President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[smokymountainrain]

Nope. Not for president at least.

it's a vote. you don't have to vote for either of those dumbasses.

[Goatnapper'96]

Nope. Not for president at least.

Only if you want your vote to matter. There is a lot that goes into evaluating whether or not your vote matters and what it can matter for. For example I am a right winged nut job who lives in rural Idaho and owns neither a firearm nor a chainsaw. I don't even hunt! My state is going to send its electoral votes for the Republican candidate regardless of whom I vote for. Hence, I am fully liberated to not vote for Trump in order to allow myself to virtue signal like a horny peacock, but what if I lived in Florida or Ohio....my Presidential vote could then impact who replaces RBG and the entire constitution hanging by a thread- that's a lot of pressure!

[Pelado]

For example I am a right winged nut job who lives in rural Idaho and owns neither a firearm nor a chainsaw. I don't even hunt! My state is going to send its electoral votes for the Republican candidate regardless of whom I vote for. Hence, I am fully liberated to not vote for Trump in order to allow myself to virtue signal like a horny peacock, but what if I lived in Florida or Ohio....my Presidential vote could then impact who replaces RBG and the entire constitution hanging by a thread- that's a lot of pressure!

fifm

[Commando]

you know, you have more options than just trump or biden.

I think if you haven't figured out which of the two is better for our country by now, you're good to just write in Mickey Mouse or whatever.

[Harry Tic]

Every now and then I'm gobsmacked by the extraordinary effort made by government bureaucrats—particularly White House staff—and elected officials to accommodate the bottomless emotional and psychological neediness of the president. And not just them: vast swaths of the public are invested in carefully nurturing his ego. There's a lot of truth to the "2020: Any Functioning Adult" bumper sticker. It's unbelievable the lengths we go to to assuage his ego. It's like we're all invested in a vast babysitting project. I'm rather tired of it, to be honest.

[Commando]

Every now and then I'm gobsmacked by the extraordinary effort made by government bureaucrats—particularly White House staff—and elected officials to accommodate the bottomless emotional and psychological neediness of the president. And not just them: vast swaths of the public are invested in carefully nurturing his ego. There's a lot of truth to the "2020: Any Functioning Adult" bumper sticker. It's unbelievable the lengths we go to to assuage his ego. It's like we're all invested in a vast babysitting project. I'm rather tired of it, to be honest.

Can you imagine what it's like being on his staff? Once he's gone, I bet Kellyanne Conway is going to have an amazing book to write.

[Bo Diddley]

Every now and then I'm gobsmacked by the extraordinary effort made by government bureaucrats—particularly White House staff—and elected officials to accommodate the bottomless emotional and psychological neediness of the president. And not just them: vast swaths of the public are invested in carefully nurturing his ego. There's a lot of truth to the "2020: Any Functioning Adult" bumper sticker. It's unbelievable the lengths we go to to assuage his ego. It's like we're all invested in a vast babysitting project. I'm rather tired of it, to be honest.

You see varying degrees of this in other countries wrt The Donald as well.

[originalsocal]

No, it is not a red herring. The primary negative economic effect of the virus is a function of extended shutdowns. Getting businesses back online is a huge factor in recovering from the shock of the pandemic. The faster and easier businesses can reopen, the faster our economy will recover. We're not going to 'stop' the spread of the virus, and everyone will be exposed eventually, so "aggressively fighting" it with more regulations designed to stop its spread is like trying to hold back the tide.

This is the argument that I don't understand in the least. Most public health professionals agree that the best way to overcome a pandemic is to test, contact trace, and isolate. I understand that business has suffered, but they have suffered more than necessary because of Trump's lack of leadership. He refused to ever listen to his public health professionals, instead undermined them and made their jobs impossible. The public health professionals were put into a spot where the only thing they could do is tell everyone to distance and wear a mask. If he had allowed professionals to to their jobs, stopped the finger pointing and irrational rantings about supposed "game changers", and been simply a cheerleader for the nation lives would have been saved, businesses would now be open and thriving, schools would have kids in them, and he would be cruising to a second term. Instead we have to continue to listen to uninformed drivel from his surrogates, weed through countless conspiracy theories and hope to God that this idiot is shown the door.

[Flystripper]

It finally happened. My dad called me yesterday to mostly ask my take on the BYU game. That part of the conversation was great, but it eventually morphed into Covid responses by universities, and then Covid responses by school districts, and then eventually how all of this is going to go away after November. To him, Covid while real,isn’t as bad as everyone says, and that the news is making it sound worse than it is because they want Trump gone. He thinks that come November we won’t be hearing how bad it is by the media anymore and all businesses will be open. It will still be here but it won’t lead the news and it will just run its natural course.

I love my dad. He has taught me so many great things about life and work ethic. He is a guy that in his retirement he wanted to start a small business. He settled on vending machines. I have no idea why’re chose this venture, but I think it was because he was annoyed that he couldn’t get a diet Mt. dew at the DMV or something. One machine grew into 5 and 5 grew into 500. His business has been crushed by covid so I can understand why he is upset about forced shutdowns and the like.

Over time I have seen him morph into a crazy right wing conspiracy theorist. He didn’t used to be this way. I think it is because he drives around most days servicing his accounts and listens to conservative talk radio. It has shaped his new world view.

It is sad. I just want my dad back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[falafel]

It is sad. I just want my dad back.

Sorry man.

But on the plus side, free soda.

[Pelado]

This is the argument that I don't understand in the least. Most public health professionals agree that the best way to overcome a pandemic is to test, contact trace, and isolate. I understand that business has suffered, but they have suffered more than necessary because of Trump's lack of leadership. He refused to ever listen to his public health professionals, instead undermined them and made their jobs impossible. The public health professionals were put into a spot where the only thing they could do is tell everyone to distance and wear a mask. If he had allowed professionals to to their jobs, stopped the finger pointing and irrational rantings about supposed "game changers", and been simply a cheerleader for the nation lives would have been saved, businesses would now be open and thriving, schools would have kids in them, and he would be cruising to a second term. Instead we have to continue to listen to uninformed drivel from his surrogates, weed through countless conspiracy theories and hope to God that this idiot is shown the door.

I mostly agree with this. Except there were reports that he went beyond refusing to listen to health professionals:

Members of Jared Kushner's coronavirus task force considered a national-scale testing plan early in the US's coronavirus outbreak.

However, according to a new Vanity Fair report, the plan never came to be, partly because the task force thought it would be better politically to hold off.

The logic, a source told Vanity Fair, was that the virus would hit Democratic-voting areas hardest and that the damage could be blamed on governors instead.

https://www.businessinsider.com/kush...-report-2020-7

Instead of implementing a plan to save American lives, they expected the devastation to be limited to areas where they could blame their political opponents. Not just incompetent.

[cowboy]

Lost in all this discussion is the willingness of americans to go on living and spending like they were before the pandemic, irrespective of any mandates or forced shutdowns. Governments are not forcing new behavior in all cases. There's a significant proportion of people who are curtailing normal behavior, modifying work habits, and not sending kids to school, no matter what government leaders are doing. They realize the pandemic poses very real threats to their way of life. They're not waiting for the government to tell them when it's safe to go back to business. So IMHO, the economy is not hobbled just because of the shutdowns. The continued presence of the virus (with really no change in the prevalence for months now) is a significant factor in the depressed economy. Do a better job dealing with the virus, and more people will be willing to participate in the economy like they did before.

This is where you and I see things differently. The only businesses I've seen substantially affected have been the businesses forced to close for a time or otherwise limit their sales due to imposed restrictions. Likewise, the only behavioral changes I've seen is more masks, and fewer handshakes. I don't see people changing their behavior because they fear the virus. I'm sure it varies by region, so our own different experiences influence our perspective.

I still believe we are too large and social as a country in general to have ever been able to keep this from being what it is. We didn't (and still don't) have enough rapid response tests to test, trace, and isolate to the extent that we could have stopped the virus' spread. We'll all eventually be exposed, and any measures beyond masks, social distancing, and good hygiene are counterproductive, imo.

[falafel]

This is where you and I see things differently. The only businesses I've seen substantially affected have been the businesses forced to close for a time or otherwise limit their sales due to imposed restrictions. Likewise, the only behavioral changes I've seen is more masks, and fewer handshakes. I don't see people changing their behavior because they fear the virus. I'm sure it varies by region, so our own different experiences influence our perspective.

I still believe we are too large and social as a country in general to have ever been able to keep this from being what it is. We didn't (and still don't) have enough rapid response tests to test, trace, and isolate to the extent that we could have stopped the virus' spread. We'll all eventually be exposed, and any measures beyond masks, social distancing, and good hygiene are counterproductive, imo.

From a city government point of view, the businesses being hit the hardest are (surprise!) the ones that are forced to stay closed or operate significantly restricted. I.e., bars, restaurants, strip clubs, entertainment venues, entertainers (singers, bands, etc.), sports. People WANT to go to these places, they just aren't allowed.

[Now who’s the dean?]

President Trump: Making America Great Again...

This is where you and I see things differently. The only businesses I've seen substantially affected have been the businesses forced to close for a time or otherwise limit their sales due to imposed restrictions. Likewise, the only behavioral changes I've seen is more masks, and fewer handshakes. I don't see people changing their behavior because they fear the virus. I'm sure it varies by region, so our own different experiences influence our perspective.

I still believe we are too large and social as a country in general to have ever been able to keep this from being what it is. We didn't (and still don't) have enough rapid response tests to test, trace, and isolate to the extent that we could have stopped the virus' spread. We'll all eventually be exposed, and any measures beyond masks, social distancing, and good hygiene are counterproductive, imo.

Do you acknowledge that you also see things differently from with vast majority of health professionals as well?

[frank ryan]

Can you imagine what it's like being on his staff? Once he's gone, I bet Kellyanne Conway is going to have an amazing book to write.

Cohen wrote and book, and talks about how Trump was a fan of golden showers from the ladies.