monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

It's the Lash solution to everything...vote for Sanders. Often. Doesn't matter whether he's on the ballot or not. Write him in!

Quote:

Early last week, the Trump era—which defined itself by a lurid celebration of “alternative facts,” a contempt for science, and an assault on global institutions and the “administrative state”—came to an end. Regrettably, Donald Trump remains in office, but, at least for the moment, he appears to have ceded the argument: he cannot bend the harshest realities of the world to his fantasies. The aggressive and deadly coronavirus is unimpressed and unimpeded by the bluster of a con. Yet the prolonged process of Trump’s humbling, the time it took him to recognize the power of the global pandemic that has emptied our streets, has put untold numbers of Americans at risk.

The disease now known as covid-19 was first identified three months ago, in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Much like sars, which flared eighteen years ago, the likeliest breeding ground for the new coronavirus was a live-animal market. Like sars, H.I.V., and Ebola, covid-19, scientists believe, is a zoonotic disease, one that “jumps” from mammalian animal hosts to human beings. The coronavirus that causes covid-19 soon made its way to nearly every corner and crevice of the planet.

For many weeks, the President resisted understanding the magnitude of the problems and the responsibilities of his office. In late January, he declared, “We have it totally under control. . . . It’s going to be just fine.” A month later, he told attendees at a White House celebration of Black History Month, “One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.” Was he doing a good job? He gave himself “a ten.” Those who raised concerns about the Administration’s cuts in emergency preparedness or the outrageous failure to supply testing kits were promulgating “a hoax.”

This blithe unconcern for the looming crisis was hardly limited to Trump. His satraps in the “alternative fact” industry took their cues from him to rest easy in a warm bubble bath of denialism. Rush Limbaugh, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom at Trump’s latest State of the Union address, told his immense radio audience that the virus was “the common cold, folks.” And, by the way, “Keep in mind where the coronavirus came from. It came from a country that Bernie Sanders wants to turn the United States into a mirror image of: Communist China.” Mark Steyn, filling in for Limbaugh one day, said that a shelter-in-place order had been issued in the Bay Area because “it’s a big gay town, San Francisco, and they’re the ones with all the compromised immune systems.”...

The New York State Office of the Attorney General has told Newsmax TV host Wayne Allyn Root “to immediately cease and desist from making misleading claims” after the right-wing host touted alkaline silver as an important product for people who are concerned about coronavirus.

Root is the host of The Wayne Allyn Root Show on Newsmax TV, a cable news network that “reaches over 70 million cable/satellite homes and subscribers.” The network has positioned itself as an aggressively pro-Trump voice and recently began airing a program featuring former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and former Republican National Committee deputy communications director Lyndsay Keith. Its CEO is Christopher Ruddy, a Trump friend and adviser.

As Media Matters first reported, Root used his March 11 program to downplay concerns about the coronavirus. He then addressed people who were concerned about the virus by directing them to watch an ad touting a suspect silver product. Root stated: “‘My Doctor Suggests’ message is next. You fear coronavirus, here’s a very important message now.” Newsmax then aired an ad for MyDoctorSuggests.com featuring Gordon Pedersen, who claims to have an “all-natural solution” that “destroys” things like “viruses.” (The advertisement also touted a promo code specific to Root.)

Obama was down more against Clinton than Bernie is against Biden.

Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) office announced Sunday afternoon that he has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first senator and the third known member of Congress to test positive for the coronavirus.

In a tweet via Paul’s account, the Kentucky senator’s office said that after being tested out of “an abundance of caution” in light of his extensive travel and events, he is asymptomatic while being in quarantine.

Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
10m
One of the 8 senators who voted against the coronavirus relief bill, mind you.

Trump re-election slogan: “I don’t take any responsibility at all.”

Trump re-election slogan: “I don’t take any responsibility at all.”

Ashton Pittman
@ashtonpittman
· 2h
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves “has no intention" of closing the state's beaches "nor anywhere else" due to #COVID19 currently, Mississippi Sen. Joel Carter, whose district includes the coast, tweeted. Alabama's governor closed their beaches last week. | https://mississippifreepress.com/mississippi-mayors-covid-19.html

Travis Akers
@travisakers
· 2h
Bryant Culpepper tells citizens that using a blow dryer to blow hot air in your nose will kill the coronavirus because he “saw it on OANN... the new Fox News.”

Culpepper is the Commissioner of Okeechobee County in Florida.

OAN?????? are you kidding me??