Trump's cronies should really have him stand over a trap door during these press conferences. His comments always quickly digress from the immediate topic and towards himself.

This phucking idiotic, moron has done nothing for 2 1/2 months, to stem the tide of death and destruction that is sweeping Our Nation, he now says the best plan is to do nothing for another 15 days?

Trump signals change in coronavirus strategy that could clash with health experts

https://flip.it/B9atGR

He's an "expert" at "doing nothing"

Except constantly blaming others, trashing the media, and stroking his own ego. Beyond that, he's a swell guy.

Cuomo certainly has his detractors here in New York, myself included, but his leadership over the past 3 weeks or so regarding Covid-19 has absolutely been in complete contrast to Caligula in Chief...

Last week when he essentially shut down the New York state economy, the second thing out of his mouth was "I take complete responsibility for doing this." Thank god we have a coherent, intelligent adult running New York state.

Meanwhile Trump seems incapable of not only listening to the experts, but even being civil to anyone who questions his off the wall and completely asinine statements. He's so insecure about his stupidity that he immediately goes into attack mode. I'm convinced it's a survival mechanism he learned at a very young age.

My goodness, at this moment I am watching Governor Cuomo speak and am absolutely floored by the difference that an intelligent, qualified and committed leader makes!!!!

Cuomo is exactly what civilians look for in a crisis - a candid LEADER who provides facts, reports solutions that are in the pipeline, doesn't downplay risks but exudes an air of calm & authority. One of the worst outcomes of the Trump administration is that some have come to think he's all we can expect. Without the contrast of Cuomo & others like Dr. Fauci (who is respectfully deferential when correcting DJT''s fairy tales), the leadership bar is pretty low.

I'm constantly reminded of 9/11 & its immediate aftermath when leadership was lacking in NYC (a crying Guiliani racing around to funerals & microphones) & in the nation (W using the opportunity to invade Iraq). There was absolutely no one then to look to for leadership. Now, Cuomo's daily briefings are the calm, informed summaries that are credible.

Trump just doesn't seem to believe this is a crisis even though he's been convinced to say so publicly. Reports are that he's chomping at the bit to lift social distancing at the end of this week after the 15 day period even though we now know the vulnerable population isn't just Boomers & up; it's everyone, including children. He couldn't care less about containment or healthcare or how many die. He wants his market back. He'd lift the ban today if his medical advisers weren't so strongly opposed. Not to go all Dystopian, but businesses actually can function w/o shoulder-to-shoulder workers in offices or bricks/mortar stores. Some entertainment & personal services businesses can't function w/o personal interaction, but neither they nor their gig employees are driving the market.

I'm not an economist but it seems that this forced pause would cause CEOs to rethink how businesses function so that the goal isn't to return to busines as usual but to return to a more streamlined model.

I was no fan of Bush, but he looks like a genius compared to today....

I disagree that he showed no leadership at 9/11. I listened very closely to his speech and thought he said exactly what was needed at the time. Things went off the tracks after that with our reaction - war, Patriot Act, etc. but I thought his speech was actually pretty good at the time.

Cuomo certainly has his detractors here in New York, myself included, but his leadership over the past 3 weeks or so regarding Covid-19 has absolutely been in complete contrast to Caligula in Chief...

Last week when he essentially shut down the New York state economy, the second thing out of his mouth was "I take complete responsibility for doing this." Thank god we have a coherent, intelligent adult running New York state.

Meanwhile Trump seems incapable of not only listening to the experts, but even being civil to anyone who questions his off the wall and completely asinine statements. He's so insecure about his stupidity that he immediately goes into attack mode. I'm convinced it's a survival mechanism he learned at a very young age.

I can't stand some of Cuomo's policies in NY.

His safe act is a disgrace and he sh!t the bed on legal cannabis last year, I doubt now we'll see anything done this year because of the virus.

That being said, he is showing the country what an actual leader does during a time of crisis.

Cuomo certainly has his detractors here in New York, myself included, but his leadership over the past 3 weeks or so regarding Covid-19 has absolutely been in complete contrast to Caligula in Chief...

Last week when he essentially shut down the New York state economy, the second thing out of his mouth was "I take complete responsibility for doing this." Thank god we have a coherent, intelligent adult running New York state.

Meanwhile Trump seems incapable of not only listening to the experts, but even being civil to anyone who questions his off the wall and completely asinine statements. He's so insecure about his stupidity that he immediately goes into attack mode. I'm convinced it's a survival mechanism he learned at a very young age.

I can't stand some of Cuomo's policies in NY.

His safe act is a disgrace and he sh!t the bed on legal cannabis last year, I doubt now we'll see anything done this year because of the virus.

That being said, he is showing the country what an actual leader does during a time of crisis.

I agree, Ron, although some of the Safe Act makes sense, other parts not so much. As far as Cannabis legalization, yeah, probably won't happen yet again this budget year. Hell, the only reason he now supports it is because of the revenue potential. So much so, if it's ever passed it sure as hell won't contain a home grow option as the state wants ALL the revenue.

My main issue with Cuomo, however, is the way he so conveniently disbanded the Moorland Commission a few years back just as it was beginning to shine the light on his administration and its connection to fraud and various misdeeds. A little too convenient it seems to me.

Illinois legalized recreational pot, but all dispensaries are now only selling to medical until this crisis passes

It truly pains me to say this of "our President" as we could really use some solid, intelligent, qualified, leadership right now. Did anyone else notice how Trumpty struggled to read what was written for him today? He's like a 3rd grader struggling with the tough words at school!!! Maybe even a bit more than usual today? ( sound it out now Donnie)..........Peace.........jo

Lots of threads lately about Trump press conferences, Angela Merkel press conferences, Governor Cuomo press conferences...at this rate we are going to go crazy watching these things!

Governor Cuomo and Trump talked about the idea of looking past this economic shut down and thinking about what comes next. The difference is Cuomo made it one aspect of things he talked about in his press conference while Trump made it most of the nearly 2 hour press conference he held, which every major network and cable TV channel eventually dropped, except Fox News.

It's not crazy to think about how or when to end this self quarantine and shut down, but Trump can't express himself, or his ideas (or ideas he has read or been told about) properly to have it make sense.

When Cuomo says it, I get the feeling it is the right thing to think about. When Trump says it, I get the feeling it is too early to be taking so much time talking about it.

Cuomo excerpts from a Hill story https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/489030-cuomo-we-have-to-plan-to-pivot-back-to-economic-functionality:

“I take total responsibility for shutting off the economy in terms of nonessential workers, but we also have to start to plan the pivot back to economic functionality. You can't stop the economy forever,” he added.

Asked about Trump’s remarks, Cuomo said “you have to walk and chew gum in life,” adding that no executive has the “luxury of being one-dimensional.”

“I am very proud of the measures we’ve taken to address this public health crisis,” Cuomo said.

“But I’m also very aware you cannot — it is unsustainable to run this state or run this country with the economy closed down,” he added.

I remarked last week another issue where Cuomo told a story that his sister wanted a Covid19 test for her daughter (Cuomo's neice). Cuomo talked her off the ledge and told her not everyone needs tested. It was something the Trump administration says too, even though the media constantly, over and over, talks about more tests, everyone needs tests, why can't everyone have a test? The underlying response to this issue from Cuomo and Trump is very similar, however Trump botches the explanation or can't even understand the reasoning of the things he is saying, or trying to say.

So yes, there is a sharp contrast, but it isn't always in disagreement on issues, it is how the position on the issue is explained.

As a country and as a government, local, state and federal, thinking about what comes next is the right thing to do and how we turn the switches back on is part of responsible planning. Forcing it to happen when the country isn't quite ready for it to happen is the wrong thing to do. Trump's position almost seemed predisposed that is what he wants to do. Cuomo's approach is to plan it out. Same idea, different execution.

Here is a Friedman opinion excerpt on the topic from NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/coronavirus-economy.html

Dr. John P.A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist and co-director of Stanford’s Meta-Research Innovation Center, pointed out in a March 17 essay on statnews.com, that we still do not have a firm grasp of the population-wide fatality rate of coronavirus. A look at some of the best available evidence today, though, indicates it may be 1 percent and could even be lower.

“If that is the true rate,’’ Ioannidis wrote, “locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies.’’

Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, shared with me some thoughts he was hammering into an essay: “Society’s response to Covid-19, such as closing businesses and locking down communities, may be necessary to curb community spread but could harm health in other ways, costing lives. Imagine a patient with chest pain or a developing stroke, where speed is essential to save lives, hesitating to call 911 for fear of catching the coronavirus. Or a cancer patient having to delay chemotherapy because the facility is closed. Or a patient with advanced emphysema who dies for lack of a facility with a ventilator.’’

And imagine the stress and mental illness that will come — already has come — from our shutting down our economy, triggering massive layoffs.

One of the best ideas I have come across was offered by Dr. David L. Katz, the founding director of Yale University’s C.D.C.-funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and an expert in public health and preventive medicine.

Katz wrote an Op-Ed in The Times on Friday that caught my eye. He argued that we have three goals right now: saving as many lives as we can, making sure that our medical system does not get overwhelmed — but also making sure that in the process of achieving the first two goals we don’t destroy our economy, and as a result of that, even more lives.

For all these reasons, he argued, we need to pivot from the “horizontal interdiction” strategy we’re now deploying — restricting the movement and commerce of the entire population, without consideration of varying risks for severe infection — to a more “surgical’’ or “vertical interdiction’’ strategy.

A surgical-vertical approach would focus on protecting and sequestering those among us most likely to be killed or suffer long-term damage by exposure to coronavirus infection — that is, the elderly, people with chronic diseases and the immunologically compromised — while basically treating the rest of society the way we have always dealt with familiar threats like the flu. That means we would tell them to be respectful of others when coughing or sneezing, wash their hands regularly and if they feel sick to stay home and get over it — or to seek medical attention if they are not recuperating as expected.

Because, as with the flu, the vast majority will get over it in days, a small number will require hospitalization and a very small percentage of the most vulnerable will, tragically, die. (That said, coronavirus is more dangerous than the typical flu we are familiar with.) As Katz argued, governors and mayors, by choosing the horizontal approach of basically sending everyone home for an unspecified period, might have actually increased the dangers of infection for those most vulnerable.

“As we lay off workers, and colleges close their dorms and send all their students home,’’ Katz noted, “young people of indeterminate infectious status are being sent home to huddle with their families nationwide. And because we lack widespread testing, they may be carrying the virus and transmitting it to their 50-something parents, and 70- or 80-something grandparents.’’

Can the cure be worse than the problem? What's the right balance and how do we walk that line? We don't have faith Trump will have the appropriate judgement, but there are many more people than him thinking about the same thing. More will be discussed on the topic, our country can no survive for long like this with the Fed and the Treasury just throwing life preserver after life preserver. I'm not even sure we can actually survive throwing all the life preservers really.

The only part of this that gives me any satisfaction is having to watch Mike Pence play "Cookie" to Trump's "Bozo".

He has to know how ludicrous this is and he has to play along like it's not. The only thing worse than someone who doesn't know better playing along with Trump's bullsh*t is someone who does know better. I wonder what Karen Pence thinks of this. Not that Pence had a lot of dignity before this, but this has gotten pathetic.

Cuomo is exactly what civilians look for in a crisis

What happened to Michael Bloomberg?....I thought he was the cat's meow?

Lots of threads lately about Trump press conferences, Angela Merkel press conferences, Governor Cuomo press conferences...at this rate we are going to go crazy watching these things!

Governor Cuomo and Trump talked about the idea of looking past this economic shut down and thinking about what comes next. The difference is Cuomo made it one aspect of things he talked about in his press conference while Trump made it most of the nearly 2 hour press conference he held, which every major network and cable TV channel eventually dropped, except Fox News.

It's not crazy to think about how or when to end this self quarantine and shut down, but Trump can't express himself, or his ideas (or ideas he has read or been told about) properly to have it make sense.

When Cuomo says it, I get the feeling it is the right thing to think about. When Trump says it, I get the feeling it is too early to be taking so much time talking about it.

Cuomo excerpts from a Hill story https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/489030-cuomo-we-have-to-plan-to-pivot-back-to-economic-functionality:

“I take total responsibility for shutting off the economy in terms of nonessential workers, but we also have to start to plan the pivot back to economic functionality. You can't stop the economy forever,” he added.

Asked about Trump’s remarks, Cuomo said “you have to walk and chew gum in life,” adding that no executive has the “luxury of being one-dimensional.”

“I am very proud of the measures we’ve taken to address this public health crisis,” Cuomo said.

“But I’m also very aware you cannot — it is unsustainable to run this state or run this country with the economy closed down,” he added.

I remarked last week another issue where Cuomo told a story that his sister wanted a Covid19 test for her daughter (Cuomo's neice). Cuomo talked her off the ledge and told her not everyone needs tested. It was something the Trump administration says too, even though the media constantly, over and over, talks about more tests, everyone needs tests, why can't everyone have a test? The underlying response to this issue from Cuomo and Trump is very similar, however Trump botches the explanation or can't even understand the reasoning of the things he is saying, or trying to say.

So yes, there is a sharp contrast, but it isn't always in disagreement on issues, it is how the position on the issue is explained.

As a country and as a government, local, state and federal, thinking about what comes next is the right thing to do and how we turn the switches back on is part of responsible planning. Forcing it to happen when the country isn't quite ready for it to happen is the wrong thing to do. Trump's position almost seemed predisposed that is what he wants to do. Cuomo's approach is to plan it out. Same idea, different execution.

Here is a Friedman opinion excerpt on the topic from NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/coronavirus-economy.html

Dr. John P.A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist and co-director of Stanford’s Meta-Research Innovation Center, pointed out in a March 17 essay on statnews.com, that we still do not have a firm grasp of the population-wide fatality rate of coronavirus. A look at some of the best available evidence today, though, indicates it may be 1 percent and could even be lower.

“If that is the true rate,’’ Ioannidis wrote, “locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies.’’

Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, shared with me some thoughts he was hammering into an essay: “Society’s response to Covid-19, such as closing businesses and locking down communities, may be necessary to curb community spread but could harm health in other ways, costing lives. Imagine a patient with chest pain or a developing stroke, where speed is essential to save lives, hesitating to call 911 for fear of catching the coronavirus. Or a cancer patient having to delay chemotherapy because the facility is closed. Or a patient with advanced emphysema who dies for lack of a facility with a ventilator.’’

And imagine the stress and mental illness that will come — already has come — from our shutting down our economy, triggering massive layoffs.

One of the best ideas I have come across was offered by Dr. David L. Katz, the founding director of Yale University’s C.D.C.-funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and an expert in public health and preventive medicine.

Katz wrote an Op-Ed in The Times on Friday that caught my eye. He argued that we have three goals right now: saving as many lives as we can, making sure that our medical system does not get overwhelmed — but also making sure that in the process of achieving the first two goals we don’t destroy our economy, and as a result of that, even more lives.

For all these reasons, he argued, we need to pivot from the “horizontal interdiction” strategy we’re now deploying — restricting the movement and commerce of the entire population, without consideration of varying risks for severe infection — to a more “surgical’’ or “vertical interdiction’’ strategy.

A surgical-vertical approach would focus on protecting and sequestering those among us most likely to be killed or suffer long-term damage by exposure to coronavirus infection — that is, the elderly, people with chronic diseases and the immunologically compromised — while basically treating the rest of society the way we have always dealt with familiar threats like the flu. That means we would tell them to be respectful of others when coughing or sneezing, wash their hands regularly and if they feel sick to stay home and get over it — or to seek medical attention if they are not recuperating as expected.

Because, as with the flu, the vast majority will get over it in days, a small number will require hospitalization and a very small percentage of the most vulnerable will, tragically, die. (That said, coronavirus is more dangerous than the typical flu we are familiar with.) As Katz argued, governors and mayors, by choosing the horizontal approach of basically sending everyone home for an unspecified period, might have actually increased the dangers of infection for those most vulnerable.

“As we lay off workers, and colleges close their dorms and send all their students home,’’ Katz noted, “young people of indeterminate infectious status are being sent home to huddle with their families nationwide. And because we lack widespread testing, they may be carrying the virus and transmitting it to their 50-something parents, and 70- or 80-something grandparents.’’

Can the cure be worse than the problem? What's the right balance and how do we walk that line? We don't have faith Trump will have the appropriate judgement, but there are many more people than him thinking about the same thing. More will be discussed on the topic, our country can no survive for long like this with the Fed and the Treasury just throwing life preserver after life preserver. I'm not even sure we can actually survive throwing all the life preservers really.

Nice post here nebish, thanks for tr asking the time, I can see some of the things You talked about here.......Peace.....joe

*Your post almost makes me feel like the vibe I get is that it's not such a left/right thing as much as it might be a class thing, intelligence thing, a criminal thing or maybe a class thing or Trump is just a thug with criminal leanings type thing, maybe not as left/right thing??? Just trying to get my brain to wander around and take a look around a bit?

[Edited on 3/24/2020 by crazyjoe]

[Edited on 3/24/2020 by crazyjoe]

However, we can talk nice and try to make nice all we want about the economy and so forth, but meanwhile, I am watch the casualty numbers on the side tick by and each time it ticks higher, that an American life??..........first importance is keep ourselves and our families alive for roughly the next 5 weeks........the economy will build back up?.......Peace.......joe

Gov. Cuomo is speaking now looks tired but again, showing exceptional leadership!!!!!.........joe

I enjoy compiling posts like that, I hope it is of some mutual benefit because I personally benefit from summarizing my thoughts and those of others in one place.

I have Cuomo on the radio and he just talked about this. If Trump said what Cuomo just said we wouldn't have headlines and tv shows all fired up because Trump wants to end social distancing while the pandemic hasn't peaked yet. He isn't capable of expressing himself in a believable and credible way. My point is that figuring out how to restart the economy isn't a bad thing, Trump just expresses it in a bad way. To your point, that is the contrast and the void. Meanwhile there are wise and smart people across this country thinking about the same thing. We'll get it figured out, we have to.

Btw Friedman was on CNBC this morning talking about his NYT piece and the economic impact. It's not to early to talk about what we do with the economy, but it is too early to flip the switch.

However, we can talk nice and try to make nice all we want about the economy and so forth, but meanwhile, I am watch the casualty numbers on the side tick by and each time it ticks higher, that an American life??..........first importance is keep ourselves and our families alive for roughly the next 5 weeks........the economy will build back up?.......Peace.......joe

Well put, Joe. Epidemiologists are suggesting six weeks or at least 30 days for saving lives. Trump can't even wait the 15 days he himself ordered. No one is suggesting putting lives before the Dow forever. Professionals & leaders like Cuomo are thinking & planning re the economy; it's not forgotten by anyone.

However, we can talk nice and try to make nice all we want about the economy and so forth, but meanwhile, I am watch the casualty numbers on the side tick by and each time it ticks higher, that an American life??..........first importance is keep ourselves and our families alive for roughly the next 5 weeks........the economy will build back up?.......Peace.......joe

Well put, Joe. Epidemiologists are suggesting six weeks or at least 30 days for saving lives. Trump can't even wait the 15 days he himself ordered. No one is suggesting putting lives before the Dow forever. Professionals & leaders like Cuomo are thinking & planning re the economy; it's not forgotten by anyone.

Except that Trump's comments yesterday paraphrasing sound bites he heard on FOX were astounding. As bad as things are and may become in the economy, how many lives are worth sacrificing and how many people must get sick before Trump comes to grips with reality? Or on the other hand, maybe he gets reality already, but his priorities are $$$$ over people. I've never seen him as a leader nor a person who cares much about humanity.

However, we can talk nice and try to make nice all we want about the economy and so forth, but meanwhile, I am watch the casualty numbers on the side tick by and each time it ticks higher, that an American life??..........first importance is keep ourselves and our families alive for roughly the next 5 weeks........the economy will build back up?.......Peace.......joe

Well put, Joe. Epidemiologists are suggesting six weeks or at least 30 days for saving lives. Trump can't even wait the 15 days he himself ordered. No one is suggesting putting lives before the Dow forever. Professionals & leaders like Cuomo are thinking & planning re the economy; it's not forgotten by anyone.

Except that Trump's comments yesterday paraphrasing sound bites he heard on FOX were astounding. As bad as things are and may become in the economy, how many lives are worth sacrificing and how many people must get sick before Trump comes to grips with reality? Or on the other hand, maybe he gets reality already, but his priorities are $$$$ over people. I've never seen him as a leader nor a person who cares much about humanity.

Frightening thoughts here MartinD28! Real life often is!!!!.........Peace......joe

Trump is so far off the rails they decided to bi-pass the live press conference and try a Fox News virtual reality gimmick. Clearly someone within the administration realized Trump looks worse and worse by the day and so opted to go into their default mode of throwing a life line to Faux (Trump) Network.

Meanwhile Andrew Cuomo continues to show what a functioning adult can do for the citizens of his state.

Trump is so far off the rails they decided to bi-pass the live press conference and try a Fox News virtual reality gimmick. Clearly someone within the administration realized Trump looks worse and worse by the day and so opted to go into their default mode of throwing a life line to Faux (Trump) Network.

Meanwhile Andrew Cuomo continues to show what a functioning adult can do for the citizens of his state.

Chain,

I saw the man-boy prez on TV with a gift for you. He said he'd like the country open for business by Easter. What a giving guy. I'll bet all the docs are on board because it's amazing what he knows about science.

Trump is so far off the rails they decided to bi-pass the live press conference and try a Fox News virtual reality gimmick. Clearly someone within the administration realized Trump looks worse and worse by the day and so opted to go into their default mode of throwing a life line to Faux (Trump) Network.

Meanwhile Andrew Cuomo continues to show what a functioning adult can do for the citizens of his state.

Chain,

I saw the man-boy prez on TV with a gift for you. He said he'd like the country open for business by Easter. What a giving guy. I'll bet all the docs are on board because it's amazing what he knows about science.

Thank goodness. It's like a gift from god it's such a brilliant idea....And by Easter...What a good Christian, our little Caligula.

Trump is so far off the rails they decided to bi-pass the live press conference and try a Fox News virtual reality gimmick. Clearly someone within the administration realized Trump looks worse and worse by the day and so opted to go into their default mode of throwing a life line to Faux (Trump) Network.

Meanwhile Andrew Cuomo continues to show what a functioning adult can do for the citizens of his state.

Chain,

I saw the man-boy prez on TV with a gift for you. He said he'd like the country open for business by Easter. What a giving guy. I'll bet all the docs are on board because it's amazing what he knows about science.

Thank goodness. It's like a gift from god it's such a brilliant idea....And by Easter...What a good Christian, our little Caligula.

You Guys a just killing me, Your frank honesty is brutal! This is guys antics are shear unadulterated insanity, the evil orange clown is really bad news!!!!!!! ............Peace...and Strength to all........joe

His best press conference in a week. Coincidence it was also the shortest (pretty sure, I think?). So he reads the prepared comments well and doesn't take the show off the road in the Q & A portion and then gets out of dodge one out of 7 days and this is graded as a good one. Seems to me whoever wrote the speech has been acutely aware of the press around the last press conference. I can't say for sure, I was making dinner and stuff, heard most of it when not distracted.

Hey, Fauci was there today, at least we can put all that speculation and rumor to rest.