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denem

(11,045 posts)
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 11:48 AM Feb 2020

Media Covering Coronavirus to 'Bring Down the President,' Mulvaney Claims

Source: New York Times

OXON HILL, Md. — Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.”

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mr. Mulvaney played down concerns about the virus that is spreading around the globe and panicking investors.

Mr. Mulvaney said the administration took “extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago,” to prevent the spread of the virus when it declared a rare public health emergency and barred entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China.

“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mr. Mulvaney said of travel restrictions that were widely covered in the news media. “What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, that’s all the press wanted to talk about.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/us/politics/cpac-coronavirus.html

33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Media Covering Coronavirus to 'Bring Down the President,' Mulvaney Claims (Original Post) denem Feb 2020 OP
Mick has shit for brains. pwb Feb 2020 #1
Shit for brains atreides1 Feb 2020 #3
Yup. Amateurs think they can sweep something this big under the carpet Bernardo de La Paz Feb 2020 #5
Tell it to the World Health Organization, Mick, you useless tool. The Velveteen Ocelot Feb 2020 #2
Thank you Delphinus Feb 2020 #25
F'en idiot!!! n/t RKP5637 Feb 2020 #4
So, the media SHOULDN'T cover this dangerous, global epidemic ... Laelth Feb 2020 #6
That is exactly what we are hearing. The Velveteen Ocelot Feb 2020 #8
The liberal fake news media is the problem... Squirrel! captain queeg Feb 2020 #7
It's ironic that blaming the media is actually more media-friendly than Aristus Feb 2020 #9
That is lame. OneCrazyDiamond Feb 2020 #10
This was shithead's chance.... SergeStorms Feb 2020 #11
basically leaving the nation flapping in the wind . . . Aussie105 Feb 2020 #30
..."for some undefined personal gain"..... SergeStorms Feb 2020 #31
No, if coronavirus brings down the tRump administration, it will be their own abject failure, KPN Feb 2020 #12
What's this? Is Mulvaney auditioning a stand-up act to pursue when he leaves government? abqtommy Feb 2020 #13
If this is how the Administration is handling this crisis, we are seriously fucked berni_mccoy Feb 2020 #14
When the truth exposes them as a failure and a fraud duforsure Feb 2020 #15
So the media made the Trump Administration get rid of the CDC's staff that was made to ... Botany Feb 2020 #16
A crisis does not bring down a president. Chemisse Feb 2020 #17
I despise these idiots! hamsterjill Feb 2020 #18
How is Mulvaney still in an 'acting' position? SeattleVet Feb 2020 #19
Everything and everyone is a conspiracy against Trump Yavin4 Feb 2020 #20
We'll sure it is! EarthFirst Feb 2020 #21
This is so stupid it hurts! abakan Feb 2020 #22
Sure - but it gives their mouth breathers something to parrot sandensea Feb 2020 #23
Hey Mickey. Get over it. lagomorph777 Feb 2020 #24
They're reporting accurately matt819 Feb 2020 #26
I think that if ... CozyMystery Feb 2020 #27
We traded it all away Shermann Feb 2020 #28
Also anything else that isn't OK is OK Shermann Feb 2020 #32
China clamps down Aussie105 Feb 2020 #29
Why? King Shit Midas seems to be doing fine bringing himself down. Hugin Feb 2020 #33

atreides1

(16,046 posts)
3. Shit for brains
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 11:52 AM
Feb 2020

And a secret offshore bank account, getting bigger with each allotment of "Wall" money that Trump keeps taking away from DOD!!!

Bernardo de La Paz

(48,787 posts)
5. Yup. Amateurs think they can sweep something this big under the carpet
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 11:53 AM
Feb 2020

... especially when they are scared shitless and don't know what to do because they just flushed their brains down the toilet (like firing the epidemic response team and cutting CDC budget 16%).

Delphinus

(11,808 posts)
25. Thank you
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 06:33 PM
Feb 2020

I was just going to ask if he thought it was the entire world conspiring - or just us bad, bad dems.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
6. So, the media SHOULDN'T cover this dangerous, global epidemic ...
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 11:54 AM
Feb 2020

... because it might hurt Trump’s chances of being re-elected?

Is that what I am hearing?

This man is bozonko-crazy. I hope he doesn’t hold any position of power.

Whoops!



-Laelth

Aristus

(66,091 posts)
9. It's ironic that blaming the media is actually more media-friendly than
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:01 PM
Feb 2020

"He is spectacularly unqualified for the job."

SergeStorms

(18,886 posts)
11. This was shithead's chance....
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:04 PM
Feb 2020

to act presidential, to lead the nation at a time when everyone is more than a little concerned about COVID-19. Instead, he continues to push his divisive, conspiracy theory bullshit, and is basically leaving the nation flapping in the wind.

So fuck you Trump, fuck you Mulvaney, and fuck all the small minded idiots and greedy assholes who voted for this farce of a president. Trump is a horrible human being, and an even worse president.

Aussie105

(5,211 posts)
30. basically leaving the nation flapping in the wind . . .
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 07:10 PM
Feb 2020

is the only method of running the government these clowns know.

Sad that Trump thinks this way, but he is old and senile and learnt those bad habits throughout his life.

That there are normal, functional adults that play along with this though, for some undefined personal gain, is inexcusable and evil.

SergeStorms

(18,886 posts)
31. ..."for some undefined personal gain".....
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 07:42 PM
Feb 2020

That's it in a nutshell. What do these people expect to get in return for their blind allegiance to Trump? Play at one of his over-priced crappy golf courses? Share a bucket of chicken with him? He certainly isn't going to give them anything of monetary value. It's all a one-way street with Trump. Suck up to him, and then be forgotten after you abased yourself, and lost the respect of everyone else.

Are you an Aussie resident, or an ex-pat living elsewhere? G'day, mate.

KPN

(15,587 posts)
12. No, if coronavirus brings down the tRump administration, it will be their own abject failure,
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:18 PM
Feb 2020

negligence and incompetence that did it.

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
13. What's this? Is Mulvaney auditioning a stand-up act to pursue when he leaves government?
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:19 PM
Feb 2020

My first reaction is that The Media is a tRUMP co-conspirator. Trump is their cash cow so they
wouldn't moove (my spelling is correct) against him. Second is that nobody tries harder than tRUMP to bring himself down and I'm sure he'll achieve success in that without help from anyone else. Beyond that all I have is eye-rolling to direct at Mulvaney...

duforsure

(11,882 posts)
15. When the truth exposes them as a failure and a fraud
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:22 PM
Feb 2020

They attack it claiming others are lying, and promote propaganda in its place, or like trump and the GOP did promoting putins propaganda for him they knew was false. Trump knows the truth makes him look bad, and why he's now muzzled Heath officials from publicly speaking on corona virus. Trump lied about the virus from the start .

Botany

(70,291 posts)
16. So the media made the Trump Administration get rid of the CDC's staff that was made to ...
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:30 PM
Feb 2020

... respond to such a crisis as the one we are seeing with the corona virus now 2 years ago?


It is also true that in 2018 the Trump administration fired key officials connected to the U.S. pandemic response, and they were not replaced.

Also in 2018, news reports circulated that detailed the Trump administration’s cut by 80% to the CDC’s program that worked in various countries to fight epidemics. “Countries where the CDC is planning to scale back include some of the world’s hot spots for emerging infectious disease, such as China, Pakistan, Haiti, Rwanda and Congo,” the Washington Post reported in 2018.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-cut-cdc-budget/

Chemisse

(30,793 posts)
17. A crisis does not bring down a president.
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:43 PM
Feb 2020

It can actually make that president look heroic and secure his or her place in history.

What Mulvaney knows is that with the spotlight on Trump's every move he is bound to look like the bumbling fool and selfish asshole that he is.

Now he has looked that way all along, of course, but his devotees have ignored it all. But even the stupidest Trumpite is going to realize pretty quickly that Grandma is dead because Trump's stripped CDC sent in untrained people who then carried the virus out into the public.

hamsterjill

(15,214 posts)
18. I despise these idiots!
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 12:50 PM
Feb 2020

This is NO time for partisan politics. People are dying. This is a grown up situation. We need adults. We need leadership. We need science.

Instead, we have this idiot and Pence.

SeattleVet

(5,468 posts)
19. How is Mulvaney still in an 'acting' position?
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 01:54 PM
Feb 2020

He started in January of last year, and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 has a 210-day limit on occupying an office in an 'acting' capacity (unless a nominated replacement is rejected by the Senate or is withdrawn, which starts the 210-day clock again, but only once).

I think I know the answer already - the laws of this country just don't apply to anything having to do with this (mis-)administration.

Yavin4

(35,356 posts)
20. Everything and everyone is a conspiracy against Trump
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 02:46 PM
Feb 2020

They've gone from supporting Trump to being Trump

EarthFirst

(2,877 posts)
21. We'll sure it is!
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 03:11 PM
Feb 2020

That’s why they intend to control the information from doctors; scientists & heath organizations...

abakan

(1,815 posts)
22. This is so stupid it hurts!
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 04:51 PM
Feb 2020

I knew the press and Democrats are powerful, but this is so convoluted I fail to wrap my brain around it.
I think they should let up on the koolaid.

matt819

(10,749 posts)
26. They're reporting accurately
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 06:43 PM
Feb 2020

You fucking moron.

And accurate reporting in the reality-based universe shows your boss to be a moron of the first rank. If he was doing anything right, they’d report that. But you know why they don’t report that? Because he doesn’t do anything right, and his Team of Sycophants doesn’t have the moral fiber of a dead flea so they say yessir, good idea sir.

CozyMystery

(652 posts)
27. I think that if ...
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 06:55 PM
Feb 2020

Covid-19 becomes a major public health problem across the U.S., the stock market continues to do badly, and the country is thrown into a recession, Trump will not be re-elected.

Why? Because too many people will die -- people voters know. Too many voter's retirement accounts will be decimated, and people will be out of work and, in many cases, out of health insurance. Their unemployment checks will not nearly cover their necessary bills. Forget credit cards ... rent, mortgages, utilities, food, gas, car insurance, health insurance. Those who cannot afford to save money won't have emergency savings. The lower income groups will be screwed.

I do not trust the government to contain Covid-19 so that it does not become widespread. I have listened to what has been said by the president and top government officials and I am appalled at the level of their incompetence and at their obvious contempt for the people of this country.

Beyond containing the virus, what steps are being taken to make sure we have enough prescription drugs for those of us in the US who take them. There are a lot of us, but not one peep about how our drugs are outsourced to Chinese companies.

There is not a word about whether there will be a plentiful supply of Covid-19 test kits for all medical institutions who need them. Who will pay for those?

There is not a word about what healthcare professionals should do to avoid getting the disease. From what I have read they need a full respiratory mask that meets specific criteria. Will there be enough of those to go around? Who will pay for them?

Now that Pence is in charge, I want to scream. This is a man who disdains science in favor of prayer and being what ... optimistic? ... no, a complete idiot.

My son said to mention that I am not rooting for the coronavirus. Well, of course I am not. We will do our best to defeat Trump without the help of a war between a virus and the people.

Shermann

(7,355 posts)
28. We traded it all away
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 06:57 PM
Feb 2020

It's OK to pull out of the Paris Agreement because STOCKS!
It's OK for our leaders to not have any shred of credibility left because JOBS!
It's OK to demonize the free press because ECONOMY!
It's OK to give tax breaks that blow a hole in the deficit because STOCKS!
It's OK to gut government programs like Medicare and the CDC because JOBS!
It's OK to cheat in an election because ECONOMY!

Well so much for the STOCKS. I hope the JOBS and ECONOMY hold up...

Aussie105

(5,211 posts)
29. China clamps down
Fri Feb 28, 2020, 07:05 PM
Feb 2020

on media reporting and probably under reports infections and deaths, because it looks bad for the government.
Anything below 100% control over anything and everything is unacceptable to the Chinese government.

That people may be getting sick and possibly dropping dead in the street in the future is of a lesser concern. Let the peasants die, but protect the government reputation.

The same now applies to the USA.

Mick's concern is not for keeping the virus out of America for the sake of the people, but that it might look bad for Trump.

The Chinese approach is a given, but in America it should cause a massive stink.
There is no room in the US for a government that is paranoid about maintaining its image, false as it is to start with.

If the virus gets a foothold in the US, expect the government talking heads to ramp up the distraction, the misdirection, the blame shifting, the 'it isn't happening, so relax' story telling.
Some Republican voters might even realize, before the end of year election, the level of cow fertilizer thrown their way over the last few years hasn't improved their lives any, and that voting for a competent government to clean up the mess is much more important than party loyalty.
In short, this pandemic may be the shock some need to be deprogrammed from all the mind control static they have been subjected to over the years.

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