The Donald Trump Score Card

5 Ways the Trump Administration’s Policy Failures Compounded the Coronavirus-Induced Economic Crisis
By Ryan Zamarripa
June 3, 2020, 12:01 am

5 Ways the Trump Administration’s Policy Failures Compounded the Coronavirus-Induced Economic Crisis - Center for American Progress

excerpts:

"1. A botched public health response

The Trump administration failed to take the coronavirus outbreak seriously. In late February, while other high-income countries were ramping up testing and developing tracing procedures, President Donald Trump stated that “the Coronavirus [was] very much under control.” It was during these critical early weeks and months that the United States should have been stockpiling protective gear for frontline workers and making testing widely available. In contrast, South Korea, a country whose first confirmed case of COVID-19 coincided with that of the United States, bought 720,000 masks for employees of businesses considered at risk of exposure to the coronavirus. When asked if the U.S. federal government would supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to states, President Trump responded that it would not act as a “shipping clerk.”


2. A failure to help workers retain their jobs

Another stark contrast between the United States and its international, high-income peers stems from the ways in which this administration has failed to maintain an adequate connection between workers and their employers. Since the beginning of March, the United States has seen 23 percent of its February labor force—37.6 million workers in total—apply for unemployment insurance. The enhanced unemployment insurance provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act have no doubt made a huge difference for the unemployed, but there are also meaningful nonmonetary benefits that come from staying formally employed, including health care for 49 percent of Americans. Facing what could have been comparable job loss figures, the United Kingdom declared in March that the government would cover up to the lesser of 80 percent of workers’ salaries or 2,500 British pounds per month—just above the median salary—if companies agreed to keep them officially on payroll. Similar wage replacement policies have been pursued in Ireland, the Netherlands, France, and Canada.


3. Three years of slashing critical safety nets

The failures of the Trump administration’s approach did not begin when the pandemic started. Each of the administration’s four budget proposals has recommended slashing funding for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). In 2018, the CDC cut its epidemic prevention activities, which help “train front-line workers in outbreak detection and work to strengthen laboratory and emergency response systems in countries where disease risks are greatest,” by 80 percent; moreover, it significantly scaled back its focus on emerging infectious diseases in several of the world’s hot spots, including China. Despite calls from the CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the National Security Council to increase funding in the fiscal year 2020 budget, the Trump administration proposed a 12 percent cut to the HHS and a 10 percent cut to the CDC. Even now, amid one of the worst public health crises in recent American history, the acting director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget has doubled down on the White House’s FY 2021 proposed budget cuts of $1.2 billion to the CDC and $35 million to the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund.


4. A failure to prevent layoffs of state and local workers

In the weeks following the coronavirus outbreak, it became clear to state governments that they would have to increase spending to unanticipated levels. Yet a lack of aid from the federal government forced states and localities, who have much stricter budget requirements than the federal government, to cut payrolls for more than 1 million employees, representing a 5.2 percent drop in the total nonfederal government employment level. Without strong guidelines from the White House, states were forced to fend for themselves, often bidding against one another to provide their frontline health care workers with protective gear. This, coupled with the drop in state and local tax revenue, has led to budget crises across the country that could result in significantly deeper layoffs over the coming months. A recent survey by the National League of Cities illustrates the true scale of this problem, finding that more than 98 percent of cities with populations between 50,000 and 500,000 have reported an anticipated revenue shortfall this year.


5. A failure to help small businesses

Even before shelter-in-place orders were commonplace across states, businesses were noticing sharp declines in consumer activity. By the beginning of April, 24 percent of small businesses had reported temporarily shutting down. By mid-May, more than 100,000 small businesses had closed permanently, representing 2 percent of the nation’s total. The Paycheck Protection Program—a provision in the CARES Act intended to help employers keep operations running despite revenue shortfalls—was plagued by reports of large, publicly traded companies receiving massive sums while small businesses were left without help. A May report released by the Small Business Administration’s inspector general found that the Trump administration’s implementation left out minority-owned, woman-owned, and rural businesses. Despite a second round of funding through the program, small businesses are still suffering immensely: Some projections estimate that small business closures could approach 7.5 million if businesses are forced to weather the economic impacts of the outbreak on their own. Though the HEROES Act would strengthen the PPP and provide other assistance to small businesses, much of the economic damage could have been avoided entirely had the Trump administration acted more quickly to contain the outbreak."

 

Tell everyone one you know that Trump & McConnell gave us a few dollars in Social Security cost of living increase but took it back by making the part B premium more expensive by the same amount. We need a Democrat in there so we could get a respectable cost of living increase.

 

Trump's sabotage of the Affordable Care Act without replacing it with a meaningful program caused people to lose their healthcare and when they needed it the most during the coronavirus pandemic.

A half-year after the pandemic started in the U.S., Trump made a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to dismantle the ACA completely. Avenging Obama means that much to Trump.

 

Trump's truther-type remarks during the 2016 campaign about vaccinations made him popular with the anti-vaxxers and reinforced their suspicions about vaccines. Now he's encouraging everyone to be vaccinated with anticipated but yet-to-be-approved coronavirus vaccines that have little testing compared to the ones that aroused his suspicions that had decades of research behind them.

 

There is no polite way to say this .......................... there are many stupid people in the U.S. With more than one similarity - they remind me of the flocks that sucked down all of Hitler's lies. Racists, fascists, xenophobes, under-educated.

I'd love to see how those same Rump supporters would react if there was a Democrat in the White House who said and did the VERY SAME THINGS Rump has. (see below)

Got caught in thousands of lies
Praised our country's enemies (Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jung Un, Erdogan, etc,)
Exchanged "love letters" with Kim Jung Un
Ignored the entire medical community when it came to covid-19
Racked up over 192,000 dead Americans - and continued to act as if the global pandemic is over and gone
Put the U.S. at #1 in Covid-19 cases and deaths
Caused the loss on millions of U.S. jobs because he refused to listen to medical experts, spread misinformation about Covid-19 - thereby making a bad situation many times worse
Blamed EVERYBODY ELSE for his failures
Called U.S. military dead "losers and suckers"
Accused our generals of wanting to have "endless wars" to satisfy the defense contractors
Told the American people that he knew more than ALL the generals when it comes to military strategy & intelligence matters
Accused the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and all our intelligence agencies of incompetence and being criminals
Told the American people that they needed a wall all along our southern border and that Mexico would pay for it ............... and then stick U.S. taxpayers with the bill when Mexico refused to pay 1 nickel
hand-picked a crony contractor to build sections of "the wall" .............. only to have it collapse into the Rio Grande River ................... at taxpayer expense
Installed political loyalists to protect him from any & ALL opposition - regardless of whether he trampled on the Constitution in doing so
Surrounded himself with convicted criminals as part of his administration
Had affairs with hookers and porn actresses - then paid off people to "hush them up."
Claim he built factories all over the country when in fact - he DID NOT. Some businesses even left after he threatened them.
Told the American people he would absolutely stop N. Korea's nuclear missile program ........................ and did NOTHING.
Accused U.S. citizens of being terrorists when they were peacefully protesting ..................... and then tear-gassed them & shot them with rubber bullets
Stirred up racial hatred and discord which resulted in violence and rioting all around the country
Ignored the CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED RIGHT of U.S. citizens to peacefully assemble and protest .......... and sent military troops to violently disperse protesters (against the Constitution)
Gutted the health care system causing more than 22 million people to lose their medical coverage
Insulted most of our global allies
Insulted NATO and called for it's abolishment at a time when COMMUNIST RUSSIA is making military moves in Eastern Europe and globally.

Imagine if it were a Democratic President that did & said all these things .................... what fury there would be from the other side. The name-calling. The accusations. But because it's a REPUBLICAN ............. it's all OK. It's ALL FINE.

This is only a partial list of Rump's crimes and offenses ......................... but I'm tired of typing and I've got yard work to do.

 

An general problem with Trump is his populist appeal tactics. He makes an appeal to one group which garners him some support but which later damages him during a crisis. To try to help himself, his wind vane later points in another direction that contradicts his earlier appeals.

An example is his earlier quest for coronavirus testing while later dismissing it because he thinks the test results damage his image.

Another is his 2016 campaign anti-vaxxer rhetoric that garner votes for him followed by pleas from him to the public to vaccinate themselves for the coronavirus in an attempt to save his reelection.

Still another is the social distancing guidelines that his administration formulated that he flouts to score points with his base. His wind vane for this example has been pointing in different directions at the same time.

A mindset like Trump's creates a confusing, disjointed response to a crisis and exacerbates it.

 

It remains to be seen if Barr will have the discipline to wait until after the November election before he goes public with any findings of Durham's investigation.


Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr
By Edmund H. Mahony
Hartford Courant
Sep 11, 2020 at 2:55 PM

Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr

 

I don’t see it happening either way- he’s one of Trump’s lapdogs, specifically put in place to protect him.

 

Barr Continues to Comment on Ongoing Durham Investigation — Even as Justice Dept. Withholds Documents About It from Public
American Oversight
Publish Date: August 10, 2020

Barr Continues to Comment on Ongoing Durham Investigation — Even as Justice Dept. Withholds Documents About It from Public - American Oversight

excerpt:

"Throughout this period, in unprecedented form for an attorney general, Barr has on at least ten occasions made public statements about the ongoing investigation — including statements that have prejudged the probe’s outcome and worked to undermine the Justice Department Inspector General probe into related subjects.

In response to American Oversight’s FOIA requests, the department has acknowledged that it has 24 pages of directives and guidance regarding the Durham probe, as well as records regarding its related expenses. Mueller regularly disclosed this information during his investigation, but the department now refuses to turn over the Durham-related records because they are part of an “ongoing investigation.”

And while the Justice Department has released to American Oversight records of Barr’s expenses on his travel to Europe — which he reportedly took with Durham — it is withholding in full any records showing Durham’s expenses, saying those are also exempt because they are part of an “ongoing investigation.

The Justice Department’s selective assertion of a privilege designed to protect ongoing investigations while the attorney general continually comments on that investigation is hypocritical and suggests the department is withholding records for political advantage rather than to protect the integrity of an ongoing matter."

 

So, you have no answer in other words

 

So many less are dead in Europe?

So many less are dead in Florida than New York, so that must be becuase of Trump as well

 

No, his answer to you makes perfect sense. Trump should have done the exact opposite. Why is that hard for you to absorb?

 

Whatever trump or those that "work "for him and the republicans say---is exactly the opposite of the truth. 20,000 lies tell the tale. But never mind cuz--Obama--Hillary--Biden-----

 

Are you Trump's gay lover?

 

Oh jesus--I don't think even the goriller would go that far!!


















(Hmmm---on second thought--)

 

Thankyou for being one to attempt an actual answer

 

This is the guy you've all been calling a moron for the last 3 1/2 years?

I'm a Trump fan, I'd listen to him on buying and selling NY apartment towers, he was right about the China Trade war etc

But why the hell would you put a politician at the top of the list of people to listen to about a virus. Not that Fauci was of much use either

And it's starting to swing back up in the UK, and maybe US as well, possibly not to alarming levels until after November 3rd. And none of your health officials are warning you it's seasonal

So you also have no answer

What is the exact opposite of implementing the China travel ban on 31st January? Not implementing it, which is exactly what a dem President would have done and you'd have more dead by now

 

Trump's campaign speeches are becoming increasingly bizarre.

.At a rally in Michigan, Trump made a reference to a resident of Antifa, as if it was a region where people live.



Trump Takes His Pitch to Suburban Voters to Its Absurd Conclusion
By Matt Stieb
Sept. 10, 2020

Trump Takes His Pitch to Suburban Voters to Its Absurd Conclusion

excerpt:

"Aside from insinuating that antifa — an extremely loose movement of autonomous groups — is a place, Trump’s Thursday campaign event involved two new absurdities mixed in among the usual rally material. He claimed that Michigan will soon be the “host of five new car companies,” following a conversation with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who is resigning at the end of the month and would be unlikely to green-light such a deal. The president also stepped out of Air Force One to the tune of “Fortunate Son,” a song that decries the life of a millionaire’s child who avoids paying taxes and found a way to avoid service in Vietnam."


Youtube video:

 

The crowd in Michigan grew tired of Trump as the speech deteriorated.

The crowd in MI started sounding like it did in 2018 when Trump bragged at a WV rally about his love letters with Kim Jong Un and how he fell in love with him. The audience went quiet on those remarks.