Four Years Ago Today: Trump begins to talk up the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which Trump fans have been hyping even thoughmedical experts say it has no value as a coronavirus cure or prophylaxis. "It may work, it may not work. I feel good about. That’s all it is, just a feeling. I'm a smart guy."

Friday March 20: the shortage of protective gear for front line medical workers is now front page news (see nyt) Trump says it's not his problem. “The Federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.”

Trump begins to talk up the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which Trump fans have been hyping even thoughmedical experts say it has no value as a coronavirus cure or prophylaxis. "It may work, it may not work. I feel good about. That’s all it is, just a feeling. I'm a smart guy."

Jared Kushner convenes a big White House meeting to work on marshaling supplies with private sector leaders, who are stunned to find him unwilling to commit the government to helping, saying the free market would take care of it. 1/2

Dozens of major companies, including General Motors, commit to manufacturing ventilators, distributing supplies and creating a contact tracing system - they only need the administration to invoke the Defense Production Act. Kushner refuses. (2/2) Here is a horrifying account of that meeting:

“That’s Their Problem”: How Jared Kushner Let the Markets Decide America’s COVID-19 Fatewww.vanityfair.com First-person accounts of a tense meeting at the White House in late March suggest that President Trump’s son-in-law resisted taking federal action to alleviate shortages and help Democratic-led New Yo...

White House reporter: "What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?" Trump: “I say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I say. I think it's a very nasty question, and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people."

Cuomo closes down New York State for non-essential workers a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom became the nation's first governor to issue a stay-at-home order.

bsky.app/profile/torr...

Me on March 20th 2020 “The word “essential” HAS ZERO MEANING ANYMORE. “Los Angeles - List of Essential Businesses to Remain Open Under 'Safer at Home' Order. The following essential activities will remain open…”

Such a softball question, and he completely fucked up the answer

It's a softball if you see POTUS's role as including reassuring the American people. Trump's nature is closer to fearmonger.

It's a softball if you think the president wants to get reelected. And he did want that, but due to his extreme privilege he had never had to fake normal human emotions before. When the time came that it mattered to do so, he couldn't.

There are over a million Americans who aren't here to point out to you how stupid that "take" is. He knew in February how bad it could get. His job is not to downplay it to the point people that people fucking die. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJkV...

Woodward tapes show Trump knew the dangers of COVID-19 but downplayed itwww.youtube.com A new book by journalist Bob Woodward details new information about what President Trump knew about the severity of the coronavirus back in February. CBS New...

It was proof of how woefully incompetent he was. He was in so far over his head and only saw his power slipping.

Yes, a clear indication that this guy is definitely NOT going to rise to the occasion. At best, he was going to be useless; at worst, an active obstacle to dealing with a deadly pandemic.

All the man had to do was to fake caring about the situation. Reporters would have fallen all over themselves writing stories about Trump's new tone, and he would have waltzed to reelection.

But he's incapable of even *pretending* to care about other people. That's how deep his mental disorders go. Scary, really.

This right here. Further, sell K/N95's with his BS slogans on them for cost+$1 - they'd have flown off shelves, Trump would have grifted, the MAGAs would have actually wore masks, and re:covid, we'd be much better off. Only downside would have been trump getting re-elected. :-/

I wrote about this: myferretsatepepethefrog.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-n...

In the name of God, Go!myferretsatepepethefrog.blogspot.com You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! ~Oli...

He saw a money making opportunity. Just as today he sees the War in Gaza as a chance to build beach front homes. He will never change.

Kushner is the banality of evil formed into a person

Sort of a person.

📌

Sounds like a true Trump.

Ugh 🤮

"One public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force said a national plan likely fell out of favor in part because of a disturbingly cynical calculation:

“The political folks believed that because [the virus] was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy.”"

Politically-motivated negligent mass homicide.

4 years ago today millions of us started adopting Fauci's 'hide my facial expression' move when our coworkers said surprisingly batshit crazy/dumb things on Zoom/Teams, etc. Now we [I] just turn the camera off for a spell

If you have to say "I'm a smart guy" you are definitely not a smart guy.

That picture, though.

I've taken HCQ's relative chloroquine for malaria prevention, back in the mid-80s. By the early 90s, the US Army had stopped using CQ and HCQ for malaria protection, because the side effects were risky and malaria was becoming resistant.

Yep. I went to Africa in the early 90s. That was the standard treatment at the time and it was not a fun ride.

I was only taking CQ for prevention, not cure, and a railroad strike meant we couldn't even get down south to where the malaria risk was :-) It meant I was banned from donating blood for a decade or two until the rules changed (taking CQ meant you were somewhere with some malaria risk.)

"It may work, it may not work. I feel good about. That’s all it is, just a feeling. I'm a smart guy." It’s just such an insane thing to say. Truly surreal that this happened and Donnie is still at the top of the GOP.

He is a bully. That’s what they want.

True. Just wild (and gross of course) that this stuff is entertained let alone tolerated. Growing up I saw political careers shattered by looking dorky in an Army helmet and getting too excited and yelping on a microphone. Donnie says legitimately stupid things and it’s ignored or people love it.

A far cry from the demise of Gary Hart and Howard Dean

Was that the first photo of Fauci face-palming?

My mom is still taking it to this day, fuck you very much

HCQ raised the COVID lethality rate by 11% and accounted for 17,000 involuntary autodarwinations. Jonestown was only 917. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38171239/

cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/N5w...

Coronavirus: Video emerges from 1988 of George HW Bush calling top health official who has contradicted Trump a 'hero'.mp4cdn.jwplayer.com

My beloved Dr Fauci. 😰

The day that MAGA decided that Anthony Fauci was the real bad guy.

Le coupable caledosphere.com/wp-content/u...

The moment when Dr. Fauci was all of us.

@smsaideman.bsky.social I saw a paper recently that attempted to quantify how much harm hydroxychloroquine did. It would be good to put that into a dollars-and-lives figure with updated stats.

I am sure the class action suits will clarify all of this.

Honestly, I have never been as strongly into the rule of law as I am today.

It would be really cool if we had some.

Yes. Trump, Fox News, and many others spread disinformation that caused, I'm sure, thousands of deaths. And many did this knowing they were bullshit. Why no lawsuits?

Tens of thousands. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38171239/

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