How to cheerleader
The Guardian has some more details on Trump’s compassionate and patriotic desire to shield the American people from the truth about COVID-19.
Specifically asked whether he downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump told reporters, “In order to reduce panic, perhaps that’s so.”
As one does. If the house is on fire, you tell the people in it that it’s not serious, because you don’t want them to panic.
The president insisted his strategy was focused on encouraging Americans to remain calm, as the virus spread across the country.
“You have to show leadership, and leadership is confidence in our country,” Trump said.
Well, see, here’s the thing – the danger is a contagious disease that is lethal to many and permanently debilitating to many more. There are things people can do to try to avoid the contagion, so the first job of a leader showing leadership should be to amplify the messages of health officials on how to do that. It should not be to play down the danger and refuse to do the very things that help us avoid the contagion. That’s where Trump went wrong – not in being cheerful or reassuring or strengthy, but in refusing to wear a mask and refusing to distance and continuing to gather crowds. He also went wrong by constantly telling us it’s no big deal and will disappear any minute now.
Also…
“I’m a cheerleader for this country,” the president said. “I don’t want people to be frightened; I don’t want to create panic.”
Oreally?
That comment would seem to clash with Trump’s repeated warnings about the recent protests against racism and police brutality.
The protests have been mostly peaceful, the president has repeatedly claimed that Democratic-controlled cities are being overrun by “violent anarchists”.
Highly contagious deadly virus, no biggy; people protesting police violence against Black people, AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH be afraid.
Every GOP governor and senator needs to be asked, “so, did President Trump fool you, or did you lie to the American people also?”
Well, you don’t want to panic people into listening to experts with all their expertise, and knowledge and stuff, because then you’ve lost control of the story and you have to defer to people who think they know more than you, and who will get all the credit when their lives are spared. That’s so unfair to a cheerleading leader who’s leadershipping so hard. On the other hand, when faced with scary, dark skinned people taking a knee and not saying your the bestest frind The Blacks could ever have, you do want to scare your supporters towards fear, and hate, which is something you do know lots about, having used them to gain office in the first place. that’s an energy you can harness, you can look forceful and dynamic, and you don’t have to wear a sissy mask while you’re doing it. Then, when you save all those white lives that matter, you get all the praise and glory your leadership so truly deserves.
This is the same argument I have heard with those downplaying global warming. If people panic, they’ll become paralyzed, and won’t do anything! So we’ll tell them everything’s all right, just another warmish winter, nothing to worry about, it’s a cycle.
If everyone thinks things are okay, they will have no reason to do anything! Bad plan, folks. And it worked so well with global warming, as the not panicking led to purchases of ever larger cars, higher amounts of plastic, etc etc etc. And the desire to avoid panic on coronavirus has led to many dead, many debilitated.
What they really mean is they don’t want Wall Street to panic. They want people who have tons of money to make even more tons of money, while people without money can just die off, no great loss to anyone…that’s the warped perspective we have.
It’s a funny thing, Jacinda Ardern managed to lock down a whole country for seven weeks without causing panic. Maybe it’s all in how the message is delivered?
Sorry to burst your bubble, Rob. It wasn’t in the messaging, it was the innate decency and humanism of one of the world’s least religious nations. It was the #8 wire wielding Fred Daggs & Billy T’s that did the work.
And Dog have mercy on your Jandals if Crusher becomes PM.
Crusher [shudder]
Downplaying or denying a risk to the nation (or to the world) is what Presidents do when the risk is something like a Texas-sized meteor or massive alien fleet heading for Earth in the movies. Did Trump learn everything he needed to know about presidenting from Fox News and Hollywood?
AoS, that seems a fair bet. I suspect Trump thought being President would be all about, parades, banquets, adulation, making a few dramatic gut feel decisions for others to sweat the details over and, after 8 years, either handing the job over to Ivanka or maybe even accepting the grateful populous acclaiming him President for life. Oh, getting back at his enemies and enriching himself.
Seriously, I doubt his thought process went much deeper than that.
Rob, I suspect he still thinks that’s what the job is, and thinks every attempt to make it what it really is constitutes a personal attack on him. Oh, and one thing you left out: the right to have everyone in the country as subjects that must bend to his will.
In short, he thinks it is like a king, but only those kings in stories who never had to actually make any hard decisions through trying to figure out what was happening and how to deal with it. In other words, bad, tyrannical, monster kings.