Donald Trump: "I don''t take responsibility at all."
Donald Trump has a system for dealing with mistakes, and it works.
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| Click: China virus |
Accuse someone else of doing what he did.
When people point out the dishonesty and hypocrisy, attack them, too.
Make the public debate the validity of the distraction, not the original mistake.
We have seen this coming.
This week Katherine Wall, a Texas candidate for Congress, put up an ad consistent with best practices for Republican Senate and House candidates in contested primary races: stand with Trump. Her ad got national attention for her approach. She attacks China.
She is out ahead of Trump. It is a strong message, worthy of Trump himself. I consider it a foretaste and preview.
Trump has tried blaming American governors, saying the responsibility for the virus is theirs, but they defend themselves; they have credibility, and the problem is global, not national. That approach backfires, validating the idea that he does less than he should. Trump questions whether protective gear has been mismanaged or stolen, but this criticizes people on the front lines, a bad optic. He and Mitch McConnell blamed Democrats and impeachment, but that accusation admits he was in fact distracted. Another backfire.
Trump needs a foreign enemy.
She is out ahead of Trump. It is a strong message, worthy of Trump himself. I consider it a foretaste and preview.
Trump has tried blaming American governors, saying the responsibility for the virus is theirs, but they defend themselves; they have credibility, and the problem is global, not national. That approach backfires, validating the idea that he does less than he should. Trump questions whether protective gear has been mismanaged or stolen, but this criticizes people on the front lines, a bad optic. He and Mitch McConnell blamed Democrats and impeachment, but that accusation admits he was in fact distracted. Another backfire.
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| Criminal Enterprise |
Watch the 30 second ad. The word "China" is spoken six times. The word "China" or "Chinese" is appears on the screen eleven times.
The ad does not position China as the first victim of the virus. China is a perpetrator, an attacker, and a multi-front enemy of the USA. "China," the ad concludes, "is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a sovereign nation."
Harsh words.
They are a convenient target and ideal for Trump. Trump's first instinct was to perceive the virus not as our problem to manage, but as their problem, and ours to to lock out, something analogous I,migration at the southern border. Trump has long treated the virus as a foreign incursion. Back on January 22 Trump said "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine."
On February 2: "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
Democrats did Trump a message favor. They criticized his partial China travel ban as an act of "racism," the charge that triggers and inflames Republicans.The damage is done. Trump gets to attack the racism charge. Asked on March 18 about his partial ban on travel from China, he said "It’s not racist at all. No. Not at all . It comes from China. That's why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate."
China is a perfect villain for Trump. They were guilty of doing exactly what Trump did, and for which he is now facing criticism. Trump underplayed and hid the virus at first. So did they. Although by January they had published the genome sequences for the world to see, the charge is out there in the public sphere that they weren't fully "transparent" at first.
Remember the Trump rule: where you are vulnerable, accuse. Have multiple areas of business illegality? Accuse "Crooked Hillary." Your own children get favorable treatment from foreign countries? Blame Hunter Biden.
Blamed for minimizing the virus? Accuse China.
China has critics on left and right. They are a rising global power and a lower cost manufacturer than the USA, so manufacturing jobs have moved there. Moreover, they dominate Tibet, they imprison Uighers, they claim the South China Sea as theirs, they erode the independence of Hong Kong, they make threats against Taiwan, they require joint ventures with American firms attempting to manufacture in China, and they steal American intellectual property. Distrust of China has appeal to both right and left. No Democrat will want to appear to be defending China against Trump's criticism.
Trump has his scapegoat.
China is a perfect villain for Trump. They were guilty of doing exactly what Trump did, and for which he is now facing criticism. Trump underplayed and hid the virus at first. So did they. Although by January they had published the genome sequences for the world to see, the charge is out there in the public sphere that they weren't fully "transparent" at first.
Remember the Trump rule: where you are vulnerable, accuse. Have multiple areas of business illegality? Accuse "Crooked Hillary." Your own children get favorable treatment from foreign countries? Blame Hunter Biden.
Blamed for minimizing the virus? Accuse China.
China has critics on left and right. They are a rising global power and a lower cost manufacturer than the USA, so manufacturing jobs have moved there. Moreover, they dominate Tibet, they imprison Uighers, they claim the South China Sea as theirs, they erode the independence of Hong Kong, they make threats against Taiwan, they require joint ventures with American firms attempting to manufacture in China, and they steal American intellectual property. Distrust of China has appeal to both right and left. No Democrat will want to appear to be defending China against Trump's criticism.
Trump has his scapegoat.
Trump needs a different narrative than "He screwed up, wasted time, and tried to sell a happy lie to protect his re-election prospects." That is the Democratic story, one Rachel Maddow tells nightly.
Trump covers up and distracts from that story with a simpler one. Blame China, big bad China.
Watch him do it.
Update: 12:45 pm, Pacific Time: Fox News is now on board. They are all-China. Their news hosts and guest are full of speculation. Is it the "wet market"? Is it the laboratory three blocks from that market? China is now referred to as "Communist China." Republican Senator Cotton demands an investigation. Ted Cruz demands China come clean.
Update: 12:45 pm, Pacific Time: Fox News is now on board. They are all-China. Their news hosts and guest are full of speculation. Is it the "wet market"? Is it the laboratory three blocks from that market? China is now referred to as "Communist China." Republican Senator Cotton demands an investigation. Ted Cruz demands China come clean.
7 comments:
Democrats have made themselves look too Woke to be useful by criticizing the China travel ban as racist and xenophobic.
The China travel ban did slow down the virus arrival and spread in the US compared to Italy and Spain. It gave the US health care system time to prepare, but the for-profit medical system in the US, totally dependent on supplies from China, did nothing. Capitalists certainly are not going to re-open hospitals closed all across rural America on the off chance they might save some American lives.
China is the villain of COVID19. They re-opened the wet markets after SARS. I would support any country sending drones to China and taking out those wet markets. They are a threat to the entire world.
Save the pangolins and save humanity.
The Governors and Mayors are Blame Free-- yeah!
Governors and mayors don't have any blame for the pandemic killing their citizens, really? What a nice pass for the governors and mayors in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Illinois, it's all Trump's fault! Of course, how could Governor Cuomo possibly anticipate and plan for a viral epidemic in his city? They'd have to be fortune tellers, unless you consider the H1B1 virus in 2008-09 that infected 60 million Americans, hospitalized a quarter of a million and killed over 12,000. The federal government alone is responsible for the hospitals in NYC, Chicago and Detroit, and I suppose for educating their underprivileged in social distancing, training their first responders, and making sure their hospital staffs have enough protective clothing? Probably Trump is responsible for the language barrier that prevents illegal immigrants from getting news alerts in their sanctuary cities. Why not? I guess it never occurred to governors to have their own disaster relief plans and supplies. They could not rent warehouses to store masks and ventilators I guess.
Indeed, to Governor Cuomo it all comes as a terrible surprise that the federal government did not have masks and ventilators just ready to ship on a phone call. He is not responsible for double checking, nor is the national governors association, on the status of pandemic preparedness. Nope, they are within their rights to assume and never check, never request audits, never coordinate or demand coordination, and not responsible to alert the public if the feds don't seem ready before the pandemic hits.
Trump is also responsible for the grocery disinfectant hording as well, right, not the governors or mayors? And for the massive theft in NYC by hospital staffs bringing masks to their friends and families, indeed, supplying a bunch of small neighborhood stores that suddenly are selling masks? Yes, the blue governors and mayors can just blame it all on Trump and our blue citizenry can mutter "yeah"!
The federal government is solely responsible because a pandemic is international? By that standard, Trump is also responsible for the drug epidemic ravaging New York, the mind numbing murder rate in Chicago, even the far more deadly epidemic of obesity and diabetes all of which are fueled by imported drugs, sugars the Bloomberg tried to tame, and gang trigger pullers. All the blame is on the federal government because it's "international"? The governors of coastal states are not responsible for hurricane preparedness, nor are the governors of the plains for tornadoes, or the Pacific Rim for earthquakes. If the governor of Michigan can declare an emergency and thus trigger federal funds, then I guess that means she can blame the Trump administration for the disaster itself.
I don't think so. And I don't think most voters see it that way either. Trump is responsible for shirking his own blame and that of the federal government, but governors are even more responsible for their failure to be ready for epidemics that thus far have not even put any reasonably unanticipated demands on big blue cities and hospitals.
I have not heard any mayors or governor take any blame yet. Have you?
And Rachel Maddow and MSNDC will fall for it, just as they did with Russia-gate...dog whistles for moderate and centrist Dems who don't follow alternative media. Perfect, false alternative, kabuki theater that corporate MSM tacitly agrees to perform in. Meanwhile, folks, keep your eyes on Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela for a lesson on how the shock doctrine (and a "trumped up" charge) works. China? Bullies don't seriously go after their equals.
Andy Seles
Xenophobe. Any Xen will do.
I understand how Trump can attempt to "blame" China, but you don't explain how it absolves him, or more precisely the administration, from the response.
They knew, probably before January (we'll find out), and did little; this is a fact.
"The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data." - The Guardian
That was 2019...they took power in 2017. In the interim, they disbanded the government pandemic response team, etc., etc...
The fact that Trump is blaming China seems to indicate some guilt on his part (I know...they don't do guilt). Governors and mayors are saddled with their own issues. The cities are more vulnerable, harder to control, some states are poor and Regressive and will suffer accordingly.
I don't remember any White House reporter or journalist raising the issue until after Seattle. I didn't see much coverage even then, so our media should take a look in the mirror also.
Trump can blame whomever he wishes, you and I can blame whomever we want, but this is irrelevant to the facts.
We are suffering from two basic failings of our society:
1. A for-profit healthcare system that runs with little or no reserve (as does the toilet paper industry, apparently)
2. A federal government that has abdicated its fundamental role to protect citizens in favor of the for-profit system.
These two facts were already a reality before COVID which only has exposed them in the starkest terms. The US put its economy in the hands of China long ago and now we hold them responsible for the result? The virus could have emerged anywhere, that it started in China is a coincidence.
A good thing that might come out of this pandemic would be if America wakes up to the threat posed by China.
IMHO (and it is "humble") one thing that is already coming out of this, is that the illusion of our entitlement and certainty of what we can know and control is being dismantled. One tiny microbe. We expect too much from our flawed human systems and structures - and those who lead them for our hope. They will always let us down when the stressors and stakes are sufficiently high. Black Swans almost always catch the the masses unaware and they break systems.
People laugh about how Y2K (remember that?) was an over-hyped non-event that simply fattened the wallets of the "Big 5". I was on the Y2K task force and led Risk Group for Microsoft's CIO at the time and we spent untold millions over the 2-3 preceding years finding and fixing systems that would have failed had we not fixed them. The threat was real, calculable and had a timeline - which is why we had the resources and mandate to do it.
Also - in 2006-7 we we rolled out a comprehensive preparation and response plan for the H1B1 virus that Thad mentioned. Fortunately we never had to exercise it. Looking back, I suspect it would have been woefully insufficient of we had faced a COVID-like pandemic. We didn't have the urgent "all-hands-on-deck" unlimited budget of Y2K.
As humans, we are loathe to spend time and money preparing for a threat that we cannot apprehend as real. Nobody ever got elected because they predicted hard times may come and we need to deprive ourselves for a time to prepare for the Apocalypse. And because we as humans tend to be basically selfish, we elect people who tell us our life will be better with them. So that's who we have as our "leaders". Better pray a lot - but for me the question is how do I act in ways to help my neighbors without putting them or me at risk?
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