Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Did He Not Say It, Or Was He Being Sarcastic? Pick A Side!

It's time to Break It Down!

Over the past few days, TrumpWorld has been uncharacteristically divided. After his controversial statements during last Thursday’s coronavirus briefing, at which time, he suggested the possibility of injecting disinfectant into the body, both the medical community and a number of companies that manufacture disinfectants promptly issued warnings not to ingest or otherwise put the chemicals into the body. 

This past weekend, numerous news outlets reported the number of instances of individuals ingesting the products spiked. When questioned by the media, about his comments Friday, Mr. Trump declared he was being sarcastic. In actuality, Mr. Trump was not speaking to the media, but rather following up a presentation by Bill Bryan of Homeland Security, and speaking to Mr. Bryan and Dr. Deborah Birx, who were seated stage right from him.   

Mr. Trumps deviation from the facts is pretty much standard operating procedure. The WaPo database, as of April 3, Trump’s 1,170th day in office, shows that he had made 18,000 false or misleading claims. That’s an average of more than 15 claims a day. Since the Post’s last update 75 days ago, he’s been averaging just over 23 claims a day. That’s slightly higher than the 22 a day he recorded in 2019. Gotta give it to him; he knows his way around false and misleading claims.

So, out there in the Trump orbit, I’ve seen two divergent themes emerge about Mr. Trump’s comments on the subject. One is that he never suggested what many of us watched and heard him say. The other is that he was, as he claimed a day later, speaking sarcastically. After a little more than three years, and more than 18K false and misleading statements, if we’ve learned anything about exposing this guy’s untruthful nature, especially to his fawning flock, it is, you’d better bring the receipts. To wit, check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA_39Yqb0QA. He said these three things:

1.     Hit the body with ultraviolet or very powerful light 
2.     Bring the light inside the body, either through the skin, or in some other way 
3.     Disinfectant knocks it out in a minute. Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, almost a cleaning. You see, it gets on the lungs, and it does a tremendous number. It’d be interesting to check that. You’re gonna have to use medical doctors. Sounds interesting to me. But the whole concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute; that’s pretty powerful.

The fallout being as resounding and as immediate as it was, undoubtedly shook Trump, and on some level, his legion of followers. In Friday’s follow-up briefing, Trump and his team spoke to reporters, and after completing his remarks with, “Thank you very much,” Trump uncharacteristically left the briefing without taking questions. Most Americans, certainly anyone who follows things pollical in America, knows that Trump and TV cameras are all but symbiotic. Leaving the room without lingering to take questions, and perhaps more importantly, make sure every member of his team answered questions in a manner he liked and approved, is, well, downright unimaginable. At least not without some off the chart motivation. Think, gaggle of reporters, queued up to set upon Mr. Trump with a relentless barrage of questions about ingesting disinfectants as a means to destroy coronavirus. Motivation? Check!

If you watched the linked video and listened to Mr. Trump’s comments, you are aptly positioned and qualified to answer the question posed in the title. Just don’t be like Trump’s people. It’s either one, or the other. Not both. Did He Not Say It; Or, Was He Being Sarcastic? Pick A Side!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the linkhttp://thesphinxofcharlotte.comFind a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribeclick on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:






https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/24/thank-you-very-much-donald-trump-leaves-briefing-without-taking-questions/

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/did-he-not-say-it-or-was-he-being.html

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Earth Day Is 50: We Are Here!

It's time to Break It Down!

Today is Earth Day. On this, the 50th Anniversary Observance of the occasion, I opted to take a break from politics, coronavirus, and sports, even The Last Dance, the epic ESPN documentary miniseries focusing on Michael Jordan’s last season with the Bulls (1997-98). I can’t promise that I won’t eventually write about the series. But not today.

Earth Day is an annual reminder of our integral connection to nature, plants, the land, the sea, ecology, and our overarching environment. As humans we have an immutable interdependence with the earth, but also a legacy of responsibility to treat it with care and respect, as the condition in which we bequeath it to our descendants is among the greatest of gifts we will leave behind.

If there is one message that defines the essence of Earth Day, it’s we have but one planet; take care of it. There are a number of ways people tend to express their commitment to our collective home on Earth Day, including:

·      Picking up litter
·      Planting trees
·      Recycling
·      Repurposing
·      Taking a walk or jog in a park or along a greenway
·      Buying an electric vehicle
·      Building to green standards

The trend is to identify a specific theme for elevating, each year, on Earth Day. The theme or area of focus for 2020 is Climate Action. The norm has been to execute projects related to the theme, such as, river cleanups, or carrying out adopt-a-highway projects. This year, due to COVID-19, we are presented with an array of special challenges in commemorating Earth Day. Because practicing social distancing is currently in vogue, and many of us are under stay-at-home orders, Earth Day 2020 is primarily a digital enterprise. There will be numerous virtual events today, like environmental lectures. To find a catalogue of local events, visit earthday.org.

To be clear, social distancing does not mean you’re prohibited from going outside and enjoying nature. Just do so, responsibly. Nature has not been canceled.

In the beginning. The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, with the goal of raising awareness about mankind’s role in protecting our natural world. On this date, 20 million Americans ventured outside and protested in favor of a more eco-conscious society.

While it may be difficult for some people to fathom, at that time many of us were unaware of some serious environmental issues—from air pollution, to toxic waste dumps, to pesticides, to degradation and loss of wilderness lands. Many more people are aware today, but there are also a sizable number of people who deny the significance of human activities in producing negative consequences. That last sentiment deserves a post of its own. Perhaps, another time.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, (D-WI), and activist John McConnell, separately asked Americans to join in the grassroots demonstration. McConnell originally chose the spring equinox (March 21, 1970) and Nelson chose April 22, which ended up becoming the official celebration date. Given that the date of the spring equinox changes over time, it could have made things more complicated to go with that date.

Without question, Earth Day started as a political movement. While it is almost certainly part of a partisan tableau, today, it has gained popularity in many communities as a force to rally folks to gather and clean up litter, plant trees, or to simply reflect on the beauty of nature.

Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22ndEarth Day Is 50: We Are Here!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the linkhttp://thesphinxofcharlotte.comFind a new post each Wednesday.

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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:



https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/earth-day

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/earth-day-is-50-we-are-here.html


  

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Donald Asked, Where's Obama: President Obama Responded

It's time to Break It Down!

For months now, when he has not been otherwise occupied by the morass of impeachment, staggering, stressful, and often controversy-laden episodes of his own making, or the perils of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Trump has been posing inquiries regarding the whereabouts of the 44th President, one Barack Obama. In his own uniquely devilish and condescending way, everything about Trump’s repeated attempts to bait an off the cuff, or elseways unscheduled reaction, or response from #44 was the very antithesis of the reserved nature of both the Obama Doctrine, and the man himself.

President Obama had stated, long before there was a campaign to determine the Democratic nominee for Election 2020, that he would not publicly weigh in until the intraparty battle was resolved. No one knew this better than Donald Trump. But, as we know, needling his perceived adversaries is as much a part of the Trump persona as his penchant for hyperbole, “truthful,” or otherwise. His spinmeisters would probably say it’s a strategy. The truth, more likely is, he can’t help himself. It’s a behavioral pattern rooted in the fabric of his DNA. In either case, it had zero chance of altering the course of how…and when the former President would initiate his engagement in campaign activities. 

Actually, check that. To be fair, the how was, undoubtedly, quite a bit different than initially envisioned. Absent the coronavirus pandemic, the rollout, most certainly, would have entailed a huge rally, probably with a number of the former Democratic candidates, including Senator Sanders, and of course, Obama and Biden. But that particular dynamic was changed not due to Trump’s berating, chiding, or impudence, but because the new now, as opposed to new normal, dictated by social distancing practices and stay-at-home orders, required it.

On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign activities, and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. Pursuant to that action, In an altogether anticipated move, President Obama followed-up yesterday with his Biden endorsement. Mr. Obama spoke warmly of his former VP, and friend, cast him as someone who gets things done, and who helped manage H1N1, and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the kind of pandemic we are seeing now with COVID-19. He did this without mentioning Trump by name, of course. Nevertheless, in view of Trump’s constant badgering and goading, it’s fair to say, we’ve reached the point when the appropriate phraseology is “Game-on!”

Having vanquished Secretary Clinton four years ago, there is probably nothing in the political realm that would energize Mr. Trump more than the chance to take down Biden, armed, as Mrs. Clinton was, with Barack Obama’s imprimatur. A win in November, though not a one-on-one with Obama, would surely suffice, by Trump’s accounting, as having attained the full set. What could be more satisfying?

As Trump hastens to put the pandemic behind him and restart the economy, he longs to regain what he had imagined would be the equivalent of Thor’s Hammer, to bludgeon his way to victory. If there is one thing, he is well aware of, it’s that a hot economy is the elixir that smooths the way for incumbents to secure re-election. He had bragged more about his having rebuilt the economy than almost anything, except, perhaps his robust ratings, Super Bowl-like, he has recently called them.

That’s enough for now. I expect between now and November, there will be plenty of opportunities to reflect on the 2020 race. This post was meant to establish that we now have identified the principals. All of Trump and the GOP/conservatives’ speculating about Bernie, Bloomberg, Cuomo, et.al., can be put to rest now. Trump’s dream match-up appears to have materialized. 

Democrats still have to figure out how to solve the challenge of coalescing. Republicans are already solidly lined up to back their heroic (to hear them tell it) champion. The key question at the moment is when and if the campaign will take on a sense of normalcy, complete with rallies, debates, arenas filled with conventioneers, and the other trappings of a Presidential Election Year.

All that remains to be sorted out. What we know is, “Donald Asked, Where’s Obama: President Obama Responded!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the linkhttp://thesphinxofcharlotte.comFind a new post each Wednesday.

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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:


https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/politics/obama-endorses-biden/index.html

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/donald-asked-wheres-obama-president.html

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

From The Outhouse To The Penthouse: 'Hoos Win - Reprised

It's time to Break It Down!

It’s time to Break It Down!
Who knows? It's a couple of days after the previously scheduled Final Four, which was slated for The Mercedes Benz-Benz Stadium in Atlanta a couple of nights ago. My wife and I had planned to be there. It may not have lived up to the hype. It could have paled in comparison to last year's event. But, had it been nearly as exciting and even half as entertaining as last year's quartet of teams and trio of games, I would almost surely have written about it for today's post. But, since COVID-19 intervened, and the entire NCAA Tourney was canceled four weeks ago, alas, that option is not available.

So, as the title above confirmed, I am re-posting my recollections and impressions from last year's festivities. One final coda to acknowledge my affinity for hoops, and to denote how much I missed the staging of the Final Four, and determining the Last Team Standing.

Who Knew? The 2019 rendering of "One Shining Moment," honoring the Wahoos of UVA will stand another year. One final word to underscore just how unusual the situation is this year. The NCAA began crowning Men's Division I Tournament Champions in Evanston, IL, in 1939. Since that time, venues across the Continental U.S. from Los Angeles to  New York, to Seattle to Charlotte, and numerous points in between have hosted the Tourney. One thing had remained clockwork consistent. Until this year, never-ever had there been a cancellation. Well, now we can scratch that off the "It Never-Happened" List! Enjoy the reprised post.
 
OK, it’s Wednesday, April 10th and the CIAA, ACC, and NCAA Basketball Tournaments are history. But before I turn the page, I’ve got a few final observations to make about the NCAA Final Four.
First, to the University of Virginia Cavaliers, their students, alumni and fans, Final Four Most Outstanding Player, Kyle Guy, and Coach Tony Bennett, congratulations on winning the 2019 NCAA College Basketball Division-I Championship! All praise coming your way, for this signal achievement is richly deserved. Moreover, your 85-77 victory in the Title Game stands as an Instant Classic.

From the agony of being the first #1 Seed to be ousted by the University of Maryland Baltimore County (affectionately known as UMBC), a lowly #16 Seed last year, Virginia completed the ultimate NCAA college hoops comeback by being the last team standing, triumphantly so, when the confetti settled and the speakers in the makeshift US Bank (Stadium) Arena blared the 2019 edition of “One Shining Moment.”

A year ago at about this time, I decided since I’d never attended a Men’s Final Four, I would enter the ticket lottery and roll the dice. When I received confirmation last June that I’d scored two tickets, my wife and I were set. The only question remaining was whether my beloved Tar Heels would be accompanying us.

Alas, despite the regular season hype, and the early Tournament anticipation of an ACC/Tobacco Road cataclysmic Battle of the Titans between Duke, and North Carolina, the Heels made it only as far as the Sweet 16, where their hopes and dreams were dashed on a Friday Night in Kansas City by a sizzling hot Auburn squad that dismantled and dismissed them handily in what would become their own run to the Final Four.

As it turned out, erstwhile devastating Duke would have its own issues. First, they escaped a last second tip in attempt as Krzyzewski protégé Johnny Dawkins’ University of Central Florida fought valiantly, but lost by a point, as the Blue Devils advanced to the Sweet 16. Then, in an ACC family affair, Duke faced Virginia Tech for the third time, after having split during the regular season. Duke won the rubber match, and advanced, but only after VA Tech missed its own tip in at the buzzer for a chance to send the game into overtime. However, as we know, a win, is a win, is a win.
After having demonstrated Houdini-like resilience in two successive games, I made myself comfortable with the notion that Zion and Company were fated, and poised to claim the Title. However, the Spartans of Michigan State University had other ideas, and ultimately, would have their say in the matter. In their third nail-biter in a row, College Basketball’s 2018-19 version of The Greatest Show on Earth faltered, as MSU prevailed, winning by a single point in their Elite 8 contest. So much for a Duke-Carolina Title tilt!

Moving ahead, this year’s setting for the Final Four was US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The successful quartet included Auburn University (Charles Barkley), Michigan State University (Magic Johnson), Texas Tech University (Patrick Mahomes), and the University of Virginia (Ralph Sampson). Yeah, I know Mahomes is a football player, but here is where I confess I don’t know any prominent Texas Tech alums who made their mark in the NBA. Besides, those four guys were actually at the Final Four.

Speaking of the NBA, while in the Twin Cities, we also took in two Timberwolves games at the Target Center. Saw them play the Miami Heat (Dwayne Wade’s last Minneapolis appearance as an NBA player) Friday night, and the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday afternoon. The T-wolves bested the Heat, but fell to the Thunder. In total, we saw 5 games ( 3 college and 2 NBA) in 4 days. We did all this, and still managed to escape Minneapolis-St. Paul ahead of a projected snow storm that could deliver up to 12-inches of frozen precipitation to the area.

Back at US Bank, two of the four teams, Auburn and Texas Tech, had never advanced to a Final Four. A third, Virginia, had never made it to the Title Game. Of the four, only the Spartans of Michigan State had previously appeared in and/or won a Title Game. The Spartans claimed the Trophy in 1979, in the famous Magic-Bird match-up, and again in 2000, with a squad lead by Mateen Cleaves.
The first semi-final game featured SEC Champion Auburn’s fast-pasted offensive juggernaut facing off against ACC Regular Season Champion Virginia, buoyed by its stalwart #1 ranked defense and a much improved, but often underrated offense. The game was a back and forth contest with a high drama ending. With Auburn leading 62-60, an Auburn player fouled Kyle Guy with 0.6 seconds remaining. Complicating matters for the Tigers, the shot, even though he missed it, was a three-point attempt.

Undoubtedly, by now, you know what happened next. Despite Bruce Pearl calling a timeout after Guy’s first two free throws, hoping to ice the shooter, Guy swished the third attempt, just as he did the first two shots. For all practical purposes, game over. In fact, the game, 0.6 seconds remaining, notwithstanding, was over. Final score, Virginia 63, Auburn 62.

In a 20/20 hindsight world, Samir Doughty would have assumed a stout hands in the air defensive stance, and made Guy hit or miss a tough shot and trust his teammates to corral the rebound. If he made the shot, congratulate him on hitting an acrobatic game winner. If he missed, celebrate Auburn’s win with his sure to have been exultant teammates. But college basketball isn’t played in hindsight. And in real time, Kyle Guy may have lost the battle (missed the shot), but he won the war (and the game), nailing a trifecta of foul shots to transform a two point Wahoo deficit into a one point lead with less than a second remaining, and Auburn needing to traverse the 93 feet length of the court and score in 0.6 seconds or less. Uh, game over.

In Saturday night’s second semi-final contest, Texas Tech, with its #3 ranked defense squared off against perennial Big 10 Power, Michigan State. It was another game in which the momentum and the lead swung back and forth. With less than 3 minutes remaining and Texas Tech clinging to a 52-51 lead, the young men from Lubbock dug in and leveraged the phase of the game that had kept them relevant all year. Defense!

They held the Spartans scoreless for the remainder of the game, while they went on to add 9 points to their own total. With that 61-51 victory, they launched themselves into Monday night’s Title Game. The combatants were set, Virginia, from the ACC, and Texas Tech, from the Big 12; marking both teams’ first Title Game appearance.

Monday night’s matchup between Texas Tech and Virginia pitted two of the top three defensive teams in the country against one another. Virginia allowed opponents only 55.5 points per game. Texas Tech was not far behind, allowing only 58.8 points per game. Only the Wolverines of the University of Michigan separated the two, barely edging the Red Raiders, allowing opponents 58.3 points per contest.

Here in Minneapolis there was an ever so slight Texas Tech vibe. Largely, I think, it was a root for the underdog kind of thing. Although, as we were taking the Blue Line Train back to our hotel after the Title Game, I did hear one local say he had pulled for Texas Tech “because of the stigma associated with Charlottesville.” The reference, of course, was to the Unite The Right Rally, which featured neo-Nazi and alt-right protests, and which resulted in counter protests on August 11th and 12th, 2017. There were any number of infamously memorable events that weekend in Charlottesville, including white men in Khakis and sports shirts chanting Jews will not replace us, two law enforcement officers killed in a helicopter crash, and the President of the United States asserting, “There are very fine people on both sides.” Even with all that, perhaps the incident that gained the most notoriety was James Alex Fields, Jr. running into a crowd of counter protesters with his car, killing activist Heather Heyer on August 12th.

Of course, I’m not a yahoo fan, but I don’t hold the events of that weekend against UVA students and/or student athletes. That’s a narrative with a host of sources, but the UVA Family is not one of them…in my humble opinion. But I digress.

Back to the Title Game, my own assessment is that while they were both stellar defending teams, Virginia probably had just a little too much offense. As it turned out, for 40 minutes, it was a draw, as the two teams played to a 68-68 tie, and overtime. For those who were rooting for Texas Tech, if you quickly revisit the world of 20/20 hindsight, two plays should standout. The first, with halftime nearing, and the score tied 29-all, Virginia with the ball, Ty Jerome found himself all alone at the 3-point line. Predictably, soon afterward, the ball joined him. In the blink of an eye, shot taken, shot made, halftime, UVA up three. Remember that sequence!

With Texas Tech leading 68-65, with 14 seconds left, the ball found De’Andre Hunter alone in the corner. Déjà vu all over again! With no closeout in sight, Hunter squared up and casually sank a 3, tying the game, and ultimately leading to OT. In hindsight, in both instances, the defense should have forced a contested two, rather than giving up an open 3. In any event, after having witnessed, and survived the halftime dagger, both Texas Tech’s coaches and their players should have insisted on creating a different response (and hopefully a vastly distinct and discernibly dissimilar outcome) at the end of the game. But…that’s the difference between hindsight and real time. After trailing briefly, Virginia took command during the overtime period, and went on to win with minimal stress, and little apparent resistance in the extra period.

As is often the case, some folks will second-guess the officiating. I’ve been known to look askance at a call or two here and there, myself. Others will suggest the Wahoos were simply lucky. Carolina fans, think Dean Smith’s Heels in 1982 when Georgetown’s Fred Brown mistakenly threw the ball to James Worthy instead of a fellow Hoya, and again in 1993 when Michigan’s Chris Webber called a timeout when he and his Wolverine cohorts did not have any. People who default to those “what ifs” fail to take into account a couple of key considerations. In both cases, Carolina was ahead at the moment of the ill-timed miscues. Therefore, both teams would have had to design and execute a play (remember UM had no timeouts), take…and make…a shot, score, and prevent Carolina from doing the same thing. No sure thing in either case.

By the way, next year’s Final Four is in the ATL. I’m just saying. But again, I digress. This is about Virginia…and Texas Tech.

At the end of the day, it is my opinion that the team that was the best team in the country all year long won the tournament. Duke did beat them twice, of course, but as I mentioned earlier, Duke had its own issues. The Cavs were stout on both sides of the ball, refused to fold under pressure, survived, advanced, and withstood whatever their opponents threw at them. They executed a perfect fairytale ending, including making clutch free throws, three on one possession to seal Saturday night’s game, and 14 in a row down the stretch Monday night in the second half and overtime to secure the Title. They also played enough defense to weather the storm both nights. “From Outhouse To Penthouse: 'Hoos Win - Reprised!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the linkhttp://thesphinxofcharlotte.comFind a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribeclick on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2019/04/08/texas-tech-virginia-live-updates-ncaa-tournament-title-game/3404447002/?src=rss

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ncaa-championship-final-2019-virginia-beat-texas-tech-overtime-85-77win-first-ncaa-tournament-national-college-title/

https://sports.yahoo.com/virginia-completes-redemption-story-edges-texas-tech-in-ot-for-national-title-034918062.html

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/04/08/virginia-wins-national-championship-overtime-deandre-hunter-texas-tech-march-madness-recap

http://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=ncb&id=26472427

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2019-04-08/virginia-texas-tech-score-cavaliers-win-ncaa-title-ot

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/2019/04/10/from-outhouse-to-penthouse-hoos-win/

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/from-outhouse-to-penthouse-hoos-win.html

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

He's Lying To You, And You Know It: You May Not Care, But You Know!

It's time to Break It Down!

For several years now, I’ve known, and repeatedly said, we’ve reached a point in this country wherein the chasm separating the left and the right is deep…and wide. It’s been a long time since we were this divided. So long ago, the terms left, and right were not even in vogue as the language that defined our political and ideological differences. It’s been at least half a century since the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and even longer since the Jim Crow era was pervasive, and even longer than that since lynching was the order of the day.

Despite the contentiousness that is subject to jump off at the mere mention of things political in gatherings of mixed ideological leanings, I still delve into those conversations. Undoubtedly, far more frequently than many deem prudent, or rational. There are a number of reasons I could proffer, but the one salient notation I’ll mention is my perplexity arising from what strikes me as the irreconcilable disconnects between what conservatives say and do now, versus what so many of them maintained, right up to the day Trump was elected.

Actually, that single point warrants a dissertation of its own, but that is not the point I am choosing to elucidate today. No, today’s post, the subject of which is prominently etched at the top of the page, is all about the distinction between Donald Trump’s claims and his actions, vis-à-vis COVID-19. My thesis is the public has been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amuck, and flat out deceived. I fully intend to prove that by using a simple tool; Mr. Trump’s own words.

Rising to the top of the political heap in the U.S. brings with it a lot of perks. POTUS is considered by some to be the most powerful position in the world. Technically, that’s probably not true, but the person in that position is by most accounts, the leader of the most powerful nation on earth. In all likelihood, the most powerful person in the world, is some dictator, or autocrat, who singularly controls all or most of a country’s levers of power. But that too, if there is a debate, is an argument for another day. The flip side of all those perks, is being POTUS brings with it an unrelenting spotlight, and good, bad, or indifferent, the capturing for the record of one’s every word, certainly every word on the public record, and as many have learned, quite a few words that were not necessarily intended for public consumption.

Mr. Trump has long been a media maven. For this discussion, I will refer only to his on the record, in front of the media (a far as we can tell, on of his favorite positions), comments.

Earlier this week, CNN's Jim Acosta asked Trump about some of his previous comments playing down the coronavirus.

In his best Trumpian response, Mr. Trump replied:

"If you look at those individual statements, they're all true. Stay calm, it will go away. You know it -- you know it is going away, and it will go away, and we're going to have a great victory."

Chris Cillizza, a CNN Analyst leans into The New York Times' amazing timeline
of Trump’s statements on coronavirus as the framework for comparing and contrasting Trump’s remarks from the beginning of the outbreak until now, which Trump maintains, haven’t changed.

* In late January, Trump, in an interview with CNBC, said this: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine." The US did not, in fact, have it totally under control. As of Tuesday morning, there were almost 161,000 confirmed cases in the United States and 3,000 deaths.

* In early February, Trump told Sean Hannity this: "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China." He had not, in fact, "shut it down." Again, almost 161,000 confirmed cases in the United States and 3,000 deaths.

* In late February, Trump said this of the number of coronavirus cases in the US: "We're going down, not up. We're going very substantially down, not up." That was, and is, not true. One week ago, the US had 52,000 confirmed cases. This morning we had almost 161,000.

* In mid-March, Trump said this: "This is a very contagious virus. It's incredible. But it's something we have tremendous control of." We did not have "tremendous control" of the virus. See above.

Now there are of course, many more examples. I won’t insult your intelligence by presuming you fail to get the point. I’m certain you do. To coin a phrase, it trumps ridiculous for Mr. Trump to claim with a straight face that every “individual statement” he made about COVID-19 was (or is) true. One would hope, I know I certainly do, that Trump supporters and non-Trump supporters alike (even though that chasm, as aforementioned, is deep and wide) would find themselves unable to draw that conclusion, based upon the evidence. It is simply, logically impossible.  

Now was there a method to his madness? Almost certainly!

In January, in February, and even early in March, he was downplaying the virus because:

·      He wanted it not to be that bad
·      He didn’t want people to freak out, because the economy, on which his campaign is based, would tank

Evidence?

As Trumps said to Acosta:

"The statements I made are I want to keep the country calm; I don't want panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you. I could do much -- I would make you look like a minor league player."

The thing is though, Trump's attempts to undersell the virus to the public had real-world consequences -- including a very slow start to testing for the virus in this country and our current shortages on masks and ventilators. (Doubt it? Read this Times piece: "The Lost Month: How a Failure Test Blinded the U.S. to COVID-19.")

Now, Trump is being Trump, doing now what he always does about everything: Attempting to rewrite history so that it looks like he was always the smartest guy in the room, the one person who saw this all coming from a mile away.

Evidence? Check out his March 17th about-face:

"I've always known this is a real -- this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

The temptation is to call that what it is, straight up hot bovine excrement. For the purposes of this post, I’ll instead resort to factchecker’s prose. “That statement is, of course, demonstrably untrue.”  

Naturally, we all know, Donald Trump doesn’t care. Habit and history have established that if he simply repeats the story, he wants to be true, plenty of people will follow his lead. 

He will blame Democrats, or he’ll blame the media, or he’ll blame both…for twisting his words or making thing up. Remember that he is the guy who said this out loud: "Stick with us. Don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. ... What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

Yesterday, Mitch McConnell alleged impeachment diverted Trump’s attention from coronavirus. While I don’t doubt he spent a considerable amount of time and energy ensuring that none of his associates and subordinates testified against him, I do question whether he spent any more time doing that than he did holding rallies and playing golf:

Rally Dates:
January 9th
January 14th
January 28th
January 30th
February 10th
February 19th
February 20th
February 21st
February 28th

Golfing Dates:
January 18th
January 19th
February 1st
February 15th
March 7th
March 8th

Impeachment, by the way, ended February 5th.

But if the truth still matters, know this. The truth is that Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat coronavirus posed to the country, providing Americans with false hope when they needed candor and transparency most of all.


I’m done, holla back!

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For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:



https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mcconnell-impeachment-diverted-attention-coronavirus-69898707

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/hes-lying-to-you-and-you-know-it-you.html