Trump goes full racist, of course, to cover up coronavirus lies and incompetence
Trump goes full racist, of course, to cover up coronavirus lies and incompetence
Trump's ignorance and hostility to science makes situation worse — so he turns to an old standby: race-baiting
AMANDA MARCOTTE at Salon.com
FEBRUARY 28, 2020 6:45PM (UTC)
https://www.salon.com/2020/02/28/trump-goes-full-racist-of-course-to-cover-up-coronavirus-lies-and-incompetence/
"SNIP......
Donald Trump's sole interest, when it comes to the coronavirus, is trying to find some way to prevent this impending public health crisis from affecting his re-election chances. His utter lack of concern for the health and safety of Americans, including his own supporters, is unsurprising — after daily exposure to the man for years, we should know by now hat he lacks normal human feelings such as empathy or concern for others. Indeed, the administration's response to the threat of this virus spreading in the U.S. has been focused mainly, if not solely, on propaganda — seeking to create the illusion that things are under control, instead of doing the hard work of actually trying to get things under control.
But thanks to Trump's utter lack of credibility, even the ham-fisted propaganda efforts aren't working. He held a press conference Wednesday that was clearly intended to bamboozle the public just enough to stabilize the stock markets (which Trump thinks hold the key to his re-election). But the whole thing was a disaster, even by propaganda standards, with Trump's dishonesty, hostility to scientific experts and massive incompetence on full display. Rather than stabilizing the markets, his performance seems to have made things worse — the Dow Jones had its biggest one-day plunge in history on Thursday.
Trump reacted in a way that's sadly unsurprising: He amped up his racism, grasping desperately for nonwhite people to blame, rather than admitting he's not up to the task of handling this crisis.
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It seems likely that the administration's propaganda-first approach is backfiring, since everyone knows that Trump is a liar and Pence is a sleaze who will openly spread bad health information, if he thinks there's political or financial gain. It's impossible to say for certain, but my guess is that this focus on propaganda over substantial policy has only made the markets more volatile. When the president is an incompetent liar who wouldn't think twice about letting many people get sick, and conceivably die, to boost his chances of re-election, panic is not an unreasonable response.
......SNIP"
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