Trump gave this man-made catastrophe oxygen by allowing the extension of the "15 days to slow the spread" for another 30 days. I'll admit he was in a trick-box. That said, a leader is supposed to recognize a trick-box, accept it, provide a solution and then make his case as to why the long term "COST" of this nonsense should be rejected.
He did not do that. I'm very disappointed that he did not rally the country around the only true solution there was: Let healthy Americans protect the vulnerable by being "brave" and "filtering" c19; that it was patriotic to take this head-on, rather then kicking the can down the road. To make his case that there was a "price" to be paid no matter what. But the price to hide from it would be orders of magnitude higher.
To make this point he would also have had to tell it like it is; that it is also patriotic for the "vulnerable" to stay at home until the healthy have done their job protecting the vulnerable (being a firewall) by taking on the risk of getting C19. That's what a leader does; make the tough decisions when you don't have all the information, when there are no "good" options and then communicate to the public the way forward.
In other words, to make an appeal to Americans that it was ultimately in every individuals and the countries interests, to rally around mitigating the unavoidable "pain" would require accepting the relatively low risk. To do otherwise would be cowardly and result in even more deaths of the vulnerable. This would have created peer pressure to be brave and for each individual to do their part in a common goal. Sort of like women in the World Wars giving white feathers to cowardly men.
The risk to the healthy was always negligible and he should have made that clear - we knew from the beginning that to be true. His lack of foresight led to the opposite type of peer pressure, which was a key feature in protracting this nightmare. And to recognize his reelection was at more risk if he allowed the country to be paralyzed by fear.
By failing to understand this he allowed the narrative to grow roots. This means, he may have to pay a price politically. He chose the "easy" way out by hoping this would self resolve or that the "vaccine" would magically end the "pandemic". A leader understands that being indecisive compounds the problem, confuses followers and always leads to poor outcomes. By following this strategy he allowed cowardness to become a virtue. He did not recognize that that was the "real" trickbox he (and the country) was in.
If only one person in the US was demonstrated to have died from Covid, then the intelligence agencies, through their allies in the media, would have ensured that DJT would have worn that single death around his neck up through election day.
People with no moral floor who were in powerful positions wanted DJT out of office; that has to be kept in mind when looking back at the year 2020 (with our "20/20 hindsight").
Trump was vulnerable to court treachery because he was an amateur among hardened professionals. DC is a snake pit - it's not called "the Swamp" for nothing. Of course this is precisely why he was elected, and why the public is willing to forgive him. Forgiving him for hyping "Operation Warp Speed" may not come so easily, however.
Don't know if "warp speed " really would matter Danno, he would be blamed for all the death and destruction regardless. Remember the dems wouldn't touch a "TRUMP" vaccine and it wasn't ready until after the election then the dums were pushing their way to be first in line for it. Joe campaigned on destroying the virus, how did that work out? More death in his first year with the vax than Trump without vax. My point I guess is that we're a small minority on these platforms unless we get a massive blowout and all the corruption is exposed and the media accepts that and reports on that, it might not matter. Am I making any sense, maybe not....
The mainstream media will never admit to corruption that they've been a party to. The media answers to the government, or some entity within the government. If Tucker Carlson's mashups of CNN, NBC, etc. running with the same narrative using exactly the same words aren't proof enough, then see Matt Taibbi's expose of Twitter (which he outlined in Substack).
Never, never, never will the "media" turn. Just finished "The Devil's Pleasure Palace", how this whole cult of "critical theory" (emphasis "theory", seems few in U. S. actually understand what a "theory" is ! To the vast majority, "theory" IS TRUTH, proven truth, the word is used in that meaning ALL the time here. The roots of this "movement" are deep, I doubt the press, the educational establishment, and many others can ever reverse the effects of this post war group of "sophisticated thinkers" on Americans. An effect I think of as an "infection" of the psyche, or what the author, Walsh, terms "a hoard of demons" released into the nation. The more I read about the entire history of the Frankfurt School, how subtlety all of this began, post war. How it took root in our academic circles (that is a FACT for sure, I lived and taught in that atmosphere everyday for some time), our "journalism" schools, and gradually infested every aspect of our life and culture.
Yes, Trump was in a box - dammed if you do, damned if you don't. Had Trump somehow managed to win the 2020 election, all the side negative effects of the vax, and all the responsibility, would be placed on Trump.
Trump was of course the "NYC tough guy", but as you commented, just NYC "tough" is still not a match for the seasoned DC institutionalized corruption and the truth that both "political parties" are the SAME, for the sake of the masses, and KNOWING how emotional humans are, they put on this "public face" of their party, then they golf, vacation, dine, and travel in the same social circles. Trump has his own "social circles". they were NOT in Washington D.C. ! Also tough to face in another campaign, was his intense loyalty to one of the most powerful in D.C., the ultimate bureaucrat. as seasoned as Biden, the "Fauci". What that man has done to harm all mankind, might one day be public knowledge.... drip, drip, drip.... Forgive Trump... maybe they will, but forgive Fauci, for the things he did LONG BEFORE "Covid", I doubt it ! In my opinion, another BIG mistake I was surprised even a novice like Trump made, was surrounding himself with such questionable people, especially morally "fluid" individuals ! Now it seems, we have the very SAME thing, a "leader" with very poor skills in choosing the "best" people for high positions. It's so depressing, so very depressing !
RFK Jr's book "The Real Anthony Fauci" has sold millions of copies. Fauci can run but he can't hide. Biden? He's the deep state's wet dream, he's forced by his dementia to allow the DC elites to run the country but is accountable for their decisions. They also have more than enough proof of his misdeeds as VP to blackmail him should he ever put enough brain cells together to oppose them.
It would not have mattered what he thought through or didn't think through. (One of his closest advisors, Dr. Birx, has publicly admitted to manipulating the information she provided him; she is currently living a carefree life. I imagine the possibility of prosecution is not something that she thinks about at all.)
The lies and manipulation are off the charts re everything these days - i read an article yesterday about the 86 year old obese pope with one lung, who has "pneumonia," but is expected to be fit enough for his Holy Week activities, starting with Palm Sunday smh
See what I mean - yesterday the article I read quoted the "nursing staff" saying he was doing well and expected to be back to his regular duties by Sunday - three days lol. He must be a lot sicker because - you are right - now the projection is perhaps not at all over Holy Week. After the last few years, I don't believe anything.
He lacks any ability to gauge BS from reality and a terrible judge of character. He is a “business man” not a political leader who had to learn how to deal with the bureaucracy and is enamored of the “strong man” type of leadership, ie military types. Elected to stop globalism, he became their most effective tool ever!
Even though I no longer suffer from TDS, I still don't like Trump. As you say, his focus is on business. An excellent con man who knows how to manipulate the masses. I can't help thinking that a lot of what he did was more or less leading from behind, with his eye on the election.
Neither. I refuse to get trapped in that false dichotomy. I've come to view our so-called leadership as a uniparty. I don't like either party, although for mostly different reasons. We're stuck in a plutocracy or a corporatocracy or whatever you wanna call it. Politics is just a distraction for the plebes.
That said, I don't really have a solution to offer.
I couldn't help thinking, when I read your comment, that all the 'hardened' politicians in the West did no better than Trump, despite their alleged political savvy.
Having been in show biz, it's amazing how Trump didn't recognize the slick and well produced show early 2020. All the inconsistencies and contradictions should have clued him in. Very regrettable.
Yeah I am married to a D.A. who suffers from terminal TDS. No $ to move and rent is simply outrageous so I stay and STAND STRONG, PROUD AND NOT BACKING DOWN
Some people still bleat about the Covid deaths in the US being all Trump’s fault. If you point out that it was he who started the lockdowns, which they strongly admire when initiated by Democrats, they sputter and have nothing useful to say.
Because he was told that it was essentially a bioweapon. That's what I believe many people in power around the world heard from their intelligence agencies. That's the reason the standard mitigation measures against pandemics were discarded. Yes, they told the stupid public that it came from bats or pangolins but they themselves were almost certain that the virus was a product of gain-of-function research..
I agree with this version. What would make Trump do a 180 is if the CIA told him it was a Chinese bioweapon and treatment was unknown. That and he was surrounded by a nest a slithering snakes driven by hubris and greed. Still, he should have seen this earlier. But even if he did he was doomed because the media already started the death ticker on the bottom of the screens (which promptly disappeared after Biden and Pfizer teamed up).
Yes Charlotte, he certainly SHOULD have seen it for what it was. I am a largely uneducated, ordinary, working class man, with NO political acumen whatsoever, but, going purely off of the premise that "they" (the intelligence apparatus and mainstream media) generally ALWAYS lie
about EVERYTHING, by late March 2020, I already had the patent number for Pirbright Institute's COVID 💉"vaccine", dated 2018, & correctly intuited EVERY subsequent move thereafter,
often LONG before it was considered a "safe bet" by the alternative media "truther" community. No greater "smarts" or ability as a "social prophet" than ANYBODY else, but working solely from the premise that "they" ALWAYS lie to us, about EVERYTHING of ANY importance, I pretty much guess-timated EVERY forthcoming action and restriction, and the REAL reasons for them. The idea that Trump floundered in confusion is, to me, thoroughly ludicrous. I STILL believe Trump to be the controlled opposition element fronting the "Christian/ conservative values" side of the then Hegelian dialectic. But then,
I think there's a definite difference between making decisions for yourself (I was never going to take their novel vaxxes) and making decisions for a whole country. Something must have happened to change Trump's mind, and until we know for sure, the 'bad advice by a cabal with an agenda' hypothesis will suit me fine.
TDS seems even to have extended to Pelosi asserting that Trump must 'prove his innocence'.
More than that I suspect: a bioweapon as vengeance against Trump personally for his trade wars. No way Trump wanted that understood by the electorate. The bureaucracy had great blackmail against him--the narrative that he had brought Armageddon on us, not understanding the risk of taking on China. So he sold his soul to the Faucis and intel community... I am not sure China acted alone--but that’s another story.
Am I wrong in remembering that there was about to be a big tariff deal with China for which the Chinese were not happy, and just before this deal was completed the virus was unleashed? I always suspected these two events were connected, in addition to the fact that the deep state just had to come up with something severe to destroy whatever good economic progress DJT could take credit for before the election.
Yes, and he had just completed changing the weak NAFTA rules for the USMCA, which closed many loopholes that Canada and Mexico exploited using cheap China products. For example, the Canadians could take a piece of Chinese steel and put one bend in it and then stamp Canada on it and call it “Canadian” and it got better trade treatment and could pockets huge amounts of money for poor quality steel. Trump closed most of those loopholes- China realized he was going to do the same thing with them. His team of Lighthizer, Ross and Navarro was excellent.
One of my favorite talks during the entire 4 years of Trump was Wilbur Ross at Davos when he told the astonished elite that the cushy tariff rules were going to be blown up- I could not stop laughing- simply the best!! Absolutely- trillions at stake and those corporate powers (thousands of conniving Bill Gates types) were frothing at the bit to take him down!
In many Western governments the virus literally ripped through the corridors of power BEFORE the lockdowns started. In Westminster alone many MPs, Cabinet ministers and advisors got infected with covid in February/March pre-lockdown and fared perfectly fine.
How were they suddenly convinced that they were dealing with a bioweapon if they'd experienced it as a cold or bad flu at worst?
Remember how they had to make an example of Boris' bout and took him to hospital for "monitoring" and to give him oxygen? This was so obviously a psyop intended to scare both the public and the PM himself. How come none of the oldies in the House of Lords were taken to hospital nor Prince Charles nor anyone else who also had the virus around the same time?
I agree. This was his biggest mistake. However, I don’t think any of us (including Trump) had any idea how utterly stupid, corrupt, power-hungry, and evil the state and various establishments turned out to be. I certainly had no idea how insane it would all get and I understand giving into the two weeks in order to appease the crazies for a moment. I honestly never thought it would continue past a month because I believed wrongly that people wouldn’t stand for it. I expected protests and defiance.
True STew. My biggest disappointment was most certainly my fellow Americans and their cowardice to do the right thing. Sad and now I have no hope or expectations of the future for this nation. Home of the Brave is a long distant memory for me.
All of us were under the delusion that the USA was a country of free people who would stand up for freedom. Ha! Where did we get this delusion from? I suspect from Hollywood and public school propaganda. It is now clear to see that the masses don’t rise up without a strong leader leading the way. And, tragically, all the leaders were pointing in the direction of lockdown and tyranny.
Oh, speak for yourself. I certainly knew what they were likely doing on day one (day 1!). As did my father starting in the late 1980’s. People just weren’t paying attention when Waco happened. Or when more than a decade earlier, a newly militarized federal IRS agent killed Gordon Kahl. Conservatives especially only have themselves to blame for their inattention and addiction to Boomer comforts.
Trump was surrounded by, (or surrounded himself with), "advisors" who, I suspect, saw him as an easily manipulated path to power for themselves. And who most emphatically did NOT have the best interests of the country in mind. We will probably never know exactly who, or precisely what, caused the President to change his stance, literally over night, (March 10). But the country, and the world, are paying a hell of a price.
I agree, this was a massive mistake for Trump to make. I'm fairly certain he knew better and knew the decision he should make.
I listened to an interview with Jeffrey Tucker on Kunstler's podcast, there he seemed to expand a bit on the written article, saying that Trump was told by the security apparatus this was certainly a bioengineered virus and could be the big one. He at that point agreed to 2 more weeks, put it into the NSC to manage and then it was more or less out of his hands. That explains a bit more about his overnight change, but doesn't excuse letting it continue.
And the vaccines. Trying to rush those through ahead of an election with little testing. And not having a uniform national database for what constitutes a "COVID death."
I would bet the farm, no more than 200k died FROM c19 in the US. And that number would've been less if they hadn't clustered the vulnerable into death chambers.
Almost no one would have died if Ivermectin would have been available ,especially since winter was over and summer was just around the corner ..Flu comes around every winter and that flu could be reduced to almost nothing if vitamin D would be used during winter month ,in northern latitudes . All the extra death ,besides the ones that happen naturally every year where by design ,made possible by the reducers of humanity ,which is murder .
I literally fired Teladoc over this issue. My company added them as a telehealth option in 2020. In 2021, they refused to let any doctor in their network prescribe Ivermectin. I had first hand conversations with doctors about this. I can't say they did this to every employer, but they did this to us. In our 2022 renewal, we told them if they didn't keep their nose out of the doctor-patient relationship, they were gone. They didn't relent and we fired them. Crazy times.
Almost no one would have died had not Ivermectin been deliberately banned. (But then they'd not have been able to justify the emergency authorisations for the various - and much more lethal - clot-shots.)
Yep, it WAS a corrupt and abhorrent act to have virtually OUTLAWED the necessary therapeutics but anyone suffering from the symptoms microwave emissions,
radiation poisoning, Erm. . . I mean "COVID", needs to take Glutathione, N-acetylcysteine, vitamins C and D, and mercetin, in THAT descending order of value. Stay the hell AWAY from these damn jabs, they killed my Dad and FIVE of my neighbours, and caused SEVERE neurological disorders and cognitive impairments in several friends and acquaintances.
I’m skeptical of the “official” numbers as well. I don’t know anyone who died of covid or was even hospitalized for it. I know they’re out there, but whenever I ask people if they know someone who died, it’s almost always no.
I know personally two people who died not of covid but one my brother in a hospital with flu .isolation ,sedation remdesivir ,ventilation and general mistreatment .Death after six days .The other a young person and a friend of mine dropped dead after the second shot ,shortly after .
So I own a biz that has over 400 employees (700 pre-covid) and we have over 3k clients that are also business owners - many of which I talk to regularly.
Not bragging, but I have a "big" sphere and there's not one person I know of who died from covid - nor any of the people I know, who know someone who died from covid - or even went to the hospital.
The worse case I saw was my wife lost her taste for about a week and had a horrible cough for about 3 weeks...then she was fine.
I can't believe that my "sphere sample" is unique.
I directly know only one person -- my 95yo great-aunt who lived in a Spanish care home and passed away in May 2020. But given her already poor health and the cruel isolation she was subjected to in her final months, did she really die "from" covid? I have trouble blaming the virus rather than the policies...
Meanwhile, last year my fit and healthy 56yo second-cousin died of cardiac arrest and my partner's grandma (in her 90s mind you but living entirely independently with no health conditions) died of a stroke that she had a few weeks after her booster.
Just anecdotal of course... But it does beg the question: how many people know anyone who died from/with covid, let alone anyone under 70 or anyone not already sick with multiple conditions? And how many people know someone who has died of any cause from 2021 onwards and who was previously healthy?
Agreed, Trump’s biggest blunder will always be C19 and not stopping at 15 days and pivoting sooner. He let the reigns loose and got bogged down by the Deep State and Globalists. DeSantis will not fare better though. The weight and momentum of these people (& rigged system) is too big to take down or change.
Desantis is an attorney and listens and analyzes both sides of any issue. Hes got common sense, too, something DJT is sorely lacking! He bucked the lockdown trend early on in Fall of 2020 and stood alone against the MOB including Trump. Trump hates Desantis for being the man he isnt.
DeSantis is a very good Governor- however, there are still bigger issues that differentiate him from Trump as a Presidential candidate. He will support all of the Republican wars- like Ukraine. He will have people like Ken Griffin on his team (think Game Stop) and he will not do anything that puts other Governors to shame. for example, states on the border have the power to literally stop illegal immigration but Abbott is not allowed to, by Mcconnell and the corporate backers of the RNC who want cheap labor and a “political” issue to raise money with. That’s why they couldn’t let Kari Lake win- she would have exercised those powers, demonstrating what control the RNC has over everyone. They choose their candidates. DeSantis is backed by Jeb Bush and Karl Rove.
I’m for Trump because - even with his flaws (who knew narcissism could be a super power?lol)- he wants to stop China being the world super power and the official RNC candidates will never be allowed to do this- their corporate backers demand to make cheap crap there. And the reluctance to start wars- he stood firm against so many new incursions and his support of the basic fundamental principle that cheap energy raises people out of poverty.
China isn’t our enemy. The US has become a bully empire. It needs to end and stop. Trump doesn’t get that fully. And he failed spectacularly on Covid, and failing to anticipate election fraud. Many saw it coming.
He needs to stand aside for DeSantis, and be a voice for a more peaceful foreign policy.
To add to your insightful response I would suggest if Trump had at least one solid person with a medical background (ideally a Dr. McCullough or Malone) to whisper in his ear common knowledge and history about these flu’s and Neil Ferguson’s track record, perhaps he would have had the confidence to stand strong. The manger of a baseball team wins by having skilled players, Trump was given an empty deck. Hope he has learned.
He was not in charge of the CDC and NIH and he inherited Fauci. Replacing him during a health crisis would have been a huge gamble politically. The press would have excoriated him. The CDC and NIH are only quasi governmental agencies- under the leadership of Fauci they receive more than 80% of their funding from private sources, mainly pharmaceutical companies, causing an inherent bias. There were too many battles for Trump to take on with Mcconnell limiting his powers at every turn (he never got absentee appointment powers that they gave Obama, for instance) and an ongoing Russia narrative at every turn orchestrated by the 3 letter agencies and the DNC and RNC.
This is another riddle: there WERE medical dissidents, very early on, and they were vilified with a force and a violence that I found shocking. Why this massive backlash against any medical professional who uttered a single syllable of doubt?
Ryan, I'm sorry, but i have to reject this statement of yours:
"To make this point he would also have had to tell it like it is; that it is also patriotic for the "vulnerable" to stay at home until the healthy have done their job protecting the vulnerable..."
The vulnerable are supposed to patriotically hide? Too much Nanny-state vibe there for me. Living one's life, enjoying freedom and man's God given right to free will is patriotic, digging a hole and hiding becauseothers are scared is cowardice.
since you're talking about rejection, you're argument is a bit of a non-sequitur.
explain to me how a lazy, ignorant and fearful crowd of the amorphous "vulnerable" people DEMANDED you and I sacrifice our God given right to free will, for the luxury of them being able to justify not allowing effing children to be children?
I gotta go back and read what I wrote, it seems to have been slightly off, the evils of typing and talking while in zoom meetings. Sorry buddy. Anyway, more meeting time!!
No worries. As I read both our comments I think it comes down to the "definition" of "vulnerable".
I actually think we'd agree if that were defined.
And if the vulnerable chose to go about their lives (rather than stay at home) , in my hypothetical initial posting, then I would actually respect them.
Because I have a feeling, even if you and I fell under the definition of "vulnerable" we wouldn't hide from it.
I was thinking more of "options" not edicts. And not to make the healthy fundamentally change their lives for those who considered themselves vulnerable.
Waaaaaay too many people hid under the umbrella of vulnerable.
A few, but not enough, I'm still disappointed in my dad. He knows I think he wimped out. Ironically, one of his friends was on the Diamond Princess, and when that old fat guy didn't get killed by covid after being locked in with it, my father should have known covid wasn't a threat.
I think the possibility, postulated by phoney stats and projections, that something like 3 million Americans could die, promoted by Drs. Faucii and Birxs, scared Trump into thinking he couldn't take the risk.
Did you know that orphaned cats were given more, in the way of donations, than business owner who made the sacrifice so people could play reindeer games with their masks?
could be. but try to think of a specific "who" that would have done this all so well? my sense is any executive facing an unprecedented potential catastrophe would been incorrectly influenced by the people around him. hindsight is a wonderful thing but don't kid yourself.
Excellent essay.
Trump gave this man-made catastrophe oxygen by allowing the extension of the "15 days to slow the spread" for another 30 days. I'll admit he was in a trick-box. That said, a leader is supposed to recognize a trick-box, accept it, provide a solution and then make his case as to why the long term "COST" of this nonsense should be rejected.
He did not do that. I'm very disappointed that he did not rally the country around the only true solution there was: Let healthy Americans protect the vulnerable by being "brave" and "filtering" c19; that it was patriotic to take this head-on, rather then kicking the can down the road. To make his case that there was a "price" to be paid no matter what. But the price to hide from it would be orders of magnitude higher.
To make this point he would also have had to tell it like it is; that it is also patriotic for the "vulnerable" to stay at home until the healthy have done their job protecting the vulnerable (being a firewall) by taking on the risk of getting C19. That's what a leader does; make the tough decisions when you don't have all the information, when there are no "good" options and then communicate to the public the way forward.
In other words, to make an appeal to Americans that it was ultimately in every individuals and the countries interests, to rally around mitigating the unavoidable "pain" would require accepting the relatively low risk. To do otherwise would be cowardly and result in even more deaths of the vulnerable. This would have created peer pressure to be brave and for each individual to do their part in a common goal. Sort of like women in the World Wars giving white feathers to cowardly men.
The risk to the healthy was always negligible and he should have made that clear - we knew from the beginning that to be true. His lack of foresight led to the opposite type of peer pressure, which was a key feature in protracting this nightmare. And to recognize his reelection was at more risk if he allowed the country to be paralyzed by fear.
By failing to understand this he allowed the narrative to grow roots. This means, he may have to pay a price politically. He chose the "easy" way out by hoping this would self resolve or that the "vaccine" would magically end the "pandemic". A leader understands that being indecisive compounds the problem, confuses followers and always leads to poor outcomes. By following this strategy he allowed cowardness to become a virtue. He did not recognize that that was the "real" trickbox he (and the country) was in.
If only one person in the US was demonstrated to have died from Covid, then the intelligence agencies, through their allies in the media, would have ensured that DJT would have worn that single death around his neck up through election day.
People with no moral floor who were in powerful positions wanted DJT out of office; that has to be kept in mind when looking back at the year 2020 (with our "20/20 hindsight").
Trump was vulnerable to court treachery because he was an amateur among hardened professionals. DC is a snake pit - it's not called "the Swamp" for nothing. Of course this is precisely why he was elected, and why the public is willing to forgive him. Forgiving him for hyping "Operation Warp Speed" may not come so easily, however.
Don't know if "warp speed " really would matter Danno, he would be blamed for all the death and destruction regardless. Remember the dems wouldn't touch a "TRUMP" vaccine and it wasn't ready until after the election then the dums were pushing their way to be first in line for it. Joe campaigned on destroying the virus, how did that work out? More death in his first year with the vax than Trump without vax. My point I guess is that we're a small minority on these platforms unless we get a massive blowout and all the corruption is exposed and the media accepts that and reports on that, it might not matter. Am I making any sense, maybe not....
The mainstream media will never admit to corruption that they've been a party to. The media answers to the government, or some entity within the government. If Tucker Carlson's mashups of CNN, NBC, etc. running with the same narrative using exactly the same words aren't proof enough, then see Matt Taibbi's expose of Twitter (which he outlined in Substack).
Never, never, never will the "media" turn. Just finished "The Devil's Pleasure Palace", how this whole cult of "critical theory" (emphasis "theory", seems few in U. S. actually understand what a "theory" is ! To the vast majority, "theory" IS TRUTH, proven truth, the word is used in that meaning ALL the time here. The roots of this "movement" are deep, I doubt the press, the educational establishment, and many others can ever reverse the effects of this post war group of "sophisticated thinkers" on Americans. An effect I think of as an "infection" of the psyche, or what the author, Walsh, terms "a hoard of demons" released into the nation. The more I read about the entire history of the Frankfurt School, how subtlety all of this began, post war. How it took root in our academic circles (that is a FACT for sure, I lived and taught in that atmosphere everyday for some time), our "journalism" schools, and gradually infested every aspect of our life and culture.
Oh yeah, watch Tucker every day.
Yes, Trump was in a box - dammed if you do, damned if you don't. Had Trump somehow managed to win the 2020 election, all the side negative effects of the vax, and all the responsibility, would be placed on Trump.
I doubt he would have supported mandates. That alone would have limited the damage.
Trump was of course the "NYC tough guy", but as you commented, just NYC "tough" is still not a match for the seasoned DC institutionalized corruption and the truth that both "political parties" are the SAME, for the sake of the masses, and KNOWING how emotional humans are, they put on this "public face" of their party, then they golf, vacation, dine, and travel in the same social circles. Trump has his own "social circles". they were NOT in Washington D.C. ! Also tough to face in another campaign, was his intense loyalty to one of the most powerful in D.C., the ultimate bureaucrat. as seasoned as Biden, the "Fauci". What that man has done to harm all mankind, might one day be public knowledge.... drip, drip, drip.... Forgive Trump... maybe they will, but forgive Fauci, for the things he did LONG BEFORE "Covid", I doubt it ! In my opinion, another BIG mistake I was surprised even a novice like Trump made, was surrounding himself with such questionable people, especially morally "fluid" individuals ! Now it seems, we have the very SAME thing, a "leader" with very poor skills in choosing the "best" people for high positions. It's so depressing, so very depressing !
RFK Jr's book "The Real Anthony Fauci" has sold millions of copies. Fauci can run but he can't hide. Biden? He's the deep state's wet dream, he's forced by his dementia to allow the DC elites to run the country but is accountable for their decisions. They also have more than enough proof of his misdeeds as VP to blackmail him should he ever put enough brain cells together to oppose them.
I get it, but that doesn't mean he should have thought it through better.
He lacked the key to successful leadership: calculating "net" cost.
It would not have mattered what he thought through or didn't think through. (One of his closest advisors, Dr. Birx, has publicly admitted to manipulating the information she provided him; she is currently living a carefree life. I imagine the possibility of prosecution is not something that she thinks about at all.)
didn't help he's a self identified germaphobe
The lies and manipulation are off the charts re everything these days - i read an article yesterday about the 86 year old obese pope with one lung, who has "pneumonia," but is expected to be fit enough for his Holy Week activities, starting with Palm Sunday smh
Funny, just read that they're preparing for a holy week without the Pope down at the Vatican.
See what I mean - yesterday the article I read quoted the "nursing staff" saying he was doing well and expected to be back to his regular duties by Sunday - three days lol. He must be a lot sicker because - you are right - now the projection is perhaps not at all over Holy Week. After the last few years, I don't believe anything.
'I imagine the possibility of prosecution is not something that she thinks about at all.'
We can dream.
He lacks any ability to gauge BS from reality and a terrible judge of character. He is a “business man” not a political leader who had to learn how to deal with the bureaucracy and is enamored of the “strong man” type of leadership, ie military types. Elected to stop globalism, he became their most effective tool ever!
Even though I no longer suffer from TDS, I still don't like Trump. As you say, his focus is on business. An excellent con man who knows how to manipulate the masses. I can't help thinking that a lot of what he did was more or less leading from behind, with his eye on the election.
Don't want to hijack the thread, but would you rather have Biden or Trump in the White House?
Neither. I refuse to get trapped in that false dichotomy. I've come to view our so-called leadership as a uniparty. I don't like either party, although for mostly different reasons. We're stuck in a plutocracy or a corporatocracy or whatever you wanna call it. Politics is just a distraction for the plebes.
That said, I don't really have a solution to offer.
DeSantis.
Well, he's it, warts and all; this is the point to where 250 years of American history has led us.
It would be unthinkable and unconscionable to allow the current Dumpster Fire to muddle through another four years; the place would be unrecognizable.
100% over.
You're right
Unfortunately Xiden has already been selected for another four years.
I couldn't help thinking, when I read your comment, that all the 'hardened' politicians in the West did no better than Trump, despite their alleged political savvy.
Yeah, but we have a political leader w/ 50yrs experience and look what happened! We just can't seem to catch a break 😪 lol
I think it was eugyppius who made the comment that our system simply attracts corruptible people.
Spot on SB! Just look what happened today with Trump. I feel like we're living in Russia.
And psychopaths.
Having been in show biz, it's amazing how Trump didn't recognize the slick and well produced show early 2020. All the inconsistencies and contradictions should have clued him in. Very regrettable.
Very good point. Never heard it that way, but spot on
Do y’all really believe he was getting enuff truth from anybody to make a fight out of it, and again, they are still wearing the damn mask.
James Lee, I don't know what he knew, but he should have stood firm on his instincts, as he initially resisted and appeared to smell bs.
Yeah I am married to a D.A. who suffers from terminal TDS. No $ to move and rent is simply outrageous so I stay and STAND STRONG, PROUD AND NOT BACKING DOWN
Some people still bleat about the Covid deaths in the US being all Trump’s fault. If you point out that it was he who started the lockdowns, which they strongly admire when initiated by Democrats, they sputter and have nothing useful to say.
The only apparent touching points of Lefties and Logic is that they both begin with the letter 'L'.
Given that they seem to be determined to return most of us to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, I think they're more Luddites than Lefties, nowadays.
Damn right.
Because he was told that it was essentially a bioweapon. That's what I believe many people in power around the world heard from their intelligence agencies. That's the reason the standard mitigation measures against pandemics were discarded. Yes, they told the stupid public that it came from bats or pangolins but they themselves were almost certain that the virus was a product of gain-of-function research..
I agree with this version. What would make Trump do a 180 is if the CIA told him it was a Chinese bioweapon and treatment was unknown. That and he was surrounded by a nest a slithering snakes driven by hubris and greed. Still, he should have seen this earlier. But even if he did he was doomed because the media already started the death ticker on the bottom of the screens (which promptly disappeared after Biden and Pfizer teamed up).
Yes Charlotte, he certainly SHOULD have seen it for what it was. I am a largely uneducated, ordinary, working class man, with NO political acumen whatsoever, but, going purely off of the premise that "they" (the intelligence apparatus and mainstream media) generally ALWAYS lie
about EVERYTHING, by late March 2020, I already had the patent number for Pirbright Institute's COVID 💉"vaccine", dated 2018, & correctly intuited EVERY subsequent move thereafter,
often LONG before it was considered a "safe bet" by the alternative media "truther" community. No greater "smarts" or ability as a "social prophet" than ANYBODY else, but working solely from the premise that "they" ALWAYS lie to us, about EVERYTHING of ANY importance, I pretty much guess-timated EVERY forthcoming action and restriction, and the REAL reasons for them. The idea that Trump floundered in confusion is, to me, thoroughly ludicrous. I STILL believe Trump to be the controlled opposition element fronting the "Christian/ conservative values" side of the then Hegelian dialectic. But then,
you never CAN be sure, NOT 100%, can you?
I think there's a definite difference between making decisions for yourself (I was never going to take their novel vaxxes) and making decisions for a whole country. Something must have happened to change Trump's mind, and until we know for sure, the 'bad advice by a cabal with an agenda' hypothesis will suit me fine.
TDS seems even to have extended to Pelosi asserting that Trump must 'prove his innocence'.
Weird world; weirder woman.
Wow. Hegelian dialect eh? Not bad for an uneducated man
Formal "education", no. Mensa member? Yep.
Yes
More than that I suspect: a bioweapon as vengeance against Trump personally for his trade wars. No way Trump wanted that understood by the electorate. The bureaucracy had great blackmail against him--the narrative that he had brought Armageddon on us, not understanding the risk of taking on China. So he sold his soul to the Faucis and intel community... I am not sure China acted alone--but that’s another story.
Am I wrong in remembering that there was about to be a big tariff deal with China for which the Chinese were not happy, and just before this deal was completed the virus was unleashed? I always suspected these two events were connected, in addition to the fact that the deep state just had to come up with something severe to destroy whatever good economic progress DJT could take credit for before the election.
Yes, and he had just completed changing the weak NAFTA rules for the USMCA, which closed many loopholes that Canada and Mexico exploited using cheap China products. For example, the Canadians could take a piece of Chinese steel and put one bend in it and then stamp Canada on it and call it “Canadian” and it got better trade treatment and could pockets huge amounts of money for poor quality steel. Trump closed most of those loopholes- China realized he was going to do the same thing with them. His team of Lighthizer, Ross and Navarro was excellent.
One of my favorite talks during the entire 4 years of Trump was Wilbur Ross at Davos when he told the astonished elite that the cushy tariff rules were going to be blown up- I could not stop laughing- simply the best!! Absolutely- trillions at stake and those corporate powers (thousands of conniving Bill Gates types) were frothing at the bit to take him down!
But there's something that doesn't square.
In many Western governments the virus literally ripped through the corridors of power BEFORE the lockdowns started. In Westminster alone many MPs, Cabinet ministers and advisors got infected with covid in February/March pre-lockdown and fared perfectly fine.
How were they suddenly convinced that they were dealing with a bioweapon if they'd experienced it as a cold or bad flu at worst?
Remember how they had to make an example of Boris' bout and took him to hospital for "monitoring" and to give him oxygen? This was so obviously a psyop intended to scare both the public and the PM himself. How come none of the oldies in the House of Lords were taken to hospital nor Prince Charles nor anyone else who also had the virus around the same time?
I agree. This was his biggest mistake. However, I don’t think any of us (including Trump) had any idea how utterly stupid, corrupt, power-hungry, and evil the state and various establishments turned out to be. I certainly had no idea how insane it would all get and I understand giving into the two weeks in order to appease the crazies for a moment. I honestly never thought it would continue past a month because I believed wrongly that people wouldn’t stand for it. I expected protests and defiance.
True STew. My biggest disappointment was most certainly my fellow Americans and their cowardice to do the right thing. Sad and now I have no hope or expectations of the future for this nation. Home of the Brave is a long distant memory for me.
"Safetyism" is the hallmark of our population now.
All of us were under the delusion that the USA was a country of free people who would stand up for freedom. Ha! Where did we get this delusion from? I suspect from Hollywood and public school propaganda. It is now clear to see that the masses don’t rise up without a strong leader leading the way. And, tragically, all the leaders were pointing in the direction of lockdown and tyranny.
Yeah. But once they restricted your time, space and access to society via the masks it was over.
But still the cowardness of Americans really shows you how weak we've become since "the greatest generation".
Seriously, I made a complete ass of myself, bragging to a European friend how "Americans would never put up with a lockdown!"
Whoops. How humiliating.
Exactly!
Oh, speak for yourself. I certainly knew what they were likely doing on day one (day 1!). As did my father starting in the late 1980’s. People just weren’t paying attention when Waco happened. Or when more than a decade earlier, a newly militarized federal IRS agent killed Gordon Kahl. Conservatives especially only have themselves to blame for their inattention and addiction to Boomer comforts.
Trump was surrounded by, (or surrounded himself with), "advisors" who, I suspect, saw him as an easily manipulated path to power for themselves. And who most emphatically did NOT have the best interests of the country in mind. We will probably never know exactly who, or precisely what, caused the President to change his stance, literally over night, (March 10). But the country, and the world, are paying a hell of a price.
I agree, this was a massive mistake for Trump to make. I'm fairly certain he knew better and knew the decision he should make.
I listened to an interview with Jeffrey Tucker on Kunstler's podcast, there he seemed to expand a bit on the written article, saying that Trump was told by the security apparatus this was certainly a bioengineered virus and could be the big one. He at that point agreed to 2 more weeks, put it into the NSC to manage and then it was more or less out of his hands. That explains a bit more about his overnight change, but doesn't excuse letting it continue.
And the masking. Man, it is hard for me to understand how he did not have the imagination of how that would end up.
And the vaccines. Trying to rush those through ahead of an election with little testing. And not having a uniform national database for what constitutes a "COVID death."
YES!
"From and with". Boils my blood to this day.
I would bet the farm, no more than 200k died FROM c19 in the US. And that number would've been less if they hadn't clustered the vulnerable into death chambers.
Almost no one would have died if Ivermectin would have been available ,especially since winter was over and summer was just around the corner ..Flu comes around every winter and that flu could be reduced to almost nothing if vitamin D would be used during winter month ,in northern latitudes . All the extra death ,besides the ones that happen naturally every year where by design ,made possible by the reducers of humanity ,which is murder .
I literally fired Teladoc over this issue. My company added them as a telehealth option in 2020. In 2021, they refused to let any doctor in their network prescribe Ivermectin. I had first hand conversations with doctors about this. I can't say they did this to every employer, but they did this to us. In our 2022 renewal, we told them if they didn't keep their nose out of the doctor-patient relationship, they were gone. They didn't relent and we fired them. Crazy times.
100% Joe. Nailed it.
Almost no one would have died had not Ivermectin been deliberately banned. (But then they'd not have been able to justify the emergency authorisations for the various - and much more lethal - clot-shots.)
Yep, it WAS a corrupt and abhorrent act to have virtually OUTLAWED the necessary therapeutics but anyone suffering from the symptoms microwave emissions,
radiation poisoning, Erm. . . I mean "COVID", needs to take Glutathione, N-acetylcysteine, vitamins C and D, and mercetin, in THAT descending order of value. Stay the hell AWAY from these damn jabs, they killed my Dad and FIVE of my neighbours, and caused SEVERE neurological disorders and cognitive impairments in several friends and acquaintances.
I’m skeptical of the “official” numbers as well. I don’t know anyone who died of covid or was even hospitalized for it. I know they’re out there, but whenever I ask people if they know someone who died, it’s almost always no.
I know personally two people who died not of covid but one my brother in a hospital with flu .isolation ,sedation remdesivir ,ventilation and general mistreatment .Death after six days .The other a young person and a friend of mine dropped dead after the second shot ,shortly after .
So I own a biz that has over 400 employees (700 pre-covid) and we have over 3k clients that are also business owners - many of which I talk to regularly.
Not bragging, but I have a "big" sphere and there's not one person I know of who died from covid - nor any of the people I know, who know someone who died from covid - or even went to the hospital.
The worse case I saw was my wife lost her taste for about a week and had a horrible cough for about 3 weeks...then she was fine.
I can't believe that my "sphere sample" is unique.
I directly know only one person -- my 95yo great-aunt who lived in a Spanish care home and passed away in May 2020. But given her already poor health and the cruel isolation she was subjected to in her final months, did she really die "from" covid? I have trouble blaming the virus rather than the policies...
Meanwhile, last year my fit and healthy 56yo second-cousin died of cardiac arrest and my partner's grandma (in her 90s mind you but living entirely independently with no health conditions) died of a stroke that she had a few weeks after her booster.
Just anecdotal of course... But it does beg the question: how many people know anyone who died from/with covid, let alone anyone under 70 or anyone not already sick with multiple conditions? And how many people know someone who has died of any cause from 2021 onwards and who was previously healthy?
Agreed, Trump’s biggest blunder will always be C19 and not stopping at 15 days and pivoting sooner. He let the reigns loose and got bogged down by the Deep State and Globalists. DeSantis will not fare better though. The weight and momentum of these people (& rigged system) is too big to take down or change.
Desantis is an attorney and listens and analyzes both sides of any issue. Hes got common sense, too, something DJT is sorely lacking! He bucked the lockdown trend early on in Fall of 2020 and stood alone against the MOB including Trump. Trump hates Desantis for being the man he isnt.
Desantis 24'
He has transformed Florida in less than 3 years since I moved here.
It is a place now where it is okay to separate "love of country" vs. "love of government".
People get it and I live in one of the most purple suburbs you can imagine. Virtually everyone is on the same page:
Get the bums out and return the power to the people.
DeSantis is a very good Governor- however, there are still bigger issues that differentiate him from Trump as a Presidential candidate. He will support all of the Republican wars- like Ukraine. He will have people like Ken Griffin on his team (think Game Stop) and he will not do anything that puts other Governors to shame. for example, states on the border have the power to literally stop illegal immigration but Abbott is not allowed to, by Mcconnell and the corporate backers of the RNC who want cheap labor and a “political” issue to raise money with. That’s why they couldn’t let Kari Lake win- she would have exercised those powers, demonstrating what control the RNC has over everyone. They choose their candidates. DeSantis is backed by Jeb Bush and Karl Rove.
Well Charlotte we'll vote for whoever opposes totalitarianism right? I think that leaves 2 realistic choices; Trump or DeSantis.
I’m for Trump because - even with his flaws (who knew narcissism could be a super power?lol)- he wants to stop China being the world super power and the official RNC candidates will never be allowed to do this- their corporate backers demand to make cheap crap there. And the reluctance to start wars- he stood firm against so many new incursions and his support of the basic fundamental principle that cheap energy raises people out of poverty.
China isn’t our enemy. The US has become a bully empire. It needs to end and stop. Trump doesn’t get that fully. And he failed spectacularly on Covid, and failing to anticipate election fraud. Many saw it coming.
He needs to stand aside for DeSantis, and be a voice for a more peaceful foreign policy.
To add to your insightful response I would suggest if Trump had at least one solid person with a medical background (ideally a Dr. McCullough or Malone) to whisper in his ear common knowledge and history about these flu’s and Neil Ferguson’s track record, perhaps he would have had the confidence to stand strong. The manger of a baseball team wins by having skilled players, Trump was given an empty deck. Hope he has learned.
I had a lot of hope for Scott Atas, I wish his advice would have prevailed. Perhaps it was just too late.
He was not in charge of the CDC and NIH and he inherited Fauci. Replacing him during a health crisis would have been a huge gamble politically. The press would have excoriated him. The CDC and NIH are only quasi governmental agencies- under the leadership of Fauci they receive more than 80% of their funding from private sources, mainly pharmaceutical companies, causing an inherent bias. There were too many battles for Trump to take on with Mcconnell limiting his powers at every turn (he never got absentee appointment powers that they gave Obama, for instance) and an ongoing Russia narrative at every turn orchestrated by the 3 letter agencies and the DNC and RNC.
Rock on Charlotte!
This is another riddle: there WERE medical dissidents, very early on, and they were vilified with a force and a violence that I found shocking. Why this massive backlash against any medical professional who uttered a single syllable of doubt?
I presume because it's a military operation as an aspect of a bankers' war.
He has that, but hasn't learned. Dump Trumpenstein!
And replace him with whom?
If he can maintain adequate security, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Ryan, I'm sorry, but i have to reject this statement of yours:
"To make this point he would also have had to tell it like it is; that it is also patriotic for the "vulnerable" to stay at home until the healthy have done their job protecting the vulnerable..."
The vulnerable are supposed to patriotically hide? Too much Nanny-state vibe there for me. Living one's life, enjoying freedom and man's God given right to free will is patriotic, digging a hole and hiding becauseothers are scared is cowardice.
since you're talking about rejection, you're argument is a bit of a non-sequitur.
explain to me how a lazy, ignorant and fearful crowd of the amorphous "vulnerable" people DEMANDED you and I sacrifice our God given right to free will, for the luxury of them being able to justify not allowing effing children to be children?
I gotta go back and read what I wrote, it seems to have been slightly off, the evils of typing and talking while in zoom meetings. Sorry buddy. Anyway, more meeting time!!
No worries. As I read both our comments I think it comes down to the "definition" of "vulnerable".
I actually think we'd agree if that were defined.
And if the vulnerable chose to go about their lives (rather than stay at home) , in my hypothetical initial posting, then I would actually respect them.
Because I have a feeling, even if you and I fell under the definition of "vulnerable" we wouldn't hide from it.
I was thinking more of "options" not edicts. And not to make the healthy fundamentally change their lives for those who considered themselves vulnerable.
Waaaaaay too many people hid under the umbrella of vulnerable.
Well I agree, but how many baby-boomers do you know that didn't take the coward exit?
A few, but not enough, I'm still disappointed in my dad. He knows I think he wimped out. Ironically, one of his friends was on the Diamond Princess, and when that old fat guy didn't get killed by covid after being locked in with it, my father should have known covid wasn't a threat.
I agree, but I'm not sure the screeching hordes of the TDS afflicted would have ever let that plan be attempted.
He worked in the oval office right?
He took the wrong ramp; FEAR
I think the possibility, postulated by phoney stats and projections, that something like 3 million Americans could die, promoted by Drs. Faucii and Birxs, scared Trump into thinking he couldn't take the risk.
We’re all genius’s now👍🇺🇦
Lol! You got that right!
But 12 million Merry Cats died!
https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*TO2056gWgab1vnkHLIACkA.png
Did you know that orphaned cats were given more, in the way of donations, than business owner who made the sacrifice so people could play reindeer games with their masks?
could be. but try to think of a specific "who" that would have done this all so well? my sense is any executive facing an unprecedented potential catastrophe would been incorrectly influenced by the people around him. hindsight is a wonderful thing but don't kid yourself.
Easiest call in history
How about I would have. Does that work for you?