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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat does tRump have to gain politically from failing to address pandemic Coronavirirus 19?
Trump has done much to obstruct the Coronavirus pandemic. management for America...Muzzling our CDC, blocking Congressional Hearing information; ignoring WHO, not testing or providing adequate testing for the virus which diminishes actual epidemic facts; blatantly lies about a vaccine...you know all the obstruction tactics.
So, does he think this is a political tool and will help him get elected in November? He never does anything unless it serves him...he is not actually stupid but a cunning, manipulative soul....
What say you?
2naSalit
(86,920 posts)redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)Plus his personality is such that he won't take any advice from those people smarter than he is, which is everyone including the cleaning crew. He is WAY over his head, and it was predictable, now he is trying to cover it up like he does everything else but he can't do it with this.
FarPoint
(12,481 posts)I believe he knows exactly what he is doing....thus, he has a secondary gain of some sort.
pat_k
(9,313 posts)He has no foresight.
He couldn't get it into his head that testing to detect, tracing contacts and testing, with the goal of identifying as many cases as possible to contain would be the best way to protect economic interests by containing the virus, and limiting the spread as much as possible.
At some point he probably heard, "we need work to identify as many cases as we can" and responded "no way!" I like the numbers where they are. Keep them there.
malaise
(269,278 posts)He knows nothing about anything - it's all reality TV but he cannot deal with reality
Javaman
(62,534 posts)they are the worst kind.
lapfog_1
(29,243 posts)from the lamestream media.
Everything is fine... go on about your day... buy some stocks please.
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)make GOP senate and house members pay hell
marlakay
(11,534 posts)To make us look worse or we want people to die so he loses feeds his base.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)Trump is like a computer virus. He has entered our system and our Firewalls and AV are not up-to-date.
Trump would gain in his endless onslaught of our system if it were in chaos or weakened in any way. People may believe that this obvious negligence and obfuscation will have future, negative political ramifications, but so far, he has been bullet-proof concerning anything along those lines. His lack of concern for that should be telling, to say the least.
So, like any predator, he awaits the time when the prey is vulnerable. Many predators do that. They cull the herd by taking down the weakest members as low-hanging fruit when they run. In this case, it's democracy that's the meal.
marble falls
(57,479 posts)he waits long enough the virus will burn out or some sort of solution will appear that works.
I think he fully realizes he doesn't know enough about handing an international crisis.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)saw this the other day posted by Realitychik https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213060533
Trump may be profiting from new Covid-19 test kit maker, Thermo Fisher Scientific Corp...
Amee Vanderpool
****************************
Applied Biosystems is one of the various brands under the Life Technologies brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific corporation. The brand is focused on integrated systems for genetic analysis, which include computerized machines and the consumables used within them, such as reagents.
It is safe to say that the need of the federal government to use these devices provided by the Thermo Fisher Scientific Corp. will substantially increase profitability and likely increase the value of stock in the company.
According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States who is supposed to be managing the Coronavirus epidemic and how the testing is conducted, has listed investments in V.F. Corp (VFC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation (TMO), both of which moved jobs out of the U.S. in high profile outsourcing deals. There is reason to believe that Donald Trump stands to profit from medical testing of coronavirus that will now take place in the United States.
****************************
Both Fortune Magazine and The New York Post confirmed in May of 2016 that Trump listed investments in V.F. Corp. and Thermo Fisher Scientific.https://fortune.com/2016/05/19/donald-trump-investments/ If Trump still maintains these investments, it is a direct conflict of interest to use a company that he stands to profit from to conduct coronavirus testing.
Additionally, Trumps transition team announced in Dec. 2016, that Trump had sold all of his stock interests ahead of taking the oath of office, but there was never any proof provided to confirm this statement. When asked on a conference call with reporters whether Trump had investments in Boeing at the time, then spokesman Jason Miller said the president-elect had sold all of his stocks in June of 2016
https://shero.substack.com/p/trump-could-profit-from-coronavirus
Thermo Fisher buying Qiagen in deal worth about $10.1B
By The Associated Press Mar 3, 2020 0
The combined company will work on speeding up the development of higher-specificity, faster and more comprehensive tests that may improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of care.
The transaction also includes approximately $1.4 billion in debt.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021.
Qiagen's stock surged 16%, while shares of Thermo Fisher rose nearly 5% in Tuesday premarket trading.
https://www.heraldextra.com/business/thermo-fisher-buying-qiagen-in-deal-worth-about-b/article_5d6a9f5b-64b8-5996-871f-aa4aff77e617.html
THere are the corporate dealmakers joining Trump in China
Published Thu, Nov 2 20171:44 PM EDT
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/02/here-are-the-corporate-dealmakers-joining-trump-in-china.html
Kayla Tausche
@kaylatausche
When President Trump lands in China next week, hell be joined by more than two dozen business titans.
A state banquet will be held in honor of Trumps visit.
Among the attendees are Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Cheniere Energy CEO Jack Fusco and Air Products CEO Seifollah Ghasemi.
Companies may announce multibillion-dollar export deals.
At the bottom there is this list of attendees, and pretty far down is:
This is the list of attendees:
Gianluca Pettiti, president, Thermo Fisher Scientific China
FarPoint
(12,481 posts)I feel it.
pat_k
(9,313 posts)My question is whether tech from some private company was used in the CDC test.**
If that were the case, a CDC monopoly would be worth big money.
As long as DT admin refrained from issuing FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) -- which allows public and private labs across the country to commence with testing WHILE the FDA reviews applications and test data (rather than wait for outcome of the review process) -- they could maintain that monopoly.
It was not until Feb 29 that anger and dismay at the utterly unacceptable shortage of tests that their hand was forced and they finally issued FDA EUA.
The shortage itself was due to declining to use reliable test available to the world by Jan 13. Quality control failure in production of CDC's "own" test, necessitating withdrawal of that test, lead to further delays. This was followed by more unexplained delays in distribution.
I'm not sure how much, if any, of the QA debacle and distribution problems was intentional or simply a consequence of populating the CDC with incompetent cronies. However, if private company tech was used in CDC test, and if Trump or cronies in CDC had ties to that private company, the first actions -- declining to use test available Jan 13, and refraining from issuing EUA -- make complete sense.
----------
At one point, reporting I came across indicated Randox tech was used in CDC test, but I later discovered that was wrong.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,477 posts)in the interest of "national security".
uponit7771
(90,371 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,477 posts)with lots of soldiers, police, and lots of warnings about outbreaks and the need to stay home.
GOP will back it 99% (Romney may have qualms, depending on wind direction.
0rganism
(23,989 posts)imagine the infection rate surging in October
federal government orders mass quarantines
national guard deployed all over the country
police wearing PPE patrolling the polling places
what will this do for turnout and GOTV activities?
to enable his second term, Trump needs this epidemic to be as damaging as possible. his worst case scenario was an outbreak that actually gets handled effectively, as that would both expose his incompetence and enable the elections to proceed "normally".
his play was to double-down on the nothing burger angle and bungle the federal response. if it didn't impact us, he looks like a prophet and can claim he's smarter than the entire WHO. okay, doesn't look like that's going his way, so the backup next step is to enable the outbreak's maximum impact so he's justified in doing whatever for "national security".
he's intentionally mishandling the federal response. he will gladly sacrifice thousands of lives to extend his powers.
it's not a nice plan, actually it's a downright inhumane plan, but it sure as hell looks like a plan to me.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,477 posts)not his plan, but Putin's.
Trump is by no means this clever.
Bleacher Creature
(11,258 posts)That means bringing about some economic pains and completely contradicting his entire message.
uponit7771
(90,371 posts)renate
(13,776 posts)Get a bill from a contractor? Refuse to pay it. What are they gonna do?
Company goes bankrupt? La la la la la la, six times.
No condom, not my problem.
You're the puppet.
Russia had nothing to do with my win.
He has never, ever had to personally deal with something not going away just because he tells it to. Obviously, this has always come at the expense of other people, but to him, other people aren't real. Only him. The Solipsist-in-Chief really believes that if he ignores something, it's by definition not actually real.
CrispyQ
(36,557 posts)He is not cunning. And he doesn't have a strategy. He's reactive, and he's in over his head. Whatever is going on, he reacts and tries to spin it in his favor. If it's good news, he takes credit. If it's bad news, he places blame, or he lies and says everything is fine. All his life his family's money and influence has gotten the Con out of the trouble his mouth and incompetence have gotten him in. Now he's in way over his head and surrounded by ass-sucking incompetents just like him. He thinks by under reporting the number of cases will keep the DOW up.
Johnny2X2X
(19,254 posts)He wanted to deny it so it would go away. He didn't want the public to know how he dismantled the federal groups who would help protect us from this. So he was just hoping it would go away.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,430 posts)He just doesn't have the maturity or fortitude to handle the crisis.
Basically he's a trustafarian who was able to bullshit many people into thinking he's a successful realtor.
LonePirate
(13,437 posts)OregonBlue
(7,755 posts)Cambridge Analytica rather than health professionals? It has to be about money or re-election cause it sure isn't about saving lives. Can he be hoping the crisis will get so bad he can close down the elections or make sure all red states work out vote by mail but blue one's don't?
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)Chainfire
(17,757 posts)They will blame the issues on others. When you get all of your news from right-wing sources and Trump's tweets, it is all you know.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)that the economy is the ultimate faith-based organization out there. If people expect a bad economy, it will tend to stay that way, if they expect a good one, it will tend to also stay that way.
He feels that he can spin things to keep the economic ball rolling. However, some of his advisers may well be trying to push forth a reality check, and have sold him on the idea that he can get political points from doing things that save us from a "foreign" problem. They may well have some influence as this thing spirals out of control.
It's well known that flattery works with Trump, if some form of competence can be effective, Trump will latch onto it. I'm in the middle of a New Yorker magazine article about Brad Parscale right now, his manipulation of Facebook is what elevated him from a hired consultant to the position that he is right now in the Trump 2020 campaign. The problem is, the few minimally competent people Trump has around him have to work through his stubbornness to do something long enough to be seen as effective.