Super-spreader, Denier, Pants-On-Fire Liar, Pt 2

At today’s rally in North Carolina:

"You know why we have cases? Because we test so much. And in many ways it's good, and in many ways it's foolish."

And:

"Turn on television, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. COVID, COVID, COVID. COVID. By the way, on November 4th you won't hear about it anymore." (A plane crash killing 500 didn't happen.)

It should also be noted that the equivalent of about two of those plane crashes are happening *every day in the United States*, so it would stand to reason that COVID and the people who have died from it are worth covering.

Also, if 500 people died in a plane crash yesterday, that would be 425 fewer people than the 925 people who died from COVID-19 yesterday.

Super-spreader, Denier, Pants-On-Fire Liar

As Trump keeps repeatedly saying this absolute horseshit nonsense and "We're rounding the corner beautifully" and for months "It's going away", "It's going to go away", here's what's happening in America:  hospitalizations are rising, setting records in some states.  The test positivity rate is also rising, and after the usual lag from a spike in cases, deaths have started to rise too.

The crises is getting worse, fast, and there's nothing fake about it.

Somewhat paraphrased from Daniel Dale.

Also, just a reminder that Trump does not care about the American people.  If he did he would not continue to hold rallies, or at least limit the number of attendees or require social distancing or face masks.  The fact that he does none of those things for the safety of the people attending speaks volumes.  The fact that Republicans in Washington condone this behavior speaks to their own priorities, which apparently is not for the well-being of their constituents.

“A President Trying To Construct His Own Reality”

 Debate analysis by David Leonhardt

The final debate

Last night’s presidential debate felt much more normal than this year’s first one. The candidates interrupted each other only occasionally rather than constantly. They argued about big policy issues like the coronavirus, foreign policy and more.

But the debate wasn’t normal by the standards of nearly all of American history. It wasn’t normal because one of the nominees — the sitting president — told one lie after another. He did so about the virus, North Korea, China, Russia, climate change, his own health care policy, Joe Biden’s health care policy, Biden’s finances and the immigrant children who were separated from their parents.

I understand you may be tired of hearing about President Trump’s untruths. I’m tired of writing about them. They hardly qualify as surprising anymore.

But it’s impossible to analyze a debate filled with untruths without first acknowledging them. They undermine an event meant to highlight differences between candidates. They undermine democracy. To ignore them is to miss the biggest story: a president trying to construct his own reality.

How are voters supposed to choose between, say, two different health care plans if one candidate makes up stories about both plans?

No previous president has behaved this way. Democrats often accused George W. Bush of lying, and Republicans accused Barack Obama of lying. And both men made questionable statements and statements that later proved untrue. But when they proved untrue, Bush and Obama stopped making the claims. Trump just keeps making them.

Debate analysis

“From a lying perspective, Trump is even worse tonight than in the first debate … an absolute avalanche of lying” — CNN’s Daniel Dale, who’s been probably the most committed Trump fact checker.

“Biden was again imperfect from a fact check perspective. He made at least a few false, misleading, or lacking-in-context claims. Trump was, as usual, a serial liar.” — Dale. (A Times fact check of both candidates is here.)

“Trump was far more disciplined. He landed a few sharp attacks, even as he diverted into some issues that seem more like fodder for the conservative media-sphere.” — The Times’s Lisa Lerer.

“The subjects Trump most wishes to discuss are ones largely disconnected from those that matter most to voters.” — Jane Coaston, Vox.

“This debate probably isn’t going to hurt Senate Republican candidates in a way the first debate did.” — Jessica Taylor, Cook Political Report.

The moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker, won praise as the best, most commanding moderator of this debate season (and she had the advantage of the candidates being muted for stretches while the other was speaking).

Two post-debate polls both found Biden to be the winner, by 54 percent to 35 percent in CNN’s and 53 percent to 39 percent in YouGov’s.

Key lines

“I take full responsibility, but China brought it here. It’s not my fault,” — Trump, on the virus.

“People are learning to die with it.” — Biden, after Trump said the country was learning to live with the virus.

“Why didn’t you do it [while vice president?] You had eight years with Obama. You know why, Joe? Because you’re all talk and no action,” Trump, on Biden’s criminal-justice plans.

“It’s not about his family or my family. It’s about your family.” — Biden, after an exchange of personal accusations.

“I would transition away from the oil industry, yes … The oil industry pollutes, significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.” — Biden.

For more: See The Times’s main story; seven minutes of video highlights; and Times Opinion writers on the night’s best and worst moments.

I'm Not Tired Of Hearing About It, Are You?

I wonder if the families of the 220,000 U.S. dead are tired of hearing about it.  What about the 8 million plus infected that we know about?  Wonder if they're tired of hearing about it?  Wonder if people are tired of hearing about it even as cases are on the rise?

I think the only person/people that are tired of hearing about it are the one(s) who have utterly failed at every step to lead our country through the pandemic.  If my only strategy was pretend it won't happen, pretend it isn't happening, then pretend that it's going away while leaving states and citizens to fend for themselves and 220,000 and counting Americans die, then yeah, I'd maybe be tired of hearing about it too.

Rats

“It’s tempting to use the analogy of rats fleeing a sinking ship to describe the growing number of Republican elected officials starting to speak out against Donald Trump. But that's really not fair to rats, who tend not to be complicit in driving ships to the bottom of the sea.”

Dan Rather

Speaking Of Fox...

Article by Phillip Bump.

Trump brought data from the Fox News universe to a debate centered in reality

"Trump has at his disposal decades of experience in battling public health crises and aggregated data that could provide an accurate sense of how the country's effort to contain the virus is faring.  But that's not the sort of thing in which Trump immerses himself, preferring the friendlier and more supportive universe of Fox punditry.

(Instead) On Thursday, he brought that world with him to battle a reality-based journalist.  It didn't work very well."

Stay Informed. With Facts, Not Fox

From David Folkenflik, NPR News:

Analysis: Questionable 'N.Y. Post' Scoop Driven By Ex-Hannity Produced And Giuliani

Another First For Trump

Article about the New England Journal of Medicine and 2 other trusted scientific journals by Bill Chappell on NPR

In Rare Step, Esteemed Medical Journal Urges Voters To Oust Trump

It is the first time the prestigious medical journal has taken a stance on a U.S. presidential election since it was founded in 1812:

"When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent," reads the editorial signed by nearly three dozen of the journal's editors. "We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs."

Poetic Justice? Irony?

 Schadenfreude.