Posts Made By: James Lacey

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

The "expert" Dr Fauci told people in March they could go on cruises.

This statement is a misrepresentation of what Fauci said. What he said is that if you are young and healthy and want to go, then go knowing the risk. If you are older or have an underlying condition or both, then absolutely do not go. Pence followed up soon after with a similar comment.

Look at the transcript for yourself. Never believe what someone else tells you someone said until you see or read it for yourself.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Assuming that is a verbatim quote, it would be 1 in a reasonably short list of things he has said I am in total opposition to..... Primarily because I am a firm supporter of states rights in most matters. I much prefer the correct interpretations of the Constitution before liberal lawyers and politicians starting twisting it till the blood ran out in order to support their twisted agendas.

If you watched the highlights of the press briefing yesterday, you would have seen a few more things to oppose.

This youtube supercut is just a highlight reel, so you should seek further context, but the quote at the end is pretty clear. I think he tried to back-pedal in some instances and say it doesn't matter since they plan on trying to work with governors anyway, but it's pretty clear he thinks he has absolute power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3QXrQDTDYo#action=share

"The federal government has absolute power. As to whether or not I'll use that power, we will see." -- Donald J. Trump

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi James:

That quote is probably good insight into DJT's mind.  Don't worry too much about Trump going full dictator though, though, the federal/state network of checks and balances is still intact.

Jim

Of course, I don't worry about it. It is a bit funny though that out of one side of Trump's mouth, he is saying, "It's not my fault the States aren't doing enough," yet when the States try to take matters into their own hands he claims, "I have absolute authority." Not to mention that if Obama had ever said anything close to this, Davis' head would have spontaneously exploded along with half of Fox News. But now it's just, "Oh, never mind, it's just his rhetoric, not what he's going actually to do."

Believe me, after Trump has crapped all over the intelligence community, the State and local governments, and the law and order community, and even the military community, I'm not worried about him going full dictator. I'm sure there are plenty of people that will gladly make him leave when the times comes.

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I'm actually in my kitchen but now I'm going out to spray the last coat on some cabinetry.  

I'm not hiding as I addressed your questions, Captain Liberty, or should I just call you The God of Libertarianism??   

Oh, and this is REALLY going to irritate you.

I'm going to start a new thread, and then RUN AWAY AND HIDE!  

LOL

I still don't think he got the joke Jim. I did though. My wife just asked from the other room, "What's so funny?"

Now that Sanders has endorsed Biden, Obama has stepped into the limelight:

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1250088269502709762?s=20


This seems noteworthy if for no other reason than this single Tweet by Obama will likely have higher ratings than Trump's whiny campaign rallies disguised as Corona-virus press briefings.

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

I bet you're giddy. Do you have a tingle running down your leg?

Well, no on both accounts.

I'm sure there will be plenty of attacks against Obama complaining about him breaking norms. They will fall flat for two reasons. One, Trump has violated numerous standards and destroyed expectations for the office of President in unprecedented ways. Anyone who wants to attack Obama on these charges will first have to explain their tolerance of Trump. Two, Obama's promise to see you on the campaign trail is not without its precedent. Plenty of former Presidents, Obama included, have campaigned for their successor or party in down-stream elections.

Obama's announcement was the Oval Office address to a beleaguered nation that Trump is incapable of producing. It provided a stark contrast between what we could have and what we do have. While Obama never mentioned Trump by name, it's pretty clear he was calling out the lack of strong, principled leadership that we are all suffering from a lack of right now. Between all of the political ads Trump keeps writing for the Democrats at the press briefings, and precursors like the outcome of the election in Wisconsin this week, if I were one of Trump's re-election campaign advisers, I would be pretty worried.

Ask yourself one simple question. Would any former Republican President, alive or dead, campaign for Trump? Not bloody likely.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

You know where Trump got his propaganda video from, the one he proudly touted at the Coronavirus briefing yesterday? Hannity, of course...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/media/trump-hannity-propaganda-video/index.html

What even makes it worse Rod, is our tax dollars were spent producing that piece of propaganda. Yeesh. The least they could have done was spent money from Trump's re-election campaign.

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi Rod:

I'm going to have to watch one of these briefings one of these days.  My expectation is that they aren't as bad as you guys say they are - I kind of expect the president to cheer-lead through this crisis.  I could be surprised though.

Jim

You should see one for yourself. We are not talking about cheer-leading. The last two before today were particularly unhinged and bizarre. The briefings are long, two hours or more, and do have moments of clarity and usefulness. When they go, awry is when Trump starts free-wheeling and goes off-script. Especially during any questioning from the press. Especially even more unhinged if it's a female reporter asking difficult questions.

The one today I missed because it started so late. I usually just have it on in the background while working. From what I have read so far, even on-script, it was bewildering. After much hype from Trump about his re-opening the economy council, and promising a huge announcement, he spent ten minutes reading off dozens and dozens of names of executives and companies that would be advising the White House. No explanation of how the council would work. Just lots of smoke and mirrors.

Meanwhile, Governors in the geographical regions of the Northeast and the West continue their efforts to coordinate their regional re-openings. I don't think Trump's council inspired a lot of confidence. I'll probably watch the briefing tomorrow in the background.

Originally Posted by James Brown

p.s. I just read that the extensive use of subways in NYC, as and after the infection took could be a factor too.

This is exactly what I was going to add. The subway is always packed and a major form of transportation. During social-distancing it was still running, and even more packed, because fewer lines were operating.

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

The emotional lady that Trump replied to with, "Enough." is an example.

The emotional lady. Welp, nothing misogynist about that.

Just curious, what adjectives would you use to describe Trump's response? Let me guess. Bold! Decisive! Tough!

It always amuses me when passionate women get portrayed as "emotional," but unhinged men are instead tough and take-charge.

What would be refreshing Mel, is if Trump would just answer the damn questions, instead of trying to socially-distance himself from all his past comments and actions.