Thursday, April 14, 2022

March 24-28: How the U.S. Fell into a COVID Hole - and Who Dug It

 

3/24-28/20: Fast moving events have rattled the Republic. Yet, in some unfathomable way, Trump’s approval numbers have risen. Perhaps, the American people are excited to be getting those extra April bailout checks!



The closest Trump gets to 50% approval.
 

____________________ 

Downplayed, dithered, and delayed.

____________________

  

So, let’s take a moment to point out what should be glaringly obvious. We don’t have the money in the federal checking account to pay for the Trump Bailout. What we have, really, is a plan for taxpayers to bail themselves out. That is, we send money to ourselves and either we pay ourselves back later (higher taxes), or we inevitably accept program cuts (Social Security, defense, healthcare, etc.). Or we take the cowardly route and kick the can so far down the road we never see it again. Then future taxpayers face the task of paying for our mistakes.

 

This is not to say a bailout isn’t necessary; but let’s be clear. When Donald J. Trump found himself in a deep hole and finally threw down the shovel he had been using to help dig that very hole he and Mitch McConnell decided that a Republican brand of socialism wouldn’t be bad.

 

Having said that, let’s consider how we ended up in such a deep hole. First, we should admit that any president would have had to face the reality that we were going to end up in a hole of some indeterminate depth. 

 

The original sin, so to speak, was that Trump and his aides, supported by some of the loudest voices on the right, downplayed, dithered, and delayed in the face of a growing virus threat.

 

Instead of shoveling dirt into the hole, the president wasted weeks on what Time magazine has called “a self-congratulatory victory tour.” By the time he faced up to the danger it was too late, except to react to a disaster he helped ensure.



 

 

HOW THE HOLE KEPT GETTING DEEPER - AND WHO HAD SHOVELS 

December 8, 2019: Chinese doctors confirm the first case of a novel coronavirus. When they warn colleagues, they are reprimanded. 

Chinese authorities don’t like “Fake News,” either. 

Definition: “Fake News” is always capitalized. “Fake News” is news governments don’t like because it makes governments look bad.

 

January 21, 2020: Chinese officials concede that human-to-human transfer of the virus is occurring.

 

January 22: A reporter asks President Trump if he has any “worries about a pandemic.” Trump replies: “No, not at all. We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control.” 

The U.S. has one confirmed case.

 

January 24: President Trump is happy with the Chinese. “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” he says. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency….I want to thank President Xi!” 

It takes a rare form of ignorance to believe the Chinese regime practices anything like “transparency.” 

Trump has that form. 

 

January 30: As far as the threat of COVID-19 goes, Trump says he’s “working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.” 

The U.S. has 6 cases. 

 

February 7: Trump is still lavishing praise on Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader “is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus,” he tweets. Xi “will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone…”



Rare sighting - the president in a mask.

 

February 10: During one of his countless campaign rallies, Trump tells fans not to worry about the virus. “You know, in April, supposedly it dies, with the hotter weather.”

 

The U.S. has 13 cases. No reason to sweat!


 

February 20: The president isn’t worried. His administration asks for $2.5 billion to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. Democrats in the House of Representatives put together a plan to provide $8.5 billion.


 

February 22: The president says – with a confidence born of ironclad ignorance – that he doubts he’ll need $8.5 billion. “We were asking for two and a half billion, and we think that’s a lot, but the Democrats, and, I guess, Senator Schumer wants us to have much more than that.”

 

____________________ 

“The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” 

Rush Limbaugh

____________________

  

 

February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” Trump tweets. “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

 

(That prediction really sucks.)


 

Same day: Noted infectious disease expert, “Doctor” Rush Limbaugh offers his professional diagnosis. “I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus,” he says during his show. “You think I’m wrong about this? You think I’m missing it by saying that’s Yeah, I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.”

 

Limbaugh goes on to say that the survival rate for COVID-19 is “98 percent,” meaning only 1 patient in 50 dies, “a far lower death statistic than any form of influenza [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted], which is an annual thing that everybody gets shots for.”

 

It takes the bare minimum of effort to discover that Rush is stuffed with moose dung. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the death rate for seasonal flu in recent years has been:

 

                                    Cases                           Deaths                        Death/Cases

 

2018-2019:                35.5 million               34,200                        1 in 1,038

2017-2018:                45 million                   61,000                        1 in 738

2016-2017:                29 million                   38,000                        1 in 763

 

(The numbers for the Obama years are similar, if you want to take the time to figure out the math.)


 

February 25: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow uses his own shovel to dig a deeper hole. “We have contained this,” he says. “I won’t say air-tight, but it’s pretty close to air-tight.”

 

Wrong.


 

February 26: HHS Secretary Alex Azar announces that the U.S. has fifteen confirmed cases. Trump assures everyone that “the 15, within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero.”

 

A reporter asks if he’s worried the disease is spreading?

 

Trump offers up a kind of nonsense answer: “No. ... No, because we’re ready for it. It is what it is. We’re ready for it. We’re really prepared. ... We hope it doesn’t spread. There’s a chance that it won’t spread too, and there’s a chance that it will, and then it’s a question of at what level.”

 

By lunchtime, the CDC can confirm 59 cases in the United States. The outbreak in Italy is also beginning. Confirmed cases there rise from 124 to 374 the same day.

 

President Trump keeps digging , offering up ridiculous predictions, and his advisors don’t dare contradict him. As Time puts it later, the White House has become “an echo chamber for yes-men.”


 

Same day: The echo chamber expands to include leading right-wing news organizations. The New York Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch) exclaims“The sad truth is that global health bureaucrats use these outbreaks to push for greater funding, with utter disregard for the truth.”

 

Fuck those global health bureaucrats! Don’t listen to them!!! Our ignorant president keeps on digging.

 

 

“It’s like a miracle.”

 

February 27: Trump once again downplays the threat from COVID-19. “It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for,” he says. “And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”

 

“It’s going to disappear,” Trump assures everyone. “One day it’s like a miracle it will disappear.”


 

Same day: That evening, “Doctor” Sean Hannity grabs a spade and helps make the hole a little wider. “Tonight, I can report the sky is absolutely falling. We’re all doomed. The end is near. The apocalypse is imminent, and you’re all going to die. And…it’s all President Trump’s fault,” he says with a smirk. “Or at least that’s what the media mob and the Democratic extreme radical socialist party would like you to think.”

 

Hannity’s not a bit worried.


 

Same day: “Doctor” Laura Ingraham follows on Fox News that evening, and treats viewers to a second blast of bombast. She’s even madder than Hannity.

 

She starts shoveling furiously:

 

If you’re worried about the spread of the coronavirus, well, you’re obviously not alone. It’s unsettling to see doctors and what looked like, you know, hazmat suits in China. People quarantined hanging out of hotel windows in Italy. And, of course, your fellow airline passengers wearing face masks. Yet more unsettling is something happening right here in the United States. And it’s not medical. It’s political.

 

Democrats and their media cronies have decided to weaponize fear and also weaponized suffering to improve their chances against Trump in November.

 


“The facts don’t matter to the Trump haters,” Ingraham yelps, because “many of them are frankly so sick with their anti-Trump fever that they actually consider this virus a political godsend.”


 

February 28: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney makes it clear. He thinks the media is causing a stock market panic and it’s all part of a plot to bring Trump down:

 

At any particular time, 20 million people in this country are going to have the flu. The flu kills people, it does. This is not Ebola, OK? And I’ll tell you what that means in a sense. It’s not SARS. It’s not MERS. Why do we say that? When you look at the severity of diseases, one of the ways you can look at it is looking at the percentage of people who get it who die. I know that’s sort of hard-hearted, but that’s sort of how we look at it.

 


COVID. Kind of like the flu….


 

Same day: The president is asked about Mulvaney’s comments later, about the coronavirus being the media’s and the Democrats’ “hoax of the day.”

 

Trump sticks with that narrative, and keeps a firm grip on his shovel. CNN, he sneers, is a “very disreputable network.”


I think they are doing everything they can to instill fear in people, and I think it’s ridiculous. They are very disreputable. Some of the Democrats are doing it the way it should be, but some are trying to gain political favor by saying a lot of untruths. The fact is, I made one decision that was a very important decision, and that was to close our country to a certain area of the world that was relatively heavily affected, and because of that, we are talking about 15 who seem to be all getting better. One is questionable.

 


Why should we worry????

 


Same day: “Doctor” Donald Trump Jr. leaps into the fray. He’s outraged to know that his father’s foes are politicizing the story of COVID-19. He and his dad would never stoop so low! “The playbook is old at this point,” Dr. Jr. fumes, “but for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here, and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”

 

The Democrats, he adds, are praying  “for a disaster to happen in the economy.” They’re “absolutely insane.”

 

The U.S. has 65 confirmed cases.

 

 

“This is their new hoax.”

 

February 29: At another one of his rallies, Trump fumes, “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs … This is their new hoax.”

 

At this point, the entire month of February has been wasted because Team Trump doesn’t take the threat seriously. Instead, they downplay the threat at every turn, ensuring that those foolish enough to listen and believe what they say won’t take steps that might slow the spread. The nation would have been better served, had the president done nothing more than stand up in public and read soup can labels.

 

The United States ends the month with only 70 confirmed cases. The CDC has tested only 500 people.

 

 

March 2: Trump tells another rally crowd: “They’re going to have vaccines, I think, relatively soon.” He’s not worried. His fans in attendance aren’t worried. He’s still digging the hole.

 

The U.S. has 104 cases.


 

March 3: Trump talks about all the reasons why he thinks the virus won’t spread. “Not only the vaccines, but the therapies. Therapies is sort of another word for cure.”

 

That doesn’t even make sense.


 

March 6: The president stops by the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control. He’s on his way to Mar-a-Lago, where he can hobnob with his superrich pals and squeeze in more golf. An impromptu press conference turns out to be a cornucopia of stupidity and lies.

 

“Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test,” he tells reporters. “They’re there. They have the tests and the tests are beautiful.”

 

Naturally, he takes the chance to brag:

 

You know, my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for, I think, like a record number of years. He was a great super genius. Dr. John Trump. I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, “How do you know so much about this?” Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.

 


And don’t you hate it when Democrats politicize this mess! Trump isn’t pleased with criticism coming from Governor Jay Inslee of Washington. “I told Mike [Vice President Pence] not to be complimentary of that governor because that governor is a snake.” 

 

Classic Trump.

 

The U.S. has 311 confirmed cases.

 

 

“At worst, worst case scenario it could be the flu.”

 

Same day: On his evening show, Sean Hannity decides to downplay the threat of the virus again, and bash President Obama in passing. He mentions the H1N1 virus, which in 2009, “killed 13, 14, whatever thousand people.” Obama “never implemented the travel ban. They never quarantined anybody.”

 

“Am I correct?” Hannity asks his guest.

 

That guest is Dr. Marc Siegel, a regular Fox News medical contributor. So you know he’s going to provide an answer Hannity likes. 

 

“Absolutely,” he replies. “And over 300,000 deaths in the United States alone when all the figures were counted.”

 

I don’t know what “figures” he means. According to the CDC 60,800,000 Americans were infected by the H1N1 flu and 12,469 died.

 

(That would be a death rate of 1 in 4,876 cases, meaning H1N1 turned out to be a mild form of influenza.)

 

“And let me tell you something,” Dr. Siegel continues, “this virus should be compared to the flu. Because at worst, at worst, worst case scenario it could be the flu.”

 

Only it’s not a flu virus, at all.

 

Hannity’s last question is what they call in baseball, a “grooved pitch,” meant to be hit. If you’re a connoisseur of Fox News, you know how Dr. Siegel will answer even before his lips start moving.

 

“Last question,” Hannity says. “Is there anything the president could have done sooner, faster, in your view, medically?” 

 

Dr. Siegel hits that fat pitch out of the park:

 

Absolutely not. He’s been having the leaders working on it. By the way, now that the cases are starting to come, the test kits are coming, so we’re getting them in time. I think the president has been projecting calm. I’ve written a book on fear. He’s been very cool….He’s the anti-fearmonger-in-chief, Sean

 


March 7: The president is plunked down at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. Saturday night is devoted to a birthday bash for Don Jr.’s girlfriend. Standing next to President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Trump is asked by a reporter if he’s concerned that the virus is spreading closer to Washington D.C.

 

“No, I’m not concerned at all….No, we’ve done a great job.”

 

(Several guests at that party later test positive.)

 


March 8On the Sunday edition of Fox & Friends, Dr. Siegel is guest again. “I feel like the more I learn about this [virus], the less there is to worry about,” Pete Hegseth, one of the hosts says.

 

“I was about to say the same thing,” Siegel replies. Hegseth and Siegel are now plying their own Fox News shovels.

 

The U.S. has 547 confirmed cases.

 


March 9: The president is focused on twin threats to the nation. That means it’s time to tweet:

 

The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “The risk is low to the average American.”

 

It’s the Trump version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats:” The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And the media. And Democrats!

 

 

“Coronavirus impeachment scam.”

 

Same day: During her afternoon show on the Fox Business channel, “Doctor” Trish Regan claims that Democrats are spreading a false narrative. The whole COVID-19 story,

 

is impeachment all over again. And like with the Mueller investigation, like with Ukraine-gate, they don’t care who they hurt. Whether it be their need to create mass hysteria to encourage a market sell-off unlike anything we’ve seen recently, or whether it be to create mass hysteria to stop our economy dead in its tracks, don’t kid yourself. They told us how much they crave a recession as a way to get rid of Donald Trump.

 

graphic appearing beside her on the screen reads: “Coronavirus impeachment scam,” lest viewers miss the point.

 

She also claims the left is resorting to “melodrama”  to scare people. She says SARS and Ebola were “far more deadly,” but the media didn’t stir up panic then. The problem with her analogy is that while those diseases did have a higher mortality rate, only 8,098 people (worldwide) contracted SARS.

 


Same day: Doctor Hannity is fuming that evening. This coronavirus threat? Bah! Democrats are always “pedaling conspiracy theories and hoaxes.” He promises he’s going to “lay out some key facts, because truth matters, context matters, especially when you’re talking about a disease that puts fear in the hearts of people.”

 

He adds: “We want the truth. We’re not the media mob.” The graphic for his broadcast reads: “Coronavirus Hysteria.”

 

Those who are accusing the president of downplaying the crisis are sick, they have “Trump rage psychosis.”

 

Besides, he says, there have been only 31 deaths from COVID-19 and “the average age of mortality in this country is 80.”

 

Also, 26 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend. “I doubt you heard about it, Hannity howls. “You notice there is no widespread hysteria about violence in Chicago, and this has now gone on for years and years and years, and, by the way, in Democratic-run cities we see a lot of that.”

 

Yes, Democratic-run cities! Democrats are horrible human beings. And don’t you hate it when Democrats politicize these stories!!!

 

We should probably point out the obvious to Trump fans, because listening to Hannity may well make a listener stupider. The reason there would be no “widespread hysteria” involving Chicago shootings would be because bullets wouldn’t hit anyone in, say, Kalamazoo or Oshkosh or Eureka, Nevada.

 

 

“And it will go away.”

 

March 10: Trump is still digging the hole deeper. He’s not worried. The U.S. has only “about 600 cases, it’s about 26 deaths, within our country. And had we not acted quickly, that number would have been substantially more …. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away.”

 

Asked during a press conference how he thought he and his administration were doing in addressing this crisis, Trump went high for once instead of low. He gave himself a “10,” on a scale of 1-10, 10 being highest.

 

Of course, he did.

 


March 11Doctor Limbaugh is at it again, befuddling listeners with blather. “This coronavirus, they’re just – all of this panic is just not warranted.” Once again, he says, “this virus is the common cold.”

 

At one point, he seems mystified by the term “lethal.” “Ten times more lethal?” he asks rhetorically. “Lethal than what? What does lethal mean? Does lethal kill you? Does lethal infect you? Does lethal give you a temperature of 102 versus 100? What does it do to you? It’s a meaningless comparative.”

 

Okay, this is an easy question to answer: “Lethal” means it can kill you. Ten times more lethal means you should be ten times more concerned. The Bubonic Plague is more lethal than acne.

 

By day’s end, the U.S. has 1,263 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

 


Same day: That evening, President Trump speaks to the nation, in an attempt to calm our worries. He butchers the presentation. First, he says he’s banning all travelers from 26 European nations. He’s still going to let people from Great Britain and Ireland come, because he says those countries are doing a great job controlling the outbreak. (That happens to be wrong.) Second, he says health insurers will cover the costs of treatment for anyone who gets sick. (They won’t.) Third, he says the travel ban will affect trade and “cargo.” (Strike three. Also wrong.)

 

Americans traveling in Europe, who need to get home, panic. Some pay as much as $20,000 to get on the “last flights” allowed before the ban takes effect. Trump aides have to clean up the mess. American citizens, permanent residents, and a few others, they tell the press, will be allowed to fly home.

 

Trump himself has to tweet: “cargo” will not be banned.

 

(Three days later Great Britain and Ireland have to be added to the travel ban.)


March 12: “The United States,” Trump brags, “because of what I did and what the administration did with China, we have 32 deaths at this point … when you look at the kind of numbers that you’re seeing coming out of other countries, it’s pretty amazing when you think of it.” 

Trump takes a break from digging the hole deeper, leans on his shovel, and congratulates himself. 

 

“I don’t take any responsibility, at all.” 

March 13: A reporter asks President Trump if he takes any responsibility for delays and flaws in coronavirus testing. 

“I don’t take any responsibility at all,” he says.

 

Same day: Even Fox News pundits are slowly waking up. Dr. Sean Hannity’s diagnosis suddenly changes. “This virus is serious,” he says. “We’ve been telling you that from day one.” 

He hasn’t.

 

March 14: On Fox & Friends, Ainsley Earnhardt is as beautiful and as clueless as ever. She isn’t worried about a little flu bug! She suggests that viewers take advantage of the crisis to take a trip. “It’s actually the safest time to fly,” she exclaims. “Everyone I know that’s flying right now, terminals are pretty much dead – ghost towns.” 

Poor choice of words. 

The U.S. has 2,726 confirmed cases.

 

March 15Trump enabler Rep. Devin Nunes tells host Maria Bartiromo, on Fox Business News, that this is, in fact, a perfect time to get out and mingle with humanity. 

 

There’s a lot of concerns with the economy here [in California] because people are scared to go out. But I will just say, one of the things you can do if you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant. Likely you can get in easily. Let’s not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small business going.

 

(Later, Nunes tries to say he meant use the drive-through window.)

  

March 16: Governors in 34 states have ordered schools closed. According to Johns Hopkins University the U.S. has 4,287 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 

The president finally admits the virus is “very bad.” He goes on to say, “Each and every one of us has a critical role to play in stopping the spread and transmission of the virus. With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly.” 

Americans, he says, should stay away from bars, restaurants and not gather in groups larger than ten. 

It’s a colossal failure the President of the United States should have been sending this kind of message a month earlier.

 

March 17: When reporters ask why he has adopted a more sober tone, the president denies his tone has changed. “This is a pandemic,” he says. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” 

It’s like he has had a shovel in his hands for weeks, but now he claims he’s been holding a stethoscope.

 

Same day: At Fox News, the shills are throwing down their shovels too. The three stooges who host Fox & Friends appear on split screens to emphasize the need for social distancing.  “We have a responsibility to slow down this virus and to think of other people during this time,” Ainsley Earhardt tells viewers, even though she said it was a great time to fly, just three days earlier.

 

March 18The United States has 7,769 confirmed cases. Testing is still ramping up and that number is sure to go higher. 

 

“Perhaps that’s been the story of life.” 

March 19: Trump decides to start calling himself a “wartime president,” and the novel coronavirus the “Chinese virus.” He doesn’t want to get blamed for the spread of the disease, so it’s time to blame the Chinese. “It could have been stopped right where it came from, China,” he complains. 

A reporter asks the most powerful man in the world what he thinks about reports that rich and well-connected individuals, including professional athletes, are able to get tested, when sick patients who might be infected cannot. 

“You’d have to ask them [those getting tested] that question,” Trump replies. “Perhaps that’s been the story of life.” 

Yeah. Trump doesn’t care. 

When asked why governors in several states are complaining that they aren’t getting the medical supplies they need, the wartime president says, “The Federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.”

 

Note: Four days later, after The New York Times highlights a “spasm of violence” directed at Asian Americans, someone gets it through Trump’s thick cranium. Words matter and he’s been stirring up the hate. 

He tries to rectify his mistake with a tweet: 

It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER!

 

March 20: The U.S. has 17,935 confirmed cases. Restaurants and bars, gyms and movie theaters across the country are closed down. College and professional sports have canceled all games. 

Trump adviser Larry Kudlow, who once said the administration had the disease under “pretty close to air-tight” control, now says a rescue package of $2 trillion may be necessary to save the U.S. from recession. 

When a reporter asks Trump if he has been sending mixed messages about the nature of the threat, the president melts down: 

 

March 22: The U.S. has 26,997 confirmed cases. Governors in several states have ordered citizens to “shelter in place.” Across the nation, 95 percent of all students, grades K-12, have been told to stay home.

 

March 23: U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warns, “This week it’s going to get bad.” To start the morning, the U.S. has 33,276 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. That includes Sen. Rand Paul, who knew he might be infected, but decided to use the Senate gym the day before. 

Four other senators are self-isolating. During a press conference, the president first hears the news. Told that one of the four is Sen. Mitt Romney, we get Trump at his empathy-challenged worst.


 

By the time the day ends the U.S. caseload rises to 41,511 on one website and 41,569 on a second, with 504 dead. 

The following states are essentially shut down for business: 

California

Connecticut

Delaware

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Massachusetts

Michigan

New Jersey

New York

Ohio

Oregon

West Virginia 

 

March 24: President Trump says he hopes to have the country back up and running by Easter, April 12.


March 25: The spread of the coronavirus is not abating. Johns Hopkins University has the U.S. passing 66,000 cases. Another tally has fewer cases, but 944 deaths and 1,452 patients in serious or critical condition.

 

March 26: The terrible news becomes official. In one week, 3.28 million Americans have filed for unemployment. 

According to Johns Hopkins University, the worldwide death toll  stands at 23,067, or 4.5% of known cases basically 1 death for every 22 patients. 

That level of lethality would be crippling to human society; but some countries are doing far better than others. In Italy, 1 in 10 patients has died. In Germany, the toll is 1 in every 200 cases. 

The U.S. is likely to overtake both Italy and China, possibly tomorrow, for most cases of any country. A second website, which updates at different times of day than Johns Hopkins, but usually differs only slightly in the end, already has the United States at 80,071 cases. The death toll in the U.S. stands at 1,151, with another 2,112 patients in serious or critical condition. 

Just like no one on Team Trump ever predicted.

 

March 27: Congress has passed and the president has signed $2.2 trillion bailout package. 

That’s about $2.18 trillion more than Trump said he thought he’d need to handle the virus on February 22. 

And it’s official. With President Trump having spent weeks denying that there was any real threat to the U.S., either health-wise or economic, we blow past China and take the lead in confirmed cases of the virus.

 

March 28: As of Saturday morning, Johns Hopkins University reports that the United States has 104,860 confirmed cases. 


 

The following states, covering more than half of the U.S. population, have now issued “stay-at-home” orders: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

Washington D.C. has issued the same order. 

At least ten other states have issued less-stringent warnings and orders, including, for example, Florida which is banning tourists from several states farther north and along the coast. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has balked so far at ordering any closing orders. Several cities, including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, have had to step up and issue “stay-at-home” orders of their own. 

Schools in 48 states are now closed completely, while select districts in Iowa and Maine remain open.



Alaska schools are closed into May; Hawaii schools are close into April; and tourists are being told to stay away.

 

A total of 55.1 million students have been affected, out of a total school population in this country of 56.6 million.

 

Since your child is probably stuck at home, and needs some math work, ask them to figure out what percentage of all students in the U.S. are out of school.

 

Divide 55.1 million by 56.6 million for the correct answer.

 

It’s 97.3%.



Rush got rich; people who listened to his "flu" schtick got sick.


 

Same day: Rush Limbaugh says he sees see a silver lining despite the spreading plague. He assures listeners that the United States of America is lucky to have Trump explaining COVID-19 to us all.

 

This makes sense only to the “Dittoheads.”

 

Says Rush:

 

I think it is imperative that we have somebody like Donald Trump, who is outside the establishment expert class, who has a history of solving problems, to actually lead the country through this.

 

You know, we’ve talked about the deep state all these years since Trump was elected, the Trump-Russia collusion, the FBI — well the deep state extends very deeply. And the American people did not elect a bunch of health experts that we don’t know. We didn’t elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don’t know. And how do we know they’re even health experts? Well, they wear white lab coats, and they have been at the job for a while, and they are at the CDC, and they are at the NIH. Yeah, they have been there, and they are there, but have there been any job assessments for them? They are just assumed to be the best because they are in government. These are all kinds of things I have been questioning. And I have been watching people routinely accept whatever the authorities say.

 


No dice for Rush. He’s going to listen to the Orange Buffoon, instead. This might be funny, if so many Americans weren’t getting sick.

 

And dying.

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