Eric Boehlert asks a terrifying question.

[Grasswire2]

Link to tweet

?s=20

[dalton99a]

1. It's the ultimate in sadism.

[brush]

22. Nah, that idiot is not capable of master-minding shit.

He's backrupted several casinos for God's sake.

Let's not get carried away.

[MFM008]

34. No but

He seems to be content letting blue states suffer the most.

[customerserviceguy]

58. Blue states

suffer the most (right now) because they have more connection to the international community. That, in part, makes them blue states because they are exposed to a greater variety of ideas and lifestyles. With that access comes earlier exposure to diseases from other countries that are brought on jet aircraft.

[rickyhall]

35. Don't forget his coach & prompter: Stephen Himmler Miller

[brush]

42. That is an evil mf.

[Midnight Writer]

40. But he is good at fulfilling the wishes of Vladimir Putin.

As Nancy Pelosi said, with this guy everything goes back to Putin.

Even the Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Trump is on Russia's payroll.

[DENVERPOPS]

63. Nothing else could explain

his actions since he took office........

[overleft]

43. Do not underestimate these people......

Declaring martial law and setting himself up as a dictator is not beyond this bunch of terds. Keep your eyes wide open!

[brush]

46. Others in that admin, ok, but trump remains the inept a-hole he's always been.

[Master_Monstruwacan]

52. I don't know much of anything

about anything, but doesn't martial law necessitate the confiscation of guns? Asking for a friend.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

45. But he has his collection of Hitler's speeches and he's surrounded by slimey people ...

https://www.pbs.org/show/dictators-playbook/

[smb]

65. He Wouldn't Need To Mastermind It, Just Do What Daddy Vladdy Told Him To Do nt

[brush]

71. Good point.

[littlemissmartypants]

72. It's not masterminding.

It's a reflex. He's a psychopath. It's what they do. No thought required.

[brush]

73. Now that I'll go with.

[liberalla]

76. That's why he's a perfect tool for Putin's manipulation and use.

[walkingman]

77. If you can't make money owning a casino your a terrible business person.

[RussBLib]

2. it almost seems like he IS trying to kill Americans

orders from Vladimir?

[Grasswire2]

3. Stephen Miller likely is rubbing his hands in glee.

All those poor people are going to die. Old people. Useless people.


The ultimate solution, in a virus.

[magicarpet]

10. Coast to coast death camps with hidden intent.

If you have ample funds you can buy your way out of this, if not you are pure out of luck.

A grand Pay to Play extortion game - Steve Miller writes the rules, who lives, who dies.

[Delmette2.0]

50. I can imagine that.

Putin tells the Dipshit to keep your numbers low like Russia does. No one will be the wiser and you will be reelected.

[Wounded Bear]

4. He does love chaos...nt

[CrispyQ]

5. I don't believe he's strategic at all.

I chalk it up to incompetence and arrogance. He didn't see anything alarming happening—cuz the idiot doesn't read—and he's so fucking sure he's the smartest guy in the room on every topic. He also has zero imagination and I doubt he could even envision the possible destruction.

[OKNancy]

6. This is the logical answer - thank you

[customerserviceguy]

61. It is

Trump's narcissism means that he is unable to listen to anyone who might be smarter than he is. Only when he's up to his ass in alligators does he shout, "Handle it!" to an underling (or set of them) so that they can pull him out of the quicksand so he can take credit for saving his own butt.

[klook]

17. Agreed. Similar to the Bush Family Evil Empire's role on 9/11, it was almost certainly LIHTI

(Let It Happen Through Incompetence) rather than what the conspiracy theories MIHOP (Make It Happen On Purpose) or even LIHOP (Let It Happen On Purpose) would lead us to believe.

As Trump's biographers have noted many times, he has the attention span of a gnat. He's obsessive about everything concerning himself and his own well-being, and he understands blunt-force brutality and revenge quite well. But strategery is not his strong suit, to say the least.

[JHB]

59. Yep. This is twice a Repubican admin was caught flatfooted because...

...they were openly contemptuous of their Democratic predecessor, dismissed warnings, believed what they wanted to believe, and then abruptly encountered the very thing they'd been warned about.

[klook]

86. Yeah, what's that old saying? "Fool me once..."

“Now watch this drive.”

[GoCubsGo]

23. Yep.

It's pretty obvious by the way he and his toadies have handled things, that it has all been one big reactionary, cover-our-asses PR exercise.

[Scarsdale]

36. IF this really was intentional,

then it is the ONLY action tRump has accomplished since his reign began. Everything else he has done, which is not a lot, has failed miserably. I mean apart from the massive tax gifts to the wealthy.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

49. He surrounds himself with yes men and women.

All others are summarily fired by tweet, all the way down to janitors.......

I'd even bet when they take his limo through McDonald's drive-through, they check for right-wing credentials of the guy at the window.

[Newest Reality]

78. I can't agree at all.

Would an expert confidence man feign anything? How well could they do it? Could they get someone intelligent like you to fall for it by being consistently convincing?

There are too many factors to go into, but you would have to call how far he has come pure luck, which falls into a category of belief for me and the evidence shows that he has been very successful. The rubes are very easy marks as we see, but the other side of the coin needs to believe certain, superficial things he injects into the overall conditioning of the population for his end game.

I really would like it to be as you say or otherwise. I guess I am hoping that more people can see through that in order to not be caught unawares because, "well, we never expected THAT!"f

Be Well.

[benfranklin1776]

7. It would be exactly what his handler Vladimir Putin wanted

We know he puts Putin’s wishes ahead of the health, safety and welfare of the American people. Putin’s number one wish has always been to destroy or seriously cripple the United States and here we are.Malcolm Nance has warned us of this repeatedly.🤬🤬🤬🤬

[Generic Brad]

21. I doubt it in this instance

Putin is taking a similar approach to this as Trump has and Russia will be eaten alive as a result.

[RoadRunner]

8. Occam's Razor

Is the “president” incompetent or did he engineer a vastly complex conspiracy to make it happen? Occam's Razor clearly answers: he’s incompetent.

[uponit7771]

12. That doesn't answer why there's no unrestricted testing yet, S Korea might be out of the the woods .

... and we're just entering it

[SCantiGOP]

25. Actually, gross incompetence, massive ego and unfettered ingorance

answers that question perfectly.

[Scarsdale]

41. tRump was the dream

candidate for the gop. Remember, Grover Nordquist said all they wanted was someone in the WH to sign any bills put before him? Well, he not only signs them, he proudly shows off his signature like a grade school kid.

[uponit7771]

74. To this day? If so that's a massive failure of the M$M. Someone should be saying something about ...

... testing and it should be covering the news daily.

We're screwed if they can't speak up

[nuxvomica]

57. Or Hanlon's Razor

Never attribute to malice what could easily be explained by stupidity.

[uponit7771]

9. I've been saying similar for weeks now; it's on purpose

[Champp]

11. Republicans have been weakening US security and safety ever since

Russia illegally helped put the Republicans in the White House.

[flor-de-jasmim]

13. Several times over the past I have thought of Obama's last speech at the WHCD:

He made a joke about it being his last speech and joked that it might be the last one ever. LAter he said something to the effect that ushering in the last days on earth would be some legacy--even Lincoln didn't do that.

Trump wants to be remembered. I think he doesn't care if it is for evil, just as long as he can brag about what he alone has done.

[Demonaut]

14. I've suspected this for awhile, his base is more affected but the gun sales are through the roof

chaos may ensue and the militias may try to take control

[Calculating]

15. No, he's just an idiot who's way underqualified for the job

He held up and did ok while things were good, but given a real crisis he's crumbling badly.

[babylonsister]

16. I agree with you here. nt

[Brother Mythos]

18. Individual-1 is certainly malevolent enough to do such a thing, but ...

I do not believe he is in any way capable of "thinking" something like that through, and pulling it off. Individual-1 is not a thinking person. As a reality TV actor, he is capable of scheming up "sound bites" he believes to be his best interests. But, even there, he is mostly just "reacting" to his environment.

[Augiedog]

27. No, but his boss, Putin, is

[sop]

19. He wants to be a "Wartime President"

[LAS14]

29. Right. But up until a week ago he thought he could just talk the public..

.... into ignoring it. Being "at war" is the only PR response to a crashing stock market.

[Bleacher Creature]

20. Doubt it - he can't think beyond the here and now.

Everything is impulse to him.

[snort]

24. You want some CT?

Why didn't he catch it when he was glad handing with the infected a week or two ago?

Here's something terrifying to contemplate: What if mosquitoes can carry it?

[58Sunliner]

67. Good question. His negative status would be an anomaly.

[Augiedog]

26. I've wondered about that for a long time

[cilla4progress]

28. Clearly,

he did.

[Hoyt]

30. FFS.

[SWBTATTReg]

31. It does make one wonder, when he and others declared that no primaries were needed for ...

republicans. Kind of makes me wonder if they knew something was going to happen. Same thing w/ the republican senators and others who sold their stock prior to the CV outbreak, while all along, reassuring their own voters that all will be well and okay.

[Newest Reality]

32. I have...

I have been alluding to this over and over here for a while now, if anyone has noticed.

I think the odds are that what has always motivated Trump is: complete and total control. That's has been his MO from the start. He has read Mein Kampf and knows that despots need a crises that shocks and weakens the Gestalt. While everyone EXPECTS him to be merely concerned about his image and his fondling of Wall St., the real game is afoot.

Never, ever underestimate a confidence man like this one...EVER!

I could go on, but I have really gone into detail about this in the past. Beware now!

[dchill]

33. Look at the way he has staffed and understaffed...

...the entire federal government. To me that says whatever he can do to burn it all down while he robs it is what he is and has been doing.

[Nitram]

37. True. Trump thrives on chaos. It is his business model.

[Mr. Sparkle]

38. I wouldnt go that far, he is a spolit, douche rich kid. This is peak Trump.

[Blue Owl]

39. Too fucking stupid to comprehend a large-scale pandemic

n/t

[Scarsdale]

48. He is not intelligent enough to

imagine this. Someone else is doing the thinking. He is just enjoying being on TV every day. I switch channels as soon as his ugly orange fat face shows up. Repulsive cretin. When does he do any actual WORK? He seems to be rehearsing for his daily appearance, getting made up, coiffed, and having Hope Hicks steam his pants.

[Blue Owl]

54. For sure!

Creeps like Bannon and Miller have always done the thinking. He listens to them, and probably some other shitty celebrity news sources, then thinks his pea-brain mind is capable of using that information to formulate the best decision, for which he is more than happy to take all the credit.

It is almost comical to see him think he is some kind of medical expert, were it not that so many lives are in the balance hanging on the decisions his administration (i.e. him) makes...

[stillcool]

44. hard to believe it's all coinky-dinks...

and the GOP is full throttle with it. Not one thing he has done, has fazed them. Susan Collins has concerns, of course, but is still all in with the rest of them, and happy to be helpful. You would have to believe that all of them are brain-dead, and you would have to believe that Trump knows something about something...other than running a con. What would he know about shutting down government agencies?

[PatrickforO]

47. Well, I've often said Trump is a traitor, so this wouldn't surprise me.

He's the classic Manchurian Candidate.

[Warpy]

51. Even though his rotten class has long talked of

"culling the herd" and "removing useless eaters," I honestly don't think his lack of action was premeditated. For one thing, he's pretty much incapable of it. For another, we know what he is and how averse he is to any bad news about anything.

He's like a religious crazy the day after the end of the world didn't happen, he just pushes it all out of his mind, never happened, nobody told him a thing, hey, this is as big a surprise to him as to us. He's fabulous at magical thinking, it's the only kid he's got.

People around him are in survival mode, afraid to do anything.

That sick feeling we all had the day after the election in 2016? We knew some sort of crisis would be along, one always is, and we knew how badly he would bungle it and we knew it would be fatal to some of us.

Just never forget who really did this to us: PUTIN, with a lot of help from Comey.

[Botany]

53. If you wanted the disease to spread you would do just what Trump has done.

Don't test until the person has the symptoms and that way you have 2 or 3 weeks of that
person who is symptom free walking around and spreading C-19.

[Grasswire2]

82. Plus the fact that the Kushner family has a financial interest in that delay.

And who knows what stock transactions the Trump family has made in the last couple of months??

[LaMouffette]

55. What we need to do is take to the streets in mass protests . . .

. . . but how in the bloody hell can we do that when there's a frickin' pandemic going on?!

If this was planned (not by Trump, he's waaaaay too dim-witted; more likely by Putin, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner), then it was a brilliant scheme: launch a pandemic so that Americans are too terrified to leave their homes and therefore are unable to organize mass protests. Out of fear for our lives, we are all basically under house arrest. In other words, marital law, under the benign-sounding moniker "stay-at-home orders."

And I'm not by any means trying to encourage people to go out and actually mass protest right now and run the risk of exposing themselves to coronavirus. DON'T DO THAT! I'm just saying that if this was someone's diabolical scheme to destroy America, I can't think of a more devious and effective way to do just that—except of course, by helping Donald Trump get elected president.

[warmfeet]

56. Regardless,

he is directly responsible for the slow response and should be held to account for his lack of action. American blood is on his hands.

[matt819]

60. Definitely worth asking

Putin’s puppet?

Cruelty?

Sadism?

Financial gain?

Evil?

I’m not optimistic that this will be examined as it should be.

[quakerboy]

62. Everything he does is aimed at weakening america

He may or may not be intelligent enough to plan something like this. Theres no indication he is hardworking enough.

Unfortunately for us, his owners are.

[Lock him up.]

70. Putin chose to cultivate him for a reason.

He saw him bankrupt casinos.

How can anyone sane bankrupt a casino?? Or 2, 3, 4, 5...

[58Sunliner]

64. I do believe he is doing it on purpose. Maybe it's Trump's virus.

It's criminal and pathological.

[IronLionZion]

66. more likely his buddies are trying to profit from it

so their greed and selfishness make the US unsafe.

[JTOL]

68. Not on purpose, but

we are where we are and with every presser now he extorts that he 'inherited a broken system and had to tear it down and start over'. He is laying the ground work for the presidential campaign against Biden. His message will be Obama/ BIDEN gave him a broken system. He is going to try and hang this whole debacle on Obama/BIDEN. Remember, only "he" can fix it. The pandemic would have been much worse without him. This message will be amplified by FOX.

[littlemissmartypants]

69. There's no doubt in my mind that's exactly what he's doing.

HE'S A PSYCHOPATH! It's what they do!!

[Beartracks]

75. I've thought for a while the Republicans' goal is to break America. n/t

[emmaverybo]

79. He is too stupid and certainly would not want the economy to tank on his watch. Political reasons,

ineptitude, dismissal of science, and stupidity led him to put us behind the curve. Oh, and Obama envy, which made him get rid of the global infection unit.

[Loki Liesmith]

80. He's too stupid to do this.

[dlk]

81. Putin's plan?

He’s the puppet master.

[Vivienne235729]

83. Wouldn't this further benefit Putin? Part of the destabilizing of America plan

[aikoaiko]

84. Its been a while since we had a good LIHOP theory.

[TheFarseer]

85. OK, Why?

I’m fairly sure he’s just stupid and lazy.