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TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:04 PM Sep 2020

I have a serious question - seriously.

Trump knew in February that Covid-19 was a serious threat. If he had acted decisively to confront the looming crises, he would have been a hero and assured his reelection.

So, why did he not act? It can't be mere incompetence. What did he think was in it for him to fail to act?

42 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I have a serious question - seriously. (Original Post) TomSlick Sep 2020 OP
Putin jpak Sep 2020 #1
It would have meant actually caring what happens to someone else. Nevilledog Sep 2020 #2
Got it. I don't expect him to give a tinker's damn what happens to other people. TomSlick Sep 2020 #7
Too much trouble. He doesn't like to work. NT enough Sep 2020 #3
I wish I had an answer. russiamommy Sep 2020 #4
How would he act decisively? LisaL Sep 2020 #5
Just a public warning would have helped TomSlick Sep 2020 #8
What does he do that makes sense? LisaL Sep 2020 #10
True. I remain hopeful that we will correct that error. TomSlick Sep 2020 #29
He was afraid news of Covid's severity would make the stock market plunge vlyons Sep 2020 #6
Yep he was trying to run on the economy even though we were already heading into a recession soothsayer Sep 2020 #12
This!!!! The stock market had it's 10k point drop at the end of February to early March Claustrum Sep 2020 #13
I think you may be close to the truth. TomSlick Sep 2020 #17
Must always maintain the charade else the wheels will fall off NightWatcher Sep 2020 #27
+1000 DesertRat Sep 2020 #38
Yes, he ignored the virus to prop up the stock market radius777 Sep 2020 #39
It would have made him look bad. Tech Sep 2020 #9
He feared honest cv news would sink the stock market & thus his re-election chances. nt tblue37 Sep 2020 #11
He knew nine months before the election. TomSlick Sep 2020 #19
He has always freaked out over short-term dips in the stock market. nt tblue37 Sep 2020 #24
Ask Melania? imanamerican63 Sep 2020 #14
I don't think Trump actually really understood the threat. ananda Sep 2020 #15
His 8-year-old brain thought it would magically go away. Patterson Sep 2020 #16
I have always thought his issue was iamateacher Sep 2020 #18
So, simple magical thinking? TomSlick Sep 2020 #22
Pretty much iamateacher Sep 2020 #40
Chump and Jared were looking for a way to cash in FakeNoose Sep 2020 #20
He's never been successful at anything because he makes... brush Sep 2020 #21
That may be the answer. Maybe he is just that dumb. TomSlick Sep 2020 #28
He gets all high and agitated, goes in front of the cameras and can't help politicizing everything. betsuni Sep 2020 #23
A pandemic would hurt the economy. Laelth Sep 2020 #25
He would have had to follow protocols randr Sep 2020 #26
You may have the answer. TomSlick Sep 2020 #32
The stock market impact, plus he ... Whiskeytide Sep 2020 #30
You are trying to apply a level of depth to trump's logic mercuryblues Sep 2020 #31
But it's such a shallow level of depth. TomSlick Sep 2020 #33
He didn't see any clear benefit to him in acting properly. Blue_true Sep 2020 #34
But, but, but...... TomSlick Sep 2020 #36
I don't believe that he saw controlling the virus as a positive, especially Blue_true Sep 2020 #41
He loves power but hates responsibility. Nexus2 Sep 2020 #35
I buy that - frozen by indecision - all too aware of his own incompetence. TomSlick Sep 2020 #37
I believe that inflicting pain and death... dchill Sep 2020 #42

Nevilledog

(50,676 posts)
2. It would have meant actually caring what happens to someone else.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:08 PM
Sep 2020

And work. It would have cut down on his golf time.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
7. Got it. I don't expect him to give a tinker's damn what happens to other people.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:12 PM
Sep 2020

He had a chance to be the hero and ensure his re-election if he had just done something - nearly anything. What was in it for him to lie about the threat? He surely knew the lie would come back to bite him.

russiamommy

(244 posts)
4. I wish I had an answer.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:09 PM
Sep 2020

I long ago gave up trying to figure out his thought processes. Maybe he thinks just having a pandemic on his watch looks bad for him, regardless of what he did or don’t do about it? Or it was easier to just not do anything. I vote for the latter, but honestly I don’t think anyone knows what happens in his head. All I know is we need him GONE.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
5. How would he act decisively?
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:10 PM
Sep 2020

Active decisively presumably means shut downs, which he obviously doesn't want to do.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
8. Just a public warning would have helped
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:14 PM
Sep 2020

Hell, just not lying about the threat would have been better. It just doesn't make sense.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
10. What does he do that makes sense?
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:16 PM
Sep 2020

We elected a reality TV star a president, now we are reaping the consequences.

vlyons

(10,252 posts)
6. He was afraid news of Covid's severity would make the stock market plunge
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:12 PM
Sep 2020

and that would hurt his re-election.

soothsayer

(38,601 posts)
12. Yep he was trying to run on the economy even though we were already heading into a recession
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:16 PM
Sep 2020

The first “Covid” thing he did was to prop up the markets. Murderous bastid.

Claustrum

(4,845 posts)
13. This!!!! The stock market had it's 10k point drop at the end of February to early March
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:17 PM
Sep 2020

If he showed any signs of worry about COVID or treat it as the threat that it truly is, the stock market would have dropped more. And it wouldn't recover to where it is now.

So, he have to keep telling people that COVID isn't real or that it will magically disappear tomorrow to calm the market. Imagine where he would be if we are at under 20k points for the Dows. I can assure you that his approval rating would be in the 30s and he has literally no chance at re-election.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
17. I think you may be close to the truth.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:20 PM
Sep 2020

The short-term impact on the stock market would have been marginally negative. However, he knew the long term economic ramifications would be exponentially more serious. He could have been the hero.

Was he shorting stocks? Was he buying stock in pharma? WTF?

radius777

(3,624 posts)
39. Yes, he ignored the virus to prop up the stock market
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:16 PM
Sep 2020

while forcing workers into the pandemic to die for the 1%.

The fed also pumped money into the market/big corps for this same reason.

That is all Trump has ever cared about as he views it as key to his reelection.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
19. He knew nine months before the election.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:26 PM
Sep 2020

Surely, he is not so stupid as to place short-term market reactions - months before the election - over the certain long-term economic consequences that would come home to roost right before the election. (I know, who am I calling Shirley?)

ananda

(28,783 posts)
15. I don't think Trump actually really understood the threat.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:18 PM
Sep 2020

He still doesn't. He just doesn't get it.

He very well might have admitted he did because he
was asked the question and thought he should give
the right answer even if he didn't believe or understand
it.

Either that or he was drinking some seriously krazee
koolaid made for him by advisers and supporters aiming
to get the Democrats.

It's prolly both.

iamateacher

(1,088 posts)
18. I have always thought his issue was
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:25 PM
Sep 2020

Oppositional defiant disorder. (A child's diagnosis). Acknowledging the problem interfered with his reelection plans. The economy. So you pretend it doesn't exist. Better yet, you can blame it on all those Democratic governors....

FakeNoose

(32,349 posts)
20. Chump and Jared were looking for a way to cash in
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:26 PM
Sep 2020

Seriously ... they expected to make a $1 billion off this pandemic. That was Jared's job to figure out how they could get rich. It was going to be the ventilators, and then they called it off when they realized it was only poor people in NYC that were getting sick and dying.

So they didn't do shit, they just let everything get worse in March, April and May. I'm not making this up, it has all been reported in the news.



brush

(53,471 posts)
21. He's never been successful at anything because he makes...
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:29 PM
Sep 2020

Last edited Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)

poor decisions. Six bankruptcies and we elect the fool to the WH. He rode Obama's rising economy and claimed it for himself. He expected it to take him to a second term then a crisis hit, and the unprepared dummie that he is showed up and he kept quiet about the virus when he should've warned the country to wear masks, get tested, do social distancing, etc. He didn't and he still hasn't.

What dumb sob. And he told Woodward he knew since Feb. 7 how deadly the virus is. What a dumb sob.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
28. That may be the answer. Maybe he is just that dumb.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:53 PM
Sep 2020

However, that would seem to mean he is too dumb to breath spontaneously.

betsuni

(25,128 posts)
23. He gets all high and agitated, goes in front of the cameras and can't help politicizing everything.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:33 PM
Sep 2020

On the tape he said he wanted to downplay it. Maybe the plan was just to say not to worry, it will go away. But then he gets hopped up on whatever he snorts and calls it a hoax, and once it was politicized there was no going back. His followers were doomed.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
25. A pandemic would hurt the economy.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:45 PM
Sep 2020

He tried to wish it away with magical thinking. When that didn’t work, he was stuck. He can’t admit that he was wrong, so he turns to finger-pointing, more denial, and distraction ... all because he couldn’t admit that he was wrong, and now, here we are.

-Laelth

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
32. You may have the answer.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:02 PM
Sep 2020

Trump's default is to think what Obama would do, and then do the opposite.

Whiskeytide

(4,459 posts)
30. The stock market impact, plus he ...
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 08:56 PM
Sep 2020

... immediately started shifting all responsibility to the State governments. I think - knowing it was bad - he believed he could distance himself from it and just keep the market up, and he’d take less damage.

I don’t think it was any grand scheme.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
33. But it's such a shallow level of depth.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:04 PM
Sep 2020

When faced with a looming crises, a reasonably intelligent orangutan would do something.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
34. He didn't see any clear benefit to him in acting properly.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:05 PM
Sep 2020

Pure and simple. Trump is about what is in an action for him, his life has apparently been that way. He doesn’t seem capable of thinking broadly about issues and implications.

I remember when H1N1 struck the country 90 days after President Obama took office. President Obama didn’t downplay that virus, he marshaled science and experts to attack it. Even as scientists were desperately working on a vaccine in the background, we learned to sneeze into our elbow and President Obama modeled that. We learned to use paper towels to touch doorknobs of public doors. As soon as scientists learned more about how to slow the virus, we were asked to add protective measures. I am sure of two things on this day, if Trump had been president during H1N1, far more people would have died, far far more. And if President Obama was President today, an enormous number of dead Americans would still be living and the country would not be in economic peril.

TomSlick

(11,034 posts)
36. But, but, but......
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:10 PM
Sep 2020

There was a clear benefit to him in acting quickly.

Had he acted, he would have ensured his re-election. At this point, his failure to act - and to falsely downplay he crises - is the biggest drag on his re-election chances.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
41. I don't believe that he saw controlling the virus as a positive, especially
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:25 PM
Sep 2020

given that it struck big blue states really hard at the outset. Trump saw that as a benefit, believing those blue states would be humbled and all claims he had made or would make about them validated.

What he didn’t count on is the fundamental goodness of a lots of Americans. Doctors and Nurses from places that were not experiencing problems rushed to places like New York City, Boston, Detroit and Chicago to help healthcare professionals in those places, who had already put their lives on the line and were not backing down from treating sick people.

Nexus2

(1,261 posts)
35. He loves power but hates responsibility.
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 09:10 PM
Sep 2020

Taking action means taking responsibility, he's in over his head and scared to death of messing up so frozen with indecision (and it wasn't something he really cared about to much of a degree) he went to his default: lie, deflect and BS.

dchill

(38,321 posts)
42. I believe that inflicting pain and death...
Wed Sep 16, 2020, 11:12 PM
Sep 2020

... is a thrill to him that trumps any other possible effect or outcome. Also, I believe he is completely incapable of embracing the truth. If he can't play everyone for a sucker, then he has no interest.

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