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Americans are sick of waking up every morning, turning on the TV news - or going to wherever else they generally get their news - and becoming stressed out and emotionally drained before their day has barely begun because of an incompetent President. Persistent stress and excessive anxiety are both psychologically and physically destructive. Both are killers.
Psychology Today says 25 percent of Americans "will experience debilitating anxiety throughout their lifetimes. But the magazine reports that according to a new poll from the American Psychiatric Association, 78 percent of Americans are either more anxious today than they were in the past, or equally anxious to previous times in their lives. And, 56 percent of those people polled say the political scene has caused them to be more anxious.
Other medical studies have shown that there's a significant relationship between heart disease and/or heart attacks, and people literally worrying themselves to death. Science Daily says studies have found that "men who suffer from anxiety are more than twice as likely to die from cancer than men who don't. However, anxiety is not associated with increased cancer deaths in women."
With all the problems facing the United States and the world these days - specifically, but not limited to the coronavirus - it would put Americans' minds somewhat at ease - perhaps not entirely, but somewhat at ease - if we at least had a person sitting behind The Oval Office desk who was not a dishonest, narcissistic and unstable loon. The current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue claims he has "a natural ability" to understand the pandemic that is ravaging throughout our planet, and that doctors and other medical and scientific experts say will get much worse before it gets better. And yes, as of Wednesday, March 11th, 2020, it is now an official pandemic as determined and declared by the World Health Organization. A pandemic is characterized when a new disease stretches around the world and most people are not immune to it.
After he toured the headquarters and laboratory facilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, March 6th, 2020, Donald Trump - in an enormously bizarre manner - compared coronavirus testing to his telephone call last year to the head of a foreign government, which was the crux of Trump's impeachment and the charge by the U.S. House of Representatives that he abused his power as President of the United States. "The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good," Trump told reporters. But the "liar-in-chief's" nose should make Pinocchio's schnoz look like a dainty and pert, adorably cute, turned-up button nose because Trump continued with his bogus balderdash by falsely creating a narrative that anyone who needs to get a test for coronavirus can get one. Of course, that is not true as there are simply not enough test kits available.
After he toured the headquarters and laboratory facilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, March 6th, 2020, Donald Trump - in an enormously bizarre manner - compared coronavirus testing to his telephone call last year to the head of a foreign government, which was the crux of Trump's impeachment and the charge by the U.S. House of Representatives that he abused his power as President of the United States. "The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good," Trump told reporters. But the "liar-in-chief's" nose should make Pinocchio's schnoz look like a dainty and pert, adorably cute, turned-up button nose because Trump continued with his bogus balderdash by falsely creating a narrative that anyone who needs to get a test for coronavirus can get one. Of course, that is not true as there are simply not enough test kits available.
Unless you've been living over the last year in an underground bunker with no communication whatsoever to the outside world, you'll surely remember that it was Trump's phone call to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky that Trump claimed was "perfect," and that the subsequent summary letter (it was only a summary, not a transcript) of that conversation with Zelensky was also "perfect," despite the fact that Trump threatened the Ukrainian leader with a bribe that if he didn't do a "favor" for Trump and launch an investigation to find dirt (which there was none to find) on both former Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, that he, Trump, would not provide Ukraine with 391 million dollars in military aid, which the U.S. Congress had approved so that the eastern European nation could defend itself against an invasion by Russia.
The time has come for Americans who helped to elect "Deceitful Donny" in 2016 to realize that the "Trump travesty" is not what they want for the United States. A recent Fox News poll says only 32 percent of voters will "definitely" cast ballots for Trump in the 2020 general election. Can everyone say President Joe Biden? Yes! "We want you, Joe!" November 3rd, 2020 and January 20th, 2021 can't come soon enough because Donald Trump is more neurotic today than ever before. So Donald, this is your White House eviction notice.
I've been writing for some time, in columns at The Controversy, and more recently in posts on Facebook and Twitter, that Trump is bound to suffer a mental breakdown before the general election. I'm not trying to be funny beause it's not funny. I'm completely serious. But Trump is mentally unbalanced and I have made that observation for years. It's now come to the point where he is so paranoid and so delusional that I'm waiting for Trump to start rolling three little steel balls in his hand, and for him to begin talking gibberish about missing strawberries in The White House kitchen. Let's recall that Captain Queeg lost his command at the end of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny.
Donald Trump is spiraling out of control. On Monday, March 9th, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted a historic 2,013.76 points, or a tumble of 7.8 percent, to close at 23,851.02. It was the worst one day percentage decline since October 2008, which was the start of "The Great Recession." Along with the stock market plunging, oil prices on March 9th sank 24 percent to its worst day since 1991, as Wall Street and the world are concerned over the uncertainty of the coronavirus outbreak and fears of a global recession. Oil prices did rebound on Tuesday, March 10th, jumping 8 percent from its loss the day before. The Dow also bounced back some on March 10th, but it didn't recover as much as it had lost on the 9th. The Dow closed up 1,163 points. But this is not "bull" as the economic hemorrhaging resumed on March 11th with the stock market taking another nose-dive, therefore erasing the upward turn from the day before. The Dow collapsed in to a bear market as the coronavirus pandemic continues to scare Wall Street and the world. A bear market is defined as 20 percent below its most recent high. The Dow toppled 1,465 points, closing at 23,553.22 or 20.3 percent below its most recent high of 29,551.42 on February 12th, 2020. That ends an 11-year bull market, which was the longest ever for U.S. stocks.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled their so-called coronavirus relief bill on March 11th. The economic stimulus package includes emergency unemployment insurance funds to replace lost wages, requiring businesses to allow workers to gradually earn up to 7 paid sick days, loan payment relief for up to 6 months on federally insured mortgages and student loans, increased SNAP benefits (food stamps), emergency mortgage and rental assistance, among other proposals in the legislation. Not included in the measure is a payroll tax cut, which is what Donald Trump wanted. But Democrats and Republicans alike opposed it. The House is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday, March 12th.
Meanwhile, the market's turbulence has been freaking out Trump, and when he actually develops in to a full-blown rage of hysteria, his presidency - which is doomed to die anyway - will be over.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled their so-called coronavirus relief bill on March 11th. The economic stimulus package includes emergency unemployment insurance funds to replace lost wages, requiring businesses to allow workers to gradually earn up to 7 paid sick days, loan payment relief for up to 6 months on federally insured mortgages and student loans, increased SNAP benefits (food stamps), emergency mortgage and rental assistance, among other proposals in the legislation. Not included in the measure is a payroll tax cut, which is what Donald Trump wanted. But Democrats and Republicans alike opposed it. The House is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday, March 12th.
Meanwhile, the market's turbulence has been freaking out Trump, and when he actually develops in to a full-blown rage of hysteria, his presidency - which is doomed to die anyway - will be over.
Trump's suspicions have unhinged his political psyche too. When former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota's U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the presidential race for the Democratic nomination after Super Tuesday, March 3rd, and then both endorsed Vice President Biden for President, Trump insisted they did so in exchange for positions in the Cabinet of a Biden administration. Of course Trump offered no evidence for his unfounded claim, but he did label it a "quid pro quo," a nod to the Abuse of Power charges Trump faced during his impeachment trial. Dare you forget, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 18th, 2019, but was acquitted by the Senate on February 5th, 2020 for the crimes that the vast majority of Americans know he indeed committed.
Donald Trump has no clue what it means to be President of the United States, and he is psychologically incapable of leading our nation through a consequential crisis of this magnitude - the coronavirus - or, for that matter, any desperate or dire predicament.
What is coronavirus and why is it sometimes referred to as COVID-19? Johns Hopkins Medicine says, "COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, is a respiratory illness." The CDC says the virus is "thought to spread mainly from person to person, between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet), and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs." But it was just days ago when Trump called coronavirus the Democrats' "new hoax." It's indisputable to me that Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States and to all of Earth. He is irresponsible and unfit to serve as my hometown dogcatcher, let alone President of our republic. Trump is a liar. We all know that. He lies about practically everything. And such lies are disgraceful. But his lies about coronavirus concern public health, and that's more than disgraceful, it's cause for removal from office.
Trump has refused to listen to medical experts nationwide and around the world. But for years, Trump has kept within his orbit the "alternative facts girl," Kellyanne Conway. The Counselor to the President appeared on the January 22nd, 2017 broadcast of NBC's Meet The Press with Chuck Todd when she referenced "alternative facts" concerning the size of the crowd at Trump's inauguration. As Chuck Todd told Conway, "Alternative facts are not facts, they're falsehoods." Fast forward more than three years to March 6th of this year and anyone with a sense of reality, or the smarts of a 10-year old child, knows there cannot be "alternative facts." The alternative to fact is fiction. With coronavirus, Trump wanted Americans to believe that the seriousness of coronavirus is exactly that - fiction. So Conway misled the country with a false claim that the coronavirus "is being contained." Conway then told reporters that the virus "has been" contained "because the President took action." But health officials accused Trump (and therefore anyone in his administration who echoes his sentiments) of being a brush fire of misinformation. It is Trump himself that is also a virus, and he is spreading his germs of personal beliefs to the American people as he has contradicted some of the best medical minds on our planet. But that's what Trump does. After all, he trusted Vladimir Putin - not our own U.S. intelligence community - about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Earlier in March of this year, the World Health Organization announced from Geneva, Switzerland that "globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died." But Trump called the WHO statistic "false." And why? Because he had a "hunch," as a result of "a lot of conversations" he had with others. "Personally," Trump said, "I would say the number is way under 1 percent." But the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress on Wednesday, March 4th that the mortality rate is uncertain because nobody is really sure how many people have been infected. Experts are certain, however, that the amount of people who will fall sick with coronavirus is going to rise dramatically and with many dying.
Dr. Brian Monahan is the attending physician of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Monahan expects between 70 million and 150 million Americans will eventually contract coronavirus and be diagnosed with the disease. NBC News, Axios and other national news organizations confirmed the report on March 11th. Dr. Monahan met in a March 10th closed-door session on Capitol Hill with administrative staff and personnel of the Senate to advise them on how to stay healthy and how to prevent coronavirus from spreading. No senators were present in the room during the briefing. Dr. Monahan says that 80 percent of those individuals who get coronavirus should recover and be fine.
Please note that this column is never intended to alarm readers. The information provided herein is not in any way hyperbole. Every American needs to take the coronavirus crisis seriously and to not - as one person laughingly told me this week - call coronavirus "a bunch of crap" that is being "blown out of proportion" and that people are in "a panic" because "people are stupid" and "this is ridiculous." I, of course, do not agree with this person.
I have shared my views with people I know personally by advising them that we cannot panic, and we cannot live in fear, but that each and every one of us is at risk, so we do need to take precautions, and all Americans need to be good little "Boy Scouts" and "Girl Scouts" and "Be Prepared."
Donald Trump, though, has repeatedly insisted - as he did last week at a news conference - that "within a couple of days" cases of coronavirus will "be down to close to zero. That's a pretty good job we've done." Trump told Fox News that people "get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work." But the CDC and other health officials have warned people that if they appear to be sick, they should stay home and self-quarantine themselves until they can seek care from trained medical professionals. The CDC says that if a person is ill, they "should restrict activities outside your home." The CDC also advises, "Do not go to work, school, or public areas." Meanwhile, many businesses are having employees work from home, and some public and private elementary and high schools across the country - along with some colleges and universities - have canceled classes, while numerous public events throughout the nation have been scrapped.
Trump also has assured the nation that a vaccine is coming, sooner versus later, and perhaps in "three to four months." But Dr. Fauci says Trump is wrong, and that a vaccine is more than a year away for use by the public. Some officials have predicted it'll be 18 months before people could actually be inoculated with a vaccine.
At a news conference on March 9th, Trump continued to point the finger of blame at others for the coronavirus outbreak and how devastating it has been to America's economy. The virus started in Wuhan, China and has taken a trip around the world. "This was something," Trump said, "that we were thrown in to and we're going to handle it, and we have been handling it very well." Trump went on to lie as he falsely bragged that "we have a great economy, we have a very strong economy, but this came, this blindsided the world." So as stock prices go in to a tailspin, Trump wants Americans to think that he's on top of the coronavirus crisis. But he does so by issuing more and more false information while continuing to accuse the media and the Democrats for trying to derail his 2020 campaign for a second term in The White House. Accordingly, Trump has literally - but of course wrongly - compared coronavirus to the seasonal flu. And his cunning cohort, the conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, has been on the air making an effort to persuade his "dittohead" listeners that "the coronavirus is the common cold" not a more serious and deadly illness. Limbaugh says to call it anything more than that is merely "another element to bring down Donald Trump."
Meanwhile, Trump loyalists continue to fall behind him like ducklings following their mama. Trump has brainwashed his base - as he has done with all his other lies over the last three years - but now it's a matter of life and death when the President of the United States cares more about keeping his job than keeping Americans safe. Many Trumpers feel that the coronavirus is a political scheme, a stunt, and that Democrats have simply "made it up" to hurt Trump's chances for re-election.
As of March 11th at 6 o'clock PM EDT, Worldometer reports the coronavirus has surged to more than 1,200 cases in the United States with 33 deaths. Worldwide more than 122,000 people in 121 countries and territories have been infected by the virus and about 4,500 patients have died. There are currently no treatments for coronavirus, and recovery depends on the strength of an individual person's own immune system by fighting off the virus after symptoms begin. The best way to avoid getting the coronavirus - according to the CDC and other health organizations - is to frequently wash hands with plenty of soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer such as Purell can also be used, but soap and water is reportedly the better choice for prevention. Harvard Medical School says that according to the World Health Organization the coronavirus "may survive on surfaces for just a few hours or several days." But the Journal of Hospital Infection has discovered that COVID-19 could survive up to 9 days outside the human body on certain surfaces if this particular coronavirus proves to be as resilient as earlier strains. Therefore, many doctors are advising it is best to err on the side of caution.
At a press conference on March 10th, Dr. Fauci didn't mince words about the dangers of coronavirus. He did not hold back with his thoughts. "It doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case, you have to start taking seriously what you can do now, that if and when the infections will come - and they will come - sorry to say, sad to say, they will."
As a result of the coronavirus, both remaining Democratic presidential candidates, Vice President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have canceled rallies and other political events for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the Democratic National Committee announced on March 10th that the Sunday, March 15th CNN/Univision debate from Phoenix, Arizona will not have an audience, nor will there be a spin room for the candidates to be interviewed by reporters of the media.
The vast majority of Americans are focused on getting rid of Donald Trump when they go to vote for a new President on November 3rd. Democratic primaries are proving that the candidate most people want is Joe Biden.
I wrote in my April 28th, 2019 and February 19th, 2020 columns, and have repeated my words below at other times at The Controversy, on Facebook, on Twitter, in emails and in text messages, but I feel such words are worth reiterating again with some additional points.
Joe Biden is a distinguished, Democratic Party icon and an American treasure. He is an honorable statesman who cares for others and who will do whatever is humanly possible to make better the lives of every American. Mr. Biden exudes leadership, courage, humility and integrity. He can communicate with honesty and dignity, not deception and profanity, and he has a positive attitude towards Americans - all Americans - not just white, wealthy men. Joe Biden is truthful. He can be trusted by the people of our country not to lie over and over again (which Donald Trump has now done more than 16,000 times since his inauguration, according to The Washington Post). The United States of America needs a President whose character we can admire, and who we can respect and who respects us. That's Joe Biden. Unacceptable behavior cannot be tolerated. Voters should never applaud anyone who has engaged in hate, as too many people in our country have done with Trump. Joe Biden gives Democrats - and other Americans - that warm, fuzzy feeling. He's our fleece bathrobe and comfy, fluffy slippers. We simply feel good about ourselves, our country's future, and the President we want for the future when we see, listen to, and think of Joe Biden. He gives us a safe, secure feeling. Joe Biden was a hands-on Vice President for eight years, not UNDER President Barack Obama, but AT THE SIDE of President Obama as his partner. Mr. Biden can walk in to The White House on January 20th, 2021 and he can BE President. There is nothing he has to do to learn the job. After nearly 50 years working in Washington, DC - in the U.S. Senate and as Vice President - Joe Biden can be the most effective and productive President for 2021 and beyond.
I'm so tired of cable news anchors and political analysts this last week or so claiming that nobody expected Vice President Biden to be ahead in the delegate count after the March 3rd Super Tuesday primaries. After all, I had predicted a "sweep" by Mr. Biden weeks ago, and did so the day before the South Carolina primary and the day before Super Tuesday. So I was not at all "shocked" (to use one network correspondent's word) when Joe Biden was winning one primary after another - 10 of the 14 - on March 3rd. Network and newspaper reporters reacted much of the same way the next week on March 10th when Vice President Biden triumphed in 4 of the 6 primaries (Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi and Missorui). As this column is published, one state - Washington - is examining "the photo finish," so to speak, as a winner in "The Evergreen State's" race is still not projected. All of the above being said, it seems to me that the pundits are trying to save face with their amazement because they all blew it. But they were apparently basing their prognostication on polling data. After 2016, how can anyone rely solely on the result of polls to determine how Americans are actually going to vote? Remember, virtually nobody expected Donald Trump to beat Hillary Clinton four years ago. Not even Trump thought he was ever going to win the presidency because he didn't even have a victory speech prepared for him on election night 2016. And Mrs. Clinton never assigned her writers to pen a concession speech, thus she didn't deliver one until the next day. So don't count Joe out! That's what I kept telling people - and still do - but they wanted to trust the polls. Maybe now they'll trust me.
It was "SuperJoe" (as I called him) on Super Tuesday. I wrote then that Democrats need to paint an "S" on Joe Biden's shirt. It was a "Perfect 10" as Vice President Biden won in Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. For Mr. Biden to win Senator Elizabeth Warren's state of Massachusetts (which is also the neighbor to Bernie Sanders' Vermont) was crushing to both senators. Warren suspended her presidential ambitions for this year on Thursday, March 5th after losing big on Super Tuesday. Late on Tuesday night, I posted on Facebook, "When she can't win her own state, say goodbye Liz! Time for Elizabeth Warren to drop out and endorse Biden." Many Sanders supporters expected Warren to immediately back Bernie. But as I wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, March 4th, "If Elizabeth Warren cares about the Democratic Party, and cares about Democrats winning on November 3rd against the Republican, she will endorse Joe Biden." So far, Senator Warren has not backed either Vice President Biden or Senator Sanders.
Donald Trump, on March 6th, characterized Elizabeth Warren as "a very mean person, and people don't like her." Trump went on to say, "They like a person like me, that's not mean." I'm not sure if I should laugh at Trump's ludicrous remark or if I should be crying that he's still President and still has the power he has, or the power he believes he has. No matter what any of us thinks of him, Trump is still a flesh and blood human being. But without a doubt, he's ready for a rubber room at the funny farm.
Donald Trump is expected to address the nation tonight, March 11th. But there is nothing Trump can say that can improve my thoughts about him as a man or as a President, especially pertaining to the outbreak of coronavirus. Trump has been derelict in the performance of his duties. He has negligently failed as the leader of the United States. My opening paragraph of this column focuses on his incompetence. If Trump thinks that he can look in to the camera, live from The Oval Office, and try to comfort Americans about this deadly disease after he has called coronavirus "a hoax," well, he's not going to be getting any applause from me. He'll go on TV tonight and read a speechwriter's words off a teleprompter and then tomorrow he'll bash Democrats and anyone else who doesn't rave about his speech and his efforts. No matter what Trump says tonight, that still does not excuse him for being careless, reckless and delinquent throughout this entire crisis. It would be like a fire department arriving to a burning building after the flames leveled the structure and the blaze spread throughout a residential neighborhood and incinerated an entire block of houses while killing dozens of people. Trump can change his tune in a nationwide speech - which he may or may not do tonight - but where was he weeks ago to give Americans leadership as a President should?
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credit:
1 - Getty Images (Former Vice President Joe Biden and Donald Trump)
Copyright 2020 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
Earlier in March of this year, the World Health Organization announced from Geneva, Switzerland that "globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died." But Trump called the WHO statistic "false." And why? Because he had a "hunch," as a result of "a lot of conversations" he had with others. "Personally," Trump said, "I would say the number is way under 1 percent." But the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress on Wednesday, March 4th that the mortality rate is uncertain because nobody is really sure how many people have been infected. Experts are certain, however, that the amount of people who will fall sick with coronavirus is going to rise dramatically and with many dying.
Dr. Brian Monahan is the attending physician of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Monahan expects between 70 million and 150 million Americans will eventually contract coronavirus and be diagnosed with the disease. NBC News, Axios and other national news organizations confirmed the report on March 11th. Dr. Monahan met in a March 10th closed-door session on Capitol Hill with administrative staff and personnel of the Senate to advise them on how to stay healthy and how to prevent coronavirus from spreading. No senators were present in the room during the briefing. Dr. Monahan says that 80 percent of those individuals who get coronavirus should recover and be fine.
Please note that this column is never intended to alarm readers. The information provided herein is not in any way hyperbole. Every American needs to take the coronavirus crisis seriously and to not - as one person laughingly told me this week - call coronavirus "a bunch of crap" that is being "blown out of proportion" and that people are in "a panic" because "people are stupid" and "this is ridiculous." I, of course, do not agree with this person.
I have shared my views with people I know personally by advising them that we cannot panic, and we cannot live in fear, but that each and every one of us is at risk, so we do need to take precautions, and all Americans need to be good little "Boy Scouts" and "Girl Scouts" and "Be Prepared."
Donald Trump, though, has repeatedly insisted - as he did last week at a news conference - that "within a couple of days" cases of coronavirus will "be down to close to zero. That's a pretty good job we've done." Trump told Fox News that people "get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work." But the CDC and other health officials have warned people that if they appear to be sick, they should stay home and self-quarantine themselves until they can seek care from trained medical professionals. The CDC says that if a person is ill, they "should restrict activities outside your home." The CDC also advises, "Do not go to work, school, or public areas." Meanwhile, many businesses are having employees work from home, and some public and private elementary and high schools across the country - along with some colleges and universities - have canceled classes, while numerous public events throughout the nation have been scrapped.
Trump also has assured the nation that a vaccine is coming, sooner versus later, and perhaps in "three to four months." But Dr. Fauci says Trump is wrong, and that a vaccine is more than a year away for use by the public. Some officials have predicted it'll be 18 months before people could actually be inoculated with a vaccine.
At a news conference on March 9th, Trump continued to point the finger of blame at others for the coronavirus outbreak and how devastating it has been to America's economy. The virus started in Wuhan, China and has taken a trip around the world. "This was something," Trump said, "that we were thrown in to and we're going to handle it, and we have been handling it very well." Trump went on to lie as he falsely bragged that "we have a great economy, we have a very strong economy, but this came, this blindsided the world." So as stock prices go in to a tailspin, Trump wants Americans to think that he's on top of the coronavirus crisis. But he does so by issuing more and more false information while continuing to accuse the media and the Democrats for trying to derail his 2020 campaign for a second term in The White House. Accordingly, Trump has literally - but of course wrongly - compared coronavirus to the seasonal flu. And his cunning cohort, the conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, has been on the air making an effort to persuade his "dittohead" listeners that "the coronavirus is the common cold" not a more serious and deadly illness. Limbaugh says to call it anything more than that is merely "another element to bring down Donald Trump."
Meanwhile, Trump loyalists continue to fall behind him like ducklings following their mama. Trump has brainwashed his base - as he has done with all his other lies over the last three years - but now it's a matter of life and death when the President of the United States cares more about keeping his job than keeping Americans safe. Many Trumpers feel that the coronavirus is a political scheme, a stunt, and that Democrats have simply "made it up" to hurt Trump's chances for re-election.
As of March 11th at 6 o'clock PM EDT, Worldometer reports the coronavirus has surged to more than 1,200 cases in the United States with 33 deaths. Worldwide more than 122,000 people in 121 countries and territories have been infected by the virus and about 4,500 patients have died. There are currently no treatments for coronavirus, and recovery depends on the strength of an individual person's own immune system by fighting off the virus after symptoms begin. The best way to avoid getting the coronavirus - according to the CDC and other health organizations - is to frequently wash hands with plenty of soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer such as Purell can also be used, but soap and water is reportedly the better choice for prevention. Harvard Medical School says that according to the World Health Organization the coronavirus "may survive on surfaces for just a few hours or several days." But the Journal of Hospital Infection has discovered that COVID-19 could survive up to 9 days outside the human body on certain surfaces if this particular coronavirus proves to be as resilient as earlier strains. Therefore, many doctors are advising it is best to err on the side of caution.
At a press conference on March 10th, Dr. Fauci didn't mince words about the dangers of coronavirus. He did not hold back with his thoughts. "It doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case, you have to start taking seriously what you can do now, that if and when the infections will come - and they will come - sorry to say, sad to say, they will."
As a result of the coronavirus, both remaining Democratic presidential candidates, Vice President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have canceled rallies and other political events for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the Democratic National Committee announced on March 10th that the Sunday, March 15th CNN/Univision debate from Phoenix, Arizona will not have an audience, nor will there be a spin room for the candidates to be interviewed by reporters of the media.
The vast majority of Americans are focused on getting rid of Donald Trump when they go to vote for a new President on November 3rd. Democratic primaries are proving that the candidate most people want is Joe Biden.
I wrote in my April 28th, 2019 and February 19th, 2020 columns, and have repeated my words below at other times at The Controversy, on Facebook, on Twitter, in emails and in text messages, but I feel such words are worth reiterating again with some additional points.
Joe Biden is a distinguished, Democratic Party icon and an American treasure. He is an honorable statesman who cares for others and who will do whatever is humanly possible to make better the lives of every American. Mr. Biden exudes leadership, courage, humility and integrity. He can communicate with honesty and dignity, not deception and profanity, and he has a positive attitude towards Americans - all Americans - not just white, wealthy men. Joe Biden is truthful. He can be trusted by the people of our country not to lie over and over again (which Donald Trump has now done more than 16,000 times since his inauguration, according to The Washington Post). The United States of America needs a President whose character we can admire, and who we can respect and who respects us. That's Joe Biden. Unacceptable behavior cannot be tolerated. Voters should never applaud anyone who has engaged in hate, as too many people in our country have done with Trump. Joe Biden gives Democrats - and other Americans - that warm, fuzzy feeling. He's our fleece bathrobe and comfy, fluffy slippers. We simply feel good about ourselves, our country's future, and the President we want for the future when we see, listen to, and think of Joe Biden. He gives us a safe, secure feeling. Joe Biden was a hands-on Vice President for eight years, not UNDER President Barack Obama, but AT THE SIDE of President Obama as his partner. Mr. Biden can walk in to The White House on January 20th, 2021 and he can BE President. There is nothing he has to do to learn the job. After nearly 50 years working in Washington, DC - in the U.S. Senate and as Vice President - Joe Biden can be the most effective and productive President for 2021 and beyond.
I'm so tired of cable news anchors and political analysts this last week or so claiming that nobody expected Vice President Biden to be ahead in the delegate count after the March 3rd Super Tuesday primaries. After all, I had predicted a "sweep" by Mr. Biden weeks ago, and did so the day before the South Carolina primary and the day before Super Tuesday. So I was not at all "shocked" (to use one network correspondent's word) when Joe Biden was winning one primary after another - 10 of the 14 - on March 3rd. Network and newspaper reporters reacted much of the same way the next week on March 10th when Vice President Biden triumphed in 4 of the 6 primaries (Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi and Missorui). As this column is published, one state - Washington - is examining "the photo finish," so to speak, as a winner in "The Evergreen State's" race is still not projected. All of the above being said, it seems to me that the pundits are trying to save face with their amazement because they all blew it. But they were apparently basing their prognostication on polling data. After 2016, how can anyone rely solely on the result of polls to determine how Americans are actually going to vote? Remember, virtually nobody expected Donald Trump to beat Hillary Clinton four years ago. Not even Trump thought he was ever going to win the presidency because he didn't even have a victory speech prepared for him on election night 2016. And Mrs. Clinton never assigned her writers to pen a concession speech, thus she didn't deliver one until the next day. So don't count Joe out! That's what I kept telling people - and still do - but they wanted to trust the polls. Maybe now they'll trust me.
It was "SuperJoe" (as I called him) on Super Tuesday. I wrote then that Democrats need to paint an "S" on Joe Biden's shirt. It was a "Perfect 10" as Vice President Biden won in Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. For Mr. Biden to win Senator Elizabeth Warren's state of Massachusetts (which is also the neighbor to Bernie Sanders' Vermont) was crushing to both senators. Warren suspended her presidential ambitions for this year on Thursday, March 5th after losing big on Super Tuesday. Late on Tuesday night, I posted on Facebook, "When she can't win her own state, say goodbye Liz! Time for Elizabeth Warren to drop out and endorse Biden." Many Sanders supporters expected Warren to immediately back Bernie. But as I wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, March 4th, "If Elizabeth Warren cares about the Democratic Party, and cares about Democrats winning on November 3rd against the Republican, she will endorse Joe Biden." So far, Senator Warren has not backed either Vice President Biden or Senator Sanders.
Donald Trump, on March 6th, characterized Elizabeth Warren as "a very mean person, and people don't like her." Trump went on to say, "They like a person like me, that's not mean." I'm not sure if I should laugh at Trump's ludicrous remark or if I should be crying that he's still President and still has the power he has, or the power he believes he has. No matter what any of us thinks of him, Trump is still a flesh and blood human being. But without a doubt, he's ready for a rubber room at the funny farm.
Donald Trump is expected to address the nation tonight, March 11th. But there is nothing Trump can say that can improve my thoughts about him as a man or as a President, especially pertaining to the outbreak of coronavirus. Trump has been derelict in the performance of his duties. He has negligently failed as the leader of the United States. My opening paragraph of this column focuses on his incompetence. If Trump thinks that he can look in to the camera, live from The Oval Office, and try to comfort Americans about this deadly disease after he has called coronavirus "a hoax," well, he's not going to be getting any applause from me. He'll go on TV tonight and read a speechwriter's words off a teleprompter and then tomorrow he'll bash Democrats and anyone else who doesn't rave about his speech and his efforts. No matter what Trump says tonight, that still does not excuse him for being careless, reckless and delinquent throughout this entire crisis. It would be like a fire department arriving to a burning building after the flames leveled the structure and the blaze spread throughout a residential neighborhood and incinerated an entire block of houses while killing dozens of people. Trump can change his tune in a nationwide speech - which he may or may not do tonight - but where was he weeks ago to give Americans leadership as a President should?
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credit:
1 - Getty Images (Former Vice President Joe Biden and Donald Trump)
Copyright 2020 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
Gary:Your views on Trump ring very true!
ReplyDeleteWe are 2 weeks behind in how we are handling this situation and I do not feel the American people have any reason to feel a sense of confidence by our leaders. As for Biden maybe or maybe not he would have handled this better.
Lets hope in November we find out!
Hello Preville. Thank you very much for your comments including your kind acknowledgment about my views on the "incompetent-in-chief." I truly believe that Joe Biden as our President would have handled the coronavirus pandemic in a much better manner x 1,000 than the negligence, recklessness and carelessness of Donald Trump. Let's hope everything is back to normal before Mr. Biden takes office so he doesn't have to handle such a crisis. Trump was asked by a reporter on Monday, March 16th, 2020 to rate his response to the coronavirus crisis on a scale of 1 to 10 and the narcissistic nincompoop and his ego replied, "I'd rate it a 10. I think we've done a great job." It's tragic that he feels that way, but it's just as tragic that so many Americans who still support Trump agree with him. GBD
DeleteOn March 12, 2020, Gary received a personal email from a reader who commented on the above column. It is published below, however, the reader's name will remain anonymous because the email to Gary was private.
ReplyDelete"Good one, Gary!"
Gary responded to the above reader on March 12, 2020, but once again the reader's name will remain anonymous here.
Delete"Thank you so very much. I do appreciate your kind words." GBD
On March 12, 2020, Gary received a personal email from a reader who commented on the above column. It is published below, however, the reader's name will remain anonymous because the email to Gary was private.
ReplyDelete"Gary,
Good column. I agree 1000%. Funny how after Trump's speech last night Pence and others had to correct certain errors! Last night in his speech he asked for an end to political partisanship. A few hours earlier, in response to a question from Jim Acosta from CNN, Trump had uttered, 'CNN. Fake news!' And moved to the next questioner. Supposedly some of Trump's advisers are now saying, 'He finally gets it. He realizes the seriousness of all this.' And Stephen Miller and Jarod K supposedly wrote the speech! What a team of incompetents.
You'd have to write three columns a day to keep up with all the news. Though basically optimistic, I'm pretty convinced we're going to have a worst-case scenario in the U.S.
I hope Warren endorses Biden soon.
If Biden has true political skills he'll win over Bernie and have Bernie convince all his passionate supporters that 'it's over.' The Bernie Bros crowd has to hear it from Bernie, not from anybody else.
Wish I could be more optimistic right now!!!!!!"
Gary responded to the above reader on March 12, 2020, but once again the reader's name will remain anonymous here.
Delete"Thank you so much for your comments on my column. I'm truly grateful for your kind words.
As I noted in my editorial, we cannot live in fear or panic. I refuse to live that way. That's just not me. That being said, the stores in my city look like a war zone (as I'm sure they do in other cities throughout America). Being prepared is something I know has to be done. Planning ahead is the best policy. It's better to have too much of something than to not have enough. I've lived my life as an optimist; that tomorrow will be better. I continue to believe in having a positive outlook. Being careful doesn't equate to being in a panic or afraid. I hope that people all throughout our nation are careful and stay healthy so that they do not get coronavirus/COVID-19. Of course, none of us know if we are yet infected with COVID-19. According to the CDC, the World Health Organization, and doctors, scientists and other medical experts worldwide, perhaps millions of people are or may end up being infected but do not or will not know it; some of whom may simply be carriers.
Regarding Bernie Sanders, as I've written before, if Sanders does to Joe Biden what Sanders did to Hillary Clinton four years ago then we're all screwed. I wrote and published a column on March 1, 2016 titled Say Goodbye Bernie. If Sanders had ended his campaign then, I believe that Hillary would be president today. Even with Russia's interference in our election, even with Jim Comey's bogus letter to Congress 11 days before the election, and even with Trump's conspiracy with Putin (which despite what The Mueller Report says I will always believe that Trump was in cahoots with the Russian thug), despite all these things, if Sanders had dropped out in March 2016 and not stayed in the race until just before the convention, while he badmouthed Hillary along the way, Democrats and Independents who were supporters of Sanders would have had many more months to get behind Mrs. Clinton. Instead, 77,744 people who voted for President Obama in 2012 decided to stay home on election day 2016 and not vote for Hillary because they wanted Bernie. They can't do that this time or we're up the creek without a paddle. Voter turnout is key.
Stay optimistic about Joe Biden, about coronavirus going away, and about Donald Trump going away at the very latest at 12 noon on January 20, 2021."
GBD