Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Ragitsu]

 

[Sociotard]

I would like to see verification of what Trump or his campaign actually did to block that video. The last rumor I heard was some sort of legal action, which should be easy enough to verify if true.

 

I mean, the soundbites are real enough and the exponential curve looks about right. I just think the caption of him trying to block it might lack basis.

[Lord Liaden]

6 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

Yes, but his attitude on the optics of this situation is schizophrenic (bipolar?) at best. Half the time, he quietly gives China props for handling their outbreak plus the assistance they're passing along to us; the other half is spent parroting weak jingoistic sentiments that still resonate with his diehard followers.

 

Trump will say whatever BS he thinks will help him with whatever person or situation he's dealing with at the time, all the while denying that he ever said anything to the contrary, or trying to spin it to mean something else.

[BNakagawa]

40 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Trump will say whatever BS he thinks will help him with whatever person or situation he's dealing with at the time, all the while denying that he ever said anything to the contrary, or trying to spin it to mean something else.

 

His moral compass is a wind sock.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Trump will say whatever BS he thinks will help him with whatever person or situation he's dealing with at the time, all the while denying that he ever said anything to the contrary, or trying to spin it to mean something else.

 

I find that true of most politicians though.  Trump is just more prolific at it.

[Lord Liaden]

But unlike most politicians, he'll deny or ignore incontrovertible evidence that what he says isn't true. There are very few politicians even approaching his lack of shame.

[megaplayboy]

8 hours ago, Sociotard said:

I would like to see verification of what Trump or his campaign actually did to block that video. The last rumor I heard was some sort of legal action, which should be easy enough to verify if true.

 

I mean, the soundbites are real enough and the exponential curve looks about right. I just think the caption of him trying to block it might lack basis.

AIUI, they objected to the part where he called it a "hoax" as deceptive/false advertising.  He kinda did call the concern over it a hoax, though.  

We are heading into a month(or two, or even three) of perhaps some of the most tremendous losses our country has ever faced.  While it may seem "partisan" to some to point out failures of preparedness and heel-dragging by 45, the grave import of these errors will be apparent to even the willfully blind soon enough.  

[Ragitsu]

The time to give Trump the benefit of the doubt ended - *checks nonexistent watch* - at least six years ago.

[Hugh Neilson]

On 3/26/2020 at 10:03 PM, Old Man said:

 

I can't speak to the other three, as I am sufficiently challenged to keep up with Canada's activity.  If you wish to judge my success, you can do an online search for "life in the tax lane" "covid-19".

 

I can tell you that Canada has not sent a single cheque yet.  We have very limited details of who will qualify or how the payment will actually be determined, although we have some brief legislation, passed last week in emergency sessions of Parliament and our Senate, with unanimous approval by all parties to get this out fast, and allow for a very small group of representatives to make it happen.  It was not a smooth or pretty process,  but I credit them with coming together and quite literally working through the night to get this done.

 

From that legislation, we do know there is a "prior year" income test (at least $5k from employment, self-employment, or a few other sources).  It allows for 16 weeks' payments, in four week blocks falling between March 15/20 and Oct 3/20.  The worker must cease work for a continuous period of at least 14 consecutive days due to COVID-19 (which I assume is set due to the self-isolation recommendations) in that four week block.  An employee who quits voluntarily does not qualify.

 

I believe we know which government branch will administer the program.  We are still waiting for an application process and anything beyond a political soundbite on how benefits are determined.  On Friday, at a press conference, a brave soul told our Finance Minister she needed a "clear answer" to a question (it must have been her first day on that beat...).  She gave up after three tries. The question?

 

A worker in a retail cashier position is concerned about her health risks, and therefore ceases employment.  Does she qualify because she left her job due to COVID-19, or is she carved out because she left her employment voluntarily?

 

This concludes the educational portion of our broadcast.

 

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

But unlike most politicians, he'll deny or ignore incontrovertible evidence that what he says isn't true. There are very few politicians even approaching his lack of shame.

 

Sadly, I think we can attribute his position, at least in part, to being better at politicking than most in that field.  The character traits of a successful politician often scare me.

[Lord Liaden]

Trump is a lousy politician. He's inept at utilizing existing power structures, building consensus, tapping expertise, and keeping his mouth shut when he should. He is, however, an aggressive self-promoter, of the crude and obvious variety -- which, unfortunately, still seems to work on many people.

[Ternaugh]

13 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Trump is a lousy politician. He's inept at utilizing existing power structures, building consensus, tapping expertise, and keeping his mouth shut when he should. He is, however, an aggressive self-promoter, of the crude and obvious variety -- which, unfortunately, still seems to work on many people.

 

The word you're looking for is "grifter". 

[Starlord]

Snake Oil Salesman?

Huckster?

Swindler?

 

[Lord Liaden]

Yeah, I wanted to use all of those, but didn't want to risk being banned.

[Ragitsu]

13 minutes ago, Starlord said:

Snake Oil Salesman?

Huckster?

Swindler?

 

 

I am warming up to "flimflam man".

[Hugh Neilson]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Trump is a lousy politician. He's inept at utilizing existing power structures, building consensus, tapping expertise, and keeping his mouth shut when he should. He is, however, an aggressive self-promoter, of the crude and obvious variety -- which, unfortunately, still seems to work on many people.

 

1 hour ago, Ternaugh said:

 

The word you're looking for is "grifter". 

 

36 minutes ago, Starlord said:

Snake Oil Salesman?

Huckster?

Swindler?

 

 

22 minutes ago, Ragitsu said:

 

I am warming up to "flimflam man".

 

Sadly, that seems to describe more and more politicians in modern times.  Clearly, a lot of voters (in a lot of countries) are buying what they are shilling.

[Starlord]

Trump sends out tweet bragging about high ratings for his Coronavirus briefings

 

Wow, didn't think he could sink lower.

[Lord Liaden]

I've read or heard that identical statement at least a hundred times over the past few years. It's not that he's actually getting worse, it's just the contrast between the situations he finds himself in and the only kind of response he's capable of. If the situation becomes even worse, expect him to sink lower still.

[megaplayboy]

Can someone tuned into Trumpville explain to me how 100 to 200 thousand completely avoidable deaths of American citizens equates to a "very good job"?  

[Old Man]

It's better than 201 thousand.  Great Again™!

 

Besides, Hillary would have been worse.  It is known.

[Lord Liaden]

Trump's only metric of performance is the economy. As long as he's told the numbers are good (because he doesn't actually understand economics) he's very happy to take credit for them. He neither comprehends nor cares about any other standard of governance or leadership, although that doesn't stop him from trying to spin such things to make himself look good, or shift blame to someone else.

 

Above all else, Trump's experience has been that if he keeps repeating often enough and loudly enough that he's doing a great job, a lot of people will believe him, because it's what they want to hear.

[Doc Democracy]

The frustrating thing is that he has the media reach to do good at this time but squanders that... 😞

[Lord Liaden]

It's worse than squandering. Trump's ignorant, irresponsible pronouncements of what he "believes" are misleading Americans, giving them bad advice, confusing messages, false hope, prompting them to not take the virus and their precautions as seriously as they need to. He's contributing to needless deaths. 😠

[Ragitsu]

3 hours ago, megaplayboy said:

Can someone tuned into Trumpville explain to me how 100 to 200 thousand completely avoidable deaths of American citizens equates to a "very good job"?  

 

The bulk of his support is concentrated in the states which have yet to be truly bombarded by Coronavirus. Once the number of infected/dead begins to rise in those locations, I imagine the regional kind appraisal of Trump will start to sour.

[Hermit]

3 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

 

The bulk of his support is concentrated in the states which have yet to be truly bombarded by Coronavirus. Once the number of infected/dead begins to rise in those locations, I imagine the regional kind appraisal of Trump will start to sour.

 

I was wondering if much the same. A lot of his support is rural areas, and much of what rural folks are hearing is "New York City has @##$# ton of infected".. and figure they're safe as they live in less dense areas. Not realizing that a big factor is that some of the big 'liberal' cities testing positive is what you get when you actually TEST period. As bad as it is getting in some urban areas, the rural areas, when they get hammered, are going to have whole new challenges like no hospitals nearby at all, smaller hospitals with fewer staff, and finding some supplies have run low already because other places needed them first. etc.

 

The Lt. Gov of Texas who made it sound like a noble sacrifice to turn old folk into soylent green so save the Stock Market is already getting some backlash from even some normally loyal republicans. Maybe eventually they'll catch on that he pretty much said out loud what Trump's values have indicated all along. But I worry by the time they do they'll be dying as they try to drive an hour and a half to a hospital that is already full.

[Starlord]

Nope.

 

We were fine till them city-folk let things get outta control and started spreadin' that virus to us decent sort .