White House downplays COVID-19 messaging to open business faster

Administration's efforts to minimize talk of COVID-19 don't minimize its effects.

Read the whole story

 

[traumadog]

“I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests: This is going to go away without a vaccine,” Trump said. “It’s going to go away, and we’re not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time.”

Well it worked with smallpox, rinderpest and mostly with polio, after all they all just went away with no medical intervention - hang on, I might be getting confused...

Do you think he's an antivaxxer? The above quote is making me worry. Because I wasn't worried before.

Trump has never met a conspiracy theory he didn't latch onto like a fly on a turd. He gave tacit support to anti-vaxxers during the 2016 campaign, but seem to be leaning into more full-throated collusion these days.

Also, the anti-vax and gun-nutter movements are intertwining, as a recent Guardian article noted.

Trump is becoming the president of Crazytown.

As I recall, the fact that even masks have become such a political issue highlights the fact that the protesters are merely protesting against being told to do something - even if it's really benign, given the stakes at large.

Kind of like how a two-year-old will throw a temper tantrum against being told to do something, even if it's in their best interest.

Which means that the protesters fit the President's (toddler-like) mentality to a T.

 

[jdale]

My guess is that we are about to undo anything that was accomplished by social distancing. Hundreds of thousands will die. Hospitals will be overwhelmed. States will be forced in many cases to close back down. And the economy will still be in shambles and tens of millions of people will still be unemployed. Trump and his cult of personality will deflect blame to the governors and continue on with their reality distortion tactics. And there's a good chance Trump will get reelected. We have some very stupid and evil people in our country, and others who enable that stupidity and evil by not voting when it really matters.

Depends on how the states go, and depends on how the people go. Some states are going to stick with their social distancing measures, so that will localize the outbreaks. And to some -- unknown -- extent, individuals will still maintain distancing and taking precautions. There is a very loud minority that wants everything opened up and everyone acting normally, but that's deceptive; you see them because the people who are cautious are obviously not out in the streets as much.

But some places? Sure, people will die needlessly, hospitals will be overwhelmed because in many areas it really doesn't even take that many cases to push them over the edge, some states may be forced to admit a mistake. And Trump not taking the blame? That's like saying the sun will set in the evening.

 

[jdale]

Steven Miller's wife has tested positive?

My evil side sends hopes and prayers...

She's already married to Steven Miller, really nothing a virus can throw at her that's going to be any worse than what she's endured at this point.

I find it interesting how people automatically show sympathy to the spouses (commonly wives) of notorious douchebags. While there may be an issue of it being an abusive relationship that the spouse can't or won't flee, there may also be an issue that the spouse is every bit a vile and irredeemable person (see: Melania Trump the instant she wore that jacket). I figure it's even odds as to which way it may be, so don't even comment on the spouse. I read that Miller is also positive now (maybe caught it from his wife, maybe he actually gave it to her). It doesn't matter. Miller is the proven evil one, so there's the cosmic justice. My feelings toward his wife are no different than any other random stranger that has it.

My feelings towards any random stranger who has it are sympathy and (concerned) hope.

 

[graylshaped]

If Biden wins it will be because of Trump massively fucking up, not because he's increasing turnout or motivating people himself. He won't deliver the Senate or any of that nonsense, if the Dems win the Senate with Biden then they could win it with any warm body.

And then we'll have Biden as a warm body in the oval office; a majority of warm democratic bodies in the house; and a majority of democratic warm bodies in the senate.

This sounds like a win.

Sure, until you consider the country could actually achieve more good with several other candidates. Biden is a terrible candidate. He's Kerry 2004, and might end up the same way, with a country fucked over by the illusion that electability is something that can be decided without already having had the general election.

Were you paying any attention? Like at all? There were several other candidates. Names like Warren. Klobuchar. Buttegieg. Sanders.

Guess what? Democrats voted in overwhelming numbers for the one named Biden. None of the others could attract voters. What do you want? Some magic vote fairy to come sprinkle pixie votes and nullify whatever choice real live breathing Democrats made?

Grow up. And if you can't manage that at least don't carry Putin's water for him.

[I am not aware Biden is the only Democratic still running]

>Checks watch. Looks at calendar. Considers delegate totals to date.<

Damn, that's one long bender you've been on.

 

[Klinn]

Trump is becoming the president of Crazytown.

I wholeheartedly support this initiative!

So long as Crazytown is an isolated spot at least 1000 miles off shore.

 

[DarthSlack]

Democrats did not vote overwhelmingly for Biden. He still does not have a majority. There are still a lot of primaries ahead. If a lot of people vote for anybody else, say Buttegieg, the convention, or whatever it’s replacement is, is wide open.

You are aware that Buttegieg isn't running anymore, aren't you? And that he, and absolutely every other former candidate for the nomination has endorsed Biden? Apparently not. I mean, damn. That's a seriously long time to have your head up your ass.

I give even odds that Biden doesn’t make it to Election Day, either health, sex allegations, or a rising candidate. Maybe Cuomo or somebody else.

You know, the war on drugs has been a complete clusterfuck, but posts like these tend to make me rethink my opposition. Though maybe it's just oxygen deprivation from having his head where the sun don't shine for too long.

 

[the-unknown]

I wonder how long it will be before the rest of the World decides to ban people from US from entering their countries.

Similar like how it was done to China, due to explosive growth on the number of people infected in the US?

Will be interesting to watch the US response when that happens.

 

[numerobis]

This is like a poorly written science fiction movie. The fallout from the likely wave of infections to come from opening up prematurely (and from people not taking it seriously) is going to make what's happened already look tame.
The only positive I can think of is that the worse things go, the less likely Trump will get reelected.

Could not agree more. If someone had told me when Trump got elected that he would lead this country into financial ruin and thousands dead because of self interest and incompetence I would have totally believed them

Yeah, occasionally I see posts like "Nobody could have predicted Trump would have been THIS bad." And I'm like, Dude, yeah, people were saying this for weeks and months leading up to the election. But for some people, that was a feature, not a flaw of electing him in the first place. Fucking 8chan 'burn it all down' nihilists.

The only hope for our country was 4 years of no off-normal events, because ANY 3 am call was going to turn into a shitshow of incompetence.

We still haven’t really seen a 3am call. Maybe the Iran strike against the US base in Iraq?

Coronavirus wasn’t a 3am call. It was months of briefings.

 

[SixDegrees]

This is like a poorly written science fiction movie. The fallout from the likely wave of infections to come from opening up prematurely (and from people not taking it seriously) is going to make what's happened already look tame.
The only positive I can think of is that the worse things go, the less likely Trump will get reelected.

Could not agree more. If someone had told me when Trump got elected that he would lead this country into financial ruin and thousands dead because of self interest and incompetence I would have totally believed them

Yeah, occasionally I see posts like "Nobody could have predicted Trump would have been THIS bad." And I'm like, Dude, yeah, people were saying this for weeks and months leading up to the election. But for some people, that was a feature, not a flaw of electing him in the first place. Fucking 8chan 'burn it all down' nihilists.

The only hope for our country was 4 years of no off-normal events, because ANY 3 am call was going to turn into a shitshow of incompetence.

We still haven’t really seen a 3am call. Maybe the Iran strike against the US base in Iraq?

Coronavirus wasn’t a 3am call. It was months of briefings.

<cough>Briefings...<cough>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnLMAT5UCt0

 

[Ozy]

We still haven’t really seen a 3am call. Maybe the Iran strike against the US base in Iraq?

Coronavirus wasn’t a 3am call. It was months of briefings.

His phone has been ringing at 3am for months, just nobody has been picking up.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

Democrats did not vote overwhelmingly for Biden. He still does not have a majority. There are still a lot of primaries ahead. If a lot of people vote for anybody else, say Buttegieg, the convention, or whatever it’s replacement is, is wide open.

I give even odds that Biden doesn’t make it to Election Day, either health, sex allegations, or a rising candidate. Maybe Cuomo or somebody else.

What percentage of 2,590 is 1,435?

You think that a single allegation of sexual misconduct with so many holes so bit you could fit Trump's fat white ass through them is going to sink Biden? Really? I mean, if Trump wants to play that card he's welcome to do so - the ads will write themselves at that point.

Do you have ANY understanding whatsoever of how the Democratic delegate system works in the US? Any at all?

Also, you do realize it's May, right? And Biden has 1,435 pledged delegates? Did they teach basic math at your elementary school? Did you flunk it?

 

[Jupitor13]

Trump is becoming the president of Crazytown.

I wholeheartedly support this initiative!

So long as Crazytown is an isolated spot at least 1000 miles off shore.

He should dump pence and get a sane conservative running mate.

Somebody like Michelle Bachman.

 

[WanderlyRanders]

Rural areas are invulnerable! MAGA!!!

Ask rural counties in Iowa how well things have been going. Cases are rapidly spiking outside of the populated areas in places that have fuck all for medical care. So much for all the elderly Republicans out there.

 

[Klinn]

I wonder how long it will be before the rest of the World decides to ban people from US from entering their countries.

Heh, why do you think Canada closed it's border with the States?

For non-essential traffic, that is. We'll allow your toilet paper and hand sanitizer into the country, but that's it. ;-)

 

[DarthSlack]

Derp. Keep urban centers on lock down, keep the vulnerable safe and quarantined, and let the rest of the country use reasonable protective measures, distancing, masks, etc and get the economy going. We now return you to your regularly scheduled derp.

Protip: Cities are the economy bub. Without the cities, you're not going to get anything going.

 

[ducatisymphony]

I wonder how long it will be before the rest of the World decides to ban people from US from entering their countries.

Heh, why do you think Canada closed it's border with the States?

For non-essential traffic, that is. We'll allow your toilet paper and hand sanitizer into the country, but that's it. ;-)

Correct...though we produce plenty of our own toilet paper!

 

[Baymax]

I'm 61 and have been somewhat politically aware for a bit more than three decades.

Can someone older than me speak to how our current White House leadership compares to others in years past. Has it EVER been this feckless?

No snark intended.

Here's a list of the US Presidents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... ted_States
Every Republican President from Grant to Coolidge was damn close to useless. Hoover was a good guy and a hell of an engineer, but way out of his depth as President. More recently of course, we have W. It's saying a lot when someone can make W look smart.

Edit: oops, forgot Teddy was Republican.

Teddy would be an exteme left wing Democratic today. National Parks? You're taking away "my" land!!!!

The parties were very different 100+ years ago. Lincoln was basically a social justice crusader who believed in a strong federal government and was so hated by racist slave owning southerners that they seceded and one of them assassinated him when they lost. Teddy Roosevelt was big on things like environmental protection, food safety, and checking the power of big companies. Neither of them fit with the current Republican Party.

 

[Random_stranger]

I wonder how long it will be before the rest of the World decides to ban people from US from entering their countries.

Similar like how it was done to China, due to explosive growth on the number of people infected in the US?

Will be interesting to watch the US response when that happens.

Forget about due to infections - just due to general stupidity. Sure, some of us are good people, but they shouldn't really take that chance..

 

[Ozy]

Rural areas are invulnerable! MAGA!!!

Ask rural counties in Iowa how well things have been going. Cases are rapidly spiking outside of the populated areas in places that have fuck all for medical care. So much for all the elderly Republicans out there.

Nice way of quoting something to me I didn't say.

OK, I get the audience that reads these comments. So then tell me what are you looking for to start to come out of lock down. You can't say flatten the curve or just give up and say when I feel like it.
BTW you do know just because an order gets lifted YOU don't have to run out to a crowded bar to celebrate. I was canceling plans BEFORE the order and I most likely won't make any for quite some time after it gets lifted.
So, let me hear your benchmark for when you will feel safe to come out of your bubble.

A scientific prediction that the changes necessary to re-open will maintain R0 < 1.

 

[jdale]

Rural areas are invulnerable! MAGA!!!

Ask rural counties in Iowa how well things have been going. Cases are rapidly spiking outside of the populated areas in places that have fuck all for medical care. So much for all the elderly Republicans out there.

Nice way of quoting something to me I didn't say.

OK, I get the audience that reads these comments. So then tell me what are you looking for to start to come out of lock down. You can't say flatten the curve or just give up and say when I feel like it.
BTW you do know just because an order gets lifted YOU don't have to run out to a crowded bar to celebrate. I was canceling plans BEFORE the order and I most likely won't make any for quite some time after it gets lifted.
So, let me hear your benchmark for when you will feel safe to come out of your bubble.

A reasonable starting point might be achieving all of the following:

* Downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) reported within a 14-day period
* Downward trajectory of covid-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period
* Downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period or downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period (flat or increasing volume of tests)
* Hospitals in the region are capable of treating all patients without crisis care
* Robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including emerging antibody testing

After all, that's what was proposed: https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/#criteria

But none of the states opening up have actually achieved those benchmarks. Being responsible was too hard, they'd rather kill people because it's faster.

Would I come out of my bubble once those things are achieved? No, nor should I, because the phase I level of opening up is still work from home where possible (which it is in my case), avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, minimize non-essential travel, and continue social distancing.

 

[graylshaped]

Rural areas are invulnerable! MAGA!!!

Ask rural counties in Iowa how well things have been going. Cases are rapidly spiking outside of the populated areas in places that have fuck all for medical care. So much for all the elderly Republicans out there.

[Hasn't thought things through]

It has nothing to do with individuals "coming out of their bubble."

It has everything to do with not enabling jackasses who don't practice the prudent practices that help prevent transmission of a disease we still don't understand. Prudent people are not the issue here.

Idiots and those who advocate for them are. One notices where you place yourself on that spectrum.

 

[WanderlyRanders]

I really don't get how any of this works

I'll support relaxation of business closures when and only when:

- The percent of positive tests coming back is well under 10%

- Cases in all areas have been trending downward for at least two weeks

- There is enough test capacity to test people with mild symptoms or who have been in contact with infected individuals

- Those tests have a turnaround time of less than a couple of days

- Cases by large places of business and zip codes are listed so there's enough information to identify especially high-risk locations

- The state and federal governments decide to be honest about cases and deaths by percent population instead of raw numbers

- The state and federal governments decide to be transparent about all their data and decision-making metrics

- More than a third of the population decides to start taking shit seriously and wearing face coverings to grocery stores and stop casually getting in others' personal space. Fucking plaguebearers trying to murder everyone


Unless you're blocking travel out of urban areas, idiots from high disease burden urban areas can and will travel to rural areas where few are taking any precautions and they can pretend everything's normal for a while. All it takes is one asymptomatic or presymptomatic individual to infect an entire community, as you should well know. It only takes one asymptomatic or presymptomatic individual to infect a nursing home or a cancer ward. If the virus is freely spreading anywhere, it can freely spread everywhere. There is no cordoning off vulnerable populations from a disease that can spread quickly and silently.

 

[DarthSlack]

Derp. Keep urban centers on lock down, keep the vulnerable safe and quarantined, and let the rest of the country use reasonable protective measures, distancing, masks, etc and get the economy going. We now return you to your regularly scheduled derp.

Protip: Cities are the economy bub. Without the cities, you're not going to get anything going.

So small businesses in %80 of the country need to go out of business because %20 of the country like to live stack on top of each other? The New York subway system was a perfect germ spreading tube before this virus. If you wait for that to be safe you will never do anything.

God, you're a thick one aren't you.

Cities have always been the economic engine of any country. It's been that way for millenium.

Besides, opening up rural areas just makes them more vulnerable. Look at Georgia, outsiders flocked in once Georgia opened up.

Wanna take a guess at what they brought with them?

What you clearly don't get is that opening up just brings the second wave sooner. We're not going back to normal, possibly for YEARS. Absent an effective vaccine, the pre-covid economy is dead. The entire hospitality industry has been gutted. Airlines are toast. Restaurants are going to have to rethink everything if they can't seat more than 25% of their capacity. Brick and mortar retail are going to have to limit the numbers of people in the store. Warehouses are going to have to mechanize or cut back on inventory to allow for sufficient worker spacing.

And while all this is happening, anyone with a brain is staying home.

Does that look anything like "normal" to you?

 

[kd1sq]

I never thought I'd miss Richard Nixon...

 

[Ahze]

I never thought I'd miss Richard Nixon...

Poppy Bush was far better than Nixon I think. Sure he was obviously Neutral Evil and did a shit load of damage in Central and South America. His family has been the best friends of the Saudi royals since Prescott Bush. I'd like to know how much he messed with Carter since he was the one giving the briefings, but the democratic establishment hated Carter all on their own and did far worse to him. Bush probably advised Reagan to do a lot of stupid and evil shit, but we will never know those things. He said, "I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. " which is obviously unconstitutional but that was hardly unusual at the time and is still probably the majority opinion in the repug base.

Still and all, he was by far the best repug president in my lifetime. He started a war and got the rest of the world to pay for most of it. He ended the war too instead of letting the defense contractors have an open ticket to steal for two decades. And he raised taxes when it was necessary, sealing his own electoral doom.

I'd have preferred old Poppy to Nixon, Reagan, his own son, and Cheetolini any day of the week, at least the man was competent in governance and could read and understand statistical and scientific briefings. Also, he put the good of the country as he saw it above his own personal ambition. Nixon was just a snake.

* I have never voted for a republican at a federal or state level and I expect I never will. Please do not take endorsement of Poppy Bush for any sort of favor of reactionary politics. Just picking the best of a very bad and evil lot.

 

[lukem]

These people must be awful at Chess, they can't see more than a move ahead. I mean they can re-open businesses, but will anyone show up? Probably some, but can most restaurants operate at 25% or 50% or capacity? Not for long.

And then there is the whole purpose of this which is really to throw people off of unemployment. I agree it is important that the economy restart and people work, but that's not what this is about. It's about letting people die when we could help them, just like we help the corporations.

Who is going to vote for a party that basically wants you to either work or die, and to not complain about it, while bailing out the big companies? Oh I know, millions and millions of stupid, stupid people.

I'm trying to be hopeful that that this pandemic is the one thing that will pierce the fog of stupidity, but I just don't know.

This might seem unrelated, but do you think all the lead pipes in the USA that people drink tap water from might have something to do with the amount of dumb as well?

Stupid, unfortunately, doesn't need any help. Comes with the territory.

(Lead levels in the population as a whole are down from historical levels.)

Historical use of lead additives in petrol (gasoline), rather than lead in water pipes...

This article explains how Clair Patterson discovered (as a side effect of determining the age of Earth) how lead in petrol (gasoline) was contaminating the air everywhere, the resistance to removing lead additives, and the eventual banning of lead additives.

I have hope the generations younger than leaded petrol are smarter than us who lived through that era, and those younger people make this world a better place.

 

[PandemicResponse]

This is brash but politically clever. Trump's approach has been to dodge negative press by assigning responsibility of fault to others, like governors. At the same time he wants to be in a position to take credit for any progress made.

Being the face of re-opening, which will happen sooner or later anyways, but offloading the management of that re-opening to the governors puts him in a perfect position to deflect blame to others if reopening is mismanaged, and accept credit as the economy improves.

The management of the re- opening does need to be with the governors. They are the people on the scene. The feds need to get the governors more masks, more tests, more everything, and keep working on a vaccine and treatments.

The governor of GA seemed to think reopening was a great idea, then COVID-19 cases spiked. He kinda changed his mind, but still seems to be pushing his reopening strategy. Governor of NE and governor of IA are reopening "some counties where cases are lower" despite huge spikes in cases and deaths in adjoining counties. I'm not sure governors are the right people to be handling this either.

 

[graylshaped]

Were you paying any attention? Like at all? There were several other candidates. Names like Warren. Klobuchar. Buttegieg. Sanders.

Guess what? Democrats voted in overwhelming numbers for the one named Biden. None of the others could attract voters. What do you want? Some magic vote fairy to come sprinkle pixie votes and nullify whatever choice real live breathing Democrats made?

Grow up. And if you can't manage that at least don't carry Putin's water for him.

[I am not aware Biden is the only Democratic still running]

>Checks watch. Looks at calendar. Considers delegate totals to date.<

Damn, that's one long bender you've been on.

[I don't understand how any of this works]

There won't be a contested Democratic convention this year. Thank you for your input.

 

[Fritzr]

These people must be awful at Chess, they can't see more than a move ahead. I mean they can re-open businesses, but will anyone show up? Probably some, but can most restaurants operate at 25% or 50% or capacity? Not for long.

And then there is the whole purpose of this which is really to throw people off of unemployment. I agree it is important that the economy restart and people work, but that's not what this is about. It's about letting people die when we could help them, just like we help the corporations.

Who is going to vote for a party that basically wants you to either work or die, and to not complain about it, while bailing out the big companies? Oh I know, millions and millions of stupid, stupid people.

I'm trying to be hopeful that that this pandemic is the one thing that will pierce the fog of stupidity, but I just don't know.

I just saw a Press Release Facebook post from a member of the tribe that owns the casino I work at. Their reopening (opened Tues May 5) "is going well". "Expect lines at the door due to enforcement of limited occupancy".

"The need for team members to sanitize machines when a player leaves will slow things down, but plans are in place to have all machines working and keep occupancy to 50% while allowing players to maintain social distance. This will speed things up as players coming in can choose a machine that has already been sanitized"

They are also selling face masks in the gift store and asking all guests to please wear masks. Long post, with lots of repeated "we are working hard to operate safely in difficult times" verbiage. As a sovereign tribe operating a casino on tribal trust land they are free to ignore the state business closure order. As one of the team members (with relatives enrolled in the tribe) I hope this goes well, but personally I don't see this going well even with the minimal positive tests in this part of the state. (I'm still laid off, the staffing is being kept to a minimum while they work on beta testing safety procedures)

 

[Fritzr]

The thing that scares me the most is the apparent lack of knowledge by the administration and the CDC. I feel I am left to my own devices in dealing with this situation.

Glad ARS has Beth to keep us straight! Still, more specific guidelines would be helpful. Let's defeat this thing.

Postscript; It is extremely difficult to hold an exponential process stable. I am at a loss to explain how the number of reported cases in the U.S. doesn't decay or explode (unless it is being actively managed). It' also interesting how the number of cases seems to be periodic (about 7 days), unless that's an artifact of detection and reporting.

You're not a Covid 19 case unless you test positive
A percentage of tests will be negative
There is a cap on daily testing

No matter what the actual infection rate is, there is a built in limit on new cases being detected by testing.

The reporting that relies on symptoms has problems when Covid 19 is identified as something else because the other is historically more common & other diseases being identified as Covid 19 because it is currently a wildfire epidemic. Testing is the way to solve this problem [see above]

 

[Deleted member 1]

I'm 61 and have been somewhat politically aware for a bit more than three decades.

Can someone older than me speak to how our current White House leadership compares to others in years past. Has it EVER been this feckless?

No snark intended.

Here's a list of the US Presidents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... ted_States
Every Republican President from Grant to Coolidge was damn close to useless. Hoover was a good guy and a hell of an engineer, but way out of his depth as President. More recently of course, we have W. It's saying a lot when someone can make W look smart.

Edit: oops, forgot Teddy was Republican.

Teddy would be an exteme left wing Democratic today. National Parks? You're taking away "my" land!!!!

The parties were very different 100+ years ago. Lincoln was basically a social justice crusader who believed in a strong federal government and was so hated by racist slave owning southerners that they seceded and one of them assassinated him when they lost. Teddy Roosevelt was big on things like environmental protection, food safety, and checking the power of big companies. Neither of them fit with the current Republican Party.

Somebody told me once that Republican party started changing when disgruntled (read racists on the losing end) whites deserted the Democratic Party (the erstwhile 'Solid South') and went over to the GOP. So lately, it's been a ying yang switcheroo thing: Democrats are now social justice crusaders while Republicans are the reactionary remnant still hanging on to 1950.

 

[Ozy]

I'm 61 and have been somewhat politically aware for a bit more than three decades.

Can someone older than me speak to how our current White House leadership compares to others in years past. Has it EVER been this feckless?

No snark intended.

Here's a list of the US Presidents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... ted_States
Every Republican President from Grant to Coolidge was damn close to useless. Hoover was a good guy and a hell of an engineer, but way out of his depth as President. More recently of course, we have W. It's saying a lot when someone can make W look smart.

Edit: oops, forgot Teddy was Republican.

Teddy would be an exteme left wing Democratic today. National Parks? You're taking away "my" land!!!!

The parties were very different 100+ years ago. Lincoln was basically a social justice crusader who believed in a strong federal government and was so hated by racist slave owning southerners that they seceded and one of them assassinated him when they lost. Teddy Roosevelt was big on things like environmental protection, food safety, and checking the power of big companies. Neither of them fit with the current Republican Party.

Somebody told me once that Republican party started changing when disgruntled (read racists on the losing end) whites deserted the Democratic Party (the erstwhile 'Solid South') and went over to the GOP. So lately, it's been a ying yang switcheroo thing: Democrats are now social justice crusaders while Republicans are the reactionary remnant still hanging on to 1950.

Southern Strategy. Yeah, it's a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

 

[numerobis]

Were you paying any attention? Like at all? There were several other candidates. Names like Warren. Klobuchar. Buttegieg. Sanders.

Guess what? Democrats voted in overwhelming numbers for the one named Biden. None of the others could attract voters. What do you want? Some magic vote fairy to come sprinkle pixie votes and nullify whatever choice real live breathing Democrats made?

Grow up. And if you can't manage that at least don't carry Putin's water for him.

[I am not aware Biden is the only Democratic still running]

>Checks watch. Looks at calendar. Considers delegate totals to date.<

Damn, that's one long bender you've been on.

[I don't understand how any of this works]

There won't be a contested Democratic convention this year. Thank you for your input.

I am curious what happens if the presumptive nominee is incapacitated before the convention (or after).

Both major party candidates are at risk from COVID. (As are many erstwhile replacements.)

 

[graylshaped]

Were you paying any attention? Like at all? There were several other candidates. Names like Warren. Klobuchar. Buttegieg. Sanders.

Guess what? Democrats voted in overwhelming numbers for the one named Biden. None of the others could attract voters. What do you want? Some magic vote fairy to come sprinkle pixie votes and nullify whatever choice real live breathing Democrats made?

Grow up. And if you can't manage that at least don't carry Putin's water for him.

[I am not aware Biden is the only Democratic still running]

>Checks watch. Looks at calendar. Considers delegate totals to date.<

Damn, that's one long bender you've been on.

[I don't understand how any of this works]

There won't be a contested Democratic convention this year. Thank you for your input.

I am curious what happens if the presumptive nominee is incapacitated before the convention (or after).

The convention can decide that (before). Up till ballot printing deadlines, the convention can reconvene a replace a nominee.

 

[hestermofet]

The Economy is a vengeful god that demands sacrifice in human blood in order to reopen every morning.

 

[rmm200]

Just a gentle reminder: If you voted for any Republican Senator, you are complicit in our current situation. Trump would have been removed by any rational Senate during Impeachment. As far as I am concerned, Republicans have forfeited any right to elected office for at least a generation.