Friday Talking Points -- Worst President Ever

[ChrisWeigant]

In times of crisis, America looks for leadership. This means they want to be told the truth, they want to see the president and those around him working as hard as they can to improve things for everyone, and they want to see mistakes quickly rectified and problems that pop up addressed and ultimately solved. Sadly, though, we are getting none of this from President Trump.

What we're getting instead are temper tantrums worthy of a two-year-old toddler. We're getting lies and misinformation from the president. Things that should be getting done are not, or (even worse) are being actively blocked by the White House. No one appears to be in charge, since Trump announces a new "point man" every couple of days. Mistakes are piling up which are making the problems that already existed much worse. We're in a ditch, and Trump's only answer is for everyone to dig faster.

Some of Trump's own advisors are even beginning to notice that the more Trump appears on television in his lengthy daily briefings, the more his poll numbers come down.

President Trump's advisers are reportedly deeply worried that his narcissistic daily briefings on coronavirus are hurting his reelection chances. That's revealing, in that it shows Trump's unshakable faith in his ability to manipulate the news cycle with his magical reality-bending powers is not shared by his data-focused team.

But what's even more revealing is what those advisers won't say about these displays. This shows the limits on what constitutes acceptable criticism of Trump among those who have a big stake in his political success.

In short: It's only okay to leak criticism of Trump for things that are perceived to harm him politically in the most superficial of ways, never mind the danger that his failings continue to pose to the country.

. . .

A remarkably revealing New York Times report details these concerns, with a focus on how Trump's daily coronavirus briefings are working against him:

As unemployment soars and the death toll skyrockets, and new polls show support for the president's handling of the crisis sagging, White House allies and Republican lawmakers increasingly believe the briefings are hurting the president more than helping him. Many view the sessions as a kind of original sin from which all of his missteps flow, once he gets through his prepared script and turns to his preferred style of extemporaneous bluster and invective.

The Trump campaign's internal polls show "he has mostly lost the initial bump he received early in the crisis," the Times reports, and advisers want these briefings limited. Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) claims that in these briefings, Trump "drowns out his own message." Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) says "they're going on too long."

In the past week alone, it was revealed that the White House had gotten buy-in from all parties (including the health insurance industry) to open an emergency enrollment period for Obamacare, but that Trump vetoed it at the last minute, for purely political reasons (Trump famously hates the idea that Obamacare could ever be a good thing, of course). Trump absolutely refuses to use the Defense Production Act in the way it was designed -- to use the power of the federal government to buy up all production and then deliver it to the states where it is needed. Instead, he first told the states to go buy their own supplies on the open market, and then made things immeasurably worse by interfering with that process:

President Donald Trump is "playing politics" with lives with his manipulation of Colorado's ventilator request to help embattled GOP Sen. Cory Gardner's reelection, a Democratic lawmaker charges.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency hijacked 500 ventilators ordered by the state for COVID-19 patients, but Trump restored 100 as a special favor to Gardner in a move that will help the vulnerable lawmaker's reelection, complained Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

"President Trump says we will get 100 as a courtesy to Senator Gardner. That means, because the president is playing politics with public health, we're still 400 ventilators short from what we should have received," DeGette said in a statement Wednesday. Trump's "mismanagement of this crisis is costing lives and livelihoods."

Trump has repeatedly told states to get their own supplies to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. But when they do, the federal government often cancels their orders or outbids them so FEMA can add them to the national stockpile to dole out as Trump administration officials please. That was the case after Colorado contracted to purchase 500 ventilators.

Trump tweeted about giving 100 ventilators to Colorado with a valuable shoutout to Gardner. The senator in turn lavished gratitude on the president and took credit for his answered appeal in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday night.

. . .

Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis told Don Lemon on CNN last week after FEMA blocked the state's ventilator order that the Trump administration has to "either be in or out," on helping states acquire medical supplies.

"Either you're buying them and you're providing them to states and you're letting us know what we're going to get and when we're going to get them," Polis said. "Or you stay out, and let us buy them."

He added: "But this middle ground where they're buying stuff out from under us... that's really challenging to manage our hospital surge and [the] safety of our health care workers."

In other words, the federal government is causing absolute chaos for purely political reasons. That is downright criminal, or perhaps "evil" is a better word for it. The Denver Post went even further:

The Denver Post editorial board this week accused Donald Trump of "playing political games with lives" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The newspaper's board slammed the president's politicized response to the public health crisis, saying he was "treating life-saving medical equipment as emoluments he can dole out as favors to loyalists" in a critical column.

"It's the worst imaginable form of corruption," the board wrote in the editorial Thursday, adding: "For the good of this nation during what should be a time of unity, he must stop."

. . .

"We find it hard to believe decisions are being made on such a morally bankrupt basis, but Trump is doing this nation no favors by giving us the impression that politics will drive his administration's response to a virus that has already killed thousands of Americans and will kill thousands more," the board concluded.

Speaking of evil, in the midst of the worst unemployment crisis America has faced since the Great Depression, the secretary of Labor is also acting to make things worse, for millions now out of work:

The Labor Department is facing growing criticism over its response to the coronavirus pandemic as the agency plays a central role in ensuring that the tens of millions of workers affected by the crisis get assistance.

The criticism ranges from direct actions that the agency has taken to limit the scope of worker assistance programs to concerns that it has not been aggressive enough about protecting workers from health risks or supporting states scrambling to deliver billions in new aid.

In recent days, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who has expressed concerns about unemployment insurance being too generous, has used his department's authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits. The new rules make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits, while making it easier for some companies to avoid paying their workers coronavirus-related sick and family leave.

"The Labor Department chose the narrowest possible definition of who qualifies for pandemic unemployment assistance," said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who has spent two decades working on unemployment programs.

At the same time, frustrations have built among career staff at the Labor Department that the agency hasn't ordered employers to follow safeguards, including the wearing of masks, recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect workers. Two draft guidance documents written by officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, to strengthen protections for health-care workers have also not been advanced, according to two people with knowledge of the regulations granted anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations.

If his last name rings a bell, there's a reason: "Scalia, a longtime corporate lawyer... is the son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia."

Since there is an absolute vacuum of leadership from the White House, the states have had to step up and do the best job they can. They were left on their own when it came to shelter-in-place orders (Trump still refuses to issue a nationwide order), they were largely left on their own to secure testing supplies and ventilators and P.P.E.s, and they're now once again being left on their own to figure out how to get back to normal:

A national plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and return Americans to jobs and classrooms is emerging -- but not from the White House.

Instead, a collection of governors, former government officials, disease specialists and nonprofits are pursuing a strategy that relies on the three pillars of disease control: ramp up testing to identify people who are infected. Find everyone they interact with by deploying contact tracing on a scale America has never attempted before. And focus restrictions more narrowly on the infected and their contacts so the rest of society doesn't have to stay in permanent lockdown.

But there is no evidence yet the White House will pursue such a strategy.

Instead, the president and his top advisers have fixated almost exclusively on plans to reopen the U.S. economy by the end of the month, though they haven't detailed how they will do so without triggering another outbreak. President Trump has been especially focused on creating a second coronavirus task force aimed at combating the economic ramifications of the virus.

Administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, say the White House has made a deliberate political calculation that it will better serve Trump's interest to put the onus on governors -- rather than the federal government -- to figure out how to move ahead.

"It's mind-boggling, actually, the degree of disorganization," said Tom Frieden, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director. The federal government has already squandered February and March, he noted, committing "epic failures" on testing kits, ventilator supply, protective equipment for health workers and contradictory public health communication. The next failure is already on its way, Frieden said, because "we're not doing the things we need to be doing in April."

Trump really needs a sign on his desk reading: "The buck stops anywhere else but here." And then, bizarrely, he expects to be praised for his absolute abdication of responsibility. Trump, of course, also has the time to show zero empathy, because he still sees the entire crisis as all about him. None of that wimpy "I feel your pain" for Trump! Instead, what we got was a tweet urging us all to just move on and forget about it all. No, really:

Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten. Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before!!!

Got that? We're all supposed to just quickly forget the entire crisis. Well, except for those who had a friend or family member die -- even Trump realizes that "quickly forgetting" them would be too much to ask for.

But we aren't going to forget the past few months anytime soon. In fact, history will long remember this time period as the time when Donald Trump secured for himself a real superlative that he richly deserves: "Worst president ever."





Through no real action on his own part, this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week is Joe Biden, for being the last man standing in the Democratic presidential nomination race.

When Bernie Sanders bowed out of the race this week, it left Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Biden, to his credit, has been working with Bernie's team and has already started signing on to some of the progressive agenda Bernie has been fighting for. Of course, Biden is only supporting incremental versions rather than the revolutionary steps Bernie's been proposing, but all the steps he's taken have been in the right direction at least. He could easily have decided to "tack back to the center" instead, so Biden should be applauded for courting Bernie's supporters in earnest.

Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic Party's nominee, and he will have the challenge of taking on Donald Trump. Will he be up to this challenge? That remains to be seen. He certainly shouldn't have much trouble uniting the party behind him, because unlike someone like Mitt Romney or John McCain, the alternative to voting for Biden is pretty downright unthinkable for anyone who calls himself or herself a Democrat. It's always been all about beating Trump for most Democratic voters -- that's really the only thing that has stayed remarkably consistent throughout the primary season. Now that those who thought Biden would be the best way to beat Trump have carried the day, the rest of the party will quickly fall in line behind him.

It remains to be seen how Joe Biden will take on Trump in the head-to-head general election campaign. Will he attack Trump or just try to "be presidential," and by doing so show in stark contrast why such a difference is crucial in a time of crisis? We'll soon find out.

Whatever campaign he decides to run, however, Joe Biden is now the choice of the Democratic Party to take on Donald Trump. And after a primary race that had over two dozen candidates, that alone is pretty impressive -- especially considering how Biden was almost written off after his disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Joe Biden is now the Democratic standard-bearer going forward, and he's also our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week.

[Joe Biden is technically a private citizen, and it is our standing policy not to link to campaign webpages, so you'll have to search his contact information yourself if you'd like to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]






While there have been plenty of disappointing moments over the past week, they have all centered around either Donald Trump or other Republicans.

Like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis giving a televised press briefing while wearing only one protective glove -- which completely defeats the purpose of wearing gloves. Or DeSantis flat-out lying to his own citizens by falsely claiming that: "I don't think, nationwide there's been one single fatality under [the age of] 25."

Or Florida deliberately designing a system to handle unemployment claims so that it flat-out doesn't work. This became painfully apparent in the past few weeks. Other states may have been bad, but Florida actually planned for the system to fail. That's beyond bad.

Or Bill O'Reilly telling Sean Hannity: "Many people who are dying, both here and around the world, were on their last legs anyway."

Or the pastor of a church in Louisiana who is defying orders not to hold large gatherings, explaining his flock to reporters: "Like any zealot or like any pure religious person, death looks to them like a welcome friend. True Christians do not mind dying."

Or Donald Trump deciding he doesn't want any oversight of the half-trillion-dollar bailout fund Congress just gave him.

There are, in fact, dozens of such examples from the other side of the aisle. But over on the Democratic side, all that can be seen is competence. So we're going to put the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award back on the shelf until next Friday, unless someone has a suggestion to make for a nominee that we somehow missed.




Volume 569 (4/10/20)

Once again, a mixed bag this week. Now that the general election season has begun, these talking points will likely get a lot more campaign-specific in the weeks to come, but for now the coronavirus is still dominating the conversation.



Demand mail-in voting!

Democrats really need to pounce on this now, in a big way.

"In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are called for. We're in the midst of a pandemic, and nobody knows when this crisis will be fully over. We could see the coronavirus ebb and then return in force after the summer. Which is why Democrats are demanding the option of mail-in ballots for every voter across the country who wants one. All obstacles to mail-in voting must be suspended for the duration of the emergency. Voting should not mean -- as it did in Wisconsin this week -- having to risk your health or your very life. And yet, for some bizarre reason, Republicans are fighting this commonsense measure tooth and nail. The Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin could go right ahead with its primary, leading Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to write in scathing dissent: 'The Court's suggestion that the current situation is not "substantially different" from "an ordinary election" boggles the mind.' She's right. These are not normal times, and this will not be an ordinary election. We must keep every voter as safe as possible, and that means allowing everyone the option of safely casting their ballot by mail, period."



Trump did it!

The best argument comes from Trump himself.

"Last month, President Donald Trump cast his ballot in the Florida primary by mail. If it's good enough for Trump, then why isn't it good enough for everyone? When asked about this discrepancy, Trump flailed around, trying to explain: 'there's a big difference between somebody that's out of state and does a ballot, and everything's sealed, certified and everything else,' he said, about his own vote, but allowing everyone to do it would mean: 'you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody's living room, signing ballots all over the place.' This, obviously, makes no sense whatsoever. In actual fact, one-third of all votes cast in Florida are mail-in ballots. More Florida Republicans actually use mail-in ballots than Democrats. I'll say it again -- if voting by mail is good enough for Donald Trump, then it should be good enough for everyone."



Bye-bye to the Trump bump

Easy come, easy go.

"In any crisis, there is what is called a 'rally-round-the-president' effect in the polls, where sitting presidents see their poll numbers go up. But due to Donald Trump being on television every night blathering on and on and repeatedly attacking reporters for asking simple questions, this polling bump has now evaporated. There were six separate polls out this week showing Trump's approval rating has fallen right back down to where it was before the crisis -- between 40 and 45 percent. A majority of Americans now disapprove of his handling of the crisis, which wasn't true only a week ago. It seems the more they see the president on television doing nothing more than patting himself on the back while ignoring all the massive failures of his coronavirus response, the more the public realizes that he is simply not up to dealing with an emergency in any way, shape, or form."



Even conservatives agree

You know things are getting bad when a Republican president can't even count on support from the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.

"The Wall Street Journal just ran an editorial titled 'Trump's Wasted Briefings,' where they accurately pointed out that Trump's daily television appearances have devolved into, quote, a boring show of President Vs. the press, unquote. They chided Trump for his 'outbursts against his political critics,' which they called 'notably off-key at this moment,' and concluded: 'If Mr. Trump thinks these daily sessions will help him defeat Joe Biden, he's wrong.' Ouch. Brit Hume of Fox News echoed this sentiment, pointing out: 'He could get his views across without bragging, endlessly repeating himself, and getting into petty squabbles with the junior varsity players in the WH press corps. And he could stop talking much sooner to give Pence, Fauci, Birx and Giroir more time.' In other words, even the conservative media is telling Trump that he is, in essence, his own worst enemy."



If the media needs something to do....

This is disturbing.

"The New York Times reported this week that Donald Trump may have an investment in the company that produces hydroxychloroquine. No wonder he's been pushing everyone to use it! If true this could be a new low for Trump's ongoing corruption in office. So why isn't this in front page headlines everywhere? Trump stands to profit from the very drug he's touting as a cure-all for coronavirus. I mean, where's the outrage?"



Pay it back!

This was downright disgusting, from start to finish.

"So Captain Brett Crozier was concerned about the sailors on his aircraft carrier and he sent out a letter begging the Navy to take action. The Navy did take action, but it was of the purely ass-covering variety -- they relieved Crozier of his command. This was done by Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, who then flew out to Guam to personally address the sailors on the ship. In doing so, he absolutely trashed Captain Crozier, calling him 'too naive or too stupid to be commanding officer of a ship like this.' The sailors reacted angrily, and they also gave Crozier a standing ovation when he left the ship for the final time. Ironically, Modly made the case that the captain should have known his letter was going to leak to the media, and then had to deal with the fact that his own speech to the sailors leaked to the media. At first, he insisted that he stood by every word he said, but then later was forced to apologize profusely. But it was too late -- within hours, Modly himself was forced to resign. And a final outrage to this outrageous story: the cost of Modly's 35-hour roundtrip to trash the captain's reputation in person cost the taxpayers a whopping $243,000. If there were any justice for Captain Crozier, Modly's retirement pay would be docked to cover the cost of his disastrous trip. After all, why should the American taxpayers have to pay for his idiocy?"



"Now watch this drive"

Another Bush moment for Trump.

"Remember back before the 9/11 attacks, when President Bush was asked to address global terrorism? He tried to do so, but then got back to what really mattered -- his golf game. Right after addressing the terrorist threat, he turned and said: 'Now watch this drive.' Now Donald Trump is desperately searching for someone else to blame for his disastrous coronavirus response, and he's decided that it's all the Democrats' fault for impeaching him. But you know what? That dog don't hunt. Donald Trump wasn't distracted by impeachment, he was distracted by playing golf and holding rallies. Since he was first briefed about the coronavirus, he has gone golfing nine times, including right after he declared a national emergency. He also held a dozen rallies in the same time period. Remember when Republicans used to be incensed when President Obama played golf? Now that we're in the midst of one of the worst pandemics in American history, it seems that those very same Republicans are just fine with Trump wasting time out on the golf course, or holding political rallies. How times have changed!"




Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
Follow Chris on Twitter: ChrisWeigant
Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com
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[flying rabbit]

1. K&R

[smirkymonkey]

2. He is a one-man demolition team.

A complete fucking disaster. I don't even think we can hang on until November, let alone another four years.