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Trump and the Chinese virus — 77 Comments

  1. Actually, liberal politics in our time consists largely of efforts to harass people in identified out groups and impose humiliations on them. (Another effort is to use public resources to provide patronage for progtrash clientele). They’re engaging in a self-aggrandizing exercise. It’s what they do. Much of the rage against Trump is that he flips these people the bird, something generations of Republican politicians have refused to do. Makes the media very antsy.

  2. They are going after him for things the majority of Americans could care less about or probably concur with. Do you think the average American, even those who don’t support Trump, are vigorously defending China in all this? That the population who has been totally indifferent to reverse affirmative action applied against Asians in college admissions is suddenly going to buy into and worry about supposed rampant anti-Asian racism in the term “Kung Flu”?

  3. The pattern you’ve described here (Trump saying a thing -> the media overreacts -> the general public gets the real message/point) has clearly been going on for a while now. What’s interesting to me is that in general the media either

    1) Hasn’t recognized this pattern yet

    2) Or they have and they’re just choosing to not modify their behavior for any number of reasons.

    3) or some combination of 1 and 2

    Regarding possibility 1, as we all know the media has no shortage of idiots who evidently possess a low self awareness level and who are otherwise rather impervious to reason. Such people are doomed to repeat the same exercise anyway.

    Possibility 2 is interesting because one of most obvious reasons is profit. I believe that criticising Trump is a great way to get a response from lots of readers/viewers who get a wierd little dopemine hit from it. Just look at any comments section after any Trump bashing article on news sites like the Washington Post or CNN or wherever. There’s a perverse sort of glee being expressed. I believe that it’s sort of like therapy to certains group of people. And more views equals more advertising revenue.

  4. Neo and I disagree on what I have written below, but it is what I think.

    The Wuhan virus started in China due to their bizarre Third World eating habits and unsanitary food prep.

    I submit that the Chinese government was silent for weeks and refused US help because it wanted to unleash the Wuhan virus on the world and get Joe Biden elected. This is biggest election interference operation of all time. Trump is the first US President to ever challenge the Chinese and the ChiComs want Trump out.

    The death of 3,500 Chinese is a small price to pay to get rid of Trump and install China Joe in the White House. It’s not like the Chinese dictator is going to get voted out of office for mishandling this. The payoff to Hunter was the clue about how much China wants to own the US Presidency. Biden is their man in the White House. Joe Biden is the Manchurian Candidate.

  5. (1) Many viruses are still called by place names signifying their point of origin, although in recent years WHO has discouraged that and prefers the viruses be called by their more technical names.

    The trouble with that is that, if non-scientifically oriented, the average person sees no connection with COVID19 or H1N1. We can recognize, and place in time, the origin of the virus, as we do with West Nile, Ebola, Zika, Lyme, SARS and MERS. We don’t intend offense, just clarification in our own minds and in communication with others.

  6. I know it’s stretching a point, but calling the virus the Wuhan coronavirus or the Chinese coronavirus, while informal, is more accurate than calling it COVID-19, which is the formal name of the disease caused by the virus.

    The correct formal name of the virus itself is SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Outside of scientific papers and announcements, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone use that term.

    Wittingly or not, in this case, Trump is more accurate than his critics.

    WHO (World Health Organization) uses the informal name COVID-19 virus, but that term has no more official status than the terms Wuhan coronavirus or Chinese coronavirus.

    Here’s a link to the relevant information from WHO:

    https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

  7. Cornhead: “I submit that the Chinese government was silent for weeks and refused US help because it wanted to unleash the Wuhan virus on the world and get Joe Biden elected.”

    Last night on Fox, Michael Pillsbury, the Hudson Institute China expert, said that it was now obvious that the Chinese are directly trying to support Biden. The Chinese are propagandizing worldwide that Trump has “botched” the corona virus response. To hatch a bio-attack timed to affect the election seems very difficult to believe, but in light of the wave of propaganda against Trump, it now seems somewhat possible.

  8. The head of the WHO, a Marxist who was friendly to the odious Mugabe, is egregiously obsequious to his Chinese masters in Beijing, and not to be trusted in the slightest. He is not even a proper doctor, his degree, of dubious value, being in the field of “Community Health.”

  9. Michael Pillsbury is a highly respected guy! Great minds think alike.

    I know one thing for certain and that is Trump will hammer Biden about the Chinese payoff to Hunter. Joe will probably lose it and challenge Trump to go outside and settle it.

  10. Trump has completely exposed the fact that China is no friend to the United States and that the Fake News is, in fact, the enemy of the People.

  11. I know that the term Corona virus does not actually refer to Corona, Ca. Nevertheless, as a resident of this part of the California Inland Empire, I am hurt. Offended even. Or maybe I am just trendy enough to be looking for an excuse to be offended.

    Corona, is kind of a step child anyway as it is populated in large part by people who work in Orange or LA counties, but cannot afford to live in those more desirable locales. Then there are we retirees who live out here, for the same reason, and are separated by the notorious 91 freeway from our affluent Orange County dwelling children and grandchildren.

    (You couldn’t see me snort, as I always do when I use the grandiose term “Inland Empire”, which is an actual official label for these hinterlands adjacent to the prestigious coastal areas.)

    Back to the topic. Can anyone imagine the pandemic of pseudo vapors if Trump used a term such as “yellow fever”? Or German measles? Or Asian flu? Or, Good Lord, “Montezuma’s revenge”?

  12. The TrumpHaters like this virus because it takes the attention away from their shabby duo offered for President. Republicans, ages back, were given a choice of “A choice or an echo.” Today Democrats are given a choice of “A Communist or a Cabbage.”

  13. Oldflyer:

    Even worse and probably racist would be the Han flu, those would be fighting words.

    The CCP pandemic is closer to the truth, or to die from the Xi disease.

  14. The Chinese are pushing hard on changing the narrative on the virus. Even to extent that it did not originate in Wuhan. They are sending planes load with med eq to Italy and Poland in an effort to do a game change. With the help of the Dems and the Press they might pull it off.

    I will not go as far as saying that they are trying to help Biden. But the old Dem saying “to true to fact check” might be in operation.

  15. “…in general…”

    OK, door #1, door #2 or door #3, yeah, whatever. All of the above is the likely answer.

    Still, we’re being a bit too kind to the media.

    The reason why they are doing what they’re doing—why they’ve been doing it all along—is because they are freakin’ insane with anger and resentment and hatred . (Door #4?)

    To be sure, this has been clear now for some time. But they are working
    overtime to make sure the message gets through loud and clear—even to those who may have at one time tended to agree with them.

    So I would say, “Just do it!” “Go right ahead.”
    Support China and China’s position.
    Support those desperate lying propagandists. (The MSM themselves are cut from the same cloth, so there’s plenty of understanding and empathy there—and no doubt adulation—for the CHICOMS).
    Quote from and support that nit-wit, CHICOM sock puppet who happens to be the “head” of WHO.
    Slam the US—and Trump—for all its worth. And keep sniping at him with gobsmacking stupidity like the clueless, snarky, know-it-all adolescents you have revealed yourselves to be.
    Exult in the destruction and death that has been caused because, finally—FINALLY—you sense (in all your hysterical adolescent deleriousness) that this catastrophe just might accomplish what all your lies, chicanery and serial character assassinations have failed to do in the past three-plus years.
    Do it 24/7.
    Splash it across the newspapers and screens of America.
    Blame Trump—and the US—for all the chaos, mayhem, death and financial destruction that has been surging around the globe and will continue to do so for some time to come.

    And do it now, especially when Trump is showing himself at his most presidential. And the Democratic Party has revealed itself as a huge con, a pathetic, self-congratulating group of criminal, corrupt, prevaricating poseurs. Along with its MSM cohorts.

    Yes, keep doing it even as the citizens of this country need leadership and tough decisions in a situation that is unprecedented in scope and potential personal devastation.

    Luxuriate in your intellectual bankruptcy and your ethical perversity.

    And then take pride in the onslaught even as it MUST eventually boomerang against you and the party you support.

    And do it while you can.

    Because when the great reckoning arrives, you won’t know what hit you.

  16. I’m calling it now. Bug out, if you can. GTFO of cities, if you can. It’s on like donkey kong, soon if not already.

  17. Cue me laughing when I see the footage proving I was right and yet another dummy wouldn’t listen even when his life depended on it.

  18. You made the call, Solrist. What makes you so certain? Its not a facetious question.

  19. How do you suppose certain teens are likely to behave when they realize police departments have shut down, are not responding to calls, not to mention if the dems get their way their homies are released from prison? Once alcohol sales are banned or the supply chains disrupted, not to mention supply chains of illegal stuff? If food runs out do you suppose long pork may be on the menu?

    It’s your call. I know where I would prefer to be, and that is not in a big city. Maybe I am a dirty fear monger with an anti Trump agenda, you’ll have to decide that for yourself. Ponder it as you view some hurricane Katrina aftermath footage.

    Six weeks ago I repetaedly urged friends and family to stock up. They scoffed at me. Now stores around here are empty. And they are bitching about supplies.

    16 days ago I warned my friend holidaying overseas to get his butt home immediately. Now he’s in a foreign quarantine.

    Maybe I’m due to be wrong one of these days. Maybe today is that day.

  20. Well Solrist that’s the trouble with being a Casandra, no one believes you. Let us know when you are wrong. Until then keep your TP dry and your nose powdered. Or something.

    Cue Dr. Strangelove.

    Dogs and cats living together.

    And Zombies.

    In some places some of those youths will get shot. It might discourage others.

  21. “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.”

    Ce la vie.

  22. “Maybe I’m due to be wrong one of these days.”

    You’ve been wrong a lot but like people who claim they have dreams that tell the future, you just never mention all the times you’ve been wrong.

    Mike

  23. Solrist:

    Don’t you know the rule? Only one Casandra or prophet is allowed per blog and Ymarsakar has been the resident prophet for a long time, probably even before there were blogs (you will have to ask him). You will just have to post somewhere else to be believed. 🙂

  24. The man tends to use simple 2 to 3 word terms somewhat “mantrically” (if I can stretch the word in that way).

    By doing so, he baits so many of his ideological adversaries to focus on a point they hope is discredit, but which, over time and discussion, cements a line of association in the minds of supporters, adversaries, and the disinterested alike.

    Some of those disinterested see a light go on in their heads…

    On the surface, it appears simplistic, and I used to think it was. But, over 3 years, I’ve come to realize that it’s anything but simplistic. And effective.

  25. News media lives in a bubble. They have NO CLUE what most Americans think.

    Remember when the NFL players started kneeling? The patriotic folks in flyover country were seriously not happy. A sports reporter left the NY area to cover a story in Indy about 3 weeks after it started. He was shocked when the cabbie told him how pissed he was about the kneeling. And how most people in Indy were. Reporter not only had no idea, he hadn’t even picked up on the news stories about the backlash.

    He lived in a bubble. Worked in a bubble. And had zero curiosity about life outside the bubble.

  26. Well, Solrist, I’m not worrying. We live in Beverly Hills, and Beverly Hills does not permit that sort of thing.

  27. Fractal Rabit:

    Artfldgr isn’t a Cassandra or a “prophet.” Artfldgr cites history not just scripture or Gnosticism. There is a difference IMO.

  28. I was just poking fun, om. Just poking fun.

    Actually, I’ve been impressed with Artfldgr lately. Credit where its due, his posts are far more concise and on-point than in the past. Well worth reading.

    I still think he should start a blog of his own and post till his heart’s content. As much as I have picked on him in the past, he is a valuable contributor. He’s obviously a knowledgeable guy with a off-center viewpoint usually worth reading. I just didn’t like the old wall of text format.

  29. “The death of 3,500 Chinese is a small price to pay to get rid of Trump and install China Joe in the White House.”

    Have you noticed that Italy has passed China in Total Deaths… though only a bit more than half the cases. I’m not trusting the Chinese 3xxx number of deaths.

    Of course, your point that the deaths mean little to the leadership still stands

  30. Apparently Wikipedia is in the process of changing the name of the 1918 “Spanish Flu” to a neutral name, doubtless to undercut charges that “China flu” is standard practice.

    I am not, as Dave Barry would say, making this up.

  31. no… i didnt feel bad.. i didnt want to win… i just thought the expression of thread was interesting and played with the words… your point reflects more on you and your imagination and negativity towards me, regardless of what i say or meant by saying it

  32. I still think he should start a blog of his own and post till his heart’s content.

    i did that.. and had a gang visit and threaten my child..
    i never did it again…

    people are hostile to me, and naturally dont like me
    oh, they are fine when they need my skills or such
    but when its my turn, why give back?

  33. There was a delicious moment in a press conference a couple of days ago when a reporter pressed Trump to condemn the use of the words “Kung Flu”, which she accused a member of his administration of using behind the scenes. She was demanding that Trump agree it was a terrible thing and condemn the use of the term and whatever administration member that may have used it. Trump didn’t take the bait; he pretended not to hear, pointing to his ear, and then feigned bewilderment, asking her to repeat the term, which like she did. Again and again – I think he got her to repeat it three times, without ever saying it himself or ultimately, even commenting on it. Supreme trolling.

  34. JimNorCal – many years ago, when the Internet was young and Wikipedia just getting born, I found a little story called “Wikipedia Brown,” modeled on the delightful children’s series “Encyclopedia Brown,” and displaying the obvious difficulties in using Wiki as an information source.
    So – I’m not really surprised that the Leftist editorial board is on-board with the talking points of the day.

  35. Cool story, Aesop!
    I read Encyclopedia Brown stories to my daughter when she was young LOL

  36. JimNorCal – you are right, the Chinese numbers don’t make sense in light of what’s going down in the West, Italy in particular. And we are now told that there were 0 new cases today??

    Wuhan is huge, something like 20 million. If the virus was out there by December and Wuhan locked down on January 23 then a total of 3000+ dead in China doesn’t make sense. And add to that that the Chinese Spring Festival started on January 25, so it stands to reason that many folks had headed home. What that means is quite a few folks must have been exposed and left Wuhan.

    China has its big cities, but many of these folks went back to the 10s of thousands of villages in the heartland.

    Yes, the lockdown was effective and necessary, but it’s all under control now and only 3000+ deaths??

  37. “The death of 3,500 Chinese is a small price to pay to get rid of Trump and install China Joe in the White House.”

    And I have two bridges to sell you.

    No-one could organise a pandemic to work as they want — such things get out of hand by virtue of being pandemics. (This is why poison gas never really took off — it’s likely to literally blow back in your face.) And if one did want to discredit Trump, why would they start it in their own country? That’s tin hat territory!

    “I’ve got an idea. In order to discredit Trump we’ll have a massive crisis in China, crash our economy, and blame it on him!”

    And if you think the deaths will top out at 3,500 in China, you are a king of tin hats. They have more than that every year due to “flu.

    I note a couple of leaders in the West are going to come out of this looking much better. Jacinda Ardern in NZ is going to romp home next election. Boris Johnson’s ratings are going up. Even the much maligned Scott Morrison in Australia is looking better. I’d not be at all suprised if Trump’s utter refusal to panic won’t end up making him look better — more Presidential — than a headless chicken opposition. In a crisis I’d rather a calm leader that made a few mistakes, than a feckless idiot who did one panicky over-reaction after another.

  38. J. E. Dyer adds some more elements to Neo’s arguments.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/03/19/what-trump-is-doing-with-the-chinese-virus-references/

    The virus emerged from China. Claiming outraged ethnicity doesn’t change that. Saying the virus emerged from China doesn’t imply that “ethnicity caused the virus”; that’s a straw man. It’s meant to obfuscate our thinking and weaken our clear understanding of the truth, thereby softening us up for the Chinese government’s absurd allegation that the U.S. military infiltrated China with the novel coronavirus.

    Trump addressed those points not by analyzing the straw man attack, but by simply asserting the truth with the term “Chinese virus,” and repeating that “it comes from China.”

    As a tactic, this simplicity is very effective. Trump doesn’t engage the straw man. He just unwaveringly reiterates his own point.

    His point is correct, which make it easier. The virus emerged in China. The Chinese leadership may seek to create an impression of doubt about that, but Trump is not going to play along – something he would, in effect, be doing, if he gave the “outraged ethnicity” straw man the time of day.

    In the last 30 years or so, probably 95% of political discourse in the West has been about engaging with straw men, which is one very big reason why the people have been so extremely ill-served by it. Simply stating the truth now sounds harsh and alarming to too many ears.

    But Trump doesn’t talk in that defensive, straw-man-engaging way. That’s why he got elected in 2016. The longer we see him at work, the clearer it is that he is not speaking merely for himself in these communication dust-ups. He is defending speech itself, as a method of stating positions in dialogue– as opposed to a highly manipulable method of silencing and defaming others – on behalf of the American people who elected him.

    At any rate, the principles of political dialogue Trump in effect defends are these:

    Truth won’t be silenced by outrage.

    The people’s speech won’t be suppressed by outrage.

    The most outraged (or the first to claim outrage) won’t own the narrative.

    “Cancel culture” won’t work here.

  39. “. . . the thing is talked about and talked about and talked about. . . . Meanwhile, Trump has made his point and a lot of people are getting whatever message he’s trying to deliver. I don’t think this happens by accident . . . .” [Neo]

    I think that this is exactly why the criticism and sniping from the left doesn’t seem to bother Trump; he actually incites it for strategic purposes. We used to call it “needling someone,” that is saying something, or saying it in a way that you know the recipient will criticize just to get such a reaction. Today they call it trolling. The effect is like the frequently used comparison of a red laser dot chased by cats. I think Trump has been using the media as a tool to get his message out even before the 2016 election.

  40. I’m linking LU because the WSJ has a paywall.
    This is not new news, but the story seems to have novel details.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/03/19/china-lied-and-people-died-chinese-scientists-destroyed-early-coronavirus-evidence/

    The Chinese are to blame for this Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Their containment methods were laughable, their officials refused to inform the public, and people died. They allowed Wuhan to celebrate Chinese New Year, exposing potentially tens of thousands to the disease. Some five million left the city before they enacted a quarantine. And now we’re hearing that they knew about human transmissions. The Wall Street Journal’s piece on how this whole international fiasco began all but places the blame where it should rightfully be directed: China

    It was on Dec. 10 that Wei Guixian, a seafood merchant in this city’s Hua’nan market, first started to feel sick. Thinking she was getting a cold, she walked to a small local clinic to get some treatment and then went back to work.

  41. “quite a few folks must have been exposed and left Wuhan”

    A person I know (long story) said that in one large Chinese city the authorities knew of about 5,000 people from Wuhan who had come to the city (cell phones? train ticket info? not sure)

    All city workers and Party members were called off Chinese New Year vacation and ordered to find all these people and order them to shelter in place. The city brought them food and so on … there were no armed guards at the door … but they were told to go on lock down/self-isolation.

    Presumably this happened across the country … or, my leg was being pulled (I believe it is true, though).

    btw, my personal opinion is that the WuFlu came about naturally like so many other flus over the years OR it escaped from a Chinese lab by incompetence and was attempted to be covered up by bungling, incompetent locals … and now perhaps the national leaders have been obfuscating since then. Personally, I don’t buy the intentional act of war theory. And certainly not the “US started it”. That’s laughable, imo.

  42. I mentioned on another thread the OAN reporter who gave Trump a very precise lead in to talk about the media’s propaganda ploys, and John Hinderaker picked up on that part of the presser here:
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/pushing-back-on-chinese-virus-racism.php

    This comes, I think, from today’s COVID-19 press briefing. A reporter from One America News asks President Trump whether he considers it alarming that American reporters–“even in this room”–are echoing Chinese Communist narratives by asserting that calling a Chinese virus a Chinese virus is “racist.” Trump responds:

    Video clip follows.
    When I was watching the presser, the camera stayed on the President.
    In this clip, it shows the press-gang, all of whom are ignoring the OAN reporter and either sleeping or texting; some turn around to see who’s speaking.
    And they are violating the minimum gathering rule and social distance, even if they are just in every other seat.

  43. Social distancing.
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/page/1/

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I think this is going to be a very important conference and I’ll get to that toward the middle, but I have a few things to report. And I want to thank you all for being here.

    And I have to say, I think with social distancing that the media has been much nicer. I don’t know what it is — all these empty — these in-between chairs. We probably shouldn’t have anybody sitting behind you either. You know, you should probably go back. But I love it. It’s so much nicer. But I shouldn’t say that because you’ll get me now.

  44. And this – I remember when he got this FDA red tape untangled.

    The FDA has also approved compassionate use for a significant number of patients. You know what that means. We’re also reviewing drugs that are approved abroad or drugs approved here for other uses.

    And, you know, one of the things that I’m most proud of that I got was Right to Try. That’s where somebody who’s ill, somebody who’s very sick — terminally ill, usually. In past administrations — we signed this a year and a half ago — you wouldn’t be able to even think about getting any of the drugs that may be showing great promise. Now — and they’ve been trying for many decades to get this approved and it sounds simple, but it’s not because there’s liability involved and lots of other things. And I was able to get it approved, working with Congress. Right to Try.

    This is beyond Right to Try. What we’re talking about today is beyond Right to Try. Right to Try has been, by the way, a tremendous success. People are living now that had no chance of living, where we take treatments that would — things that — that would have to go through years of a process. And if somebody was terminally ill — and I would say, “Why wouldn’t they be able to try this?” They’d go to Asia, they’d go to Europe, they’d go all over the world to try and find something. Or some people, if they had no money, would go home to die. They’d go home to die; they had no hope.

    Right to Try has been an incredible success. But this is beyond Right to Try. If treatments known to be safe in Europe, Japan, or other nations are effective against the virus, we’ll use that information to protect the health and safety of American people. Nothing will stand in our way as we pursue any avenue to find what best works against this horrible virus.

  45. The annual flu has caused an estimated 18,000+ deaths, Corona less that 200. So we need set hair on fire, screem at the sky, and indulge in orangemanbad? Pardon me if my give a damn is busted.

  46. Here is a passionate plea from a Jewish, Canadian, emergency room physician. He’s freaked out by asymptomatic carriers and is afraid we are going to wake up in, say, 14 days to learn that half the population is seriously ill.
    In an emotional statement he advises locking yourself in. Basically don’t go out, even to shop.
    OK, I exaggerate for effect.
    I feel the force of his conviction. And, he might be right. But hmmm. How come China and SKorea and others are not a smoking ruin?
    Still, see what you think
    https://youtu.be/nSgooc0m3Eo

  47. It’s not just that the Chinese covered this up. It is that their cultural practices, along with many Asian, middle eastern and African practices CREATE NEW DISEASES. The worst is China though. We need an international push to force China to change it’s animal farming practices that encourage disease transmission and creation, stop it’s wild animal consumption and adhere to western standards of sanitation. If they do not the West should close our borders to them. Here is a Chinese woman who explains the dangers of Chinese wet markets. https://spectator.us/time-ban-wet-markets/

  48. “…by December…”

    By mid-November, actually.
    https://www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.html

    Key graf:
    “A 55-year-old individual from Hubei province in China may have been the first person to have contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus spreading across the globe. That case dates back to Nov. 17, 2019, according to the South Morning China Post.”

    But TRUMP! TRUMP!! TRUMP!!! (And if you’re not quite sure, yet—or a tad uncertain—well, just ask the Chinese, the Iranians—and perhaps their pals in the Obama administration?—and last but certainly, most certainly not least, the MSM.)

    Hold on! Oh, no! Trump is REALLY in trouble now…:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8121225/Anna-Wintour-slams-Trumps-handling-coronavirus-backs-Joe-Biden-cancels-Met-Gala.html

  49. I am chinese american, its very important for trump and people to keep calling it china virus because if we don’t, very soon It will be called americavirus in the social conscience due to the manipulation of ccp disinformation agents on social media. CCP is trying very hard to blame this on us and the first attempt was lying about American soldiers bringing the virus into china and spreading it there. Only way to foil their vicious attempt to blame others for the disaster they created is to constantly remind people where did the virus originated and how their mishandling of the situation bought the crisis upon the whole world.

  50. Good on POTUS for correctly identifying The Chinese Virus.

    Very bad on Senators Burr and Loeffler for their despicable insider trading.

  51. “…undercut…”

    Heh, let’s see now…, for the Spanish flu, how about “TRUMP.1 Flu”
    (It’s not as though “Trump” is a place or anything.)

    And the current one can be “TRUMP.2 Flu”!

    While we’re at it, we might as well rename movies (Hollywood will likely be most happy to oblige, gleeful even), e.g., “The TRUMP Syndrome”, The TRUMP Candidate”, etc. etc., ad nauseum….)

  52. I don’t think Trump bothers to think through in what stupid way the Democrats are likely to respond. His strategy is simpler than that. He simply has reasons for everything he does, he knows what those reasons are, and he is glad to explain them if asked.

    The Democrats can’t help jumping at every opportunity to twist what he says, chop sentences into bloody halves that invert their meaning, and fixate on whatever irrelevancies afford them an opportunity to demagogue.

    He just uses their hack attacks as opportunities to 1. explain his points (as Neo observes) and 2. call the hack reporters fake news.

    What our Democrat press doesn’t seem to have figured out is that Trump controls the floor in his press conferences. They try to trap him with their “have you stopped beating your wife yet?” framing of every question but it’s not like on their news panels where they control who gets to talk.

    If they are really blatant Trump just says (like to Acosta), “you’re fake news,” and goes on to the next questioner. But the usual pattern is that he hears the topic, ignores the framing, and goes straight to what he wants to say to the American people in that area.

    That’s his real genius I think. That they can never get him to step into their demagogic framings. He is simply too serious a person to think of dithering around in their world of dishonest imputations. Every once in a while he calls out their dishonesty, but mostly he just gets to what he thinks is important.

    The hack response is to try to come up with a better gotcha. It’s like that’s the only way they know how to think. Which is yes, quite a bit like cats chasing a laser pointer.

  53. “…how to think…”
    You’re a far, far better man than I…

    But hold on, it’s…[insert expressions of shock and surprise]…Palestinian Rules(TM)!!
    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15773/palestinian-leaders-coronavirus-israel
    https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/488251-hillary-clinton-trump-using-racist-rhetoric-to-distract-from

    On the other hand, the End of Days(TM) may indeed by nigh…:
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-praises-trumps-incredible-response-to-coronavirus-pandemic

  54. I think Trump is calling it the Chinese virus to retaliate for Chinese propaganda saying the virus originated in the US.

  55. Great perspective, Dave.
    There are some people behaving badly but we need focus on this big thing.
    While shushing the jerks …

  56. Today’s Whitehouse briefing is almost breaking down into verbal warfare between the left-wing media and Trump. Trump scolds a fear mongering journalist and re-names Comcast corp. as Con-cast.

  57. Yes. POTUS tanned Peter Alexander’s hide at today’s presser. Very good.

    Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler and Diane Feinstein have some serious explaining to do re: insider trading.

  58. A like-minded observation from Don Surber. Those paying attention seem to agree.

    The media is a mouse the president plays with. His real war is with Red China. He wants [to] end Red China’s theft of our industries and patents, as well as our over-reliance in Red China.

    COVID-19 is making his case. Calling it the Chinese Virus aids him in this battle by rallying the American people. In its attempt to label him racist, the media advertises this for free.

    The link:

    https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-china-virus-syndrome.html#more

  59. Everybody was Kung Flu, fighting (duh d d d duh duh da…)

    [It’s so hard to do good sound effects, and too hard to think of good “fast as lightning” verse.]

    Thx T, I’m looking at Don Surber almost every day now, too. He’s a total Trump fan (Trumper?), with brief actual media stories and comments. He noted that the NYT highlighted the Reps who sold, but saved Feinstein’s name until the 22 (of 23) paragraph, tho her sales were larger.

    Alec Rawls articulated Trump’s strategy:
    the usual pattern is that he hears the topic, ignores the framing, and goes straight to what he wants to say to the American people in that area.
    That’s his real genius

    Here’s my suggestion when talking to a “liberal”, a Trump-hater.
    1) When they say something Trump-negative, jokingly ask why are they so terrified, so petrified by Trump? What did he say? …
    1b) They reply something.
    2) You’re really interested in what they mean, but don’t quite understand. Let’s go read his Tweets together, right now.
    3) Start reading his tweets. Ask, what is so bad? Go thru 10 – what is there to be afraid of?
    3b) “I’m not afraid, he’s just so terrible”. Yet you’re acting like you’re afraid. You seem upset like you’re afraid. But we see there’s nothing to really be afraid of from Trump. Might disagree with some policy or other, but nobody should be afraid of him.

    I actually think the rage and even outrage is a distraction from some kind of irrational fear. But trying to calm the outrage isn’t possible without getting them to either admit their fear, and deal with it; or deny their fear. But then keep laughing at them for being afraid of OrangeManBad, the modern boogeyman.

    Promise to listen closely to the next time Trump has some outrageous policy, so as to discuss the positives and negatives of that policy.

    Wasn’t Trump the Great Leader on Jan 31, banning travel with China?

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