Mar 20, 2020

Trump's Lies & Misinformation On Coronavirus May Indicate Panic At Losing Money At His Businesses (i.e. Fear of Monetary Loss Is Fueling Trump's Obsession With Lying To The People)


Here are a collection of news snippets that prove the point of my headline. 

Trump irresponsible, dangerous with lies and happy talk on federal coronavirus help - Rachel Maddow reviews the empty promises and overpromises Donald Trump has made about the federal response to the coronavirus crisis and points out that his repeated lies and misinformation are not harmless when the stakes are as high as they are with this epidemic, and the media should consider not airing his press conferences live.



Note: GOP obsession with doing everything Trump says and treat him - unconstitutionally - as a king (no emoluments clause enforcement etc.) is a primary source of this problem with Trump (accidentally?) trying to kill people for profit. Accident or not, its now a non-stop pattern endorsed and promoted by the GOP.

The Atlantic: Donald Trump’s Cult of Personality Did This The autocratic political culture that has propped up the Trump administration has left the nation entirely unprepared for an economic and public-health calamity. The president of the United States is a menace to public health.


I don’t mean that I disagree with him on policy, although I do. I don’t mean that I abhor the president’s expressed bigotry toward religious and ethnic minorities, although that is also true. I am not referring to Donald Trump’s efforts to corrupt the Justice Department, shield his criminal associates from legal peril, or funnel taxpayer money to his tacky hotels and golf courses, although all of these things are reason enough to oppose the president.
What I am referring to is the fact that, soon after the coronavirus outbreak emerged in China, the rest of the world began to regard it as a threat to public health, while Trump has seen it as a public-relations problem. Trump’s primary method of dealing with public-relations problems is to exert the full force of the authoritarian cult of personality that surrounds him to deny that a problem even exists. This approach has paid political dividends for the Republican Party, in the form of judicial appointments, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a rapid erosion of the rule of law. But applied to the deadly pandemic now sweeping the planet, all it has done is exacerbate the inevitable public-health crisis, while leaving both the federal government and the entire swath of the country that hangs on his every word unprepared for the catastrophe now unfolding in the United States. The cardinal belief of Trumpism is that loyalty to Trump is loyalty to the country, and that equation leaves no room for the public interest


Trump, the billionaire, is doing everything he can to keep his businesses going;

NY Times: The War on Coronavirus Comes to Trump Properties Health restrictions have led to cutbacks at hotels and golf courses. But the swimming pool remains open at a Florida resort, and a New York golf course offers “fresh air” without caddies.
Reeling from the global fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump’s family business has cut back hotel operations, closed some golf courses and restaurants and shed dozens of workers — all while pushing to keep other properties open and promote them on social media.
In recent days, the Trump Organization cut staff from hotels in New York and Washington, halted new reservations at a hotel overlooking the Las Vegas Strip and closed golf courses in Los Angeles and the Miami area, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It also closed the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which normally would be at a peak right now, with regular seasonal visits by Mr. Trump himself.
The cutbacks, expected to continue in coming days, were a last resort, a company executive said, as the priority had been keeping thousands of employees and contract workers on the job. The company has a portfolio of more than a dozen golf clubs and at least partially owns or operates five-star hotels in Chicago, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, Vancouver and Washington, as well as Ireland and Scotland.
Generally, the company has folded the tent only when local authorities mandated it, despite a growing national urgency to limit social gatherings and close nonessential businesses. In an interview, Eric Trump, the president’s son who manages the family business, said the company was trying to limit shutdowns.


Clearlry Trump is worried about people seeing coronavirus situation as a crisis to be worried about (as it affects his bottom line);

CNN: Trump viciously attacks NBC News reporter in extended rant after being asked for message to Americans worried about coronavirus


Toward the end of the exchange, Alexander cited the latest pandemic statistics showing thousands of Americans are now infected and millions are scared.
Alexander asked, "What do you say to Americans who are scared?"
Trump, shaking his head, ripped into Alexander in response.
"I say that you are a terrible reporter," Trump replied. "That's what I say."
The President proceeded to launch into an extended rant against Alexander, saying he asked a "nasty question" and assailing NBC and its parent company, Comcast.
"You're doing sensationalism," Trump charged. "And the same with NBC and Comcast. I don't call it Comcast. I call it 'Con-Cast.'"
"Let me just tell you something," Trump added. "That's really bad reporting. And you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism."
Moments later, Kaitlan Collins, a White House correspondent for CNN, asked Trump if it was appropriate to embark on tirades against members of the news media during a public health crisis.
"You see yourself as a wartime President right now, leading the country through a pandemic that we are experiencing," Collins noted. "Do you think going off on Peter, going off on a network is appropriate when the country is going through something like this?"
Trump defended his verbal assault on Alexander, saying he's "not a good journalist" and launching into another rant against him.
"Coming together is much harder when we have dishonest journalists," Trump said.

NY Times: Trump’s Embrace of Unproven Drugs to Treat Coronavirus Defies Science Doctors and patients also worry that the president’s rosy outlook for the treatments will exacerbate shortages of old malaria drugs relied on by patients with lupus and other debilitating conditions.

CNN: Trump denies a shortage of coronavirus tests. See Fauci's answer President Donald Trump told reporters there was not a wide-spread shortage of coronavirus tests in the US. Later in the White House briefing, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said in reality the US is behind on testing capabilities because many Americans don't have easy access to tests.



Coronavirus Analysis


President Trump


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