of reality. Once upon a time Conservatives believed in an Absolute reality, usually ordained by God, and opposed 'situational morality'. The cultural Left believed in the relative nature of truth, with different truths applying to different cohorts at different times. My Dad used to thunder about the Left' saying their position was 'there are no Absolutes except for No Absolutes!'Now the Right believes in relative realities and the Left proclaims allegiance to undying truths. It just gets weirder.
2
Dr. Krugman is entirely right as to his critique. I would like to point out that, so far, the available statistics suggest that the great majority of people who get the Covid-19 virus don't suffer life-threatening symptoms. It's still serious, because, remember, tens of thousands of people die of ordinary flu each year in the U.S., and the death toll from Covid-19 may well be higher. At least, it seems more transmissible than ordinary flu, so more people are likely to get it and have the opportunity for their lives to be at risk. Limiting transmission and treating the ill are where it looks like we're going to fall short, with Donald Trump playing a big part in reducing our preparedness. What will we do if a significant percentage of health care providers are sick at the same time, even if most of them recover?
3
Fabulous piece, Paul...thanks so much for continuing to put the truth out there. It must feel like spitting in the wind some days but many of us are assured by your wisdom and pass it along! Stay strong and safe!
3
I listened to Mike Pence on my drive home this p.m. and I _think_ he said that the only cases so far in the US are in Washington State and California.
I didn't hear the entire news conference, so this may have been corrected, but having recently looked at the CDC map I know that's not true. There are cases (confirmed and/or presumptive) in 11 states.
Maybe he was using a play on the word "confirmed," trying to minimize the effect, but this is how paranoid politics develop -- when the leaders of the country try to downplay exactly what is actually happening.
I know Trump is paranoid about just about everything. But so am I if I can't get the whole truth about the nation's health from the federal government.
408
@avrds
Pence is probably trying to employ a bit of mendacity to downplay the number of people infected and who’ve lost their lives to Covid-19.
The CDC will confirm the tests done, but that will take some time.
14
@avrds I heard him say this also. I think he was referring to the fact that Wa and Ca are the only states that have confirmed cases of community transmission. Most likely this will spread throughout the country, especially since Trump and Pence are downplaying the threat. We here in Washington state near Seattle are well aware of the virus now spreading from person to person and 6 deaths already confirmed from this type of contact. I think the rest of the country thinks they are safe and believe there is nothing to worry about because the cases near them have come mainly from people who caught it when in other countries.
21
@louisedian and @T
This is how people lose faith in their government. Nothing that comes out of that White House rings true. I laughed when I heard Dr. Birx say something by way of introduction about the how quickly the president has responded and how quickly her office was set up, etc. that sounded as if Trump himself had written it (and I'm not convinced he didn't).
Even this p.m., I saw a map where at least one more state has reported a case or cases (Nebraska I think) which this high-level committee surely knew about at the time of their press conference. All disinformation. And scary.
So yes, I'm paranoid. But I think for good reason.
53
Another GOP denial; Nuclear winter.
I've talked with many cons over the years regarding this, trying to convince them that nuke war is suicidal, even if the US is not hit by one Russian or Chinese ICBM; The ash and smoke from the massive fires of a US first strike on Russia will essentially kill most of us.
Bonus fun fact; A relatively small exchange between Pakistan and India would lead to a mini-nuclear winter that would kill hundreds of millions worldwide.
The GOP doesn't believe this, and sadly a good number of Dems choose to ignore it.
2
The coronavirus has resulted in two long sought after achievements for the administration: A cut in the interest rates and the power of life and death in Trump's hands alone. So much for the Democrat conspiracy.
2
I haven't believed the "official" numbers coming out of this administration for a while now. The President lied about the number of casualties sustained in the Iranian response to his assassination of their al-Quds commander. Veterans and service members are the vaunted sacred cows of the right, just next to unborn fetuses, and televangelists. Regardless, Trump was willing to lie about what happened to them; why should we be surprised that he is lying about coronavirus?
Prepare for what you can, minimize the risks to yourself and your loved ones, and hopefully wait this thing out. But don't expect useful leadership from our politicians at the federal level. If anything, this outbreak should bring home how much the gov't can affect you negatively in stark contrast to what it can do in a positive sense.
4
"Or consider how many on the right reacted after their dire predictions of hyperinflation under Obama failed to pan out"
..........or consider, lets say, how many liberal economists, say for instance you, predicted, hoped and rooted for, about twenty five times in 18 months until it became clear you were dead wrong, that the economy would crater under Trump..........
2
@Jordan New York Times columnist Paul Krugman admitted that the U.S. economy has been doing well under President Trump after he famously predicted a "global recession" would occur if the Republican won the 2016 election.
In an interview with PBS' "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover," Krugman was asked to react to an attack Trump made against the Nobel Prize-winning economist earlier in the week.
"Krugman is a lightweight thinker who doesn't have a clue," Trump tweeted. "Caused huge economic damage to his [followers'] pocketbooks. He, and others, should be fired by @nytimes!"
"It's amazing," Krugman said in response. "I mean, I'm getting to live rent-free in his head, which is a great thing, I guess."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/paul-krugman-trump-economy
@Jordan There's still time.
What I find slightly comforting as the months roll by is that more and more people recognize Trump's deep personal mental crisis. In Trump's early administration, his antics did not implode against democracy as they have of late. Now, his Presidency is clearly understood as the existential threat to democracy that it is. I trust that this national awakening will play out in November's ballot box.
And it might be reasonable that Trump rallies will go the way of the dinosaurs because between his age, diet, and bacteriophobia, he would excuse himself from contact with his entrenched infected hordes.
3
Any port in a storm, Doc? As the Democratic Party continues to march itself straight into electoral oblivion with policy priorities, social obsessions and presidential candidates that only a mother (er, leftist) could love it's only natural that its principal mouthpieces would do all they (you) can to push the focus elsewhere. I'm sure your editors and the Dem brass are delighted. For the rest of us, good luck with such entirely transparent and nakedly self-serving 'journalism'.
2
@MinnRick I don't see a word of your response contesting the point of this column; the Trump administration and Trump's sycophantic minions are denying the danger of a worldwide epidemic that has already caused 3000 deaths, claiming that it is a hoax designed to make Trump (an unqualified and incompetent president) look bad. Excuse me if I disregard your personal attack on Nobel Prize winner Dr. Krugman.
1
With respect to the photo accompanying this opinion piece....please, just use soap and water to thoroughly wash your hands (sing the ABC song), keep your hands away from your face, only wear a mask if you yourself are sick (in which case you should be at home, anyhow) because the masks generally available will not stop an aerosol.
1
I disagree with Joe Biden when he says Republicans are just the opposition, not the enemy. They are the enemy of everything good.
It has not been OK to be a Republican for decades already - long before Trump. Now it is repugnant to be one. The GOP is on the wrong side of every issue. How can that be - but that they are servants of Satan. Oh yes!
For decades, because of the republicanism we wallow in, American has taxed it's citizens for war as much or more than the entire rest of the world pays in total for "defense". We have blown up trillions of dollars in the process of killing millions of peasant people for no good reason - just in my lifetime.
Because of Republicans (and the majority Christians who have kept this evil party alive), America is the most unequal of modern democracies. That is getting worse by the day.
Because of self-righteous Christians and their GOP, America stuffs more people in jail than any other country in the world.
I could go on about the swamp they have turned the U.S. into. And you still believe, my friend, that's it's still not time for revolution? THE RED-COATS ARE BACK!
6
Reality Check just for record not one president ever took responsibilty for anything bad happen on there watch so why start now. Media has alot to be accountable for its full of suggestive advertizements that will take peoples money an many cases never delivers. All about money money more money.Our representives in government should protect american people from media but they them selves part of deception now were all doomed
Mr. Krugman, as an economist and as a journalist cum Opinion writer there's a problem: reality. Everything IS a conspiracy with the liberal media, just as it is with Trump. If you don't know what has been going on with the NYT, the Democrats' establishment, and the mechanisms of the party since 2014 the it would be enlightening to look for the reality which is very conspiratorial.
Time to wake up and realize it. Confessing to shortcomings will make one feel better even if it costs a little income.
1
So, how many Americans will fall ill or die from the Covid-19 virus so Mr. Trump’s stock market won’t suffer any ill effects? Let the Republican Senators who voted to acquit Trump of the two impeachment articles reflect on that.
2
I rather think that Trump believe that there is a real danger. Yet, he also believe that Covd-19 won't reach him PERSONALLY.
So, one Bernie campaign adviser's (who becomes "Sanders people" in the next sentence) dumb statement equals 72% of Republican senators denying climate change? I hope these two paragraphs were written out of a misguided sense of fairness rather than just a potshot by a Nobel-prize economist scared of real change.
3
This hoax just caused the fed to drop interest rates by 50 basis points...
Now the future looks even weirder--ballooning debt, interest rates negative in major parts of the world, continued flat wages for all but the upper classes and now:
Cutting interest rates based on a virus. Think about that. (and all the partisan comments on this article)
4
Sorry, I'm a liberal Democrat and I think the media has gone overboard on this. I'm living in Europe for the past several months, and I'm not worried. Sure, we should be concerned but America, especially (although Italy is facing it's own frenzy), has no tolerance for risk and wants everything to be ok. Well, considering how many lethal threats--from smoking to eating junk food to driving while texting to easy-access guns--we ignore, it's interesting how the media picks and choses its hysteria. I live knowing there are risks. And I put them in perspective and do what I can to safeguard myself. Otherwise, I have more pressing worries at the moment.
278
@sansacro It's easy to say this while living abroad. How soon until you return to the States? Assuming you will fly, are you saying you won't be concerned?
64
@sansacro
Perspective is what matters.
I live in the US, but I am already in my mid-eighties: I know that eventually I will die, and so I am not scared of the corona virus. I probably wash my hands more thoroughly these days, but that's about it.
I have a feeling that, somehow, I will survive that virus. (I would prefer a quick heat attack, in the garden, on a sunny day, preferably while the neighbors are at work so I would not have to endure resuscitation and the rest, but I guess I will have to take whatever I get.)
144
@sansacro
If this virus truly breaks containment in the US.... and given that it his highly contagious and has persisted in a mortality rate of ~2%....... a million Americans could actually die from this virus before it is eventually crushed or recedes on it's own.
I don't share your ambivalence, because a mortality rate of 1 in 300 Americans is simply not acceptable to me... As an American.
130
If Coronavirus situation becomes much worse and thousands of people get infected, wight wing will switch 180 degree and use it as a powerful weapon - propose delay of 2020 election to avoid large scale gathering. Unfortunately, this is at least half true. Campaign rally is the worst possible thing politicians do when there is virus spreading around. Just look at what happened in Iran. But how can an election be fair if all campaigns are canceled? Democrat has to be prepared to this kind of attack.
5
I hope it doesn't take something on the order of the 1918 flu to defeat Trump. It seems the administration is working hard to make Americans more likely to die from the disease. We simply need to buy German and Chinese testing kits and have mass testing. The serious problem is that China has citizens who will obey a mass quarantine we do not.
The good news is should their by large number of unexplained deaths reported (the media by and large will not remain silent) this should persuade anybody to vote against the President. If it takes a pandemic with many deaths to get rid of Trump this is a major tragedy
1
@Michael Cohen His grandfather died from the 1918 flu, I looked it up. This is a man in charge of the country who does not know his family’s history. He just learned that many people die from the flu every year.
Some of the commenters in this thread give Trump high marks for his response. I fear that a catastrophe won’t make a difference.
2
After taking a week off from a gratuitous Sanders smear, Krugman is back at it again with a non-sequitur quote from a Sanders advisor. Krugman's lame attempt to create a false parity between right wing conspiracy mongering and the enhanced quote from a Sanders supporter is proof of nothing other than Krugman's unrelenting hostility to Sanders' platform. Despite all data and economic statistics that prove a small percentage of billionaires owns the rest of us, Krugman employs the advisor's quote about those (not "all" those as Krugman writes) who disagree with proposals for a wealth tax are funded by the billionaire class. That isolated Krugman altered quote is hardly proof of a left wing conspiracy equal to the insane ravings of the right, but he feels compelled to hurl a stink bomb at Bernie just because. Krugman may favor a wealth tax, but I can't imagine why since it would go to pay for programs that he regularly disparages.
5
It will be interesting to see if the Trump will believe his own propaganda about a virus hoax. Will he continue to hold rallies as the virus spreads. Will his supporters continue to show up at rallies. Will his administration ban large events at some point?
3
Deep in the replies here, someone posted this link: https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm. It's a historical summary of the CDC's response to the novel H1N1 pandemic is 2009. Thanks to that person! The summary provides a template for future investigative reporting on how and if Trump's de-funding of federal public health agencies slowed down the CDC's response to the Coronavirus.
We can't really know at this point the extent to which the Trump administration's policies, personality, internal dynamics and official responses helped or hindered the CDC in responding to Covid-19. I would love it if accurate and well-sourced journalistic analysis could be available before the election, but that will probably still be too early.
At this point I'll just be happy and relatively reassured if we continue to see fresh, "unmuzzled" statements from Anthony Fauci and Nancy Messonnier in the media.
2
The exemplar of PARANOIA is (yours truly) Krugman - in just about every op-ed he pens!
5
Every person who voted for or now supports Trump has earned the moral right to contract Covid-19 (or worse). Whether these moral cane toads do so is beyond the control of decent people.
However, if there is a benevolent God, every treasonous, selfish, resolutely ignorant Russian-Republican in America will reap the miseries that they have sowed.
1
@Been There Perhaps you mean a vengeful deity. Benevolence would forgive and ameliorate, not the assurance of a beastly harvest. Just sayin'.
@Dwight
You and I have different value systems.
I did mean a "benevolent deity." You meant a mythical deity.
A big problem I’ve had and now have (in spades) is knowing how much of Trump’s actions and those of the GOP are fueled by pure political calculus—and how much is just attributable to ignorance or stupidity.
Most of the GOP takes the position that climate change is not a result of human activity. Is this merely a political position? You’d think not, but in the past few weeks, for example, Trump’s statements about COVID are stunningly ignorant. It’s hard to imagine anyone saying those things in public when they are so easily disproven.
It reminds me of several elections ago when the GOP had to beg their candidates to just shut up about women’s reproductive systems because their jaw-dropping public statements showed less knowledge about reproduction than you’d expect from an eighth grader.
Trump and his sycophants continue to blur the line between politics and ignorance, but I’m convinced it not all politics.
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@John Vasi
Rush Limbaugh said that scientists were wrong and smoking isn't related to lung cancer. Limbaugh is just a guy who makes his living by saying outrageous and dumb things, just like Trump.
9
@John Vasi Agree entirely. But a calculus assumes that the GOP actually thinks even slightly ahead of itself. In this case, the cynicism is conditioned by a willful ignorance, one that has its own absurd rationale, arrived at by default.
5
@John Vasi
An example of discussing climate change with a Trump supporter...I have a colleague that I believe to be a bright woman, but she and her husband are tuned into Fox all day every day, along with their 10 year old daughter. At lunch one day, we ( a group of teachers) were discussing climate science, and she jumped into the discussion and said " Climate isn't science, it's political. You must follow the politics and develop your own view of it." The rest of us looked at her and said "Huh?"
No matter what we said we couldn't convince her that it is is indeed science. So this is what a Fox news hound believes...whatever they want you to believe.
11
the us economy is in trouble because of trump's insanity. his tariffs disrupted global supply chains, costed jobs and slowed the economy. then coronavirus struck and factories and china and elsewhere came to a halt, stopping supplies needed for the US economy to function altogether. we are going to see slow or zero gdp growth and corporate profits for the rest of the year, and hiring by big companies is going to grind to a halt.the fed rate hike today is a panic message from the white house and fed.
Why should we listen to Mr. Krugman? He made the prediction that Donald Trumps economy would collapse within a year of his inauguration. I will pay heed to his words when he corrects all his mistakes of the past.
Well, economically and financially speaking, I’m not really better off than when Obama was president. Neither are my kids (mostly in their 50s.). Sky-high federal income taxes now; threatened cuts to Social Security and Medicare; rising health care costs and premiums.
Nice that you haven’t been hurt by Trump and the national socialists around him, but many of the rest of us have been materially harmed.
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A political activist, Republican consultant turned Never-Trumper, and television pundit wrote a book a little while back - maybe a year or more - titled "Everything Trump Touches Dies" (or words to that effect). Now, it's becoming literally true.
Thanks a lot, Republicans and deplorables everywhere. Maybe if you are a victim you'll finally understand what you have done.
Well, some of you might.
1
Gus Hall another American with a funny accent always concluded it was the "Capitalista" behind it. He was only going through the motions when he got old. Bernie who still believes but Bernie ran only twice to Gus's four.
You won't find much paranoia at the Nytimes. Besides Trumps ineptitude in firing our response team. We will never have his explanation for it. Else where you might read a fictional explanation of how Covid-19 escaped a lab in Wuhan. Others go much further saying it's not just a plot to mess up the economy to defeat Trump. It was released by his opponents.
Since our government is in the process of send out 70,000 test kits. Once applied what of the odds of diagnoses and panic going up drastically? Saying calm down and wash your hands might be what some people need to hear.
I keep saying the rhetoric of righteous is a lot like it was in the '30s. Except the attacks are on white people, Christians and the ignorant masses. All the mechanisms are there.
COVID19 isn’t a hoax but it’s also not something that you can just spend away. It will take time to create a vaccine or new treatment. The idea that we can just buy our way out of this is ridiculous.
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It’s obvious Paul you are for Biden and not for Bernie. It’s OK, I still respect your opinion and always read your column.
Professor Michael Marder – not because he is a philosopher – got the point right in his NYT article “The Coronavirus is us”. Indeed, the real most dangerous viruses come from “Homo sapiens” biased political behaviours.
Now, although Italy holds the fourth place in Coronavirus spreading, after China, Iran and South Corea, it was the first big western country to avoid a much nastier virus: a nationalist government led by the League Party which has always cherished kindred viruses the like of Putin, Orban, Erdogan, Assad, Kim Jong-un and… you name it. A nationalist government in Italy would have caused a real pandemic damage to its society, Europe and beyond.
The Coronavirus will be treated according the best procedures coupled with the practical “medioeval” method of locking up all the spotted virus outbursts. We will succeeded in the end, but afterwards we would have to remember the lesson that scientific knowledge and democracies – where truth is not muffled, but aired – are best apt in dealing with such periodical occurrences.
The above prologue brings us to consider the topic of 2020 USA elections: the chosen democratic nominee should be the one who will best tackle the ORIGIN of such nasty occurrences: that is, Global Warming.
And Michael Bloomberg who has set the “Carbon free” target to 2030, is, IMO, is the most suitable POTUS candidate for a cleaner Planet.
If Trump was truly concerned about limiting the spread of corona, he would stop holding his rabble rallies. That would show actual concern for the welfare of his base. Likely? Yea, right.
2
For the Political Championship of the World, on my right "The Orange Hoax" and on my left "The Voice of Sanity."
Here’s something even scarier. The conspiracy-wielding right is peeling off the conspiracy-wielding left from the progressive democrats. I am witnessing this in my alternative community. 30 years ago we were all peace loving hippie Democrats. Now there is a strengthening faction of neo-libertarians that don’t believe in science, deny germ theory, and believe all mainstream media is patently false. Most of these folks not only do not vote democrat anymore, they don’t vote. A close, once-progressive friend has even quoted Infowars to me. People I’ve known and agreed with my whole life now sneer and scorn at actual facts. Some of my friends are starting to parrot Fox News without realizing it. These ideas are brain-worms and it’s getting way worse out here. There has got to be a way to push back, but I’m finding facts and reason do not work. What to do!
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Trump does not need any help in looking bad.
The real danger in having republicans in charge, especially in governmental positions, is that nobody can believe a word they say. In fact, 'nothing' it seems is a better strategy than listening to any statement made at any time by this group of obviously desperate people.
This would also apply to many if not most of the republicans' supporters-especially in the economic and evangelical parts of our society.
It's been quite obvious all along that the financial (voo-doo) policies of the entire republican party are completely bankrupt(trickle down?). This is especially true for the average voter(broke). Throw in republican health care plans(non-existent) and besides dying, these voters also lose all their money in the process.
Then there's the "liberal media thing," big lie that never gets tiresome to fool republican voters. Everyone else knows that almost all the news media is owned by multi-national corporations, or very conservative individuals who play both sides of the political street(except Murdock). After all, we now know that scientific facts are very "liberal theories" and require "opposing views" to be reported by highly placed republican strategists.
And lastly comes the evangelical community that never saw a republican talking point that they didn't like. How is it possible to follow these ultra conservative preachers who are, by the way "laying of the hands" all over their new 'Saviour,' donald trump.This poses a big question: is this in exchange for Jesus?
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Well, the “laying on of hands” may well spread COVID19. These folks don’t really care, it would seem—at least those like Pence or AG Barr who hope and pray the Rapture comes, presumably soon!
2
I am currently living in Switzerland, Ticino, the Italian region that borders with Lombardy. Monday the local government and federal government decided not to close the border and allow 70'000 cross border workers (equivalent to 1/3 of Swiss italian workforce, 20% of local population) from Lombardy to come in and work as if the virus was not an impending danger. Last week a local newspaper was joyfully asking people in the street if they would be afraid to go to Milan (instead of advising them not to go), most interviewees said they didn't care and they would go anyway; some that went brought back the virus.
Shouldn't the government have imposed a strict rule forbidding Swiss to go to Lombardy? shouldn't the Swiss government have taken a bold stand to close the border for few weeks at least?
Some right wing politicians called for closing the border, but they were quickly labelled as "racist" and accused of politicizing this tragedy. I believe the Swiss have also underplayed the danger of the virus and placed the economy and political correctness above national security. Unlike the US, progressivists and liberals were the guilty ones. As of today there are 47 cases, it doubled from yesterday. The outcome of the Swiss authorities not to close the southern borders will be seen in a week or two.
In this case, I wish Trump had been our president, he would have closed the borders in the blink of an eye
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A plague is upon the land, and its name is Trumpism. Compared to them, the Corona virus is completely benign...
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Im glad Krugman keeps pounding GOP venality on climate. And glad that the survey he links to about climate-denying senators recognizes things like "scientists still debate how much humans contribute" as a cowardly lie. It's a lie Rob Portman repeated as recently as 2018 -- a nod and wink to the sickness in the party that Republicans like him dont have the guts to stand up to.
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Hand sanitizer is an inferior way of cleaning your hands -- most people don't use enough or use it correctly. Even then, when checked afterwards hands retain substantial amounts of viral/bacterial material.
Much better to do a 20 second hand wash.
Also, people, clean your phones!!
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@leslie devries
And don't just rub your palms together when washing your hands, wash your fingers too (especially).
It has long been the Republican strategy to undermine trust in government. In a perverse way their own corruption and incompetence works to their advantage. Democrats have the more difficult if not impossible task of restoring the trust that has been intentionally destroyed. We are now seeing the worst results of this cynical strategy and it does not bode well for our future.
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The current Republican Party has no remaining brain matter, they also have no heart and no soul. They are dead, but what remains among the less educated populace is fear and anger as well as the distraction of the clown.
The Republican Party was ably assisted by Fox, an inane vicious group that are masquerading as Journalists are even thinkers. But in reality, they are the walking zombies of ongoing lies that are plaguing our civilization.
This particular Party was able to capture the Courts, so there is no justice nor rule of law. What there is, is a political agenda, me and mine.
What remains of this Democracy may or may not even be salvageable, even if the Democrats could successfully win the next election, hold the House and regain the Senate. There is much work to be done and we need all hands on deck.
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@Carol We have to believe in the strengths inherent in a democracy. I agree we all need to do more and pull together and look for ways to frame a working coalition of those willing to regain the houses of Congress and the Chief Executive. The real challenges are among us in our several localities. Here in a very red state, there's much more work than we currently have hands for. But it can be done. Example is a great, underestimated tool.
Of course, it's a great idea to cut taxes in a plague economy. Gotta keep buying things. Also, on the lighter side, looks like another taxpayer bailout for Wall Street coming soon. Mustn't let Covid 19 impact wealthy investor portfolios and interrupt life styles of the rich and corrupt. Wait for it.
Let's hope that there are no conspiracies nor any bad players in the Covid-19 crisis but there sure seems to be enough evidence to conclude that there are.
I recommend that the author read his colleague, Dowd's, Sunday column, as well as the readers' comments.
About a third of the commenters state, very clearly, that they hope that this virus will unseat the 45th President.
How far away are these people from actively doing things to spread the fear and the virus itself?
Sometimes, the Times is very informative.
When a transparently corrupt president packs the Supreme Court with right wing Jesters and turns the running of the federal bureaucracy over to special interests - it's not paranoia; it's fear that the voters will clean house in November.
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The war on the truth is a war on reality. Those that wage war on reality are trying to lock our nation into a hall of mirrors where it will be impossible to recognize reality. This is how Fascism takes root, repeated lies that distort reality and instill fear and chaos. This is what trump is planning, the most effective disinformation campaign we have ever seen.
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@george the good news in this case is bad news. When fascists win they wreck the places they live in. It's inevitable and therein lies the cure. Like a very high fever, if it doesn't kill the patient--she recovers as the infection is burned off. Very painful. Avoidable--but perhaps necessary.
Mr. Krugman is, as usual, playing to the choir, and the resulting posts, once again, comprise an echo chamber.
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Let's see, the Don (bend the knee and kiss the ring) declares there's no real problem and that people should attend his rallies as they're safe. Well, wouldn't it be interesting if an undiagnosed carrier winds up attending and all of a sudden, we have a new cluster of cases, spreading it to their friends, families and co-workers. If the CDC tries to track this, we'd likely hear nothing about this as everything has to be cleared through health minister Pence, who will manage to keep this all secret. Should anything from CDC leak out, we can hear refrains of "fake news." Great organizational management to make sure the markets don't panic further, all at our risk, of course.
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Oh how nice to get a little jab into Bernie when you’re talking about right wing conspiracies. Couldn’t help yourself, could you.
@Gregory J I think it’s a fair point. Bernie’s proposals will harm America’s ability to respond to pandemics in the long run by decimating the private sectorhealth industry.
We are part of a chicken little society. The sky is falling.
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@B Mc We are talking a 2 % mortality rate on a disease largely contained already in the US. The flu is more deadly.
@John Exactly it is - in scale, a non event.
Truth be told. You are not a “liberal” you are democratic establishment wonk.
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So, if coronavirus is a hoax and no worse than a cold, and Democrats and the liberal media are exaggerating the danger to make the stock market fall in hopes that he'll lose votes, our paranoid POTUS can be nonchalant. But when he accepts the facts of the case, he's likely to wrap himself in disinfectant wipes and hide in the White House panic room.
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Trump’s ignorant( and, yes, nativist and racist) followers, along with “normal” conservatives who tolerate his depredations with a shrug because his polices line their pockets, are really the greatest villains of this shoddy era.
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Wag.the.dog err Wag.The.Don...
Paul Krugman: the most paranoid of all.
What the dissemblers on the Right, in their fervor to protect their leader, don't mention is the response of China, which has imposed draconian restrictions on travel and commerce, and essentially shut down a province of 60 million people. They also built two large hospitals from the ground up in about ten days, just for infected patients. Had China not responded in this fashion, it is likely that the virus would have spread to many more places and infected far more people.
But I get it, it's all a liberal plot. And while the Trump sycophants accuse their critics of a great conspiracy, they seem to believe that if they just assert that there is no problem, then the problem does not exist. I don't have a psychological term for that, except to recognize that this is pathological behavior.
@ikalbertus China denied its existence at first and its relentless spending has done nothing to prevent the spread. China has failed in all measurable ways.
One concerning feature of the right wing media effect is its ability to turn its followers on a dime. In the blink of an eye, millions of Americans reverse course and begin parroting an exact opposite opinion. This usually happens when an economic policy fails or when a leader makes a huge error and flips.
All political parties have policies that fail and leaders who flip. Only the right has millions of enthralled believers who perpetrate the mass denial.
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I was a conservative in college and graduate school - before Reagan. I accepted the need for an EPA and accepted that evolution was the best explanation for how life forms developed.
It was the anti-science, anti-fact nonsense, starting with Reagan, that pushed me to voting for Democrats. My last Republican vote was for Tom Kean for governor of NJ. I have not voted for one Republican since. The Republican Party is more like a cult than a collection of people who share the same ideas.
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Please, please! Let Trump, or Melania, or Barron—or really anybody in the family—come down w COVID19.
Maybe then this administration could start taking this seriously.
And get Chief Prayer Pence out of the way .
1
Sigh. If only there was a vaccine for right-wing denialism, racism, and paranoia.
3
Well, after a few aren’t I great rallies by Trump, and several thousand become infected, the administration might take it seriously, or then again can this president take anything seriously? Or he will say the Democrats did it! You know aliens built the Pyramids.
Sir, have you lost touch with reality? America sleeps soundly with the assurance "we are ready for anything!"
Extinction of the sun? Sure. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.
Dictatorship 101:
• Attack the free press
• Attack intellectuals, academics, and scientists
• Attack the independent judiciary
• De-legitimize your political opponents
• Institute loyalty criteria
• Malign traditional international alliances
• Align with autocratic regimes
• Establish the leader as the sole arbiter of truth
Am I missing anything? Apparently 60 million of our fellow Americans are very happy with this.
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Maybe you missed one: The Stephen Miller/Trump idea that CRUELTY is the best policy to pursue. Miller had been quoted along those lines.
One might assume he is talking about (mainly) Hispanic immigrants and refugees, but don’t count on it. The 1930s in Germany and Italy, which the GOP and Trumpists favor, should make it clear that the deliberate cruelty policies and procedures can and will be aimed at all of us trying to rid the USA of this imminent threat.
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@Chris Hitler’s playbook. Why are people blind to it?
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@Kelly and @Chris I haven't the foggiest idea why more people do not see the many parallels between the Nazi rise to power, especially between about 1933 and 1939 and the start of WW II, when of course the Nazis could really consolidate power.
Two books are worth reading, even if a couple of years old: One is How Democracy Dies, by the two political scientists/historians at Harvard (Levistky and Ziblatt) -- provides many examples of the rise of totalitarian, if not fascism, around the world, and then applies a well-known conceptual framework -- and the Trump/GOP folks meet all the principle criteria. The other is the In the Garden of easts: Love Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (by Erik Larson). So much in both these books heralds what is happening (or might happen) in Trump's Washington DC (one might say).
The Repubs continue to protect Trump, a mentally ill man unfit for office. When enough people die from Coronavirus - maybe even a few Repubs - just watch how quickly the rats jump off the Trump ship.
Republicans must pay and pay dearly for their shameful and dishonest efforts to block any progress on climate change. Their actions and non actions are tantamount to crimes against humanity, basically species wide genocide on a massive scale, and must be punished by Nuremberg style tribunals with penalties appropriate to the crime of destroying our planet so plutocrats and fossil fuel death merchants can make their precious money.
Such massively irresponsible reporting.... Fox News today:
"Essentially the entire problem we are having is due to panic, not the virus," he said. "I was saying this six weeks ago. We have six deaths from the coronavirus, 18,000 from the flu. Why isn't the message, 'Get your flu vaccine'"?
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dr-drew-media-panic-about-coronavirus-is-more-problematic-than-the-contagion
@Lawrence Influenza is endemic, permanently dwelling in the population. COVID-19 is a virus on the make. We ignore its dangers at our peril. Flu death rates are under 1 percent. A persistent 2 percent death rate in a new virus, one with the potential to become endemic is a very scary proposition.
I wonder how many right wing politicians and commentators have a true paranoid weltanschauung and how many just go along because, at bottom, it's a paycheck issue for them.
Yes I could live very comfortably with a low keyed stable Biden as opposed to the manic tweeting of a mad king mostly often mis spelled and fact free. I think people are tired of being entertained by this lying carnival barker prez who is obsessed with himself as related to everything which he claims to be an expert on. Like sitting next to a blowhard guy who does not shut up about himself on 7 hour flight we are all exhausted by Trump's endless bloviating about how wonderful he is.
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The NYT won’t print this, but I write it anyway. I can’t believe anything that Krugman says after he predicted the collapse of world economies if Trump was elected.
The hype and hysteria over this virus is ridiculous. Stop it! This is the US, not a third world country.
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“ It’s all a hoax, a conspiracy by the liberal media”
Really? A hoax? Maybe a hex, a pox on house as it were, but calling a dangerous pandemic a hoax is anemic of any ability to think as a normal human being.
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@RjW: The President never said the virus was a hoax. What the President said is that the Democrats are turning it into a hoax by suggesting the President is incompetent and bungling the response such that the virus will become a calamity to the American people.
IF , God forbid, this virus cuts loose in the detention camps along our southern border, will The Trump administration crow, “see, illegal refugees are evil, evil people intent on destroying America”?
One can easily see how that accusation would play to his base.
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Maybe the virus has not taken complete hold of our nation - yet.
But it is well on its way to doing so. The symptoms are obvious enough to those of us who lived through the Soviet era and absorbed from our parents, elders and teachers the history of the Nazi era.
09:30 EST, 3/03
Every accusation that Criminal Trump makes is projection of his crimes onto an opponent with enough stupid people to believe it. Or so Fox believes.
Lets us pray a Progressive coalition wins the White House , Senate and House. The GOP deserves the harshest punishment for their numerous crimes and treason.
We have 2 classes of republicans.
- The class that creates the army of zombies;
- The class that are the zombie army.
Pray god for the liberation of the latter and the utter destruction of the former.
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Krugman can't resist squeezing in an example of paranoid politics to pin to the Sanders campaign where he quotes Warren Gunnels, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders’s campaign. Upon closer inspection and reading the linked article, this quote is is not paranoid at all. PK takes offense because he is on the other side of the argument and apparently doesn't consider himself an academic funded by the "powers that be."
A better example of paranoid politics might be the Red Scare redux we're hearing from the likes of the centrist corporate media and the pols they support. Au revoir, Chris Matthews.
Dr. K,
I urge you and your readers to watch the Charlotte, NC rally on CSPAN archives. President Trump's entertainment skills give meaning to the word "projects" that you used.
Of course he doesn't mention the big policy failures of his administration but eventually during this 2020 campaign the realities of his delusions will need to be effectively addressed.
Big ones: Climate Change and Income Inequality.
The coronavirus was a major story in international media throughout January. By mid-January China had imposed a lockdown on Wuhan, a city larger than New York. There was footage coming out of China of massive trucks driving down streets spraying disinfectant, of hospital corridors crowded with what appeared to be dead bodies, and of Chinese officials bolting the doors of apartment buildings to keep people from leaving.
All through this, there was very little coverage of the outbreak in U.S. media. Instead, the media was transfixed by the impeachment hearings, and the supposedly existential threat posed by Vladimir Putin and his army of nefarious internet trolls.
Now that's over (the ending was always wholly predictable, even though the media pretended like it wasn't). And the emergence of significant outbreaks in Italy and South Korea makes it impossible to pretend this isn't happening. So the media has started noticing.
Coronavirus is obviously a serious danger. Trump's fixation on trying to goose the stock market by downplaying the virus is bad. But let's not pretend that the media doesn't have narratives that it is pushing.
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@RC: In fact, Tucker Carlson of Fox News was reporting on this since January and was asking why flights from China to the U.S. were continuing.
"It’s just the latest battle in a long-running war on truth, on the very idea that there exists an inconvenient objective reality."
The neocon right needs to deny the existence of objective reality because the objective reality is that their agenda is bad for everyone except their wealthy backers.
Coronavirus is a convenient tool for them to continue gaslighting the American electorate.
1
The first sentence of the article synthesizes the crux of the problem : "Remember, conservatives have spent decades denying the reality of climate change, insisting that it’s a gigantic hoax perpetrated by a vast international scientific conspiracy."
The question that we must ask is not why conservative governments play the game, but rather why conservative voters oppose social spending and spending for a better future. In economics jargon the presence of externalities (effects that go beyond the individual) requires proactive government interventions. Will this ever be acceptable to conservative voters?
1
Well, if you're a narcissist, anything that reflects badly on you *must* be the fault of someone else. It's not much deeper than that.
A real crisis is revealing the gross incompetence of the Trump kakistocracy, so it must be a conspiracy!
3
Let’s give fact-based arguments that rightfully bash Trump for his many self-inflicted crises a name:
I nominate: “Factspiracy”
Used in a sentence: “Its a factspiracy that Mueller did not exonerate Trump.”
1
The Administration is managing the virus probably as good as any.....the virus will be back page news by the election.
I wanted to make one point - hyperinflation under Obama may not have occurred...but the National Debt doubled during his 8 years in the White House.
Our debt increased from $10 trillion to $20 trillion under President Obama - several trillion went to losing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen - wars he promised to end.
Trump is now increasing our deficit and the debt continues to grow and grow - under Congress' oversight - which, don't forget, Mr. Krugman, consists of a Democratic Congress and a Republican Senate.
It's both sides of the aisle, but you're bias has been on the left side as you're a partisan economist - interesting.
Your lack of the full story is glaring - it's called opaque economics - you can't see the full truth.
@JMS Selective analysis. Moreover you fail to understand that time affects the actions of any government--for good and ill. Yes Obama spent and attempted to spend enough to offset the near collapse of the banking system. So the deficit grew. By the end of his presidency recovery had advanced sufficiently for revenues to begin restoring balance. Trump comes along and minus any emergency plays into the hands of oligarchical buddies and grants a huge and largely wasted tax cut to corporations and the wealthy. Little to no spending followed. Even less business investment. The congress changed management in 2017, minus the Senate. You need both houses and a sufficient plurality to overcome the veto power of the president. Again time is an important feature of reality. Pay attention. It matters.
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“And the fact that this kind of paranoia has infected our ruling party is scarier than any virus.”
Well, you SAY that now, but... y’know... there’s some pretty scary viruses out there (no sarcasm).
It is really easy for the true believers. All they have to do is to say that any issue is either a hoax created by the "enemy of the people" or a real threat created by the "enemy of the people."
And the "enemy of the people" is? Whichever group is easiest to accuse - immigrants, People of Color, liberals, elites, Jews, etc.
We know where this will lead.
It’s called survival of the fittest. Follow the ignorant and suffer the consequences. The mistake I made was thinking Trump was a death rattle of the old GOP, I never pondered they would by okay with destroying the country to maintain power. Who’s the ignorant one now? Yeah, I know, me.
1
The Trump Doctrine — Befoul, Despoil, Besmirch.
1
Unleashed without warning in Wuhan, a crowded city of 11 million people, the virus killed only an estimated 3,000 people. Yet, the media and this economist (who should know better), implies it could be far worse once reaching the U.S., a country already in a high hysteria-mode. Get a grip folks.
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Trump can prove its a hoax any time. All he has to do is visit a Wuhan hospital.
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Right you are, Paul. As potentially catastrophic as covid-19’s ravages are likely to be, Trump’s psychotic contagion threatens to transform America’s vital democratic republic into an historical corpse.
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It's hard to argue with any of the specifics here. But I wonder which came first: paranoia about the educated elite or white-collar condescension to people with fewer credentials (I read an academic refer to the poor this week as "the vulgar").
The attitude of people with PhDs these days (almost all of whom vote Democrat/Labour) seems to be: I'll give lip-service to economic policies that help lower-income people as long as I can mock them for being stupid and cruel and pretend that taxes only need to be raised on the super-wealthy. Which explain in part why, across the west, the least educated people have fled the left-wing parties that were once their political home to the toxic embrace of populists, who at least pretend to like them.
"You're an idiot, but Jeff Bezos should give you more money" is not a winning political slogan for the left.
Collectively we get the government we deserve. If they promulgate chaos and lies as truth, guess what? We put them there. Collectively, we deserve the result.
Unfortunately, the death of truth is a hard thing to reverse. It might just be our own special coronavirus, our own kryptonite if you will, that will finally do us in as a free democracy.
Benjamin Franklin's admonition about us hanging together or else hanging separately has been heavy on my mind for about four years. America has usually hung together in tough times, but now -- for the first time in my life -- it looks like we could really blow it all up in ways that Humpty Dumpty might not be able to be put together again.
In the latest installment of Republican Moral Bankruptcy, the Fox News site is running the headline "Joe Biden botches Declaration of Independence quote," and this is how they describe the alleged gaffe:
'Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to fumble Monday while attempting to recite part of the Declaration of Independence during a speech in Texas.
'“We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created, by the, you know, you know the thing,” Biden said.'
I watched and listened to every word of that Dallas speech; and if you did too, you know this "report" is a blatant lie.
He recited the quote exactly as it's written except for the intentional alteration of "all men and women" for "all men."
Meanwhile, the Daily Caller has put up a blatantly doctored video on YouTube to promote this lie. It's not even a "deep fake" -- it's a cheap fake, thoroughly amateurish.
These are the depths to which these people will sink in order to sabotage Biden's campaign and keep Trump in office, and we can probably expect it to get worse because there seems to be no bottom to their moral abyss. And with Trump appointee Ajit Pai heading the FCC, they know they can lie to the American people with impunity.
Pravda and the Reichsminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda had nothing on these creeps.
4
Bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
1
It took 5 years for the US to get an Ebola vaccine to market which happened in December. The CDC has already begun human trials for a corona vaccine developed by a biotech firm in Cambridge.
thank God America is great again!
This too shall pass, the type A flu, there are 4-5 strains is much more prevalent. In 2009 H1N1, aka Swine Flu killed 11,000 in the US
And yes, the leftist press is looking for an angle to remove the President, very hoax like
Do we remember the Ebola frenzy? The world was coming to an end, health care workers denied entry, virulent criticism of Obama during the election run-up. Then it all disappeared the day after the election. So what is a crisis? What is scaremongering? Who gets a political advantage? Who rakes in stock profits when there are swings controlled by computer trading and big money? Watch carefully. Eyes wide open. Yes, the virus is real and so is the threat. Our risk is cowardice, leadership stupidity and lack of prepation - less so the virus itself. Get a grip.
If the Rs have taught us anything: Never let a good conspiracy theory go to waste.
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RE: "Are the South Korean and Italian media also part of a conspiracy to get Trump?"
Yes. The South Koreans are in on it because they object to Trump being in love with Kim Jong-Un, and the Italians are in on it because they object to Trump upstaging Mussolini by being more like Mussolini than Mussolini was.
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I disagree that Trump resisted and continues to resist fully acknowledging the crisis of this corona virus because it might hurt his "beloved stock market."
I think the more important reason Trump is denying the crisis is that taking charge in a national emergency is just one more part of the president's job that he doesn't have the brains to handle. He is simply mentally incapable of handling anything required of a president, except for giving endless stump speeches.
It's bad that Trump is dishonest. It's bad that he is vindictive. But the biggest threat to our nation is that he is just plain too dumb to do the job.
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@Eleanor True that!
Republican's "Like 'em dumb".
"Liberals" are what they call Educated.
Republicans don't like people smarter than them.
It's a psychological thing. Their ego makes them feel threatened.
It's paranoia as much as anyone might fear of greater threats.
They can't cope with complexity and they know educated people can, thus threatening their power, the essence of ego.
Just like we cannot yell "fire" at a public event in the name of free speech, can these loudmouth, propagandists scream on Covid-19 is a hoax on their radio/TV shows ? Can the FFC step in and take action?
1
We need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. ASAP after getting Dems back in charge.
Many readers miss the point. It is not about whether the pandemic is real or not, whether the media is over hyping, or Americans are in a panic, or even that Trump ' s Pollyanna pronouncements are evidence of his incompetence.
It is about the right, from the most moderate to the most Limbaughian, refusing to accept the facts as a way of analysing and prescribing a public response to threats for the sole purpose of retaining power. The lies are in pursuit of power are extensive on the web. Not a minute goes by when professionally produced memes go viral in support of the lies. Who is producing them and why needs deeper exploration by the media and FB should in particular should tag these memes with their sponsors.
1
This article's title says it all:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/china-s-aggressive-measures-have-slowed-coronavirus-they-may-not-work-other-countries
China deployed its unique state controls, straight out of Orwell's 1984, which did halt the exponential rise of the epidemic. However, other countries can't use such draconian measures, and the epidemic may come roaring back in China as it inevitably has to loosen up to get its economy going again.
I got this tip from Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall.
It's a pity nobody with any grey matter believes whatever POTUS says. Or his Administration. We deserve better. Our country deserves better.
1
The GOP is the true virus infecting the American Ideals. They and Trump, point fingers, turn red in the face, project their lies on the left, onto mainstream media, even on the little green man on the moon.
All the while, as you point out Dr. K, they are denying objective facts to support their lies. Lies upon lies. That is a true conspiracy they are carrying out everyday.
Saw a little of Pence's Parade of Positive Vibes yesterday afternoon, and the people that spoke "All Hail-ed" Trump repeatedly and talked about what a great time they are having getting to work with their old friends again, yada, yada, yada. It did not feel as if they were addressing Covid-19 head on, addressing the objective facts of the virus.
Just empty re-assurances and glad handing. They did talk about working with experts to address the virus, so that's one actual positive step they are taking, and a real break with the last 3 years of Trump/GOP witch-doctoring. We'll see if they do work with facts and believe them.
1
It is strange to me that a germaphobe would not put the best resources into containing and stopping a novel contagious disease that has invaded his country. But with each tweet and press conference I realize the man is more concerned with his own image, his own narrative than anything or anyone else. No one was blaming him for COVID 19...until he Trumpized the response. I guess as long as we aren't disintegrating like people did with Ebola, it’s all good.
I hope Democrats verbally tar and feather not only Trump, but his Tea Party cabinet and enablers. They have all systematically worked to dismantle the federal agencies that provide necessary protection of our air, our water, our work places, our medicines, and our disease monitoring.
The coronavirus points to the consequences of gutting the CDC and NIH, including by dismantling our pandemic response team and limiting our ability to test for the presence of viral pandemics. No amount of paranoid conspiracies will cover over the role of Trump and the crazy right in harming the American people.
Regarding funding to fight Covid-19: the money Trump stole from the military budget too build his ridiculous wall should be redirected to the Covid fight immediately.
I'd love to see Trump show his lack of fear of coronavirus by taking a trip, along with a large coterie of Fox News correspondents, to China to visit Wuhan to witness firsthand how unconcerned we ought to be.
To steal a phrase from James Carville “It’s the economy stupid” you can have your economy or roll the dice with Covid-19. The Chinese chose to fight the virus, Trump has chosen the economy. It’s always pretty easy to predict how Trump and Republicans will act in any situation, they will side with the decision that makes the already rich richer. It’s not surprising to me that the market melt down is the only thing to get Trump to do anything.
I'm another liberal Democrat who thinks the New York Times has gone overboard on this. Each day it's a variation of the same story with few new facts. I don't follow right-wing pundits, so the only place I hear what they are saying is here. And I don't know a single person among my East Coast liberal educated friends who doesn't think the mainstream media coverage is over the top.
Here is the danger of this type of reporting. We know Trump is an egomaniac and a fool, but we don't know a lot about Covid-19. What if Trump's version of the "truth" isn't ultimately contradicted by the objective reality? You are gambling on your credibility. For what? Clever headlines?
1
sure, true, right on bro, except... how many columns have I seen in the Times blaming Trump for the Coronavirus? Several.
There are many who knew that when Reagan was elected that a Donald Trump would be the end result. Gaslighting was Reagan's forte from when he betrayed his friends and guild members to the FBI. Those blacklisted were not plotting to overthrow the government they were artists and entertainers making movies like Gaslight. Reagan was the Marlboro man who didn't smoke. We know there weren't enough leftists plotting to take over America to fill a large hot tub. I am open to evidence that it was US corporate interests that drove Castro into the arms of the Soviets but paranoid politics have been the order of the day for over a century.
When you suspect everything you hear is a lie the gaslighting is complete and you no longer know right from wrong and America no longer knows right from wrong.
In Canada we have a liberal media which informs us of our world. In the USA you have an American media which defines who you are and what you believe. Your politics have always been toxic and now America is suffering the consequences.
Democracy cannot survive too much cynicism.
1
People generally panic when they are told of a threat without the details. Republicans like people unaware. They're easier to control that way. I'm guessing that's why the leadership is filtering medical information. Republicans like them dumb. It worked for Trump, right? People here aren't panicking, right?
Trump is our leader (unfortunate as it is) and just like taking full credit for the economy, he has to take full credit for whatever bad happens also. That's just how people typically used to look at things. So many in the country now don't know how to decipher what is truthful news from what is fake news. In a pandemic that can present a life or death situation.
As of this morning 6 people have died and a few over 100 have confirmed infections. If the fatality rate holds at the same rate experienced in Wuhan (2%), that should indicate there are another 200 undiscovered cases. Public health workers, I would have to believe, are gathering patient contact lists and itineraries to halt its spread. It's the undiscovered cases that ought to be our primary concern at the moment.
2
A physician leading the World Health Organization stated "We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures,"
Mike Pence stated "Let's be clear: The risk to the American people of the coronavirus remains low, according to all of the experts that we are working with across the government,"
WHO do you believe?
Hint: Who cares more about being re-elected than about the population's health?
1
And you know what else, if those by definition leftist science-believing doctors eventually produce a vaccine for Covid-19, it will contain a secret magic substance that makes only Trump supporters sick! Warning! Beware! Do not get that shot!
2
Imagine if we taught children science and allowed them to find religion on their own. It's pretty amazing that we live on an inhabited planet in a mostly uninhabitable universe, and there is so much that is surprising once we admit we don't know and set out to learn.
Instead, so many of us fill children's heads with fantasy about a wonderful place that is accessible in the after-life (and we laugh at the Egyptians for the elaborate preparations they made for their pharaohs' next journeys) and discourage them from discovering useful information like how the digestive system works (if you eat sugar from dawn to bedtime, you'll need to buy bigger clothes, that sort of thing).
Once a week so many of our fellow citizens congregate to be lectured on the reality of the supernatural, that those who possess the greatest faith need no evidence. When asked why their loving deity would allow his creatures to undergo unimaginable suffering, the answer is, "The Lord moves in mysterious ways ...."
From time to time, demagogues have arisen, spouting lies about those not chosen (think Hell, the damned, and Satan) and promising the faithful the most Elysian experience should they hate and loathe the correct imaginary entities and love and cherish the approved imaginary entities. I don't know about you, but the rise of compulsive liars on television seems to be nothing less than the creation of a new secular evangelism, one that demands that its message be consistent only with its dogma.
5
Kaplan in his text on group dynamics coined the phrase "paranoigenesis" when an agency loses its perspective on its mission and imposes policies and perspectives that are meant to sustain it's existence in lieu of a judicious pursuit of the public good. Trump is obviously only interested in preserving his status and avoids the inconvenience of enacting measures to ensure national security if he perceives that reflect poorly on his administration.
6
These false reassurances are reprehensible. But they’ve also come from the Governor of California and the Mayor of NYC. Dr. Krugman is playing fast and loose about an area where he has no expertise. One wonders how thoughtful any of his opinions about economics might be, when he feel entitled to opine unencumbered by data.
2
In the midst of this mounting crisis the trump regime is on the verge of killing the Affordable Health Care Act.
Would this not be like destroying lifeboats on the Titanic in response to the bilges flooding?
Sabotage.
Mindless destruction.
4
@Robert FL
Till the virus happened they were going to slaughter the budget for the CDC, public health. The people who vote for the GOP are just sick individuals who are traitor's to this country. they should be in mandated therapy
There's a fundamental misunderstanding when trying to wrap your head around how it is that Republican and conservative politicians and mouthpieces can so blatantly distort the truth. That misunderstanding is in thinking that the truth is what's at issue. It is not. It's not even that objective facts are fungible, it is that the truth is irrelevant to the ultimate goal, which is retaining power.
Like tv viewers who think the things they see in advertisements are the products, completely missing the fact it is they themselves who are the products, being sold by the networks to the advertisers, we often have the direction of the flow of truth backwards.
Those Republicans spouting illogical, nonsensical, objectively provable falsehoods are not the ones directing the flow; they are simply responding to what it is their constituency wants confirmed as the truth. That climate change is not their fault, that immigrants are criminals, that the Corona virus is a liberal conspiracy.
In the world of Republican politics, where maintaining their power as a minority is everything, reading the flow of truth as it flows from the base, and then confirming that truth back to them, is the most important skill.
5
We may not be dying of Coronavirus — at least not most of us — but we are surely dying of stress over the cost of healthcare if we do get sick, and stress from living in Trump’s dystopia.
3
I think it's foolish to believe this is paranoia on the part of leadership. Its very intentional, cool headed and planed. The Trump party, Putin, Limbaugh and Fox news aren't acting out of paranoia they are acting to create a movement that will support them no matter what.
Bernie has done some of the same things. Not to the extent of Trump or the Republicans but the goal is similar.
Conspiracy theories are a tool to control the narrative.
2
Trump, his son and the Fox propaganda machine can scream hoax all they want but the only one who makes Donald Trump look bad is Donald Trump. His stumbling performances at so far two press briefings, where he under-reported the number of people infected with COVID-19 and kept saying "if you're healthy you won't die" -- gee whiz, doc, you really think so? -- were hardly reassuring. Nor were the "updates" from Mike Pence, obviously terrified that he is the chosen scapegoat if things get worse.
6
Krugman shovels the garbage to the base again. No testing was done because Trump didn't want it. Nonsense. There would be whistle blowers and leakers all over the place if Trump suppressed testing. The amount testing was completely controlled by the nameless faceless bureaucrats at CDC. If you want to put forward conspiracy theories stop and think of how many people are in the chain, couple thousand in this case. No way that this happened. Furthermore Govenor Coumo announced that he reached out to VP Pence to get authorization to allow NY State to conduct testing. Permission was granted the same day. Why there were bureaucratic blocks on the perfectly competent NY health dept speaks to out of control Bureaucracy not Trump conspiracy theories.
2
@Mkm
So was it the Invisible Man at the Trump rally who called the virus a hoax. I saw Trump on TV, state that ridiculous statement. It was the Invisible Man with an orange face who said it. Rush doesn't really have lung cancer he is on weight watchers diet.
Thank you for letting me know I didn't realize poor Trump once again was being picked on
I think the main effect of COVID-19 is to have driven the self absorbed Makeup Man off the "above the fold" headlines and articles in major media, like the Times.
I do not know what the fascination of some people is with the label "conservative" and everybody else, the "liberals". There is no such division in the universe, those are artificial distinctions. Any idea is good or bad depending on who is affected by it and how. Objectively, it is good if it achieves its purpose with out undue harm to others (you gotta kill mosquitoes in all plans, pretty much, so fly catchers lose food). But if that eliminates malaria, one has to make a value judgment. Here it is obvious that the value judgment is that we do not matter. Faced with a leader whose only care is his money and his power and his image, the rest of us are cannon fodder.
We'll see about that. I don't know about you folks, but if it's him or me, I choose him to get it. Midstream or not, it's time to change horses.
3
Hmm, what's not to like?--a crowded auditorium of climate change, anti vaxers and science deniers listening to their pied piper tell them there's nothing to worry about. Some may see this as freighting, I see it as natural selection.
2
A picture says a thousand words. All over the media are nothing but graphs and photos and highlighted areas, followed by experts explaining what is happening. Coronavirus is worldwide. It's amusing but dangerous when Trump calls this a hoax. His ignorance knows no bounds. His followers are being duped every day to the point of embarressment. I just worry that some really believe what he says. He is not the President to be trusted even though he is not supposed to lie to the country. He's a sick man and must be removed.
3
The Left has had its share of wacky conspiracy theories, but the Right has refined this into an art. Well, maybe not. When everything is a conspiracy, it's not art. It's mental illness. No, wait, paranoia is not technically a mental illness. The Right's flooding of our society with conspiracy theories is a deliberate political act to confuse and frighten a population. That's otherwise known as fascism, which cannot exist without conspiracy theories.
1
I have always been amazed by American's fascination with conspiracy theories. Examples include the Kennedy assassination, UFO's, Pizzagate, Fluoride, Area 51, Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, 9/11, Sandy Hook, Epstein, etc. The list is interminable. While I cannot understand why Americans are so gullible and eager to believe nonsense, I have observed it often enough to not be surprised that Trump can feed of the insanity.
1
Mike Pence in charge of the U.S. virus team sends chills down my spine. Mr. Pence did not want a needle exchange program in his state because he did not approve of drug use. Over 200 people in Indiana became HIV+ because of his decision. Nice.
2
Attacking a Sanders adviser in a polemic about political paranoia does not help Professor Krugman make his case.
2
Mr Krugman, Can you write one column without a dig at Bernie Sanders? Do you have a personal vendetta against him? For 5 years, you and your colleagues just have not gotten it and because of your position of influence are as much a part of the problem as those on the right.
1
Okay, so trump believes Covid-19 is a hoax.
As bogus as it may be, why form a task force?
Why allocate any additional funds for testing or research?
Why refuse flights from “allegedly” infected areas?
Why the visit to the CDC?
On the plus side, at least regarding his conviction that it is a hoax, at least he held his latest Nuremberg rally.
If it’s a hoax, it’s a hoax. Follow through with budget cuts and no emergency funding. Make an address from the Oval Office saying as much. No testing kits. No federal quarantine. No blocking flights.
What a coward. And a joke.
2
@Matt: Unfortunately, the joke's on us.
Trump will continue to value his reflection in a mirror over the American people's well being.
He hasn't changed his behavior in over 4 decades, and will continue his narcissistic ways, be it in or out of office.
We need to learn more about the decision to wait for the CDC test kits even after their problems surfaced given that the WHO kits were readily available. In the meantime, perhaps our president, the vice president and other factually-impaired members of the administration would be willing to be injected with the virus just to prove that concerns about Covid19 are overblown by the liberal media. After all, they shouldn't feel threatened if the threat is only a media hoax.
2
While many or most of those who vote for Trump and Friends are probably not stupid people there does appear to be loose in the land an epidemic of willful ignorance.
Any notion that contradicts a currently held belief is simply ignored.
Reality is what I say it is. Objective reality is a liberal hoax to cheat me of my beliefs.
On today's ballot in Maine is a referendum question to repeal the requirement of a vaccinations to attend public schools.
We will know the level of willful ignorance in Maine tomorrow.
Trump never claimed that the virus itself was a hoax. Rather, he was referring to the Left's politicization of same which, of course, is exactly what's happening now. Any virus outbreak is sure to have at least some level of transmission before it is brought under control, and the liberal media(for that is what they generally are - face it) will spin any such outcome as a lack of response by the administration. In short, the Left WELCOMES CoVid-19 as a new way to trash Trump and help the Democratic party in this year's elections. No question about it.
All this from me, a registered Democrat here in Massachusetts. I don't like Trump believe it or not, but I like hypocrites even less. Get it straight Krugman.
2
@steven And. I guess it was a hoax when Trump sharpied in Alabama to get hit by a hurricane, or a hoax when he tried to say that our military members had "headaches" rather than traumatic brain injuries after they took a missile from Iran. Or a hoax when he allowed a murderer from the great seals to walk free after a jury convicted him of murdering innocent civilians. He's a hoax a day.
1
Imagine a President and Vice President telling Americans they are at low risk of a fairly virulent virus to which they have no immunity. You don't have to imagine it, you can watch it on television.
People will not take the precautions they should and more will die. Within 2 months a large portion of Americans will have been infected.
And these clowns think minimizing it will improve their chances of being re-elected!
I'm not sure why everyone keeps thinking that the Republicans' are paranoid. This is simply their playbook that they will keep using until the people finally tell them to just go away. Same thing with the right wing media. It's simply about making money off the people who want to believe everything they say. Always comes down to power and money.
I am amazed how short sided these people are. I truly believe they know better. But just like climate change at some point you won't be able to turn this ship around. The masses will turn on them at some point. It will be ugly.
1
I never felt this kind of anxiety when Obama was on the job. I never felt he would lie to us or insult us or talk down to us and constantly berate and lie about his Republican peers. I never worried that Obama would ever sell his soul out for his own personal good. We need that safe feeling back again. It's nothing but helter skelter now.
2
@Robert
Trump’s calling this a “liberal media hoax” and Rush Limbaugh’s labeling it just a “common cold” is counter to the CDC and World Health Organization’s very serious message.
I truly loathe Bernie and his Bros and their constant maligning of people with money. Not even a lot of money, just enough to be comfortable. Money and fairness, money and empathy and money and the belief that all people deserve a chance are not inconsistent. In fact, my success is due to driven parents, education and sheer luck.
The question is not how do we take success away, the question is how to make success possible for all? What do we need, as a society, to do for all?
His strategy of demonizing people who have worked hard and made it is a losing one - all the way to the polls.
1
I believe it is time for the US to go a parliamentary government with the weakened executive and votes when needed. I can only "wish" because it'd take a complete rewrite of the Constitution, something the right-wing would freak out about as they rewrite it in subtler ways (think what a President can do now and they might do after Trump?) The Rule of Law is being perverted by Trump with Court opinions and justices with a favorable opinion by the Heritage Foundation.
The power of the executive needs to be severely curtailed via new laws by a Democrat Congress and President. The adoration of all Presidents except a few should be monitored.
The 'cult of the personality' of the President (just a man or possibly woman) and what he/she can do has to be wiped out.
The power of the people is in Congress. We've seen what's happened, and now it's time to fix government.
2
For my part, as Americans and others empty retailers' shelves of Purell, I'm wondering how much stock the Trump family owns in the company that manufactures it. Letting the coronavirus run loose would explain it all.
The one certain thing that is absolutely not a hoax is the Trump presidency, engaged in an aggressive, continuous exercise of gaslighting the American people.
It's alarming enough that people are becoming inured to it. Now, however, the administration is playing fast and loose with the health of Americans, conscripting Trump supporters to rail abuse at medical and scientific professionals, as well as the media, who are rightly sounding the alarm about the Coronavirus.
This is no time for politics, but with Trump, everything is political. He regards bad news as a personal assault, and uses the federal government with abandon as his weapon of truth destruction.
George Orwell would be proud. Trump is turning 2020 into Orwell's "1984," shredding anything resembling the truth while endlessly harnessing his administration into spinning and spewing falsehoods on a global scale, while fostering paranoia among administration officials who live in fear of being fired for disagreeing with his warped view of the world.
This time, it's endangering human lives. For a germaphobe, Trump can't even keep his paranoia straight, let alone allow others, now with legitimate reason due to Covid-19, from engaging in their own.
3
40% of the country is completely immersed in irrational, divisive, poorly informed, right-wing propaganda. It's really as simple as that.
There are many reasons this has happened, including but no limited to talk radio, Fox Propaganda, the internet, the resistance of large parts of the country to science and education, and of course a babbling man-child in the White House.
The ray of hope is that I believe a majority of the people remain reasonable and rational.
6
Nothing should surprise us anymore. The death of truth and the power of mass emotion is the new reality. Even if Trump loses the election, he will not go away, and his followers will not accept that electoral decision. They will determine that he was cheated, and force His Party in the official halls of government to resist the duly elected. More chaos will result.
Am I now the one spinning paranoid theories? Does the evidence provided by his behavior and that of His Party (no witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial) contradict me?
And then, what if he wins?
2
And the part our “great” health care system will play in likely perpetuating and amplifying this epidemic in our nation hopefully will finally push us towards universal healthcare.....like every other comparable country. As Trump was telling us how safe our country was his HHS Sec’y Azar was also telling us any future vaccine would not necessarily be available to those who could not pay.
What good is choice is a sizable portion of people sitting next to you on busses and subways and in school cannot afford to either quarantine themselves or go to the doctor for a $3000 test (as a man recently returned from China found out....his co pay $1200)?
We all will either be or surrounded by people who keep working thru minor illness and colds, flu until the emergency room becomes the last resort.
Surely a real part of the previous reluctance to test is because the US medical system requires a line on the intake form that other countries don’t have......what is the billing address?
Contrast this with our riddance of polio: the entire country was immunized at once.
Now we get lies and the equivalent of Bush’s idea to help the war.....keep on buying stuff. (Anyvaccine is likely not to be immediate despite Trump’s words.....there is no vaccine against SARS or the common cold variety of corona viruses.)
4
Agree, but for the polio success. In short, polio was overcome after a life-covering vaccine was found and vaccination of children became a mandatory requirement for many contexts.
Regarding testing for Cov19, notice that Italy, that has mandatory single-payer health insurance for all residents, has the largest number of Cov19 cases in the EU, and the strongest quarantine policy. Free testing resulted quickly in closing schools and day-care centers, universities, cinemas and theaters, factories, etc., with army-surveilled quarantine for the epicenters.
This made Italy a Cov19 hot spot.
Nothing of this can ever happen in the US, and it may well turn out to be the best course of action, should Cov19 fade away in spring, like the common cold.
I'm very confused. In Wuhan, where the spread has been the most immense, 3,132 deaths from 90,000 plus transmissions. While no death is acceptable, why the panic in the US? It has been weeks since people may have been infected, and spread the disease, and yet we are not seeing that many cases.
Yes, it's possible people are passing it without their knowledge, and that many are asymptomatic, but wouldn't you think by now we would be seeing active cases, and more fatalities? The flu, has the advantage of having a vaccine, which many don't even use, and is killing thousands, and is also able to be passed easily but Corona is getting all the attention.
Which is not say we shouldn't be taking all the measures we can to prevent it's spread, but so far I don't see why we should be panicked and prediction that we will have millions of cases here in the US.
"Nobody knows more about Coronavirus than me. Nobody."
6
Trump has a peculiar way of understanding inconvenient truths and science and that is to discredit it, destroying the governmental agencies that are responsible for keeping the american public informed and safe. Regulatory and research agencies are being defunded irresponsibly. Yet as Covid -19 spreads globally he continues to speak of containment using agencies that he himself paralyzed. He also imagines that the fed using interest rate cuts can contain the economic damage to the stock market and ignores the economic damage done to people that are unable to go to work, run their businesses or make loan payments.
As Covid -19 spreads the questions are no longer about test kits as models already show that a very high rate of infection will occur and that up to 20% will need hospitalizations. The cost of such a hospitalizations, the cost of testing , medications and need to build a medical infrastructure to treat such a calamity is outside the capacity of the current goldilocks economy to sustain without having major economic long lasting effects.
At a time when cuts to medicare and medicaid have been coming out of Washington, it is clear that we will need a paradigm shift as the private sector will not likely have the economic resources needed...and Trump does not yet seem to understand this, and so he speaks of Democratic and news conspiracies rather than placing the american economy on an emergency footing. He wants Corona to just go away...this is not leadership !
3
Thank you Mr. Krugman for reminding us of the 'conservative' agenda to try and discount Obama's successful efforts to curb the spread of Ebola. We are entering a time when all 'information' should be held with some suspicion until fully vetted and that vetting unfortunately is falling largely to the individual now. Take, for example, this nonsense about masks not being effective. Of course they are effective if worn properly. If not, health workers would not be wearing them either. We have to dig deeper than the headlines we've been trained to scan.
5
The timeline on the virus is shorter than that of global warming. Denial won't be effective for long, because the impacts are unavoidable. If it is true that people are catching it a second time, it suggests that it mutates quickly, or that T cell and antigen do not enable the body to take it out. If either of these are true than vaccines will be largely ineffective.
1
"Our nation stands at a fork in the political road. In one direction lies a land of slander and scare; the land of sly innuendo, the poison pen, the anonymous phone call and hustling, pushing, shoving; the land of smash and grab and anything to win. This is Nixonland. But I say to you that it is not America."
Adlai Stevenson in 1956.
Unfortunately it is still politics in America.
There is no level low enough for Republican tactics.
9
Standing in the checkout line today I got into a conversation with an elderly gentleman who commented on my purchases. Spaghetti was a good idea, he said. I didn't explain that I simply had run out and was not prepping for the Corona virus. He went on to say that he hoped a lot of people would die. Again, I restrained myself from explaining, in this case that he was more likely to die than others, due to his sex and age.
I got to thinking later that maybe he didn't have enough imagination to envision a future in which he was the victim, and therefore it was okay to revile others who are, or will be.
3
The Republicans are so jealous of the remarkable accomplishment of the Affordable Care Act being a real Godsend to America by the Democrats, that they are blinded by that jealously as Republicans have always been the perfect hair nicest suit salesmen who were one upped. They traditionally protect their self esteem by conveying their bold stances to dazzle the followers who are very pleased to be pandered to by instinctive primordial emotion cultivating leadership. Republicans like less educated because they are easier to manipulate from votes to guns. Corporations and wealthy people like that so they have fewer problems with their work force and a ready supply of pumped up gun totters for the military and police forces. Part of that pandering strategy is to ridicule those more educated who are not deceived by their disingenuous leadership. Democrats very calmly appeal to the good senses of everyone while the Republicans are keeping people from thinking clearly for themselves. A case in point is Trump who conveys a "Shock and Awe" strategy of daily chaos with incessant Tweeting and camera time. It's why Television likes Trump and helped him in power. It pays for them to keep people dumb and not questioning their positions. They compensate for glimmers of smarts in the public by repeating by rote, mantras, slogans, and insults of Democrats who care for all Americans. So what do Republicans want to do better than Democrats? Rallies, hats, and trickery. Democrats cure illness.
6
Counterpoint: when Republicans don't trust "the most trusted name in news" CNN (let alone the New York Times), don't you think we have a major societal problem?
I'm personally troubled by the fact that most people have a knee jerk partisan reaction to important news.
Now a liberal can say "reality has a left wing bias" and the media is just reporting the facts, but I don't believe it. I think reality is complicated and resists glib categorization. Most partisans refuse to see nuance. And about bias in the media, what do you make of this report:
Harvard released a study last week that analyzed The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the main newscasts on CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC during Mr. Trump’s first 100 days. No shocker here: 80 percent was negative, just 20 percent positive.
That’s a big change from the past. When the Chosen One, Barack Obama, completed his first 100 days, a similar study found that coverage was 59 percent positive, 41 percent negative. Skewed, but not that bad. The numbers were flipped for George W. Bush, of course: 57 percent negative, 43 percent positive. For Bill Clinton, way back in 1993, in the days when news was news (which means reporters were hard on the president regardless of his political affiliation), the coverage was 60 percent negative, 40 percent positive.
1
@Mmm What do *I* make of the report ? Easy, Trump is woefully unfit to be president and lies constantly. There you go, I just explained why most reports on him are negative; it's because his behavior is negative. Wake up!
1
@Mmm Many words, little said.
The coverage is as intense as in the U.S. all over the media world. Every night at 7:00 p.m., France gives the daily contamination count and the cable news coverage is wall to wall. Which region is impacted, which schools are closed for the upcoming weeks, how small the ban on large events extends. But, in the U.S., everything is about Trump because Trump says so. Hail Nero!
7
The base problem here is one that was inevitable. Trump has a real world crisis, not some "emergency" he's invented so that he can wave his mighty hand and solve it. Reality doesn't respond to tantrums and lies, it just stays real. Trump has nothing to offer in the real world, he has never really had to operate in it, nor think he had to.
Somebody better explain to him that he can't "fire" a virus.
3
"Donald Trump Jr. has accused Democrats of wanting to see millions die." Trump Jr. was parroting his father who would prefer to see millions die rather than admitting that he was wrong to cut funding for programs that do work. Trump has proven, over and over, what a poor manager he is. It's too bad he's using America to prove it. No sensible person would cut programs that work on preventing or dealing with emerging germs, pandemics, etc.
Our medical care system is not up to the demands hundreds of thousands of seriously ill people could make on it. And most of us cannot afford hospital care, losing time at work, or the deductibles our narrow network high deductible health care plans demand of us. America has, with no small amount of help from her politicians, made medical care, routine and otherwise, a luxury.
Worse than that, we have an entire party and administration that believes in nonsense science. They confuse cause and effect, refuse to understand that it benefits no one to deny the possible seriousness of Covid-19, and play the same game with climate change. Of course these attitudes are widespread among his fans and he/the GOP rarely listen to anything outside their charmed circle.
Germs and natural disasters don't care about wealth, intelligence, position, or any of the things we value. They care about surviving and if we get sick in the process, so be it. It's too bad we're going to be forced to relearn this.
3/2/2020 8:08pm first submit
4
Another well-reasoned post, @Hen3ry. You are absolutely right.
It’s beyond ironic that the crisis we dreaded happening in Trump’s kakistocracy would be one so complementary to his areas of destruction.
We are standing and coughing, in the rubble of CDC funding, Homeland Security independence, Administration competence and the simple but profound ability to trust the information coming from the White House.
3
I wonder if one should just move to the Southern Hemisphere now and come back during the summer. Maybe this virus only is viable in cold weather like the flu disappears in late spring.
Read your own columns Krugman , start with your own predictions on where the stock market would be mere months after Trumps election. The nation continues to become more and more divided thanks to those on the left like yourself and your counterparts so to speak on the equally preachy right.
Everything that Trump warns of - corrupt politics, abuses of power, deceitfulness towards the public - are true of him, not of his opponents. So if the Trump team cries foul, you can be sure that it’s something that they are guilty of.
5
I think the paranoia described here comes in part from fear of being found out to be the phonies they know they are and in part from fear of simply losing power. I think the right believes in their own legitimacy by means of a shell game of denial and sticking to messages that seem to ring true to the voters they need. Their foundation is at stake. A person of conviction would turn to the truth. A person of disguise turns to propaganda. The right likes to portray themselves as smarter than liberals who get so much wrong. Trump has bypassed the intellect part and turned that portrayal into belligerence.
2
Don't worry. The coronavirus, from what I hear, prefers to strike only progressive and liberals cells. It has evolved to be able to distinguish between conservative and liberal.
1
It is interesting how anti-science people show up at a hospital when their health is in danger. Don't they know that hospitals and clinics have more science within than the rest of this Milky Way quadrant?
The real threat that Covid-19 poses (for Republicans) is the spectacle of having to raise taxes to cover all of the costs, not only medical but for lost business and the rest of the economy. A fate far worse than death by virus.
2
The Iraq war is the main cause of the present distrust - the liberal media supported the invasion which has caused turmoil throughout the region and hundreds of thousands of deaths. One apology - soon forgotten - is not enough to restore trust. A proper open analysis of how this happened is required.
Mr. Krugman- In your citation of the pundits they do not state corona virus is a hoax. Clearly it is real. They are stating the reaction to this flu-like illness is overblown. The wall to wall coverage by every major media organization (including the Times) is sensationalizing the outbreak.
With the free movement of goods, services and people from low wage, low hygiene third world countries, the unwanted movement of pathogens (Sars, Cornona from China, swineflue from Mexico) and to follow.
In economy speak, yet another derivative effect of globalization
It would be useful to discuss why this unavoidable side effect was not taken into consideration in the analysis of global trade by the proponents of globalization, including this columnist
Conservative paranoia is the least of my worries right now. Here, I am trying to prepare my entire community for what we do NOT know.
The dead come first in America because the government is unprepared and Americans do not have the means to pay for deductibles or a doctor visit just for a fever.
Conservatives underestimate humanity's propensity to panic, in particular in those ranks that are under-educated, under-employed, or superstitious. That just about describes DJT's 40%. Give it some time, and their support will collapse all by itself. They will stay calm - until they don't.
There were many false messiahs in history that give us a good gauge of what comes next. Right now, Evangelicals are ramping up their messianic preparations and invite the disaster as a sign from God. Instead of helping the sick and poor, they will huddle together in their temples.
Having said that, since I do not wish illness or death on anyone, I hope that this is going away like a miracle or a mirage. Will we learn? I doubt that the DJT's 40%ers ever will.
My advise to the 40%ers: go get some supplies, dry food, water, toilet paper, soaps, and needed medications - nothing fancy that you would not otherwise use; learn not to shake hands with anyone, move away from people when you sneeze (into your elbow), and keep your distance; wash your hands often, and do not dare to touch your face, ever.
The 60% know that already.
A.J. Deus
Social Economics of Poverty and Religious Terrorism
3
The bad news is that the Acolytes of Saint Bernard are Trump Lite. The good news about this is that, compared to the other side, the Acolytes are very, very, very Lite. The worst news is that even that degree of Liteness can lead to the Mayvens of False Equivalence taking charge.
1
Trump commits a crime and scathing articles are written about him. So deterred is he that he commits another crime, and again scathing articles are written about him. So, because he is deterred again he commits another crime and scathing articles are written about him. During that time some political things are said and some actions that amount to hand waving happen and Trump is so admonished that he commits another crime. The powers that be see it and know the truth and scathing articles are written about Trump and them. The powers that be are definitely funded, because of the Citizens United decision, by the billionaire class.
2
The movie Idiocracy was remarkably prescient.
3
I am not surprised this whole coronavirus thing has been politicized, particularly in the midst of a presidential campaign. That said, things may not be (I hope) as bad as some fear.
As for the definition of pandemic, that implies rapd international spread between countries, not fatality ratios: https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/7/11-088815/en/ . By those criteria, pandemics are not that infrequent.
Then we come to the USA deaths, but if we consider 1-2 thousand people already in Washington state (possibly) then the 6 nursing home deaths, however sad they might be, do not rise to cataclysmic proportions. This gets to a problem already noted: the tendency to focus on fatalities without knowing the denominator.
What is a major concern is the current administration's attitude towards public health funding: https://fortune.com/2020/02/26/coronavirus-covid-19-cdc-budget-cuts-us-trump/ . Why go into a fight with one arm tied behind your back? This makes no sense on any level.
In Wuhan alone, there were 1800 50 person tracing teams to identify contacts and verify quarantines... They have the ability to test 1.5 million patients.....we have tested less than 500.....Trump could care less and the people he puts in charge care more about their loyalty to him that the welfare of our people. I do not see Pence, Azar, or Redford head of the CDC having ANY urgency about this virus. The speed and coordination of the response MATTERS.
1
Trump hid his incompetent response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and 3000 perished. By the time the truth surfaced the public moved on and Trump emerged unscathed. He's trying the same game plan on Coronavirus which is why so little testing is being done. Problem for Trump is that this is not a Hurricane but a slow moving, death train that will produce bad news on a constant basis and affect business profits which in turn affects the stock market, Trump's Kryptonite!
2
“On the eve of the 2018 midterms, a survey found 73 percent of Republican senators denying the scientific consensus that man-made climate change is happening.” Hopefully younger Republicans see through this!
Fair enough to call out Bernie supporters misunderstanding the ruling class for an oligarchic conspiracy. But maybe then it’s also be good to equally call out m Bloomberg, assorted Clintonites, and other centrists spouting their own conspiracies, eg about Putin getting Sanders the nomination and such nonsense.
1
Bush saw 'facts' that did not exist and got us into a war that killed thousands.
Trump refuses to see facts that exist and will get us into an outbreak that will kill thousands.
Two sides of the same GOP coin.
2
Krugman: "This craziness was, however, entirely predictable to anyone who has been following right-wing politics. It’s just the latest battle in a long-running war on truth, on the very idea that there exists an inconvenient objective reality."
This is of a piece with the psychology of narcissists: it is always different rules for the narc, the narc's rules; and the narc is always the victim, whining about how she or he has been mistreated. Reality is what the narc says it is, and you will be viciously assaulted if you claim otherwise. We who are not Republican are in an abusive relationship with the Trump administration -- and we are trying to kick them out. Republicans love their toxic relationship.
Even paranoiacs have enemies - and Trump has gone out of his way, in so many ways, to create millions of them.
So you’re analogizing insane right wing claims that Covid-19 is a hoax with some Sanders spokesperson who said opposition to taxing wealth is a view from the billionaire class and corporate media? Where is the equivalence there, exactly?
It's a bit hard to believe that a NYT op-ed leads with a photo captioned, "Conspiracy or no, consumers nearly cleared the shelves of hand sanitizer and face masks."
NEARLY. The caption says NEARLY. While hand sanitizer product is clearly, visibly still in stock. I doubt that Krugman had anything to do with approving that graphic+caption, yet the shear hystericality of it flavors what follows.
Where Krugman is personally responsible for missing the ball is his assessment of inflation under Obama, and more generally inflation in the 21st Century. I would love to hold onto CPI and its variants as consistent, and therefore comforting, statistics. But that isn't the only way that inflation rears its ugly head.
We now experience inflation not as rising prices at the butcher counter, but rather as asset bubbles that arise, inflate, explode, and take down related institutions. We need a LOT more intellectual dexterity from our academics in this realm. We need our academics to think actually and truly outside the orthodoxy of their disciplines. If the price of hamburger isn't rising, but the price of housing is leading toward a bubble that is going to blow up and strip wealth from retired folks whose homes are long paid for, what is the orthodox economic model for that?
The world has become far too complex to be examined through the lens of economics.
1
Here's an idea: Because the virus is all a Democratic hoax to embarrass Donald Trump, all the reddest Trump states should take absolutely no precautions whatsoever. No hand-washing, no vaccines, no doctor visits, no hospital admissions, no medicines. There is no better way for Trump die-hards to prove themselves right than to actually risk dying for their beloved Donald.
4
I think the extent to which the Republican party has debased itself and insulted the intelligence of those whose support they need to remain in power is (finally) registering with a majority of the U.S. electorate.
Today's G.O.P. is, first and foremost, the party of intellectual dishonesty. It is hard to imagine a more appropriate standard-bearer for such a sinister operation than Donald J. Trump.
2
Coronavirus doesn't know left or right, Republicans or Democrats, joust kills who catches.
So it is out of mind saying that Dems are waiting millions to die.
My hope is that Coronavirus will pick more on the Republican site, so they will stop denying any scientific evidence.
Paranoid is the correct word to describe Trump. He operates from his own set of facts that bear no resemblance to the truth. Anything that detracts from his image of himself is either a hoax or a witch hunt. Now even a pandemic is a hoax designed to make him look bad. There is no way that he can deal effectively with such vast national problems.
We don't know at this point what the fatality rate might be for those infected. I have this on the best authority, after having surmised the same independently.
The authority is Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said as much in an interview on NBC News. He added even if the current projections of probable death rates are reduced to 1% of those infected, it would still be far more lethal than the seasonal flu.
Here is the basic problem: we (meaning doctors, scientists and governments) don't know how many people have been infected. The best point of reference is likely Wuhan, China, the source of the outbreak. Since the virus has many aspects of the common flu and colds, many more people might have it who have not been diagnosed. If the number is much larger than what is on the record, it would mean the death rates are much lower.
The fact that the death rate was estimated to be so high is a major factor in world wide reaction to Covid-19. It is possible, as new information becomes available, that the statistical death rate number will be lowered. Thankfully, this virus is not believed to be hitting children hard and, overall, about 80% of the cases have had mild symptoms.
Trump's denials might actually balance out. Not taking action on COVID -19 might reduce economic activity (and in the worse case, population) by so much that it helps reduce the output of greenhouse gases.
1
What do you want the president to do? Mr. Trump has organized a team of top experts to coordinate a national response. He’s brought in the most-dreaded-by-the-left big pharmaceutical companies to work on treatment/vaccines.
What would your response be had the president closed all airports and schools to avoiding spreading the disease? The howls from the left would be deafening.
1
@Collie Sue
"team of top experts to coordinate a national response. " -- And told them to say absolutely nothing unless approved by the US Dept of Prayer (i.e., the VP). And as far as "[the President] organized...", please forgive me, but I'll pass on believing that, based on his highly consistent track record of being highly consistently disorganized.
4
@Collie S
While the rest of the world tried to cope with increasing numbers of people ill with Coronavirus Mr Trump stated it was a left wing and Democratic Party conspiracy to damage him. I clearly remember the SARS problem and that was bad just as the Ebola outbreak is bad.
That frittered away preparation time so now there could be a preparedness problem ranging from hospital beds to testing kits to the district's of needed supplies.
At 69 I could be considered in the high risk group even though I don't have an underlying medical condition that compromises my immune system. I do have a history of pneumonia a few times so I keep up on my pneumonia and flue shots.
Listening to Mr Trump when he was making his remarks about this virus being a hoax all I could think was Nero playing the lute as Rome burned. The press conference he had to talk about this virus he displayed the same attitude he did when the Democrats took control of the House. iE How can I spin this to make me look good.
I spent most of my work life in Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Rehabilitation Centers, and Psychiatric Centers. I know how serious an outbreak like this can be. So I have been watching and hoping the U.S. will not be as badly affected as other countries but I fear for us.
Just an old white man's opinion....
1
Too many folks lack critical thinking skills and too many folks with critical thinking skills choose not to use them. Even though it's been debunked that Aristotle said the following, someone did say it sometime and it's quite appropriate here: "The mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
2
Politics in America are for me exhausting, discouraging, disappointing.
The Green New Deal, while not perfect, was at least a real plan to combat the end of our planet for us - with climate change and global warning. Yet the two candidates taking this threat seriously - Sanders and Warren - are ganged up on by so many other candidates dropping out and going in with Joe Biden.
Biden is a has been. He has run for the presidency several times. He has no fresh ideas and is not a good debater.
I am angry that, for the second time, I am told that I should vote a certain way the night before the primary here in California. The last time I was told - June 2016 - that Mrs. Clinton had the race in the bag. This is just wrong.
I am going to vote for Bernie Sanders. He is inspiring, leading, and has a wonderful grassroots campaign.
In the midst of conspiracies and who knows what else about the coronavirus, I will go to the polls, touch the screen for a number of candidates - carefully researched - then go home and scrub my hands.
3
The Trump strategy seems to be a quite reprehensible but rational hedging bet.
By downplaying the danger, if Covid-19 peters out like Sars, Trump can claim calm prescience.
If it becomes a pandemic, he can claim evil Democrats were behind it who always wanted millions to die.
What's not to like?
3
Trump said he did not know that people died from the flu until recently. But, I saw an article that showed a copy of a death certificate that indicated Trump’s grandfather died from the 1918 flu. It looked authentic. If true this, this means that he does not have the curiosity to understand his own family’s history let alone the country’s.
Trying to appear smart, he asked if an older really strong flu vaccine would against this virus.
Many articles have appeared in the “fake news” NYT explaining how this stuff works. Trump is in charge of the country and he does not understand basic stuff.
Someone is controlling him when submits budgets zeroing programs that we need. A smart person would not have allowed it. After Trump zeroed the response program, his son said that the Democrats are rooting for Americans to die. Even his son does not appreciate the irony in what he is saying.
4
"This desire to minimize the danger to the market distorted the whole government response to the outbreak."
The lag in testing due to the CDC's errors in creating testing kits was, I believe, partly due to lack of funding, and lack of interest by Team Trump eager to ignore the virus.
He finally created a task force, but only under duress, and now, nobody can even criticize dear leader, let alone the experts such as Dr. Fauci who stands there (probably dying inside) at all the statistical errors Pence is spewing out.
That Dr. Fauci et al have to run statements past Pence is beyond Orwellian.
But of course, the blame game has taken over when stock market let Trump know his paranoid attempts to hide the truth were no longer working.
Isn't it rich that Team Trump cares more about his election chances than the well-being of the rest of us?
7
If you repeat a lie often enough eventually many will come to believe it is true. And if the lie can be pared with a accepted conspiracy theory all the better! The public owns the airwaves and we should insist on Congressional oversight of the use of them. PBS is a gem. Fox News is pure evil. Time to take back our airwaves from billionaires’ media control!
10
As with other issues of public health and wellbeing in the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak matter also the escapist route the Trump administration has adopted is to declare the whole Covin-19 disease scare a hoax and conspiracy against Trump. Unlike other countries that are addressing the coronavirus menace earnestly, the standard template the Trump administration is following to avoid accountability and action is to deny the whole problem be it the climate catastrophe or national security threat or even the current global health emergency caused by the Covin-19.
4
The retaliatory Iranian missile strikes caused "just headaches" to our troops, according to Trump. I'm sure he will assure us that the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak are trivial as well.
4
Civilization is a thin layer of paint spread over the bare wood of humanity to prevent rot. View any Trump rally to see where the paint has peeled off. Chants, jeers, name calling, demands for punishment of opponents is evidence of a world without rules or mercy. Republicans have spent decades tearing away safety nets and guardrails to win elections with Trump being the logical culmination. Trump has hollowed out government and the idea of civility in the name of self interest. After three years of avoiding consequences for The Party of Trump, the rot is showing. There are few available tools for dealing with a possible health or financial crisis and tweets or Fox declarations will not paper over the damage done. Of course, The Party of Trump will blame Obama and the Democrats, but that won’t repair the damage and they haven’t been big on programs to fix problems, so the bell could be tolling for all of us.
7
The best way to prevent the virus, according to Mike Pence, is to smoke cigarettes, which are good for you. Makes sense in the inverted universe he lives in.
1
COVID-19 is so overblown by the media. All Trump supporters should throw away their govt supported medical coverage, be it Medicare and Medicaid, and keep attending his rallies en-masse, even when coughing and wheezing with COVID-19. If they get sick, they need to remember that this is a hoax, and not seek medical help under any circumstances, even when breathing is tough (time for the tough to get going). When someone dies, immediately hold a wake with all the fellow Trump supporters. All sneezing must be done onto the hand
A few cycles of this and we may have a better country.....
4
People are dying from this virus which appears to have between a 1-2 percent mortality rate overall, but that is disproportionately higher for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. The Minister of Health in the United Kingdom (U.K.) expected that 80 percent of the British population would contract the virus with 500,000 deaths. With over four times the population of the U.K. that could mean an astonishing 2 million fatalities here! It's clear that the administration is more concerned with cockamamie conspiracy theories aimed at deflecting blame from Trump onto others like the media and Democrats than with providing factual information and helpful actions for a frightened and even panicked population wanting useful information on how to best protect themselves from the coronavirus (Covid-19). So here's the best advice I, a retired professor of public health, can offer: avoid crowds and unnecessary travel; wash your hands frequently and keep them from your face and do not shake hands with others; do not get a face mask since health professionals and those already ill need them and we don't; make sure you have a 90-day supply of your medications; don't seek out medical care unless you have a sore throat, cough and fever; and above all stay calm by not listening to the the Trump political spin machine.
5
Ah, yes, the Sanders people are as guilty as the right-wing loonies of spreading conspiracy myths... and it's not false equivalence to say so, is it?
Bernie Sanders would be a middle of the road unexceptional politician in France. You know that, but there's something up in the elite in this country. Somehow, the French model, which you have praised again and again is okay as a model, but when a politician comes along who wants to implement it, something happens.
Of course, this is an outrage, and you are aware that it is. And the result will be that you and David Brooks will elect Trump to a second term (Biden is a poor simulacrum of Clinton at best). What is it that makes you do this?
The insurance companies will never go along with Medicare for all, something you have repeated ad nauseum. Really? What about les mutuelles in France? You know about them. They are private institutions. They don't exist? You are unable to point to them as examples?
What motivates you?
2
You should read the column more carefully. Krugman hardly put the distortions put out by the Sanders campaign on par with the Trump disinformation machine. But Krugman is an intellectual who makes his living thinking. He doesn’t like falsehood no matter its source. I’m in the same business as Paul and so I’m entirely sympathetic.
1
Actually, staunch Republicans who adamantly deny global warming will privately acknowledge the climate is definitely warming and they’re worried.
It’s complicated, but first off the Republican Party has spent decades denying climate change; they can’t just come out and say, “Yeah, it’s real”. Bad optics, to say the least.
Secondly, the leader of their party denies climate change. Mr Trump treats any disagreement with his great and unmatched wisdom as treason most foul, and he will attack his critics. Republicans are scared of Mr Trump.
Thirdly, enterprises whose business model depends on fossil fuels buy Republican affections with generous donations and political support. Republicans need their money and support.
Fourthly, influential conservative political groups think of climate denial as a core conservative credential; it’s a hoax that only America hating liberals believe in.
Of course conservatives know climate change is for real: The Heritage Foundation just hired a paid shill whose job is to discredit climate change using junk science, cherry-picked “evidence” and disinformation.
When a political party has been been lying to its supporters for decades, it’s more than embarrassing to suddenly tell them the truth, it’s close to political suicide.
5
To put HIV Pence in charge means thoughts and prayers. Republicans just don't care about the living. They only care about the unborn. Doesn't cost a penny. If they are to going to lose money or elections because of it, things will change. These are Republican priorities .
2
Paul Krugman is right (as always, to my mind). But deceit isn’t just dangerous to we UNdeceived. Deliberate deception works to keep its motives concealed—in this case, a singular focus on retaining power that serves the interests of financial backers. (Actually, Trump is just a front man, as was Ronald Reagan.)
The paranoid style isn’t just a syndrome that deserves exposure. It’s a calculating strategy. It’s aware of itself; and persists because it gets results.
Trumpist voters must be brought to better understand HOW they’re being exploited for purposes unrelated to them. Trump isn’t, for example, just a corvid-19-risk denier, which is irresponsible and dangerous. He’s a diabolical businessman playing with others’ lives for his financial BACKERS’ benefit. Those dazzled supporters are methodically dazzled in order to distract from their disposable role in keeping a regime looking good.
Sanders, on the other hand, is non-duplicitously propagandistic in order to dramatize a vital message: Trumpism isn’t about Trump. It’s about the financial backers who need a voter result that will keep their front man in front. (But Elizabeth Warren is the better messenger, NOT Sanders.)
Trump’s not going to be voted out of office because he’s deceitful. His game looks shrewd to his base. He’s going to be voted out because his great phoniness of mad method is to be pervasively de-clothed.
2
America is also a nation of obese, unhealthy people with terrible lifestyle habits like smoking. Unfortunately, the type that will require ventilation and expensive care. Covid-19 bankruptcy will be common however tragic.
The American public is like the frog in a pot that doesn't realize it's getting hotter until it burns to death. Republicans are disparaging the legitimacy of Democratic institutions--the courts, the media, elections, Justice, Intelligence, yet their supporters remain loyal.
White nationalism rises; anti intellectualism is lauded, and a woman's right to safe and legal abortion is in real danger. Climate change is upon us. The Affordable Care Act is
endangered and there's an effort to whittle Security and Medicare benefits. Infrastructure is crumbling.
Our borders are closed to the desperate, and the suffering are herded like cattle, their children taken and put it cages.
But we do have tax cuts for the wealthiest among us and a propaganda television station owned by the beneficiaries of those tax cuts. These changes have been orchestrated over the past three decades by the Republican Party's ultra conservative and very wealthy contingent. Our deranged president is just their tool.
The pot is coming to a boil. Will the people jump out in time?
2
Only I can fix it, says Trump. Yes,he will indeed fix us real good, especially if he believes that science is a hoax too.
2
There is an overt campaign by the same folks who brought us the HRC debacle, establishment Democrats, we know how that turned out. Seems like circular firing squads will continue as usual in the Democratic Party.
1
Mike Pence, who doesn't believe in evolution or science is the point man on the corona virus, so here a couple of things he needs to know: first, viruses evolve and very rapidly too so tomorrow's virus may not be the same as today's and only science , not prayer, will save us
2
No matter the issue, conservatives ALWAYS accuse opponents of some nefarious tactics every time they don’t get THEIR way...
1
I opened this article because I had guessed, based on the author, that there would be some almost entirely irrelevant dig at Bernie Sanders. Mr. Krugman is demonstrating the strong correlation between being a blatant partisan, and being very boring.
2
Here's a quick test to determine how much each one of us knows about coronaviruses.
Q: How many people reading this post can say FOR SURE that they have been infected by a coronavirus?
A: Every single one of us.
There are six major coronaviruses. SARS & MERS are coronaviruses. COVID-19 is a disease contracted by people infected by the coronavirus labeled SARS-CoV-2.
The most common coronavirus on the planet is the common cold. Anybody here never had a cold?
If you don't understand even this basic fact about coronaviruses, how can you determine what danger this current SARS-CoV-2 is to their own lives?
Do you even know what the critical R₀ ratio (called R-naught or R-zero) is that indicates whether the virus will continue to spread or will likely die out? Hint: the R₀ ratio for COVID-19 is currently believed to be between 2.5 and 3.5 (the number keeps going up the more VERIFIED data is collected). The R₀ ratio for the 1918 Spanish Flu was between 1.4 and 2.5 and it circled the globe and killed an estimated 50 million people. Even with a 2% death rate among infected people (and that is also climbing, particularly by age to as high as 12%), COVID-19 has the capacity to kill 160 million.
How many think that a low death percentage among the infected is better than a high one? It's just the opposite, especially combined with the long incubation period before symptoms begin to show. Quick onset of symptoms & a high death rate actually contain the spread of the disease.
1
@Beartooth
"onset of symptoms & a high death rate actually contain the spread of the disease." -- In other words, we can do the country a favor by getting sick & dying quickly. Sounds familiar. :)
2
Fear is a powerful tool. Get people afraid and they cease to think logically. Those with an agenda have learned this. Once drugs were allowed to be advertised on TV it's a barrage of diseases most have never heard of but can be contained by a pharmaceutical choice. It used to be the doctor that told you what was needed, now it's the patient from an ad. We've become accustomed to fear mongering.
Make someone afraid of something and you can then sell them something, even an idea. Conspiracy buffs cannot be swayed. Since the "facts" are ethereal it must be a cover up. Make up the facts and of course they can't be proven. Most of all the conspiracy theorist is "in the know." Only they and like minded are the true believers. In a way it's a heightened form of religion, a grandiose leap of faith.
Political spoils are great, power and money. Donald Trump has taken it to the far ends of abuse. He's spent his life spewing conspiracy theories and finally found takers. He's an updated version of the snake oil salesmen of old.
The Corona virus conspiracy is just an offshoot of that. He knows his audience although as he didn't cause this "hoax" it may be a leap too far if more people get sick. Then he'll learn what real not manufactured fear is all about. And for that he will have no clue. Hence, Pence, to take the fall. A con man with a plan.
4
You are always right on the facts. We'll stipulate that. I suggest that you can argue them better, with a small concession to those who are unsure of their facts.
Here: graf 4, 'By the way'. What follows is an important point. You put anyone who didn't know it on the back foot (I'm among them). Instead, start 'Did you know?'
graf 17: 'Last time I checked, however': this old wheeze is always dismissive of someone, whether an opponent or a reader. Leave it out, or say 'It's the job of the opposition to hold the administration to account for its blunders'.
Professor, you might not get out much. The Dumbing-Down Of America has Worked. You CAN fool some of the people all the time. And those people are called Republicans. A continuous dose of FOX propaganda, several helpings per week of fundamentalist “religious” indoctrination, and the nearly exclusive company of like-minded individuals, in many areas and States. And the Internet: a vast repository of wild theories and truly bizarre speculation and vicious rumor mongering.
And the response to this Virus outbreak: Dr. Trump and His Magnificent Medicine Show.
God Bless America.
3
However it was never a conspiracy when Trump accused Obama of the most outlandish falsehoods.
Everything Donald Trump complains about his opponents doing he has done numerous times himself.
3
A friend of mine went on an Italian cruise that docked back in America on Saturday, February 29th. No one met the boat to take temperatures or check for illness.
How many other cruise ships docked here last week? How many people came in on planes from areas that weren't already on the "watch list"?
I spent last week in an Airbnb in northern California. The host told me she wasn't taking any more reservations because her brother, who is in the military, had flown back to America from Vietnam 2 weeks ago with a stopover in Hong Kong. He was slightly ill on his flight and became sicker after he returned home. Then his son got sick and then his wife. To date, no one in this family has been tested.
If this isn't gross negligence by our "stable genius" and his merry band of swamp things, I don't know what would qualify.
3
It all happens so fast: the lies, the misdirection, the gas lighting. It's absolutely dizzying. How long ago was it that Trump declared that the soldiers injured in the Iranian rocket attack only suffered from "headaches" and the truth about their brain damage was swept under the rug. When was it ? Days, weeks, yesterday ? Now we have the same minimizing by Trump and his allies of this viral threat. "It's a common cold" or "it's a hoax", etc. Headaches and colds = brain damage and a deadly virus in Trumps world. And yet his popularity holds steady and the odds of his winning reelection have recently improved . Are we witnessing the decline and fall of the American experiment? I hate to say it, but right now, unless the Democrats unite, the answer is very likely..yes.
3
We all need to call Trump ‘the Whiner in Chief’ day after day after day. The same kind of simple messaging he has so effectively used against others needs to be used against him.
1
Virus denial.
Climate change denial.
Abortion services denial.
Equitable health insurance denial.
Reasonable national education denial.
Policymaker personal accountability denial.
Toxic conspiracy denial.
The existence of a WE-THEY violating culture denial.
The denial of America as a safe haven to
a range of oppressed and vulnerable people.
The denial of menschlichkeit as a value, norm and ethic.
The “denial” of ethical underpinnings to basic laws of justice.
DENIAL, enabled not by a biological virus;
by ordinary complacent and complicit folk.
3
Not to worry Republicans have a tonic for what ails you. Its called Cash is Trash. From Pandemics to creating boom economies the solution is to make cash cheaper again. All you need is to do is cut taxes and print money. The result is corporatations borrow to produce dividends and of course pay off government debts with 1 % interest rates. However; the real magic is no inflation, in wages. Of course everything from the cost of real food to transportation, to living space, to healthcare to education, etc is inflating at the speed of a new tweet. Oh did I forget as the earth warms there will be more Pandemics.
1
trump does not need any help in making himself look bad; he is quite capable of that all on his own. To make matters worse, his propaganda cadre amplify his mistakes and gaffes when they attempt to spin them.
It would be so easy for Bernie Sanders to calm the fears of some who would support him, after all Prof. Krugman a so called moderate, supports his wealth tax and so much else. Just a few words recognizing the difficulty of Congressional passage and working with others would do. But it seems Bernie and his bros are in attack mode, not only against Trump but their own democratic party which they claim has sighted them. There is truth to this, but holding a grudge does not fix the situation. Bernie can win the nomination and the election with just a little help from his would be friends.
1
The states most at risk from coronavirus are the red states that refused to take on medicare expansion. The people not covered by halth insurance will eventually contract the virus and spread it like wildfire. They will not have insurance and so will flood the emergency rooms and urgent care. The costs will be enormous and the states will be left picking up the tab.
Rather Malthusian, isn't it?
2
The idea of Republicans, Trump and his die hard supporters is just to put up so much flak that people can't figure out what is true or not and then just give up. Some will simply file away the false claims as fact and that will be it. Others will turn away, disgusted with conflicting claims and then tune out information. Just planting a question in the minds of many as to whether it could be some weird conspiracy is enough.
We should note, however, that lot of misleading information has been put out simply through sloppiness and a desire to sound the alarm. Maps that show the world Covid-19 cases by country have had the entire US in the same color as Italy or Iran, when the numbers here are nowhere near what they are in those other countries. (The Times' map did not give this false impression, with the number 80 over the US rather than the whole country painted red.)
Covid-19 is not a pandemic...yet. Declaring it one is up to health officials and experts here and around the globe. This is important. Measures to stop the spread might still work.
The lethality rate is highly important in deciding what kinds of protective measures must be taken. We don't hide out from the flu, but early indications were the Covid-19 would have a much higher death rate. That number, however, will be continually examined and, presumably, updated.
2
Spending billions on a border wall that somehow does not protect us from viruses shows trumps folly. Also dismantling Obama’s emergency response team slowed response allowing the spread. Now I am not allowed to visit my own mother who is at an assisted living facility in Seattle. I understand it’s for her own safety along with the entire facility’s. But testing could have been available sooner if we got the German test kits out.
6
I remember swine flu and avian flu, and the subsequent media coverage.
What I do not remember is media coverage regarding financial impact, the stock market going into a spiral, etc.
Admittedly, I am having a hard time understanding what is so different this time - I'm hoping NY Times will explain.
@Kenny Fry
One big reason is Trump and his focus on the strong market. Anything that denigrates him is big news now. People like Bill Maher are openly calling for a recession just to stick it to him.
1
And what is the difference between Republicans and Chinese or Russians controlling the information their public receives? Are the Republicans emulating the information controls of the Chinese during the epidemic there? I think so.
4
Paul, this one fact stands out, namely that " On the eve of the 2018 midterms, a survey found 73 percent of Republican senators denying the scientific consensus that man-made climate change is happening."
After the Kavanaugh and the Impeachment hearings, nothing should surprise us about the Republicans. However, for them not to believe in the overwhelming Scientific consensus says to me that like lemmings that are following their leader over the foggy cliff of ignorance and obtuseness. The Republican party needs to be soundly defeated in November. They do not deserve to lead this country.
10
There is money to fund some of the needed rebuilding and escalation in public health services: stop funding a useless border wall and put the money towards something that would help the public and national defense. Can the Trump administration do this: probably not. It will take a Congress that has the power to force the issue.
3
Here is one really important fact about Covid-19 that should be headline news: we don't know at this point what the fatality rate might be for those infected. I have this on the best authority, after having arrived at the same conclusion independently.
The authority Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said as much tonight in an interview on NBC News. He added even if the current projections of probable death rates are reduced to 1% of those infected, it would still be far more lethal than the common flu which circulates every year.
Here is the basic problem: we (meaning doctors, scientists and governments) don't know how many people have been infected. The best point of reference is likely Wuhan, China, the source of the outbreak. Since the virus has many aspects of the common flu and colds, many more people might have it who have not been diagnosed. If the number is much larger than what is on the record, it would mean the death rates are much lower.
We now have to act as those the threat of death is very high, perhaps higher than 2% as indicated by the early statistics. Even if it were drastically lower, the virus still might require great efforts at protection and containment.
How do you act on an unknown? We know people are dying, we just don't know the rate of death for certain relative to those who have the virus.
7
@Doug Terry
What we rarely hear about is the survival rate.
1
When a president or a political Party is founded on lies and fear and misdirection, it is the duty of the press, the media to tell the truth and expose every lie and misdirection especially during an emergency. It is necessary for the media to expose the lie that the news is the news, not a hoax. In fact calling news, facts, evidence must be exposed explicitly and frequently. Trump has made the Presidency untrustworthy.
12
@Joseph Huben
Paul Krugman consistently gets things wrong as demonstrated by his prognostications over the past 10 years especially over the past 4 years. Based on his economic and politic predictions, he has a 200 batting average but he is one of those type of people that will tell the umpire, the voter, that they just simply do not understand because he is smarter then them. After striking out, he shakes his head and is frustrated as he walks to the dugout.
To give advice and counsel, you need to get it right once in a while as your credibility suffers.
@Joseph Huben The democrats?
1
Super Tuesday gives Democratic voters a chance to decide whether the status quo will continue to ignore common people or whether we will have a government that is for the people. Is this really a time to choose more of the same?
3
@Dr. T, Meaning what exactly? You brought up an empty argument.
When you have a bridge that is structurally unsound, the best thing to happen is a flood. There might be death, but you can rebuild stronger than before. All subsequent trips across the bridge will be safe and not a roll of the dice until the ultimate happens.
The same can be said for healthcare. Our private system cannot survive an onslaught of any pandemic because many thousands will file for bankruptcy and the whole house of cards will fall upon itself.
But if coronavirus decimates our private insurance, we can rebuild with Medicare for All.
The sooner it happens, the less risk we face going forward.
Elizabeth Warren is the only candidate with the ‘smarts’ to get this done.
Vote Elizabeth today so you won’t have to worry tomorrow.
7
@PC we adore Liz. We are saddened for her low performance in previous caucuses and primaries. We are hopeful she will join hands and hearts with Bernie Sanders campaign and create a strong alternative to Biden who is likely to be summoned by house and senate republicans as revenge for impeachment proceedings. Even the diplomats were uncomfortable about Hunter Biden involvement in burisma. John Kerry’s stepson Chris Heinz infancy warned hunter against joining burisma board but he didn’t pay heed to the warning. What followed was a misjudgment on the part of Hunter Biden and failure on part of Joe Biden to distance himself from his adult son’s lack of judgement. This thing is going to play out in the coming months with much hair and teeth pulling.
3
The coronavirus is a a real test to evaluate the effect of universal healthcare vs the USA style healthcare. How many people are affected and how many casualties in USA vs Europe.
5
@Simon van Dijk, There will be tens of thousands more in Europe.
It may interest to you, that at least one group of Americans is working on a test for corona virus that will take 15 minutes, instead of 24 hours. This is the same group that worked on the ebola tests.
2
@Simon van Dijk I believe Italy has Universal healthcare, and for a country with a population less than CA and TX combined, it sure looks like a fail with this virus
Trump isn’t making the Coronavirus a political “issue”. To do that he would have to be smart enough to actually understand the “issue”. As reported yesterday, despite access to medical professionals, Trump is incapable of making the distinction between the flu and the virus. He also has a childlike understanding ( most likely from a combination of watching too much fictional TV and doing too little reading of any genre ) to understand how vaccines are created, tested and then distributed.
Unless someone with a expertise in infectious disease can explain with the use of flash cards how the Coronavirus spreads and is eventually eradicated, then Trump will continue confuse a potential pandemic the way fifth graders use to talk about cooties.
Trump continued comments about a pending vaccine at his rallies is not sound politics, it is just a new iteration of his delusional thinking that he alone can fix things. At his rally he explained how he called on the pharmaceutical industry to create a vaccine to fight the virus. A VACCINE requiring no testing; sheer brilliance! No, this is not politics for Trump. No, what we are witnessing is just a delusional man-child thinking he can etch-a-sketch a solution to a pandemic. Trump makes us feel slightly safer then if a group of 6th graders concoct a virus remedy from expired lunch meat ,fruit punch and Flintstone vitamins.
26
@Leslie Yet another NYT editorial in the last 2 days complained that much more than minimal testing was a Big Pharma scam to delay a vaccine. At some point it can't be both...
I wonder how well received I'd be if I went to a Trump rally with the sniffles and a cough. I could wear a sign that said not to worry, it's only a "cold". I bet a lot of folks would clear away in spite of their overlord's insistence that there's nothing to worry about. At some point, self-interest conquers blind fealty.
15
Respiratory infection is a hoax.
I agree, Paul Krugman, on many points with you. But I do feel that the oligarchy as a rule, is our biggest problem. I don't see that as a conspiracy theory, but an economic fact. It is an animal that seeks it's own safety at the expense of the safety of all of the rest of us. So it is quite natural for people to lump the experts together, and become paranoid at either end of the political spectrum. There's just enough truth in Trump's reports for people to relate. And that's the part that is deadly. He is a master manipulator..a first class con man. And his abilities are the real danger to our democratic republic, not the likes of Bernie Sander supporters who are pointing out who the real enemy is..the billionaire class. Call them the left, neoliberal or trumpsters....they who seek to support the billionaire hegemony are the real problem wittingly or unwittingly. We need Bernie Sanders who would give us a reset badly needed. It's highly unlikely he would get everything done he would like, but it comes closest to undo the power of our present ruling class. It would be like the return of FDR. The oligarchy would need to listen up just as they had to decades ago.
8
Bernie as FDR. Embarrassing.
If the administration would approach the Covid-19 with the same intensity they do the re-election campaign, we would have Tzar Pence communicating to the American people what the plan is and would report on its implementation, including the shortage of sanitation products will be solved. Practice some supply chain.
This shortage will replicate in food and other services and, products as the virus spread. I also want to know what steps are being taken to prevent a collapse of the health system.
What bothers me the most is that comparing flu deaths with Covid-19 deaths does not solve the problem. It is just dismissing deaths as collateral damage. Trump probably has a team already planning how this crisis can benefit him. Let us eat cake.
9
It’s time for a left-wing counterfictional: Trump disbanded the pandemic infection team and slashed CDC funding in the hope that COVID-19 will cull the elderly. The GOP has been stymied in attempts to cut the Medicare program so now they’re trying an end-around to reduce the population that drives Medicare spending by selfishly surviving in retirement.
17
@Harvey
Thanks for the superb conspiracy theory. I live in Florida now, a tax refugee from NJ, and am now on Medicare. It is not free, but for my wife and I together comes to some $1500 per month- a much better deal than the ACA plan she had at $1800 per month with a $3000 threshold of out of pocket expense.
The anxiety we are seeing about COVID-19 is the anxiety Americans face about falling ill in our underinsured society with chaotic and unpredictable health care bills beyond the reach of most people.
For those who wish to minimize the risk of the virus, let me explain: it would be one thing if you knew you could be tested, treated or triaged without simultaneously bankrupting your family. It's quite another situation when even to get a test requires crossing a Rubicon of uncoordinated facilities and providers, with the potential for surprise bills around every corner.
We need a clear directive, stat, from the CDC and the White House that anyone who needs care will get it, and for free, including the tests. That way, we can test widely and quarantine as necessary and protect our fellow citizens as much as possible.
The Wild West of our healthcare system and its outrageous financial impact on everyday Americans has to stop, right now, as it is exacerbating the impact of this tragic epidemic.
13
There is the thinnest of thin lines between a Sanders senior adviser blaming right wingers and billionaires for anti-wealth tax positions and Paul Krugman's blaming some of the same people for "Zombie" ideas. The media wave against Bernie, even from progressives, is astonishing.
7
I guess what shocks me is the tone of Wall Street Journal reader-commentors. Gerald Seib wrote a perfectly calm reasonable article in that publication comparing Sanders and Biden, and the outpouring of enraged, paranoid comments from readers is overwhelming. It's a tone that the WSJ editorial board has been cultivating for some time. One worries that such folks would be unable to accept the results of any election that Trump does not win.
4
@Bbwalker
I would argue that the problem with election results won't come from Trump supporters. Look closely at the Left's behavior. Does it look like a group that will accept the establishment's very obvious moves to protect the party against a Sanders nomination?
Talk about a mutiny.
2
Right now Switzerland still knows how each person caught the virus but we are surrounded by countries who are losing control. Our health care minister has told us the virus will get out of control, maybe today or maybe tomorrow, but what we need to do now is gain time. Time to learn more about the little beast and how to treat it. Every day counts. It's a good feeling to know our politicians are taking our future seriously
9
Bernie's agenda is far more aggressively trying to address the main issues that the average Democrat and independent wants help with. His proposals want to take away the problems of the lower sections of the populations. From healthcare costs, to student debt, to the high cost of education Bernie wants to intervene on behalf of the struggling masses. He has already pushed hard for a $15.00 minimum wage and in many places it has already been implemented. All other candidates are supporting this, including Biden.
They have all labeled Bernie as a leftist, which is unpopular in America. A closer look shows that Bernie's agenda is not about left or right. It is what the American people need. They are looking for a leader who will address their problems. It looks like Biden has promises and Bernie has concrete well laid out plans. Bernie's plans will bust the budget but it will be for the sake of the people, unlike Biden's vote for war that only brought pain, suffering, and huge financial losses. This contest will be very close between Bernie and Biden, with Bernie still emerging ahead. It looks like the super delegates will decide the nominee. Their choice will be Biden and once again the majority will lose, democracy will lose; and Trump will be pushed closer and will almost win the White House.
America needs to take a hard look at the labels of left and right it attaches to policies. It should put labels of only good and bad. So what if Bernie's agenda is left. It is right!
8
Very childlike.
Instead of engaging in more deficit spending, put a surcharge on the billionaires to pay for it.
1
Well, testing will now happen on a large scale and it will come out that the US have a massive problem. Lower interest rates will not contain an epidemic.
As Krugman has rightly said this is the first crisis for Trump that he hasn't created himself and that consequently he cannot switch off.
The buck will stop with him ultimately.
12
@Ronald Grünebaum
We will soon be getting more news about outcomes, which are actually reassuring. The demand for testing is a bit of a red herring since having the virus doesn't necessarily mean a death sentence. In fact, having the virus may not even make people feel ill.
The spread is the problem, not the virus itself.
1
The widespread acceptance of these conspiracy theories is the outcome of the many lies and distortions "our" leaders constantly and consistently have mouthed, combined with the sorry state of our educational system.
This includes business interests who have paid for" science" to prove that tobacco is not necessarily harmful, that sugar is OK in large quantities Americans consume and that glyphosate is safe.
Americans' first instinct on being "reassured" or "informed" is to assume that they're being lied to or receiving distorted information.
They're usually correct.
5
This is real to Trump. His sole claim to a mainstream issue is the economy. The coronavirus whatever happens on the stock market is going to slow the economy in the US. As has been stated Europe is probably going into a recession. Depending on the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in the US the economy, despite interest rate cuts, could drive the US down to near zero growth or worse for the year. Trump is more interested in his narrow political interests than providing leadership on a looming major public health crisis.
6
This is 6 weeks in in China. We are still on a strictly controlled lock down. We still work at home. We do wear masks because we do live in China. But there's also 1.4 billion people here, and the virus seems to be decreasing daily, and is still almost exclusively confined to Hubei.
So, I guess, is this for the world: just lock yourselves in your homes for the next two months, and it'll all work out fine!
3
A plea: Let us not think of politics at this time regarding the coronoavirus. People are suffering. Let us trust our scientists and doctors, yes. But let us not lose sight of the suffering of those infected with the virus and the fear we all have that we might be next. It is easy to worry about politics; it is harder, and more important, to extend compassion to the sick.
6
One of the great ironies is that we are reading the truth behind a paywall.
The truth to those who can’t afford to pay or are not educated enough is often an entirely different perception.
19
You have to give Trump credit for consistency: as he considers the danger unreal, he recruited a man to fight it whose ultimate weapon is prayer.
17
@Wolfgang Krug
And a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds, etc., we can rejoice in the fact that the White House is already preparing for Halloween!
I will be interested to see if all these so-called science deniers will not go to the doctor if they get sick or refuse to take the vaccine when it becomes available. Because I have a theory, they know the science is real but chose to ignore it because it is more important for Republicans to make money.
14
Could I be Covid-19 Patient Zero in WA? They say, because of lack of testing, the virus could have been bouncing around WA for months now.
The first week in Dec I came back to the Puget Sound area from Thanksgiving in LA and promptly came down with a bad case of the flu. Anybody know where I could get tested?
2
My husband had severe flu followed by pneumonia starting just before Christmas. We had just flown home from Phoenix. He was sick for four weeks and he had his flu shot in October. We are actually in Kirkland.
1
@Johann Smythe
The problem has been the CDC's centralized control of testing. Fortunately, regulations are being loosened to allow local testing.
1
"And I’m not talking about fringe figures, I’m talking about people conservatives consider leading intellectuals."
Not intellectuals, which suggests an independently formed outlook. No, they are ideologues, and it is simply more accurate to refer to them as such.
Good piece.
7
Don't you think that the first thing that crossed Trumps's mind when he heard about coronavirus was how he could weaponize it to win re-election? He only cares about himself; he couldn't care less about the rest of us. I would be very worried about how Trump could use this virus to invoke his broad authority with presidential emergency powers to affect the election in November.
Trump uses fear against us. It's time to use fear against Trump. Nancy Pelosi should have the House Sergeant at Arms arrest Barr, Bolton and Mnuchin (for starters) for contempt of Congress. It's time to go on the attack. If not now, then when?
10
Trump claimed that he eliminated many of the nation's leading figures in the CDC and NIH because they were just sitting around and not doing anything. As a businessman, he said that was intolerable.
We know many American businesses now function with a "just in time" delivery of materials for manufacturing. Is there anyone brave enough to tell businessman Trump that vaccines aren't developed on a "just in time" basis?
21
Most people who follow right-wing media are not seeking the truth. They are just seeking confirmation of their preexisting biases.
31
Yep, we are in a political reality version of Girls Gone Wild, and it’s completely unhinged. We need better governance with new tools, not more political extremism. The exception might be radically extreme common sense.
5
@ Daniel Kauffman in Fairfax Only this is the “Boys Gone Wild” version of the political reality show.
Krugman writes, "one major reason the U.S. has lagged ... in testing for the coronavirus ... was that Trump didn’t want to believe that there was a crisis."
I dislike Trump is much as the next guy, but link provided in that passage may show that Trump didn't want to believe there was a crisis, but it does NOT show that that was the reason for the lack of testing. And neither do other reports I've seen in either NYT or WaPo.
I think that the slow start on testing is a major scandal that neither journalists nor Congress have got to the bottom of. It's got something to do with the CDC and maybe FDA or NIAID. And maybe it really is due to Trumpian budget cuts, or cronyism, or head-in-the-sandism, etc., but we shouldn't make these charges without the facts.
5
I just read the "Coronavirus Updates". In that article, Trump's words were included in which he railed against Democrats calling the epidemic "a hoax", but then proceeded to add glorious adjectives to our wonderful health care system. Now that is an improvement from one who was trying to sabotage it, but now under much pressure, he is correctly getting hands on in efforts to thwart the disease. Now I could be cynical and state that he is likely reacting to polls, but what's behind them is the millions of us expressing outrage at the delayed response and conduct up until now. Hey! polls work, don't they? Keep up the good work on government health support Trump and stop trying to scuttle health care. The virus is equal opportunity in whom it affects, so you be careful too. The disease really does inspire action, as it should. I'm no Trump fan, but I believe people can redeem themselves through good deeds. And I don't mean real estate ones.
I'm a liberal progressive who has been active in U.S. politics over some years but now have a perspective from a bit of distance, living in Northern Europe for the past few years. And I haven't had cable since the early '90's, don't watch CNN, MSNBC, etc except of the occasional snippet on YouTube or in a hotel lobby.
The 24 hour media machine thrives and depends on the outrage cycle, and there's always a need for fresh material. You don't need a tinfoil hat to observe that for-profit media is driven at its core not by ideals or the noble pursuit of factual balanced journalism but by views, clicks, ad dollars. Secondly, the Democrats (me included) ARE in fact out to get Trump by any means necessary. Any reason will do, no failure is too small to exploit. DT is a danger to us all with his serious and multitude character flaws and obvious mental illness. He is completely unfit. Republicans won't hold him the least bit accountable or in check so what choice do we have?
32
The Republicans in the Senate voted with the exception of Romney to a person that whatever the President does that he thinks is good for the American people is legal and good for the American people. So if the President thinks it is good to lie to the American people about the coronavirus it therefore is. Ain't we got fun?
16
Alright, let's be paranoid. It's a natural survival instinct.
Republicans have done the following;
Tried to repeal health care for millions since 2010, even before that supporting the insurance companies de facto "Survival of the fittest" reality.
They have sought to destroy the public safety net, an actual Constitutional mandate right in the preamble.
They have started wars it seems every decade that got our strongest killed elsewhere when they are needed here at home.
They have given total obedience to gun owners with resulting mass murders occurring with numbing frequency, and still block efforts to reign in radical users after they created them with gun waving hyper politics.
Trump has been derailing efforts to save the world's environment that will result in millions of deaths.
Trump wants to take the food away from 700,000 Americans that will starve many. Even worse is his trade wars that he uses as an excuse to pay farmers not to grow food that could feed the hungry he took food away from.
And now, Trump led Republicans are shuffling their feet in the matter of the impending epidemic, even appointing a political leader who may be ignorant of science and more believing in faith, to filter the necessary unbridled public education by government science and health experts.
I don't think I'm too paranoid not to be believed in the claim that Republicans are, and are trying to kill millions of us.
It takes a paranoid person to understand a conspiracy.
19
@PATRICK
Meanwhile, when the Dems controlled Congress under Obama, they still wouldn't pass Obamacare with a public option and chose to go with their Republican friends instead.
With friends like that, you don't need enemies.
1
The truth is that Trump has hollowed out the CDC to a lesser extent, and other agencies even more. So if there's a health or any kind of a crisis, many of the public servants who would be capable of responding are no longer there. The people at the top are his loyalists, but without any qualities needed to lead these agencies and what remains of them. There are a decreasing number of people beneath the loyalists with competence.
We've seen the tip of the iceberg, like with the justice department, but there's a lot below that that's going on. This isn't paranoia, it's a reality. Some of this is documented in the recent edition of the Atlantic by George Parker.
Although I'm not a Bloomberg supporter, he's making a case that we need someone who will put teams of people who are competent in charge. I hope anyone who is elected will pay attention to this, because those teams are being hollowed out. We have no idea how much we have relied on these competent people who keep us safe in so many ways, including health.
Parker in the Atlantic article documents something we know in our gut is happening. While Trump claims a liberal conspiracy. Perhaps the left has been guilty of a measure of anti-paranoia. Thinking they're not out to get you when they, in fact, are.
10
I think it is time that we stop calling modern right wingers "conservatives" [unless you want to go with "con men"] since they are so far away from such classic meanings such as "cautious" or "traditionalist" or "moderate".
What would be a better term? Fascism isn't quite right though there is considerable absolutism involved. Despots? There is so much denial of anything they don't want to believe though they are more than mere denialists.
When I read that "conservatives have spent decades denying the reality of climate change" I balk since a conservative approach should include some level of taking climate seriously. Yes, some conservatives might push a wait-and-see approach. But the outright lying and denial of modern right wingers is not "conservative", it is depraved and corrupt.
I am old enough to remember a day when there were people who called themselves conservative who were reasonably open minded. I wish we could find a way to reopen people's minds.
[Yes, there are some on the left that are pretty bad too, though nowhere near as many and rarely as extreme]
20
'And the fact that this kind of paranoia has infected our ruling party is scarier than any virus.'
It has infected more than 'our ruling party'.
Every poll suggests that almost one half of the voting public embraces all of this fact-adverse non-sense.
6
"Last time I checked, however, criticizing America’s leaders was still legitimate."
Well, this is still mostly true. At the moment. But as Sweeney Todd sang in Epiphany: "But not for long..."
6
Alright, let's be paranoid. It's a natural survival instinct.
Republicans have done the following;
*Tried to repeal health care for millions since 2010, even before that supporting the insurance companies de facto "Survival of the fittest" reality.
*They have sought to destroy the public safety net, an actual Constitutional mandate right in the preamble.
*They have started wars it seems every decade that got our strongest killed elsewhere when they are needed here at home.
*They have given total obedience to gun owners with resulting mass murders occurring with numbing frequency, and still block efforts to reign in radical users after they created them with gun waving hyper politics.
*Trump has been derailing efforts to save the world's environment that will result in millions of deaths.
*Trump wants to take the food away from 700,000 Americans that will starve many. Even worse is his trade wars that he uses as an excuse to pay farmers not to grow food that could feed the hungry he took food away from.
*And now, Trump led Republicans are shuffling their feet in the matter of the impending epidemic, even appointing a political leader who may be ignorant of science and more believing in faith, to filter the necessary unbridled public education by government science and health experts.
I don't think I'm too paranoid not to be believed in the claim that Republicans are, endangering millions of us.
It takes a paranoid person to survive under Republican rule.
4
Once more testing kits become available, it's certain we'll see an enormous jump in the number of infections in this country. Many of us are wondering to what degree the problems we're seeing with deployment of test kits is due to mismanagement, bad luck, or "administrative sabotage" coming from the White House.
7
" But recent reporting makes it clear that one major reason the U.S. has lagged far behind other countries in testing for the coronavirus — an essential step in containing its spread — was that Trump didn’t want to believe that there was a crisis."
Paul, its still not a crisis :) I can predict what will come next.
Trump will propose a theory, backed by his compliant administration, GOPers and amplified by the right wing media that all these people dying are because of the seasonal flu gone bad.
If you recall, he claimed he was shocked, shocked! that thousands of people die each year due to that year's flu. He's probably road testing this theory at his rallies or with his buddies at a golf game.
I have a couple of N-95s I bought here somewhere after that overhanging of smoke we had after the Wine country fires. If only I can find them before the flu gets to me. Or maybe I could join Pence and Mother at a national prayer?
6
@Gary Valan
Someone asked in a comment yesterday whether anyone knew if coronavirus conversion therapy works.
:-)
10
Trump supporters seem very impressed the he has gotten the "cooperation" of pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments and prevention for the coronavirus.
In actuality, it is Trump who is cooperating with big pharma's long-standing lobbying campaign to short-cut expensive clinical trials and get their drugs on the market sooner. You think Gilead Sciences or GlaxoSmithKline are offering up their services out the goodness of their nonexistent hearts? (being a corporate "people")
No, what they're looking for is a profitable end-run around the FDA. Once again, Republicans are trying to sell us something their financial backers want by claiming it's good for US.
12
Shortcuts... create their own crises.
Your recounting of Covid-19 is a thoughtful analysis of the irrational behaviors of the Trump Administration. Everyone understands that it is difficult to predict when and where an virus epidemic may break out, but it is the responsibility of governments to be prepared to control the outbreak before it goes global and becomes a pandemic.
When these diseases emerge, well trained virologists and epidemic control experts must go to work to prevent its spread. The effectiveness of early control is in the rapid sharing of biological, symptoms, transmission pathways, etc. are dependent on recognition and sharing of known data with the the broad-based medical establishment. It is no time for denial and cover-up and it clearly is no-time to politically weaponize the information.
Your account of the Trump administration's scrapping of the Obama administration's measures to deal with future pandemics following the 2014 Ebola outbreak demonstrates the terrifying ineptness of the team that we allowed to run our government and is the principal reason that they must be brought to account on Election Day in November 2020.
Clearly, Democrats must begin to plan how we are going to approach the huge problem of climate change and how they are going to mitigate the global environmental consequences including refugees, food supply and the quality of live for all humanity.
In the background I am watching President Trump engage in his delusions in Charlotte, N.C., It is a sad performance.
15
@james jordan
Dr. K,
The 2nd paragraph of my comment is based on a new book, "Three Seconds Until MIdnight" by scientist-physician, Dr. Steven Hatfill, Robert Coullahan, and Dr John Walsh. Mr. Coullahan sent it to me for review and I commend it to your readers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZYFWQ5G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
They make a good case that we need to invest more in training and increasing the number of pandemic-trained public health personnel in our towns and cities in order to better manage a pandemic response. It is a good read and shares a wealth of experience and study by these experts.
1
Actually, I think Trump has handled this virus threat well. He was one of the first world leaders to ban incoming flights from China; he got American cruise ship passengers back safely on US soil and in quarantine; and the team of professionals he has appointed seems to be working effectively to prepare and educate the public...even to the point of eliciting the cooperation of major pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments and vaccines.
His frustration with the media and the left is understandable. No matter what he does it’s never good enough.
5
@Anne
Flights from China weren't even being checked until January 31st. And what about all the other cruise ships docking right here in America? I have a friend who returned Saturday, February 29th on a cruise from Italy - no one met the ship to take temperatures or check for illness when they disembarked.
And those American cruise ship passengers may have been the source of the first case in California (Solano County, home to the military base where they were quarantined). According to a federal whistleblower, Health and Human Services sent in teams from their Child and Family Services department with NO protective gear whatsoever, no medical training and no instruction on how to prevent infection.
No, what Trump does is never good enough. Because he seems incapable of doing anything well.
Nothing like a lack of education to hamper good outcomes.
43
@Anne
He said it was a "Hoax", or did you miss that? You can't deny it, as you people often do, because it's right there in the record.
Great response.
Without the "media and the left" to do the right thing, you might soon be dead.
1
@Anne You are vastly misinformed to the point of wondering if it's intentional.
I am not wishing ill on anybody but I suspect a lot of these deniers will face a harsh reality check someday in the not-too-distant future, be it about a pandemic or climate disruptions.
I also suspect that they will try to blame everybody but themselves.
For the rest of us who respect science and do not make all our decisions based only on faith (or biases or greed, whatever you prefer), it is urgent to elect representatives that have the same fact based, science supported, open minded and compassionate view of the world.
All Americans should know what they have to do in November!
18
As a public health precaution and for my own health and well-being, I am going to avoid contact with people who have been or would be likely to go to a Trump rally. I feel better already.
32
Today I called to get out of jury duty today. My husband is 65 and has COPD. I take care of my mother who is 84. I'm 62.
I wouldn't be too concerned if I didn't have susceptible family members that need to stay away from exposure. I'm definitely not germaphobic.
This is a heavy Trump/GOP area. The woman on the phone was nice, but she was under the impression that COVID 19 was the same as the flu...its not. It's kill rate is close to three times the flu. Its not here. True, at least not officially, but the genetic evidence is that its been circulating 6-8 weeks in WA state. Many people are asymptomatic and still contagious, it has a 2 week latency period. People are contagious before they know they are sick.
All of those factors lead me to believe it is prudent for at risk populations (my husband and mother) to use extra caution.
We came to the solution for me to postpone till November, which works well for me.
14
@Sharon says: 'It's kill rate is close to three times the flu.'
Flu fatalities average around .1%.
Corona virus, as far as we know, average 2%.
That's twenty times the death rate of influenza.
Be careful out there, Sharon.
Recently I read that when we were fighting swine flu, Democrats were about 50% more like to the get the vaccine than Republicans. Which would lead one to think that it means that Republicans were more likely to die. Are we going to see the same thing happen again?
5
The GOP has spent decades using “fear” as a weapon to gain votes. Apparently, the paranoia has actually infected those who try to sell it to others. All we have to fear is fear itself...indeed! The leadership of the GOP has become a frightened organization espousing the very fake news and ideas so detrimental to advancing the well being of America and the world.
14
Blaming it as a liberal conspiracy is simply a strategy the right wing uses each time. It's intended to both cover up the incompetence of the trumpy administration and as a political tool to undermine the Democrats.
12
The thing is, I don't believe that the outrageous Republican accusations against the media and Democrats emanate from paranoia. Their baseless and negative incriminations are based on political calculations designed to influence the electorate in a negative way. That is worse than paranoia because everything is politicized, even pandemics that threaten the lives of millions.
20
Regarding the mask controversy - I view it similar to how I view my financial planner's advice when I told him three weeks ago I wanted my funds in a more conservative stance due to the virus. He objected, I responded with facts about China as the foundation of our global supply chain. With millions of people not working in China, this was going to badly hurt the world economy and I wanted safe harbor before things went bad.
The N95 masks that normal people are buying are the masks that people in industrial trades use - they are not medical masks. In no way does purchasing them put the supply of medical masks in jeopardy.
Down the road, if you're having your house remodeled, break out those masks and give them to your contractor.
Right now, probably a lot of people are putting remodeling on hold.
3
@Dotty
N95 masks ARE what doctors etc use in the hospital and they are typically required to have a “ fit test” every year.
Facts matter
@WJ Not the same N95 masks that are sold in your local hardware store. Those are for people working in dust/particulate environments caused by sanding, dry walling, etc.
Not the same.
As long as these partisan op-eds continue to spread division, mistruth and fear, things will get a whole lot worse before they get better. The left is just as guilty if not more as the right in spreading false stories. The only difference is they have a greater complicit giant next to them, the media. The right relies on whacky conspiratorial websites and Fox News.
The left routinely cherry picks facts, refuses to look at reason, avoids criticism of a member of their tribe that has committed wrongdoings. Just look at Obama intervening with sentencing guidelines at the justice department through Eric Holder. How is that different from Trump doing the same? Double standards and outright partisan warfare comes from the left who continues its tantrum over Trumps win. Too bad we didn't spend valuable time grooming a formidable candidate to defeat him.
7
Bothsideism is itself fake news. it is verifyably false that major "mainstream" (often dubbed liberal but actually centrist) media are fomenting more fake news than major right wing outlets. it has actually been analyzed. Moreover its been like this for decades. See Mann & Ornstein's "Its Even Worse Than It Looks"", which tracks how radically off the rails the *GOP* has gone in the last 40 years, compared to the Democratic Party.
Just as Trump and his right-wing pundits declare Covid-19 a hoax and blame the Democrats, fifty years from now, when the results of climate change ravish our nation, the Republicans will be blaming the Democrats again !
7
Trump’s self-proclaimed “aggressive” response to this mounting health crisis is in effect to strong arm the Fed to slash interest rates immediately to prop up the market. The country couldn’t be in less capable and more self serving hands.
17
After being ignored long enough by those living in a Disney fantasy, reality eventually comes for retribution. Sad that it will be the entire country paying the price, but lying so much that you begin to believe your own lies has consequences. Frankly I'm cheering for a little cold, hard reality at this point.
5
Confession:
I consider myself to be left-leaning. On January 28th, I read an article about the coronavirus that had a link to the Event 201 simulation’s website. The next day, I read that the flight bringing USA personnel from China to Alaska would forward on to a destination in California.
My immediate response was “Of course, Trump would send people, possibly infected with coronavirus, to California!” My brain immediately went to the idea that Trump was being his usual vindictive self. Maybe I was giving Trump too much credit for understanding the virus’s potential.
Still, why California — our most populated state with a very high population density in spite of its large land area/square miles?
If you want isolation and quarantine, why not stay and quarantine the people in Alaska... or Wyoming, or North Dakota, or South Dakota, or Montana? These states have very large land areas, populations less than 1 million (MT has less than 2 million), and the lowest population densities. These states all have some type of air/military bases, and they all have hospitals.
I’m not a health treatment or prevention expert. I can barely spell etiology and epidemiology (thanks computer assistance!). So, maybe I’m missing something, but California and other states with high population densities would have been my last choices in which to quarantine possible coronavirus cases.
16
More than just California - they went straight to Nancy Pelosi’s district.
Your assessment of revenge is totally spot on.
Playing revenge games with American’s lives - beyond sick.
All true, Paul; however the liberals are also guilty of this. As an independent, every time I read (on this paper's pages and elsewhere) that one good thing about COVID19 is that it will diminish the reelection chances of the President, I cringe.
4
No, the one good thing is China's pollution is significantly down currently.
Where exactly do you read that? And as part of political analysis why would it be shibboleth? Remember Katrina and George W. Bush? if Trump flubs this it will certainly affect his polling.
"But it was actually Trump who politicized the virus, by downplaying the danger."
That is not politicizing it. De Blasio and Andrew Cuomo have said pretty much the same thing that there is little danger at the moment but that things could change. Possibly underestimating is not politicizing. Also,
The governor said the state getting the green light from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend to conduct the tests was a game-changer in preventing the spread of the virus.
“Testing is very important and that’s why the CDC, the federal government, allowing us to test is a very big deal,” Cuomo said. “It will have a dramatic effect on how quickly we can mobilize and respond.”
What I see is that YOU and the NYT and its readers who are politicizing the situation. You seem not even to be aware that you are doing this. For you it is all about Trump. And isn't that politicizing?
Should Trump do more than he is doing? Perhaps, perhaps surely. But the way to achieve that is persuasion and cooperation and not vicious attacks on Trump. Are you and NYT readers able to put aside your tendency to be vicious for just a couple of months?
4
@Ludwig
Because learning from the past is vital to succeeding in the future.
Pointing out that Trump cut 80% of the CDC's infectious disease-fighting budget in 2018, fired their entire highly-qualified Infectious Disease Team that same year and proposes cutting another 16% of the CDC's entire budget this year is prevention for future predicaments like the one we find ourselves in today.
14
False information on CDC funding. It’s budget has gone up every year under Trump. Congress funds, not the President.
I agree both sides are politicizing the issue, but I fail to see your point. Politics is about who gets what, when, and how in our society. How can we avoid a crisis becoming a matter for political dispute?
If one party (Trump) says it’s a liberal hoax, that’s not just politicizing, it’s denying the validity of political speech. “No one should talk about it.” Say that to the dead folks and their families.
The CDC saying states can test is like the U.S. military saying it’s not up for defending America so each state’s national guard can step up. Is it a sign of leadership to say you’re not actually able to protect the country so locals should do it themselves? I guess Trump’s “leading from behind” after all.
The response should be a political issue, as should our preparedness. We should be able to let the government and its critics argue. If we’re critical, we can distinguish the bad faith arguments (these aren’t the issues we can talk about, there is no spoon, etc.), learn lessons and improve. To do that, political discourse needs to be able to address crises.
When we cancel the debate, call it fake news, say both sides are at fault, so let’s move on, we say we’re not mature enough for the adult conversations democracy requires. I worry Trump’s got a lock on the portion of the electorate that’s given up on real debate, but I hope that portion shrinks. America has real problems, including Covid-19, that we can’t blink away.
5
I’m watching pence and his minions discussing coronavirus in a press briefing right now.
There’s a lot of back slapping, smiling, and congratulating themselves on the actions the government is taking. The actions seem to be warning us not to go to Italy or South Korea and screening incoming passengers. More tests are becoming available. They’re indicating that it’s not a pandemic until the world health organization says it is despite being in 60 countries, community spreading, and fatalities.
Except for giving trump credit for his great work (what?!) we are not getting any new information.
In the meantime, we’re being told that coronavirus is a low risk situation. BUT things can change.
I should change my name here to “Still in the Dark.”
5
Of course, Trump's agents of misinformation are well aware that the virus is deadly and that it was not manufactured by liberals. But they have a mission to lie and manipulate the weak minds of those whose support for Trump is crucial. The latter may belong to the Moon-landing-was-a-Hollywood-stunt group. Alternatively, they are intelligent enough to detect the lies and manipulation but are willing to be complicit in spreading false information to help re-elect Trump.
As the death toll from the coranovirus climbs, be on the lookout for more outlandish claims from Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump Jr., et al. I bet their next claim will be "the Democrats developed the virus in a secret Iranian biological weapons lab and are deliberately infecting innocent people with it."
6
The smearing of some Sanders supporters concerns on economic injustice is unfortunately misguided. This statement from a NYT pundit is more in line with the paranoid style of Chris Matthews, Chuck Todd, George Stephanopolous and other wealthy media pundits who don't want to be taxed fairly to carry their fair share in 2020, as they today are to the far right of Eisenhower in 1960, they support military profiteering and perpetual warfare abroad. In fact you've exposed that Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard represent the real Democratic party, most alleged Democrats in the mainstream media who supported "moderate democrats" have more in common with Trump and Fox News and the Republican party than with Sanders supporters. The moderates are right wingers who support kabuki version of democracy with zero concern for the struggling working and lower middle classes.
Let the people speak in the Democratic primaries, the media is doing everything it can to railroad Sanders and the majority of real, not bought, democrats again in 2020 like they did in 2016. The Russians and Chinese have nothing on messing with our elections compared to right wing Democrats and Republicans only in their parties for the big money both at home and abroad.
Otherwise, please explain why we are the most violent first world country in the world that jails more of its people than any other country, and who pay more for their military than the next 5-10 countries, and have HS kids with active shooter drills?
2
Yes, every scientist, every journalist, every judge, every Democrat, every person who disagrees with Trump and his followers is involved in a rampant conspiracy. Not! Not even possible. But what is to be done about it? I guess the only thing to do is vote him out of office, then, with different leadership maybe we can nudge ourselves back into something kinder and more respectful and less frightening.
It's been a real awakening over the last four years to learn there are so many of our citizens who reverently believe the monster in the White House.
5
if this was a democratic conspiracy to make Trump look bad and destroy the power the Republican Congress wouldn't we have had it start in Washington DC rather than Washington State. We could start by infecting say Mitch McConnell and Ben Carson and then let it wind it's way through Washington till it got to the White House. I mean, really starting in China and then the West Coast of the United States seems such poor organizational plan.
8
Yeah, but the Democrats have a bad attitude.
They aren't emphasizing that 80 percent of the cases are mild, the mortality rate is ONLY 2 or 3 percent, most people who die are already old anyway, the return of warm weather might or probably even will make it go away, and, even as we speak, somebody's working on a vaccine that should be ready "soon".
If you're not accentuating the positive, then you're politicizing, perpetrating a hoax, and making the stock market crash. And nobody likes a complainer.
4
@MFC The 2% mortality rate is similar to that of the 1918 flu which killed 50+ million people in a world with a lot fewer people than today. In other words, a 2% mortality rate is actually fairly scary. And even if "only" 20% of cases are serious enough to warrant hospitalization that will overwhelm the hospitals (depending on just how contagious the disease really is).
On the good side, the mortality rate is probably less than 2% since not all the mild cases have likely been considered in the statistics.
1
@Peter
Yeah, I know...don't mean to trivialize any aspect of this thing. "ONLY" was meant sarcastically.
Each those points has been made in pretty much every NY Times article on Covid19.
Unfortunately Trump's message does get through. My mother, who nearly died a couple months ago from the flu, is harping how the media is blowing up the coronavirus threat. How sorry she is for all those who have to travel and take unnecessary safeguards for this hoax. She just a few short miles from Kirkland Washington!!! Even though she's a conservative, we love her dearly and are so grateful she has medicare. Amazing she doesn't see the irony in that.
4
Not to worry. Pence is in charge of the pandemic program and has already scheduled a series of anti-viral national prayer breakfasts.
As for economics, I’m sticking with the tried and true Laffer Curve.
Climate change is trickier. We are moving from outright denial to apocalyptic embrace. In a timely market response, GM is bringing out a new convertible called the Rapture. At the secret cosmic signal the top opens and the seat belt releases. Smooth and easy exit. You can’t beat American ingenuity.
2
The virus like climate change and the universe will act independently of any politics which either side plans to enact.
Is it a sinister conspiracy to report that 75,000 virus tests are available and that another 50,000 should be ready soon?...is this a government strategy to keep infection rates low?....simply DON'T TEST!
1
I remember exactly where I was when 9/11 happened, Chernobyl, The tsunami in Japan, and the Space Shuttle accidents, but never imagined a situation that creeps in and spreads like this that fills me with such dread. This is creepy stuff happening in real time.
3
Once one of these people's views become obviously wrong, they'll just imperceptibly change it, and carry on as if we've always been at war with Eastasia.
1
So, you're saying that we shouldn't gargle hand sanitizer and bleach?
1
I am no fan of Dr Krugman, but hate lies and believe in truth. He is right on this point.
3
Whereas I agree with most of your analysis Dr. Krugman you fail to acknowledge the paranoia and conspiracy theories coming from and being perpetrated by the moderate or center right candidates of the Democratic Party, the DNC and the NYT itself. We have seen Sanders compared to various Communist leaders and their agendas. We have repeatedly heard him described as "scary" and anti-capitalist. `
So there is plenty of paranoia, fear mongering and lies to go around, just take your pick.
6
@Steve
Except one is deadly and the other isn't.
Not,to worry, say right-wing pundits and news organizations: It’s all a hoax, a conspiracy by the liberal media to make Donald Trump look bad. Administration officials and Trump himself have echoed their claims.
I say go for it. Don’t wash your hands more often, cough and sneeze all over your fellows at the make Americans hate more rally’s.
Works for me.
I will be taking care of myself and my neighbors, making sure to remind them not to touch their hands to their faces and to sneeze into their shirts sleeves.
2
Both Trump and Sanders are extreme in their proclamations. Trump doesn’t believe in the threat of the virus, therefore it doesn’t exist, threatening the safety of the country. Sanders stirs up his crowds by saying the DNC are corralling their forces against him. Both demagogues are dangers to the country, virulent to extremism.
Elizabeth Warren is the voice of reason and logic, unveiling today a plan for tackling the virus as well as plans for helping farmers and the undocumented workers. While Trump and Sanders are twiddle dee and twiddle dumb, Warren is looking out for the nation and solving its problems. She is the true Democrat.
4
73% of Republican Senators are climate change deniers. Who are they?
3
loveman0:
check out the following link. It will give you a great start on identifying who the 73% of Republican Senators are climate change deniers:
https://350.org/denier-cabinet/
@MICKTEK99 thank you. need to see a list of all of them up for reelection.
From the column: “This desire to minimize the danger to the market distorted the whole government response to the outbreak.” The same was said of the Reagan administration’s desire to minimize the danger of HIV-AIDS to white heterosexuals by doing everything possible to stoke the public perception that “only” gay men were at risk. Different pandemic, same Republican denial contributing to inadequate preparation, delayed response, and the same attempt to cast blame everywhere except at their own head-in-the-sand policies. Republicans profess to be so concerned about national security—yet incapable of grasping the fundamental fact that microbes like this coronavirus pose the greatest threat of all to our country and indeed the entire human race.
2
Grenada, beware! What's going to happen to the military folk who leave Afghanistan?
I repeat what I put in writing the day after the 2016 election: either this entire bloc of ultraconservatives is removed from office, or we are finished.
2
I won't challenge that in this internet and web dominated social media era many people who consider themselves to be journalists (please look at the new NYT column about themselves) from a number of approaches have to shout and lie louder to get their clicks and bits,
But it seems a story that indeed is based on what has happened around the world first, and now is here, and how we need to prepare but not hide from it, is good journalism and real news based on real facts.
But hey, it's only the common cold.
Maybe it’s being paranoid but this whole thing about gig workers working when they are sick could become a big problem with Instacart and Amazon shoppers handling fruits and vegetables.
1
Could it be they are trying to head off the eventual realization in the press of the connection to the failure to appoint key people early in the Trump administration(April 2017 WaPo article) and the dissolving of the NSC Office of Global Health Security (meant to track, stay ahead of and handle exactly this sort of event) by John Bolton 5-10-18?
3
I'm sitting here a couple miles north of Kirkland, Washington, wondering how bad this is going to get. How many people are going to be hurt or die by politically-driven inaction? Thanks, Republicans!
4
if it is all a hoax as claimed by Trump and perpetrated by Democrats when can we expect Trump to visit those in Seattle caring for those effected by the out break?
Trump can elbow bump the care givers and courageously stroll about sans N-95.
4
I figured out where the "15 cases" number comes from.
Those are 12 Americans who got the virus from travel and 3 who got it here in the US.
They counted the 48 cases of people repatriated to the US separately, 45 from Diamond Princess Cruise ship and 3 from WuHan.
Why that distinction, I don't know.
Seems to me the 45 persons on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship would also come under the category of traveling?
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html
Note the numbers of cases in the US is changing and is now more than 15.
PK does the situation a disservice by calling it paranoia. Paranoiacs are delusional: they believe things are happening to them. They think about those imaginary things a lot and -- literally -- cannot find any evidence to the contrary. That's the nature of their illness.
Republican leaders don't believe that climate change isn't real and that it doesn't stem from human activity. They consciously prefer to take a line that denies those facts because it suits them and the interests of their funders. They don't struggle with the evidence.
In every case, the person is either ignorant or sorrupt -- in the sense described above.
1
“ it is ‘probably’ a lot more lethal than ordinary flu.”
I’m on your side regarding conspiracy mongering. But, hard science isn’t helped with speculation such as this.
@Mike I have read (in the NYT) that the mortality rate of COVID-19 has been reported as high as 2%. That number will likely decline. The report I saw quoted a more recent result indicating a mortality rate closer to 1.4%. Seasonal flu normally has a mortality rate of 0.1%, rising to maybe 0.7% in a bad year. So based on those numbers it sounds like COVID-19 is "probably" a lot more lethal than ordinary flu.
It does remain to be seen just how these numbers will work out in the end, though.
1
The Dems, indeed all of us, need to start using the term HOAX to describe the actions of the so-called President and his deadly minions as they try to divert attention from their incompetence and inability to manage their way out of a paper bag, much less manage a national and international crisis...
2
Not political pundits, but Trump has categorically stated very recently that the virus is a "hoax".
This is totally irresponsible and should not be accepted !
The general public does not get it.This is the PRESIDENT speaking!
Mr Trump needs to hear the words he himself has popularized:
"You're fired!"
Let's get with it everyone and throw him and his gOP cronies out for good!
1
"A delicate but highly contagious virus, roughly one-900th the width of a human hair, is spreading from person to person around the world. The coronavirus, as it’s known, has already infected people in at least 60 countries," according to the NY Times.
This microbe might just be what takes down the most corrupt presidency in US history not the Mueller Report, the fake Barr Report, Impeachment or Russian meddling in our election.
This is why authoritarian followers need their leaders. They need someone to give them enemies to blame for everything that goes wrong. They give all their agency to the leader, who in exchange packages the world into something they can handle while absolving them of responsibility or guilt for the disasters they create themselves.
They depend on the lies to rationalize their actions, and they will defend them to the death. Literally in this case.
The virus will pass. The stupid is another question.
3
Even paranoids have friends.
Think Ms Pac Man.
Trump has made his life and brand on chaos. The ghosts and fruit.
His base chaos and loves him. The dots.
Corona virus is Pac Man. Will eat them all
All that will be left is the maze.
1
One of the mouthpieces of the right, Rush Limbaugh has angrily declared that Covid-19 is the common cold. I doubt if any of Trump's fanatics will demand Rush give that 'metal of freedom' back. One of Trump's prime mouthpieces is spreading blatantly false information nationwide about a dangerous disease. And the Trump rallies will go on of course, because contradicting Trump is sacrilegious to these meatheads. Trump never admits he's wrong, just tries to shift blame. We already know the virus spreads easily, and does so even before symptoms occur. Will Trump's rally goers still go the malls and movies?
530
@JD him having cancer makes his immune system compromised. You would think he would be a little more concerned. Wouldn't it be karmic justice if this is what did him in?
34
@JD Don't worry Rush, that lung cancer is just a mild allergic reaction to cigar smoke.
55
@JD The crazy thing is that Rush Limbaugh, with his cancer treatment, is about to be completely immunocompromised and probably at the most risk of dying if he were to contract coronavirus.
41
Not that I disagree with the substance of Mr. Krugman’s column, but can we please stop referring to Trump, the Republican Party, and their supporters as "conservatives" when, in reality, many if not most are radical, right-wing ideologues who will not hesitate to trample even the Constitution to achieve their political goals?
9
Paul might want to read Gerald Posner's piece in today's "Times" about the bad pharmaceutical companies.Paranoia indeed.
2
I commented on Ms Dowd's 'Trump makes us ill' piece which is now closed, to say the Spring Peepers were quiet and very late in Kentucky. Tonight the Spring peepers began to peep. March 2. Happy day.
1
It is not conspiracy, it is habit. Trump, Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio have all said very similar things about the dangers of coronavirus, namely that the danger is currently small but that this could change.
But Trump is the only one who has come in for major attacks for saying what he did.
Is that a liberal conspiracy? I do not think it is a "conspiracy". People have just got into the habit of attacking Trump at the drop of a hat. You, my friend, are one of them.
And this is not good. Trump does not have the highest IQ on the planet, but I doubt that vicious attacks RAISE anyone's IQ. He needs to keep a cool head and YOU need to leave him alone. Can you?
2
"Donald Trump Jr. has accused Democrats of wanting to see millions die."
That really is outrageous.
If Democrats want millions to die, why is our party, at least some of us, seeking Medicare For All?
No, Mr. Trump, we want millions to live.
5
Of course coronavirus isn't a conspiracy.
But the media is doing Trump's work for him when their coverage of it is hysterical and alarmist, magnifying fear of both sickness and recession out of proportion.
The Dow rallied 1200 points today on fears of long term economic damage easing up. Why is this not a prominent story on the NYTimes right now?
3
It’s not just ‘not prominent’, it’s invisible on the splash page. I don’t particularly like trump, but the times is doing its level best to re-elect him.
"The Obama administration put in place measures to deal with future pandemics — all of which Trump scrapped."
" . . . all of which Trump scrapped" as part of his MAGA campaign, which is primarily the increase, but diffusion among lower classes, of misery
3
Remember, this so called President surfed to the Presidency on the Birther Lie, one of the more despicable acts in American history.
The Grand Old Prevaricator party is built on lies and people who adore lies.
Trickle-down economics ? A massive lie.
"Free-market" healthcare ? A massive rip-off that provides massive wealthcare and spotty healthcare.
Voting rights and democracy in America ? Not in my lifetime; instead, it's sham elections, rigged voting, voter suppression, voter purges, gerrymandering, black-box-vote-counting and tyranny of the corrupt minority.
Freedom ? The freedom to drop dead early from record poverty, income inequality, depression and a lack of affordable healthcare.
Evolution ? Only devolution need apply in Trumpistan.
The United States House of Representatives ? Drown it in Monarch Mitch's Senate bathtub.
Taxation ? As Leona Helmsley said, "only for the little people"
Cut Food Stamps (and open the 0.1% Welfare Queen program floodgates).
Coronavirus ? Pastor Pence and his science deniers are working on a prayer cure as we speak.
People will die because Donald Trump destroyed the White House pandemic response team and staff in 2018 and replaced it tax cuts for billionaires.
No matter who the Democratic nominee is, reasonable Americans simply DO NOT vote Republican.
The Republican Party is an economic, environmental, public safety, intellectual and moral national security threat to the United States and the world.
November 3 2020.
VOTE.
9
Jesus taught the world in enduring lessons, to heal the afflicted and feed the hungry. Democrats do, Republicans, not so much.
2
Trump and his minions have always gone by the theory to throw anything out there and see what sticks. Whether it's alternative facts, the 7 or 8 hoaxes supposedly perpetrated against him, etc.
Whats scary is how much his base believes his every word no matter how preposterous. Hook, line and sinker. Speaking with Trump supporters today they echo his words saying it's really not that bad and he's got it under control, even though the facts and a small dose of common sense scream otherwise.
2
Yes, blame everyone else for not trusting you. It can't possibly be the responsibility of the so-called "liberal media" for reporting sensational inflammatory shlock day in and day out. It must be a war on your expertise. Pearls before swine. Why can't we just listen to our elite guardians? They care about us and only want the best. Papa Krugman only gets frustrated when we don't listen to his lectures. I, for one, am truly sorry for our collective failing. At the bitter end, you can believe I'll be wonder how things could have been different had we only listened to Paul Krugman.
2
Just out of curiosity checked hand sanitizer prices online yesterday including availability. A case of Purell $750. Or 1 for $100. AI bots taking over supply and demand to set pricing. Common sense. Soap and water. Or make your own. Simple and inexpensive.
You would surely win another Nobel if you would cogently explain why anyone would vote for Trump even once let alone twice.
3
It's not just that criticizing Trump response to coronavirus is legitimate; Democrats are doing their jobs, serving their constituents, and displaying leadership by exposing the dangerous course we are on in trying to survive global epidemics -- a threat made so much worse by Trump's actions in office. Yes, that's what leadership looks like in a crisis. Trump response, of course, is knee-jerk blaming of anyone who unmasks his continuing folly, juvenile behavior and and policy idiocy. But the rest of us are going to demand better -- because we deserve it. And Donnie Jr., well -- he's not worthy of any attention now, or ever. Looks like he's being groomed as Limbaugh-in-waiting.
1
With Covid-19 now moving in on the USA and the damaging results of climate change spiraling out of control, Trump is THE worst president we could possibly have at this point in time. Vote him out as though your life depended on it.
3
Just like living in Dickens’ England, we see everything by gaslighting....
3
Republicans are luckily the risk group Number 1 for the Corona threat, no matter if the believe in it or not.
"... our ruling party..."
Not for much longer.
It is insane. Less than two weeks ago the president of the USA was claiming it was all a Democratic hoax, it would go away when it warmed up, etc. etc. etc. Now there are no risks in his mass rallies. Will he be holding one in WA state. It's grotesque.
1
The Bernie bros posting here seem to have not grasped the actual intent of the article, which is a health issue.
2
"Everything" is not (a) liberal media conspiracy, only the purveyors of it are. That would be the so-called 'liberal' press who unfortunately seem to be fulfilling their own damnable burden. I don't know why you all keep persisting with this.
If this virus was as bad as the press is pretending it to be, we'd see way more than the six deaths in Seattle. To give real cause for concern, I'd have to see in this same time frame about six hundred deaths, and not just in persons whose health was already compromised.
It reminds me of the rabble rousing attempted by Senator Joseph McCarthy at the 1952 Republican convention. His speech (sic): "..If there is just one communist in the state department, it's one too many... if there is just one communist in the military, it's one too many (etc)" It's the same thing with this coronavirus, the more the press tries these McCarthy-ish tactics, the more your credibility erodes. The caution is disproportionate to the actual scale, yet there is this ongoing petulant persistent hand wringing.
Have you at last, sir, no decency?
2
The Trump Flu. The BEST Flu.
NOVEMBER.
2
Mr. Krugman's piece is outdated: the photo shows that there are still Purell bottles on the second shelf.
1
It's not just Trump who's downplaying Covid-19. Trump's fellow Republicans are supporting him. Today Mike Pence repeatedly said "The risk remains low", without bothering to also say that even if the average risk *today* is low for Americans, there's a very good chance the average risk will become much higher in the not-too-distant future. If half of Americans are infected by Covid-19 before we get a vaccine and if the fatality rate is 2%, "The risk remains low" will be on waaaay too many people's tombstones.
4
I don't know what is worrying conservatives. They should embrace a pandemic--it's a great excuse to increase Presidential powers, control the population, and say Trump is doing it out of his heart.
2
Did the CDC drag its feet on approving tests, and rolling out effective testing in coordination with the Trump administration "leadership"? Inquiring readers need to know. Any whistleblowers ready to talk?
4
Good question. Trump clearly wanted to deflect criticism of his administration and his cabal. When that didn’t work, he hands the whole mess over to Pence, who apparently knows only to pray or ask Momma how to proceed.
What could possibly go wrong??!!
2
The war on the truth is central to the political goals of the right. It would be a major setback in this war for them to go along with the obvious facts involving Covid-19. It is like staying on message. No matter how much collateral damage occurs because of their war on the truth they will continue it without pause since not doing so would be capitulation to their arch enemy, liberals. The last thing the right wants is a continuation of liberal democracy something liberals fervently support.
12
With Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Alex Azar in charge of the coronavirus crisis in America there is plenty of reason to panic. If Jared Kushner piles on then the end is near.
19
"But not to worry, say right-wing pundits and news organizations: It’s all a hoax, a conspiracy by the liberal media..."
And exactly what is it when Junior says Liberals want millions of deaths? GOP propagandists love to say that Democrats are "playing politics." And just what are Juniors rantings?
4
Jr.s rantings are called PROJECTIONS.
5
How many right wingers cheered when Thanos snapped his finger in Infinity War? Every single one my right wing friends applauded. in their minds though, there is no random: all of them, none of us.
Are we talking about paranoia or cynicism? When a threat can be weaponized against Democrats, those on the right pretend to believe in it, even when it is nonexistent (hordes of Mexican rapists pouring across the southern border). And when a threat like covid-19 could he harmful to their own political power, it is dismissed and treated as a hoax. That seems a lot more like opportunism than genuine fear.
1
denial of science is corner stone of conservative ideology.
science threatens those who practice patriarchy and are the same people who want it to once again be the foundational organizing principal of all societies.
it is the nexus of all extreme variants of Semitic religions.
2
If religious right-wing Trump supporters didn't believe that global warming and Covid-19 was a hoax, would they have to accept that maybe God wasn't on Trump's side? Nah, logic is another left-wing hoax.
5
Again, the mechanisms of government are re-tooled to make Trump’s false statements seem true. The difference this time is - unlike the Mueller investigation and impeachment - the virus is immune to spin and the president’s toadies will not control the narrative. Coved-19 will write the script. What happens these next weeks and months will not be designed to massage Trump’s pathetic ego. Rather it will present a clear contrast between the president and reality. Sick is sick. Dead is dead. It’s difficult to comfort a nation while patting yourself on the back.
8
To save our country from mass mental illness and destruction, can we just quarantine Trump, his entire cabinet, Pence, and the GOP until their highly contagious brain-destroying fever ends. It is highly contagious (perhaps more lethal than we currently realize), and Fox and Rush are 2 of the major carriers.
5
It is the 101st anniversary of the end of the Creel Committee; Woodrow Wilson's war on truth.I can't help but believe it to be the most important event in American history as today I heard Woodrow Wilson's party go poof.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-woodrow-wilsons-propaganda-machine-changed-american-journalism-180963082/
I watched Krugman and Wolff on Democracy Now and I felt America might have a chance. Today the Democratic Party exiled its future.
November I suspect America will vote for a bang or a whimper.
AOC was a science prodigy who understands math, science and economics. She is labeled a radical because she deals in facts.
Ted Cruz is the acknowledged intellectual in the Republican Party.
Last week Cruz challenged AOC on her knowledge of caronavirus and made her out to be a know nothing.
Micro biology is AOC's field of expertise.
I can't understand why anyone wonders why I am so pessimistic about America's future.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/28/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ted-cruz-coronavirus
9
@Montreal Moe
Dude! You're harshing my mellow! Can't say I disagree with you, however :-(
the US is well over 100 cases and now with six dead...three days ago there were no deaths and last Wednesday Trump claimed only 15 confirmed cases.
Mexico has two or three cases and Trump wants to close the border to protect America?
1
Isn’t it fascinating that Trump and company are quick to accuse anyone dissenting or demanding information on behalf of the public interest as politicizing an issue? Yet, Republicans seek every opportunity to personalize (take offense), privatize, and monetize it for the benefit of their cronies? Case in point: the CDC testing kit process will now be subcontracted to a private firm, much like the encampments at the southern border. And how much oversight do you think there will be to ensure public health and safety? Their track record is abysmal.
If Americans think Trump cares about them, they should think again. Take some wisdom from a 12 year old DJT, Jr.:
"How can you say you love us? You don't love us! You don't even love yourself. You just love your money."
(https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/donald-trump-fathers-day-quotes.html, 17 Very Revealing Family Quotes From Donald Trump, His Kids, and Late Father
by Bill Murphy Jr., in Inc., June 15, 2016)
We should have listened to the words from babes because the so called adults in the White House have no concept.
1
The political reality is that Trump and Republicans will benefit if the COVID-19 pandemic is much less severe than predicted. The Democrats will benefit if it is much more severe than predicted. That is the very unfortunate reality we find ourselves. So, if this is the reality, then Democrats will find themselves in an awkward spot.
The key is don’t overtly cheerleader for Trump’s failure! NYT don’t write opinion pieces trying to call this the “Trump virus”. Just makes us look bad and probably makes him look good.
It’s simple. President Trump has been proven a liar. He has no credibility on matters of science. Why should we believe anything coming from his administration? Trust must be earned.
4
While no one yet knows how bad this pandemic will become -- I have the distinct impression that the virus itself has no politics and cares not who it strikes down.
Whatever the foolish garbage that pollutes virtual places like Twitter, Facebook, You Tube etc. the virus will not be impacted in any way.
It's both sad and amusing that ideologically-driven internet trolls are once again wasting time posting their foolishness. They will prattle on regardless of the actual facts stopping only if or when the virus itself strikes them down.
2
@George S.
This is how it ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Ultimately, if scientists’ predictions come true, the virus will attack thousands and some will die. Right now, the Trumpites are getting away with their nonsense. However, I don’t think the president can lie his way out of this one.
2
I'd be genuinely interested to understand how the book the Bible associates truth with good and lies with evil, yet so many adherents seem detached from that metric. Seriously, there are loads of online tools to search the Bible. Look at how it describes liars.
4
The truth is that Trump can’t win without the lies. The craziness we see is the exposing of those lies.
2
How soon before we find Trump's cheerleaders on FOX either phoning it in, or taking a "previously scheduled hiatus"?
1
If the choice is between voting for trump or the virus, I go with the virus
5
You are not kidding; the infection or, rather, infestation in Trump's corrupt government, is far worse than the coronavirus, a disease that potentially may shake our trust in preventive measures when undermined by a 'brutus ignoramus' at odds with science, reason, and common sense. Trump and his minions refuse to understand that a robust democracy 'demands' a robust constructive criticism, so to keep our leaders honest and decent, the last two virtues so painfully absent in our current pluto-kleptocracy. And the politicization of the current health crisis by Trump is akin to reading poetry to pigs...and hope they'll applaud it's meaning.
3
the "hoax" Trump referred to is the Democrat's portrayal as the virus as somehow Trump's fault.
in the interest of intellectual honesty, let's at least try to be clear
if we progressives wanna be the good guys, let's act like it.
3
Nonsense. No one says *the virus is Trumps fault*. Whatever stems from Trump's *response to* the virus, is Trumps fault. C'mon, trlling the truth isnt that hard.
I cannot understand how the Democrats can call for unity with one hand and insure disunity with the other. Surely somebody must realize this tactic is a loser.
What am I missing?
1
Professor Krugman, did you actually attempt to put Bernie Sanders into the same "paranoid" category as right-wing climate deniers and those claiming Covid-19 was a left-wing media hoax?
Did you really just do that?
Shame, Professor Krugman. Shame.
1
Please permit me two brief remarks.
First, it almost seems Krugman has made a so called "Freudian slip" when he discloses how he subconsciously sees government in America today: "And the fact that this kind of paranoia has infected our ruling party is scarier than any virus." In Canada the political parties "form a government"; and long ago the monarchy ceased to "rule".
Second, may I suggest to American readers that they look into "disaster capitalism" and Naomi Klein for one possible preview of your near-term future.
What I like most about Krugman's columns is the amount of criticism he gets, and how often he is accused of being a hack by known right-wing writers.
I should live so long as to have his credibility.
3
And let’s not forget good old Rush, Medal of Freedom, Limbaugh, who proselytized to his ditto heads, the common cold and Covid-19 were the same.
2
Wannabe authoritarian Trump recoils at any and all criticism, seeing himself and his administration as above his oath of office and the rule of law. Dismantling and cutting agencies which would have prepared us better for the onslaught of this epidemic rests solely on Trump's arrogant shoulders. Unfit for office, we can do so much better than this, America.
3
By the second paragraph Mr. Krugman is already proving
himself guilty of the same crime of which he accuses his
targets, and violating the very recommendation in the OpEd piece by Donna Shalala just inches under his own. He has chosen to politicize the Covid 19 epidemic. This second paragraph is a serious misrepresentation of the truth. Claiming that some reporting distorts the current level of crisis to Americans or putting into perspective with past serious viral outbreaks is not at all claiming that "it's all a hoax, a conspiracy." Mr. Krugman knows this, and is
not good journalism to make create such distortion.
With time , the true contagiousness, lethality,and other properties of this novel caronavirus will become
better known and a other measures will very likely
need to be implemented, but for the moment the appropriate measures are being taken and expanded, and a horrible-case scenario does not need to be conveyed.
For those so critical of so-called "snowflakes," the Right, exemplified by President Trump and his supporters, have pretty thin skin.
5
You have to give credit where credit is due and the Libs deserve full marks for this hoax. It's not easy to get 3000 people to die. And how on earth did they get over 60 countries to allow this virus into their countries? And for what? To make trump look bad and cost him the election. Truly an accomplishment.
5
Trump came to the White House on a wave of paranoia. Fear and resentment of America's first president of color were stoked by Donald Trump claiming against all the evidence that Obama was not born in America, and so was an illegitimate president. He whipped up mass hysteria by denouncing waves of Mexican murderers and rapists supposedly rushing across the borders. Trump's last ad for his 2016 campaign called up the anti-Semitic trope of supposed malevolent Jewish control of finance by featuring George Soros, Janet Yellen, and Blankfein. Trump blamed his loss of the popular vote on millions of illegal aliens voting for Hillary Clinton. Fox News and its right-wing hosts played up all these paranoid fantasies. It's no surprise that this same gang now is spinning another villainous conspiracy. The decline in the quality of American governance and public discourse is sickening.
5
Among other liberal media outlets, the Times reported that Obama’s CDC made a series of Ebola-related errors that were so basic, they shocked medical experts. Mr. Krugman has missed the boat here.
Why are there so few confirmed cases in the US? Because we are not testing for it. This is not a conspiracy. It is gross incompetence from the Trump administration.
1087
@Dave - But not the CDC. It does take time to ramp up production of these materials. And distribute them.
One can argue that steps should have been taken as soon as clinical isolates of the virus were available. But it still takes time to go from lab scale to thousands per day.
15
@Steve I do not know why the difference, but in Italy the diagnostic kits were available during the first days of the corona virus outbreak here. Why has the government not been ramping up production of these kits long before the virus supposedly reached our shores in America? I do not believe the fault lies with the CDC but with the Trump administration's denial. Just a guess, but it is understandable why I think that. A little congressional oversight is in order if our democracy still permits that.
73
@Steve It's not the fault of the CDC, but they have been weakened under Trump. Under another president something more would have been done quickly. Other countries responded in a more timely manner. We used to do that, too.
78
It's scarier than Coronavirus but it isn't scarier than _any_ virus. It's only a matter of time until we encounter a highly contagious disease with a long asymptomatic period and high death rate, and such a disease could end human civilization. This is a long-term existential threat against which even the Obama administration's policies were woefully inadequate.
It's not paranoia to state that Trump has attempted to cut the CDC budget every year, but that Congress has not let him do it. Yet on Fox news this evening it was claimed that Trump has increased the budget. It is also true that he did cut a few programs outside of CDC which identified novel viruses likely to become epidemic problems. Yet he claims pro-activity in defending our nation in this regard.
4
The conservative movement has transmogrified into knownothingism. I'd like to exhume Bill Buckley and ask his opinion.
5
But really! did you really had to try to put Sanders in the same basket than Trump? I am starting to believe that you have a big bias that you cannot even see you have...
1
Running every statement about Covid-19 through science whiz, Mike Pence, should be the first clue that this administration cares very little for the truth or for the American people in general. It must be exhausting thinking that everyone, and every country, is out to get you. Our germaphobe and chief, must secretly be terrified of those hatefest rallies.
4
Even on his best behavior he had to work in a shot at Bernie Sanders.
Couldn’t help himself. Like a zombie eating brains. Just can’t stop.
2
the upside to Trump's surgeon general yelling on Twitter we should stop buying masks cause they ain't going to save you anyhow...Trump will never ever be able to wear an N-95 in public or view of a camera—couldn't happen to a more deserving germaphobe.
2
In finale we can conclude that it is Trump and his cult that is the scariest virus that infected America with horrible consequences.
6
These conservatives all have their own virus. Partisan Conspiracy Virus. The sooner these kooks are removed from the political scene, the healthier America will be.
5
This regime is truly horrid.
5
Paranoid politics, traced back to Hillary Clinton’s defense when she stood by her man, has become the new norm.
1
At a time when we need science most - and need to trust science - we have.... trump. and pence. and the republican clown car. and their slobbering cult.
In the best of times, with competent leadership, this would be hard going. Under the current absence of leadership, all bets are off....
6
If Krugman says it, it must be true, right?!
Willful ignorance is enshrined in conservative ideology and is more virulent to life on earth than any current novel coronaviruses.
4
When the President of the United States focuses only on his administration's performance during this crisis, exaggerates the speed at which a vaccine will be available and downplays the severity of the coronavirus, it's time to be alarmed. Having muzzled all the experts who stand mutely behind him or the Vice President at a news conference, the truth is hard to come by.
I checked the CDC website tonight at 7 pm and the statistics on reported are not updated with current information. In fact, the disease is labeled Coronavirus Disease 2019. Should we inform this government agency that it's 2020? Thankfully, the New York Times, Washington Post and PBS Newshour have done a magnificent job of giving Americans the true story.
4
Trump badly needs to bolster his parallel truthyverse. It’s worked so far but like any gambler, running the table, the winning streak will end badly.
3
I subscribe to President Trump’s White House email daily letter. Today he was quoted as saying that Coronavirus is under control. A few days ago it was called a liberal hoax. I strongly doubt that any of his aids who write these email letters know what they are doing and it’s clear that he doesn’t either.
4
It wasn't the impeachment; it was SARS-CoV-2 killed the beast!
(Just a metaphor, so can we all relax)
1
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Donald Trump started tweeting that Democrats INVENTED the Coronavirus just to get him out of office.
It seems there's no end to the paranoid delusions going on in his head when it comes to playing victim, but even more amazing is the fact that there are some folks out there who would believe something like that if he said so -- not to mention a Republican Congress that would back him up.
But of course there's nothing to worry about because according to Trump, it will all be over by Spring when warmer weather arrives.
And just in time for him to go back to Mar-s-lago.
3
When the vaccine becomes available we should continue that narrative. Make them think it’s a liberal conspiracy. Start a web site for the next “Q” or “Z” or whatever. Let those who endanger us all stand firm in their belief as long as possible.
1
Many thoughts on our current disaster but
Well, if Trump wants his rallies because this virus is just a hoax, who are we mere mortals to get in the way of the most intelligent and most handsome human to ever walk this green earth?
I the stable genius hugs each and everyone of the MAGA crowd. Maybe even a kiss or two on each cheek. And for the women, a grab on their holy of holies.
2
"We're going to have the best people," quoth Trump the candidate and Trump the president elect. How'd that turn out? Here's how: seven of his closest advisors and cronies--seven so far, that is--have been convicted of crimes exposed by the Mueller report (Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, George Papadapouos, Richard Pinedo, Alex van der Zwaan, Roger Stone, and Michael Flynn).
And who did he deem the "best" person to coordinate response to the coronavirus? Why, other than the vacuous, sickeningly sycophantic VP Mike Pence--the same Mike Pence who, when governor of Indiana, let AIDS run wild by refusing to approve, on "moral" grounds, a needle-exchange program.
Leave it to Trump to consistently put the worst in charge and claim against all evidence that they are the best, whether it's installing an anti-environmentalist as head of the EPA or a science-denying Bible-thumper as corona Czar.
5
All Presidents, and that includes Trump, have a minor role in the stock market's performance. But, Trump always took credit for the rising stock market. Now he does not want to take credit for its crashing; he's blaming anything and anyone that comes to his mind. You can't have it both ways, taking responsibility for success but not for failure.
This is such a classic Trump feature -- find someone else to blame for anything that is less than stellar. And that includes his four bankruptcies and a failed Trump University, all f which were someone else's fault.
I hope voters are seeing a pattern and will vote him out of office in November.
2
For Americans who did not already know that the Emperor had no clothes, the tide began to turn against George W Bush when he pronounced that his FEMA Director, the incompetent Michael Brown, was doing a "heck of a job". The country knew otherwise. Years later, that phrase continues to be a punch line: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30baker.html.
Now we have a pandemic. Does Trump make the same mistake? No! He can't make the same mistake because he has already fired anyone with expertise. Is that a problem? No, he says, because we can hire them back very quickly. The country knows otherwise.
Lord save us from this moment, and others, when George W Bush is made to look like a serious, competent President.
1
This is such a dishonest article. Nobody thinks coronavirus is a conspiracy theory. That is a lie.
The liberal media is definitely looking to lie about the Trump admin response. That much has been demonstrated already with just these kind of dishonest partisan distortions.
"It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump," Limbaugh said Feb. 24 on his radio show. "Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus … I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks."
2
The NYT should look in the mirror as they are both an instigator and a facilitator of the described political paranoia. They Times day in and day out publishes “news analysis” stories and op-ed pieces that prdent only negative caricatures of the Democratic candidates and stoke the fire of divisiveness of the progressive vs. moderate wings of the party. Might be strong click bait, but it degrades our politics as much as any of those accused in this op-ed.
2
In the same way that it is easy to complain about the size of government until you need a police officer, it is easy to complain that the coronavirus is one big hoax until you are the one who gets sick. I'm not wishing this disease on anyone, but it is stupid to pretend that only Those People get sick because of some rule you made up that keeps you protected. None of us is immune to the hardships suffered by others, and all of us need some empathy.
4
I’ll take climate change seriously when Obama and Al Gore sell their ocean front villas.
That explains why I got such a great deal from my friend Al.
No you won’t. If they did sell you would think of another excuse to never admit you and your republican friends might be wrong.
1
You say that conservatives are engaged in decades long battle against the truth while progressives believe idea that men can be changed to women. That doesn't sound too scientific to me and I'm fed up with seeing my daughter get trounced on the soccer field by thirteen year old "girls" who are biologically boys. 2 plus 2 doesn't equal 5 Paul.
2
@Jonas: Your complaint is completely valid, but it has nothing to do with the subject of this column, unless you are saying that a bad decision by one school district or one state, negates all scientific evidence on all topics. That mindset is a slippery slope. Have you attended meetings of your school board to express your frustration? What do the other parents think? The topic you raise is a global one, addressed by such international bodies as the International Olympic Committee.
The whole story of the pandemic, the disruption of financial markets, supply chains, food distribution all of that plays into the dystopian fantasies of a good chunk of right wing. There are a great number of people who dream that when society breaks down, that they, by virtue of their foresightedness, will become the new leaders. They're the preppers/survivalists who've stockpiled food, weapons and ammunition to deal with it too. The Internet, like it helped build Trump will fan these flames too. There are lots of Alex Joneses out there and they all have their followers. The ability for toxic thought to spread like wildfire is well known. Give that group of wannabe heroes a real threat to imagine on and the sky's the limit.
4
If you watch the press event with the pharma CEOs you see in Trump a man who truly lives in his own fantasy world. He seemed to believe that by repeatedly saying that a "cure" will be ready in a few months, that somehow it would really be true. It took Fauci and the pharma heads to keep telling him that it will be at least 12-18 months for a vaccine. How can this guy be president? We need someone grounded in reality.
7
Let's start getting these deniers to sign up for shifts caring for the sick--no need for gloves or masks, since it's not a real issue. It would be a great opportunity to display some Christian values. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for the Christian right deniers.
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I hear various reasons why people don't want Medicare for All. One of the main reasons is that people don't want to pay taxes to cover everybody. On the other hand, I hear about those who are paying over 1,000 dollars a month for health insurance, and then have high co-pays and large deductibles. Would taxes for universal healthcare be higher than insurance premiums? Would taxes be higher than medical bills? Isn't a healthy society a stronger society and worth the money? Why are we afraid of terrorists when the lack of affordable healthcare is killing people?
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This is an excellent critique of modern conservatism. We also need to be cognizant of the decades long attack on liberalism by the right magnified by the megaphone of rightwing media for which facts are frequently absent. The belittling of liberalism, the denigration of liberalism, and the demonization of liberalism has often been the only purpose of rightwing existence. Add to this the hubris of the right that allows them to think only they have the right to rule (not govern). Witness extreme gerrymandering. Witness the unfounded assertion of voter fraud as a means of limiting voter rights. Witness what is happening in Oregon. Witness McConnell’s control of the senate. Remember Merrick Garland.
6
Whatever denials, conspiracies and hoaxes the Trump Administration tries to claim so as to mitigate the political threat of an epidemic, the fact is behind closed doors, I suspect the Trump staff is deeply concerned. The handling of a pandemic was not suppose to be the referendum the Trump administration would stake its re-election bid on - it was the economy. They're obviously well out of their depths. And unlike Climate Change, a more easily equivocated phenomena, there isn't much wiggle room when it comes to an epidemic: people die, bodies are counted, numbers are reported and people well understand what it means to cope in the face of quickly mounting mortality statistics - both in their own local communities as well as throughout the nation. Trying to deny those numbers, should the Trump administration come to that, would amount to political suicide. No, I rather doubt the Trump Administration believes its own propaganda, especially if this situation goes south. And they may well be forced to start talking a different game. Because in the end, the country will hold them fully responsible for the handling of this.
7
The Trump staff has been concerned ever since he took office. They know how crazy he is. Even more than we do.
After it’s too late to make a difference, they will write probably books about it.
Trump thinks he lives an enchanted life. All presidencies have seen a disaster, or a tragedy, or an epidemic on their watch. It's hard to go four years without something happening. Trump either thought nothing bad would happen while he was president, or he didn't care if something bad happened. He dismantled all of the agencies designed to protect us from disease or terror or climate change or pollution. All of them.
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