Quote (fender @ 21 Mar 2020 01:00)

while i agree that a certain level of incompetence is always to be expected, repeatedly spreading misinformation and lies, disbanding the pandemic response team, and refusing to accept ANY responsibility, and not showing even the semblance of competent leadership, is certainly not merely a result of the system, but political failure. you can't tell me that you seriously think obama for example would have acted that way...

Quote (Kayeto @ 21 Mar 2020 06:05)

I seriously think that no matter who was in charge, the decisions they made would have prioritized political power rather than protecting the population. Naturally, these misguided values would lead to a certain level of incompetence. Exactly which degree of incompetence any person would have displayed is really splitting hairs, and we don't have any real information to go on in order to have that hair-splitting conversation. Most of it is speculative and hypothetical.

I will say this though: If our health care resources get overrrun to the same degree that Italy's did, then the result would have been the same if Hilary had been elected in 2016. Even though that claim is hypothetical and speculative, I feel confident in making it.

That is my best attempt to ignore Trump's repeated lies, lack of leadership qualities, and his previous actions that gutted America's response to potential pandemics, that was established under Obama.

Quote (fender @ Mar 21 2020 12:13am)

ftfy

Quote (Kayeto @ 21 Mar 2020 01:17)

No, that's YOU injecting a partisan narrative onto a statement that never had one.

The entire point of every post I've made here is that spouting a partisan narrative -> supporting the coronovirus in its conflict against humanity

I've not said a single good thing about Trump in any of my comments. I've said ONLY bad things.

Quote (Kayeto @ 21 Mar 2020 06:17)

No, that's YOU injecting a partisan narrative onto a statement that never had one.

The entire point of every post I've made here is that spouting a partisan narrative -> supporting the coronovirus in its conflict against humanity

I've not said a single good thing about Trump in any of my comments. I've said ONLY bad things.

Quote (fender @ Mar 21 2020 12:29am)

just because you didn't go overboard by praising his actions, doesn't mean you're not putting a spin on this topic. you're making excuses for objectively terrible things (repeatedly lying, dismantling the pandemic response team, refusing to take any responsibility...) by suggesting that's just the fault of the 'system'.

the whole 'we can't know for sure how others would have handled this, let's not make this into a partisan issue' narrative, in order to ignore obvious shortcomings (by reasonable, common sense standards), very much IS a partisan take.

Quote (Kayeto @ 21 Mar 2020 06:33)

I'm taking the spin off of it.

Whether the leadership is terrible or not all depends on what framework you are using to define that relative term. In order to ask that question, we need to start with an objective framework of what quality of job we expect them to do. Perhaps your expectations are much higher than mine.

What kind of performance do you expect from a group of people who prioritize their political gain over making good decisions to run the country?

Quote (fender @ Mar 21 2020 12:43am)

a basic level of decency and seriousness? showing some character, accepting responsibility, and trying to send out a unifying message, instead of repeatedly lying, desperately trying to save face at all cost, and screaming that the other party and the media are just using this to end your presidency?!

even fucking bush jr. managed to do that in a time of extraordinary challenges...

meanwhile:

https://i.imgur.com/9mvXH5j.mp4

Quote (Kayeto @ 21 Mar 2020 06:57)

None of those things are related to performance.

What kind of performance do you expect from a group of people who prioritize their political gain over making good decisions to run the country?

Performance means: To what extent will our health care resources be overrun by the pandemic? Was there anything we could have done better to prevent our resources from our resources from being overrun?

Quote (fender @ Mar 21 2020 01:12am)

wait what now?! pretty sure that repeatedly lying about the severity of the virus, and the threat level IS directly impacting 'performance'. undermining the public's confidence in getting reliable information and facts from the media IS directly impacting 'performance'. but hey, keep moving the goal post to make excuses for his behaviour. the facts speak for themselves.

i said it in an earlier post: the US being on the same trajectory as italy is nothing short of scandalous, given the advantages it had (weeks of warning and observing development in other countries, stricter border controls, a whole ocean between the hotspots, significantly lower population density and average age...)