PSUsarge wrote:

momadance wrote:@NBCNews
The NY Times reported Tuesday that the administration had ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all COVID-19 patient info to a central database in Washington beginning Wednesday, raising concerns from health experts that it will be politicized or withheld from the public.

I just don't understand Trump's strategy here. Does he think suppressing COVID-19 reporting will somehow convince voters in November that it's over?

Many of his moves have made some level of strategic sense, especially in how he got elected. I just can't figure out how what he's doing about COVID-19 helps him get reelected.

he's finally listening to JTK!

PSUsarge wrote:

momadance wrote:@NBCNews
The NY Times reported Tuesday that the administration had ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all COVID-19 patient info to a central database in Washington beginning Wednesday, raising concerns from health experts that it will be politicized or withheld from the public.

I just don't understand Trump's strategy here. Does he think suppressing COVID-19 reporting will somehow convince voters in November that it's over?

Many of his moves have made some level of strategic sense, especially in how he got elected. I just can't figure out how what he's doing about COVID-19 helps him get reelected.

It's simple. He'll suppress the numbers, claim they are very low, and then blame the liberal governors and mayors for not opening soon enough.

POOF, it's gone

PSUsarge wrote:

momadance wrote:@NBCNews
The NY Times reported Tuesday that the administration had ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all COVID-19 patient info to a central database in Washington beginning Wednesday, raising concerns from health experts that it will be politicized or withheld from the public.

I just don't understand Trump's strategy here. Does he think suppressing COVID-19 reporting will somehow convince voters in November that it's over?

Many of his moves have made some level of strategic sense, especially in how he got elected. I just can't figure out how what he's doing about COVID-19 helps him get reelected.

He has spent his entire career, both before and during his Presidency, trying to convince people that the Emperor has clothes by repeating again and again how great whatever it is he's selling, whether it's a building, a condo, his TV show or himself as a candidate. He does so by using his typical superlatives ("beautiful," "huge," "best," etc.) again and again and again until the "customer" (or at least some of them) believes what he's saying.

He's a huckster and, yes, he does believe that pretending that the virus is going away/getting better will actually convince enough voters. That's been his strategy since the infamous "ingesting disinfectant/shining a light inside your body" press conference. Just look at everything he's done since then. It's consistent with the delusional fantasy he's trying to peddle.

For example, look no further than his insistence that schools reopen. He just wants to be able to say that one more important aspect of our lives has returned to normal. He doesn't have to believe it. He doesn't care about the lives which may be lost. He just wants to be able to claim everything is OK so he will be reelected.

If you want to understand his actions just view everything he says and does through the prism of his goal of being reelected (and, more generally, what he perceives to be good for him and him alone). For example, the "lesson" he learned from 2016 (whether accurate or not) is that by appealing to his base he can win. That's why he says things like more whites than blacks are murdered by cops. That statement appeals to his base and he couldn't care less that it offends people who aren't going to vote for him anyway.

IMO what he's missing is that, in addition to his hardcore base, he was elected in 2016 because of a swath of more moderate voters who knew him only by his hype, i.e., successful real estate executive, rich, beholden to no special interests and someone who who shake things up in Washington, which needed shaking up. Unfortunately for him, those voters (who are not blind followers) have now had 3 1/2 years to see what he's really like, how incompetent he is, how much he lies and how devoted to himself and himself alone he is. His core base will not be enough to get him reelected in 2020.

I don't understand how this move is going to suppress data. The states still report the stats independently on a daily basis. Those numbers are available on any number of websites.

06hawkalum wrote:I don't understand how this move is going to suppress data. The states still report the stats independently on a daily basis. Those numbers are available on any number of websites.

Which he and his cohorts at Faux News will simply dismiss as being part of the liberal, Deep State conspiracy.

I doubt policy will be made from independent websites. They'll use their data for any official actions.

Would Sara Gideon be the first Indian US Senator?

Edit- I forgot about Kamala. So the second. Pretty cool!

WHAT ABOUT POCAHONTAS

JFLNYC wrote:

PSUsarge wrote:Many of his moves have made some level of strategic sense, especially in how he got elected. I just can't figure out how what he's doing about COVID-19 helps him get reelected.

He has spent his entire career, both before and during his Presidency, trying to convince people that the Emperor has clothes by repeating again and again how great whatever it is he's selling, whether it's a building, a condo, his TV show or himself as a candidate. He does so by using his typical superlatives ("beautiful," "huge," "best," etc.) again and again and again until the "customer" (or at least some of them) believes what he's saying.

He's a huckster and, yes, he does believe that pretending that the virus is going away/getting better will actually convince enough voters. That's been his strategy since the infamous "ingesting disinfectant/shining a light inside your body" press conference. Just look at everything he's done since then. It's consistent with the delusional fantasy he's trying to peddle.

For example, look no further than his insistence that schools reopen. He just wants to be able to say that one more important aspect of our lives has returned to normal. He doesn't have to believe it. He doesn't care about the lives which may be lost. He just wants to be able to claim everything is OK so he will be reelected.

If you want to understand his actions just view everything he says and does through the prism of his goal of being reelected (and, more generally, what he perceives to be good for him and him alone). For example, the "lesson" he learned from 2016 (whether accurate or not) is that by appealing to his base he can win. That's why he says things like more whites than blacks are murdered by cops. That statement appeals to his base and he couldn't care less that it offends people who aren't going to vote for him anyway.

IMO what he's missing is that, in addition to his hardcore base, he was elected in 2016 because of a swath of more moderate voters who knew him only by his hype, i.e., successful real estate executive, rich, beholden to no special interests and someone who who shake things up in Washington, which needed shaking up. Unfortunately for him, those voters (who are not blind followers) have now had 3 1/2 years to see what he's really like, how incompetent he is, how much he lies and how devoted to himself and himself alone he is. His core base will not be enough to get him reelected in 2020.

Appreciate the thoughtful reply. Agree with you here, especially this last paragraph, which is what I'm so dumbfounded about.

Trump and his cronies are dumb like foxes - they know damn well what they're doing. You don't accidentally become president. So you'd think they'd HAVE to realize this, but I guess they're just tripling down and hoping for the best - or they DGAF if he gets reelected and are just planning to distract as much as possible from his legal troubles until he has time to GTFO after he cedes power.

momadance wrote:@NBCNews
The NY Times reported Tuesday that the administration had ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all COVID-19 patient info to a central database in Washington beginning Wednesday, raising concerns from health experts that it will be politicized or withheld from the public.

We can debate the strategic wisdom of such a move but I have a more basic question. What gives the administration the authority to order hospitals what to do?

traderdave wrote:

momadance wrote:@NBCNews
The NY Times reported Tuesday that the administration had ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all COVID-19 patient info to a central database in Washington beginning Wednesday, raising concerns from health experts that it will be politicized or withheld from the public.

We can debate the strategic wisdom of such a move but I have a more basic question. What gives the administration the authority to order hospitals what to do?

Was wondering the exact same thing.

Biden went from +10 in Rasmussen last week to +3 this week. Need jh to tell us that Rasmussen is stupid.

Biden up 13 points in PA per newest Monmouth poll.

CFP wrote:Biden went from +10 in Rasmussen last week to +3 this week. Need jh to tell us that Rasmussen is stupid.

Seems like an outlier. Overall the latest polls continue to support my cautious optimism.

CFP wrote:Biden went from +10 in Rasmussen last week to +3 this week. Need jh to tell us that Rasmussen is stupid.

I'm not JH but Rasmussen Reports was rated a C+ by FiveThirtyEight and had a Republican mean-reverted bias of +1.5.

CFP wrote:Biden went from +10 in Rasmussen last week to +3 this week. Need jh to tell us that Rasmussen is stupid.

Rasmussen is stupid

I think the degree to which they are bad at their job surpasses even a lot of the other IVR firms. They weight by party I think, and they still have wild fluctuations. I don't really get it. If you're holding demographics constant, movement is hard. Not to say weighting by party is wrong - most public polls don't, most private polls do - but if you're going to do it, it should lead to stability rather than volatility, when Rasmussen bounces around more than other polls.

Who else does a poor job in your opinion?

PSUsarge wrote:Trump and his cronies are dumb like foxes - they know damn well what they're doing. You don't accidentally become president. So you'd think they'd HAVE to realize this, but I guess they're just tripling down and hoping for the best - or they DGAF if he gets reelected and are just planning to distract as much as possible from his legal troubles until he has time to GTFO after he cedes power.

I agree wholeheartedly. They are very smart. But there are limitations to their intelligence and to their strategy.

As to the latter, Trump has virtually no ability to attract using hope and positives. From the moment he started his candidacy trashing Mexican immigrants to his multiple negative attacks every day on perceived enemies, nothing he ever does appeals to the good, the decent, the hopeful which, however bad things may look, makes up by far the majority of humankind. Even the signature initiatives he ran on were either about tearing something down (Obamacare) or dividing people (“The Wall”). And, of course, it doesn’t help his cause they he hasn’t been able to deliver on his promises.

His brand of negative, divisive politics can be effective in the short term as we’ve seen but in the long run it is tiresome rather than inspiring and wears on people rather than attracts them.

As for his intelligence and that of those around him, we shouldn’t underestimate the dulling effects of surrounding oneself with sycophants, creating the legendary WH bubble, unfettered pride and hubris. Such limitations have doomed greater, smarter people than Trump.

that's well said, jfl.