Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertoad
Testing is ongoing and has a fixed schedule based on science and rules that can't be circumvented
don't go antivax to own dear leader, blood will be on your hands
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Trump already has blood on his hands.
His blithe disregard for science, rules, really anything that doesn't appear to immediately advance his own interests led him to avoid making choices and taking actions that would have saved many thousands of lives. His most used and most effective tool is his mouth. Both the power of the bully pulpit and his native, epic talent for talking and talking and talking. He used that tool, his words, to ill effect, repeatedly and vigorously, flying in the face of science, flouting rules, and basically talking shit (so much shit) and people died as a result.
Trump's main effort is to control the narrative. He wants those who hear him to believe him, and consider no other sources of information. This crisis has been his kryptonite because the virus is immune to his talk. It can't be intimidated or shouted down or gaslighted. This put Trump at an unexpected and serious disadvantage. His super tool was and is ineffective.
Remember when he gave instructions that hospitals around the country were to stop sending their epidemiological information to the CDC and were told to send it to the white house office instead? Remember when his political appointee was asserting editorial control over the "scientific" reports from the CDC? These are the efforts to control the narrative, irrespective of the facts.
This is the naked politicization of the health crisis.
He tried and failed to spin it away. Trump's hands are covered with blood.