Trump shakes hands with acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, May 18, 2018. (Evan Vucci/AP)
In terms Trump would understand the head of the VA, Robert Wilkie, probably had to come up to him with tears in his eyes and say , “Sir, I’m sorry, sir. We don’t have enough body bags.”
Interesting side note in the story. FEMA paid $51 per bag when they bought 100,000. But you can get them for the low low price of $16.80 each if you get them from the Body Bag Store! Or just ignore social distancing rules and get one for free.
States with tight budgets have an alternative!
Due to extremely high demand for body bags during this COVID-19 pandemic, you may wish to consider our mortuary shrouds as a body bag alternative. From The Body Bag Store website.
I’m, sure Trump will find a way to get credit. “These are the best body bags. Very strong. Powerful body bags. When I came into office we had a broken body bag system. Now we are the top user of body bags for Covid-19 in the world!”
I read a letter yesterday that made my face go numb. Congress doesn’t know where critical pandemic supplies are going, what the criteria are for sending them, what gets sent to which states and who makes the final life or death decision about the supplies.
These two questions made the tips of my ear go numb.
Who are the members of the Supply Chain Stabilization Task Force?
Who makes the final decision on where and how many supplies to distribute to a particular area or state?
HHS and FEMA need to deliver the following information by Monday, April 27th.
No later than April 27, 2020 provide daily reports to the House Energy & Commerce Health, Oversight and Investigation subcommittee the following information:
The total number of the following supplies that the federal government has provided directly (including from the SNS) or directed distribution through other means (including through Project Airbridge) to each state, territory, and tribe to date, for each type of supply:
i. Ventilators
ii. N95 respirators
iii. Surgical masks
iv. Face shields
v. Gloves
vi. Gowns
vii. Federal medical station beds
The whole letter is mind blowing. They might know and want all of it in writing so they can nail them for breaking laws and rules. Or they DON’T know because the White House makes stuff up on the fly. They put Jared and unknown cronies in charge to compete with HHS and FEMA official groups. Whatever the reason, we can’t wait to know what’s happening with supplies and their allocation.
Trump rattles off big general numbers at his Press Rallies. This hides the detailed information that could prove that states he likes are taking priority over states with a greater need. The lack of details also hides what happened to supplies seized in one state. Which state was it sent to? Who decided? Why were supplies meant for the VA send to “our” National Stockpile.
The public needs to know this information so we can fix this right now. We need to use media, political, legal, financial and emotional leverage to make changes.
We need to know what the guidelines are before we can say HHS and FEMA are ignoring them. If life and death decisions are being made based on childish vendettas, political calculations and/or profit motives I want that to stop right now.
Congress investigates to get proof, which is important, but my cynical human side has seen how Trump has evaded responsibility and asks, “So what? They proved it. Now what? How do we stop them and make changes before more people die?”
Next check to see if people from your state are on these committees.
Maybe a congressperson from your Red state is on the health committee. If you live in Atlanta you can tweet to Earl L. “Buddy” Carter from Georgia @RepBuddyCarter Tweet to him and ask if his committee is being ignored by HHS and FEMA.
This strategy is important because of the need to push from multiple directions.
We need to let people in states that are being deprived of supplies know about it so their Republican leaders from that state can make calls to Trump (since he ignores Democrats).
Widen the outrage pool. Get this info to Fox watchers
Imagine Ainsley Earhardt of Fox and Friends hearing about her friends being punished for living in a state with a Democrat governor. How could she say something that wouldn’t upset Donald and encouraged more supplies for all no matter the party of the Governor? I think it could go like this:
“My friend Lindsey (who owns four of the sandwich chainChicken Salad Chick) is really looking forward to opening up her stores in Florida but is upset that several states that have stores can’t open up because they don’t have the supplies they need because they happen to live in a state with a Democrat governor. The sooner every state gets supplies the sooner they can all open up!”
I know that hip urban types like Sam Seder and almost vegans like David Feldman don’t care about Chicken Salad Sandwich stores but many people do. And since Fox and Friends is the most powerful show on TV right now, it’s one way to get a message through.
Ainsley Earhardt of Fox and Friends with her friends Lindsey and Cindy at the grand opening of Lindsey’s Chicken Salad Chick store in Florida.
Without public guidelines the White House, HHS and FEMA can take actions that can be explained away later. (“It was a miscommunication… What we meant to do was.. We never technically ignored them.”
We need to see emails and all communications including phone and video calls so we can find out if people were following directives from Jared or a secret members of the Supply Chain Task Force.
We know people take actions based on what they assume Trump wants. (“Florida is critical to the President’s 2020 re-election. Send them twice what they want.” ) Trump doesn’t have to order people to act on their own initiative, which allows Trump to deny he is responsible. But in the absence of public guidelines and transparency we won’t know what is going where and why.
We know how the Trump White House works. They will hide, stall and get Barr to weasel word the law to cover for Trump. Individuals will lawyer up and hide. But the people who can be pressured with this don’t have to be at the very top like Trump. Pressure needs to start three steps below him first. Those people have lots of communications that are incriminating. And they aren’t happy being patsies for mass death.
If we can prove people are making corrupt deals there can be changes right now. We know that Trump will throw everyone under the bus before he is touched. There should be consequences for them later but hopefully we can get some information out of them before their bus arrives.
Trump wants to measure how he’s doing on this pandemic based on the numbers he chooses. To counter this we must use metrics that come from doctors not Nielsen. Then we frame Trump’s chosen numbers with numbers that show his failures.
Trump has always picked the numbers he wants to measure his success. First he wanted it to be inauguration attendees. The media pushed back Sean Spicer so hard he had to go on Dancing With The Stars for not being a good enough liar. Next Trump used numbers the media couldn’t deny, like the electoral college vote. When the stock market was up it was tweet, tweet, tweet! When unemployment was down? He bragged about it in every rally, especially in a category that he was weak in–African American support.
Thursday he picked a number he believes shows he is winning the fight against the coronavirus. TV ratings. I’m not going to let him, so I’ve physically–and linguistically–started framed the metric he chose with one the people care about.
Picking a number you are a leader in is a classic technique used by marketing and PR people for decades.
Find a category you are winning in.
Show how your product is winning–as compared to others that YOU select.
Find an organization/company that shows that your product is winning in that category. If you can’t find a company that shows your product leading the category you picked, commission a company to prove it.(Some market research
firms are good for this, especially those that let you pick the questions & audience.)
Get those winning numbers to the media so THEY repeat them. “Research Group says, Product T is the winner in X, Y & Z!!”
Repeat the headline from media stories that use Research Group numbers–because most people only read headlines.
Trump regularly uses this technique and changes his metric when it suits him. Friday he was bragging about the market going up again.
So how do we combat this?
Determine what SHOULD be the measurement of success or failure from people and institutions we trust. .
For example go to CDC to count the spread and the dead. Back it up with supporting data as it comes in. Use data that people need to know now and in the future. What’s the percent tested in a community vs. total numbers?
Get those numbers to the media. Use them regularly and consistantly. Keep updating charts and graphs.
Break out what the numbers mean and give context. Because Trump will claim credit for what was done by others it’s important to show who did what when, both good and bad.
Detail what Trump’s failures and successes mean. For example, he’s always bragging about the travel restrictions from China. It started January 31 but It was ONLY for Chinese nationals. He says it so often with out caveats people think it was great.
To remind everyone how weak those restrictions were we must keep inserting numbers that put his brag numbers in context. For example, every time he brags about the China travel ban a pop up should say:
40,000 Americans and other authorized travelers came IN FROM CHINA following the travel restrictions.
Most passengers arrivedin January at airports in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Newark, Chicago and Detroit.
“Thousands of them flew directly from Wuhan,” the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak”If passengers are screened and show no symptoms they will be re-booked to their final destination and asked to “self-quarantine” inside their home, DHS says. “Once back in the U.S., it’s imperative that individuals honor self-quarantine directives to help protect the American public,” DHS acting Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement. NY Times
Why did the death rates not go up as quickly in California as other locations? How much of that was because of the actions of city mayors and Governor Newsom? What else is a factor? These all need to be measured to compare with other states and put into a national context. What’s the number of dead vs alive because of Trump? We can figure out those numbers.
Can we force the White House to do this? The media will always first deal with the White House’s chosen number (that’s if the White House puts out numbers at all).But we can’t just wait for the White House to put out the numbers the people want to know and care about.
But we need more. There needs to be simple charts and ways to show the data that reaches everyone, and that’s difficult, especially people who are in the Fox News media bubble. We need to get through to the people in the 8 states who don’t have state-wide stay at home orders (shown in white).
Trump makes up some numbers and willfully misinterprets others. We know this and have been dealing with this, but the President also has people whose JOB it is to support misleading numbers. He has an entire media arm that will create a narrative to support his bogus numbers and downplay the important ones.
But some numbers are very powerful. Who died and who lived? Who is responsible? These might even get through to Fox News. But they get through to the rest of us. We need to help get the message out.
I can’t believe I have to say this, but the reality is we have to make it clear to the right wing media and the GOP that all human lives matter. Even theirs.
Soon we will have data on states that did NOT keep people apart and did NOT issue stay at home orders. I will share that data with a plea for people to act appropriately. Here’s what I will do and not do when it comes:
I WILL NOT gloat that Fox News watchers died. The network they followed featured Trump’s “hunches” instead of pandemic experts.
I WILL NOT cheer when people in Red States get sick. Even those who voted for Trump and kept supporting him.
What will I do? Keep pleading for them to listen to healthcare experts.
I want them to change their actions in order to save their lives. If they don’t, they might get sick and die. Part of that change is for them to understand that what Trump is saying and doing has made the situation worse.
Will they stop supporting him and change? Yes. Some will.I will welcome them to a community who believes in science. But some won’t.
If I’mwrong and they are right how will they respond? By mocking me. “See? I told you it wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn’t social distance and I’m fine! You lot destroyed the economy for nothing!”
I’m not sorry I tried to save their lives. I’m glad that they were lucky because of their remoteness or other circumstances that prevented them from getting sick. Maybe the actions that I took in my city and state early prevented them in their location from getting sick. That’sthe prevention paradox.
If they are wrong and I’m right they will expect me to act the same way towards them as they they would. But I won’t. Why? Because I don’t care about “winning” the argument they set up. I care about saving lives. I can logically prove I was right but it’s a hollow victory, especially if the people who I’m arguing with are no longer alive to concede. My human side knows the sadness of being right on this topic.
There’s no joy in saying, “I told you so” to a corpse.
On Tuesday March 24th in a Fox News Townhall, Trump said, “I’d love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” Perhaps Pence suggested Easter to symbolize America’s rebirth. No doubt Trump envisions himself coming out of the Tomb as our Messiah. He expects to resurrect the stock market–and his reelection chances.
Trump will taint Easter with his love of money over human life. It’s par for his course, just like his closed down golf courses.
I didn’t realize until today how corona closures have hit @realdonaldtrump’s biggest revenue generators. Six out of the top seven. (And the one that’s open is doing pretty bad, too). pic.twitter.com/9i6Sn97udm
What he’s [Trump] talking about “15 days and the doors are open”is like having a lead lined room next to the Chernobyl power plant and you fling open the doors and say. “Hey the flowers are still sprouting out there, it’s a sunny day I think it’s okay to go out.” It’s not okay to go out.
There are things you haven’t seen yet because so many people are getting infected but they’re not going to be hospitalized for on average another 10 days after they show symptoms.
What would it take for Trump to change his views?
It’s only going to be forced home in the same way that AIDS was forced home to Ronald Reagan after 4 years of not mentioning it by the death of his friend Rock Hudson. Something is going to have to wake the President up to the realization that this is a very serious danger including to him and his family.
Opening up America too soon is like walking out of a lead-lined rooms outside the Chernobyl power plant thinking that the invisible bullets have stopped and refusing to use a Geiger counter to test the radiation.
Experts have been pointing out the need to keep the social distancing measures in place. From Axios, Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said in a Twitter thread to drop all the measures in place would be to accept that coronavirus patients “will get sick in extraordinary numbers all over the country, far beyond what the U.S. health care system could bear.”
Anyone advising the end of social distancing now, needs to fully understand what the country will look like if we do that. COVID would spread widely, rapidly, terribly, could kill potentially millions in the yr ahead with huge social and economic impact across the country. 15/x
Inglesby went on: “To drop all these measures now would be to accept that COVID pts [patients] will get sick in extraordinary numbers all over the country, far beyond what the US health care system could bear.”
Trump playing God will kill people in his quest to resurrect “the economy” which he sees as a reflection of his will.
But as my friend Anat Shenker-Osorio explains, the economy is not an ungovernable force of nature. It’s not an entity to worship and sacrifice lives to. It is a system made by humans and we can make changes to that system to reflect our priorities.
If large numbers of people have to die in order for the economy to work, the economy doesn’t work.
“Trump’s economic advisers, including Steven Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow, channeled the views they were receiving from the business community that keeping the country shut down wasn’t worth the economic pain.” Kevin Liptak, CNN, March 24, 2020
Trump’s economic advisers want to kill people rather than modify a system. To paraphrase Charleston Heston, The economy is people. We can build our economy and help our people. The economy takes second place to a body count.
Trump is calling #COVID19 the Chinese Virus. To understand why he’s doing it and how best to react read Kurt Eichenwald’s great Twitter thread and Amanda Marcotte’s excellent article at Salon. Here are my thoughts for activists on what we can do about it.
Make Trump’s Racist Comments Unprofitable For Him.
Trump’s behavior changes when he knows it will impact him positively or negatively financially. Instead of hoping he will suddenly care about that Americans are endangered by his comments let’s use our understanding of his psyche and focus on what he cares about–money–then come up with multiple legal methods to take it away from him. The goal:
Make Trump’s businesses lose millions in revenue whenever he makes statements that reasonable people consider racist.
As Eichenwald points out, we know how Trump and the right plays the game of “trolling the Libs” then following it up with bad faith arguments and definitions.
2…the purpose was SPECIFICALLY (according to the political consultant’s strategy”) to lead non-scumbags to react “That’s racist!” Then they would sneer to their rabid supporters “Democrats bringing out the racism card! They cant even call it its real name just for politics!…
So how do we take away Trump’s money? The New York Times did a piece on how much this crisis is costing Trump. They point out that he is not personally invested as heavily in the stock market as others. “Trump Is Losing Money in the Markets, Too” March 14, 2020 by David Enrich.
Trump’s Finances Must Be Impacted Personally
1) Tank the value of his real estate. Trump’s money is in real estate. Who buys over-priced real estate? Rich people and money launderers. When you make money for rich people they let you do what you want–but with the crash they are pissed at him. They can direct their anger at him by reducing his income in the area where his personal fortune lies–real estate.
2) Target Trump’s Revenue Streams
Trump loves his golf courses. He is invested heavily in golf courses. Do any rich Chinese-Americans golf? Might they pause their memberships at his courses briefly to send a message? What about that course in Scotland that he turned into a overpriced gas station and mandatory rest stop for the military? Can we claw back some of the previous over priced gas? Stop current revenue? Ban future revenue?
3) Expose Who has Financial Leverage Over Trump
Are you a Chinese-American who has insider knowledge of Trump’s finances or where his revenue comes from? You could go to the media as a whistleblower but that takes time. Or you could do what he does.
Contact him directly and tell him what you know.
Ask him to stop calling it the Chinese Virus. If he does, nobody needs to know. If he doesn’t, well then you go the whistleblower route.
4) Levy Fines, Penalties and File Lawsuits On His Properties
There are multiple methods to reduce Trump’s revenue. Impose new fines and penalties. Are you a mayor in Miami who needs properties to house the sick? They were going to hold the G7 at Trump National Doral golf resort.
States can commandeer hotels to treat coronavirus patients. Trump’s National Doral gold Resort near Miami could house Florida’s sick, once the bedbugs are removed and it has been sanitized.
Why build hospitals when you have those lovely bungalows ready? Eminent domain is a thing in many states. Those golf course would be perfect! The point is to use multiple methods in multiple areas to reduce his revenues. You never know whose Fox News watching mother is going to die or just died because of something Trump’s said. Give those people a perfectly legal outlet for their anger.
5) Withhold Money
We know that Trump uses his properties to get cash from people who want favors from him. What if a wealthy Chinese person wants Trump to stop blaming the Chinese for his own mistakes? This person could just hint that a change in language would ensure Trump keeps getting millions in bribes re-election contributions.
Worried this might be illegal? To quote Mick Mulvaney, “This happens all the time! Get over it!” Also, if Trump ends up getting the money he won’t complain. It’s not like congress allocated the rich person’s money and by law couldn’t hold it up.
Do It Publicly
I say do all this publicly. I say use all legal methods. But that’s because I believe in the rule of law and I don’t have an army of lawyers, daddy’s money and my own personal AG to get me out of a jam.
However…rich and powerful people like to use their leverage privately. Prior to being President Trump did a LOT of private threatening of lawsuits and forced NDAs. so he knows how it works, but smart phones record everything and he shouts a lot on the phone. If Trump doesn’t stop making racist statements those tapes are released.
Some of these suggestions are for rich and powerful people. Why? Because I pay attention to WHO my target listens to and WHAT makes them change their behavior. Trump listens to rich people who have financial leverage over him because he cares about money.
Financially Hurt Trump the Person, not Trump the President If there is a move to reduce Trump’s personal finances he will whine and respond as if America is being attacked. To counter this it should be made clear that the actions are focused on reducing Trump the individual’s profits. Concurrently there should be humanitarian outreach to all Americans. The message is:
“Trump makes racist comments. We don’t want to punish the American people for this, so here are some good things for all of you. However, the financial pain on Trumppersonally and his businesses will continue until he stops with his racist comments.”
People are angry at Trump. They want to do something. This is an opportunity. Share this with your friends. Do you know any rich Chinese-American golfers? Multi-millionaires who can use their real estate holdings to punish Trump?
Be legal. Be polite.Be persistent If you are successful expect to be attacked. Prepare for the threats coming back. He brags about hitting back and punching down. Note the violent words he uses. Record the threats. Bring them to the media when they happen. There are lots of smart people who will help you.
Also, I want to STRONGLY condemn any suggestions of violence toward Trump or any members of his family.No jokes about violence either. Those who know me knowI’ve been fighting violent rhetoric from the right-wing media since 2005. De-funding them because of their violent rhetoric is a method that I have successfully used and it has made an impact on the entire industry. Act legally, non-violently and persistently. This is not Rwanda.
It will be hard to know if any of these financial pressures on Trump will stop him from making racist comments. The goal is to change his language because of the consequences to the rest of America. But even it they don’t change his language, if they cost him money that is a success, because that will hurt him.
If you really want to hurt Trump take away what he cares about most, his money.
When Warren dropped out it became the cue for the Biden vs. Sanders fight to begin.
The media LOVE a two person fight. The main stream media can do horse races and “Dems in Disarray!” stories.
The cable news can dig into the numbers of voters and delegates by percentage points and demographic and go back to 2016 numbers. (I watched Rachel Maddow question Bernie on specific numbers of voter percentages by demographics on Super Tuesday vs. 2016 for an hour last night.)
The right-wing media love to see democratic candidates fight each other and will hype old fights and emphasize new ones. They use the classic. “Let’s you and him fight.”
When I see this happening my first impulse is to ask three questions,
1) Who wants ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES TO FAIL?
Trump, the GOP establishment, Russian propaganda and Right Wing media.
2) What can we do to weaken THOSE people and groups?
Demand reinvigorated investigations into Trump’s crimes.
We have seen the democratic establishment slow down on investigating Trump’s crimes. They are giving a number of reasons like, “The conviction didn’t work, the public has investigation fatigue.” Some are giving the reason that the right wing uses to stop the investigation, “Let the public decide in the election.”
The election is MONTHS away. Trump is using EVERYTHING to slow and stop information from getting out. We can’t let old norms of letting information about criminal behavior be held up until after the election because of the potential to bias the voters.
Pushing hard on investigation now is important because the main stream media has bought into the right wing narrative and will be holding up info using the, “We can’t reveal new information this close to the election it might bias the voters!” We can’t let that happen.
3) Who is our true enemy?
One of the things we know is that it is easier to fight with people who are around us. Fighting with friends and family members can be especially brutal because they know us and know how to push our buttons. Lots of people don’t like conflict, especially if it involves people they love, and it is harder to take conflict with them verse people we hate or don’t care about.
Most people on the left aren’t going to go out and start arguing with supporters of Trump. They have already removed them from their Facebook feed. They don’t talk politics with them. So people go after the people that they see day to day.
To those people I want to say, when you start you discussion about one candidate vs. another stop and think, “Who can I attack on the right?” What group wants any Democratic candidate fail? What can I do now to weaken the right? Then make it specific action.
What action can I take TODAY to weaken the right instead of attacking my friends on the left?
During Trump’s press conference he said a vaccine would be developed “fairly rapidly”
Then Dr. Anthony Fauci went to the podium and said we are moving fast, but it will still take a year to a year and a half for a working vaccine.
I watched Trump’s eyes narrow as he figured out that Dr. Fauci had just contradicted him. It doesn’t matter that Dr. Fauci is one of the country’s leading experts on viruses and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. What mattered to Trump was it looked like he wasn’t in control.
With this White House it’s not about trying to figure out best how to stop the spread of the virus. It’s about how to stop the spread of “disloyalty” among people who work for Trump.
The next day in the New York Times we see how Trump punishes disloyalty, he told Pence to control the scientists and the message about the virus.
“Dr. Fauci has told associates that the White House had instructed him not to say anything else without clearance.”
Watch this video where Trump says the vaccine is coming along well and that it’s being developed very rapidly. Dr. Fauci explained that although the vaccine development is faster than ever before at the NIH, for them the term ‘rapidly’ means a year to a year and a half.
When I saw Trump’s reaction and the move made by Pence the next day to muzzle Dr. Fauci I instantly thought of my favorite scene from HBO’s Chernobyl. In it a scientist goes to a bureaucrat to warn him of the seriousness of the disaster and urges him to have the city evacuated.
Scientist: If you don’t immediately issue iodine tablets and then evacuate this city, hundreds of thousands of people are going to get cancer, and God knows how many more will die.
Bureaucrat: I’ve been assured there is no problem.
Scientist: I’m telling you that there is.
Bureaucrat: I prefer my opinion to yours.
Scientist: I’m a nuclear physicist. Before you were Deputy Secretary, you worked in a shoe factory.
Bureaucrat Yes, I worked in a shoe factory. And now I’m in charge. [raises glass in a toast] “To the workers of the world.”
Dr. Fauci is one of the country’s leading experts on viruses. He told the truth that we all need to hear. But he’s not talking because Trump retaliates against people who contradict him.
I just saw Dr. Fauci on Hardball, but according to Rep. John Garamendi, Dr. Fauci was told to cancel five Sunday talk show appearances.
Pence takes over #coronavirus messaging from health officials. Dr. Fauci was, told to cancel five Sunday talk show appearances, according to Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat who represents the district in California where the first “community spread” is believed to have happened.
If you haven’t seen the Chernobyl miniseries yet I highly recommend it. You should also listen to the podcast with the author Craig Mazin. In the podcast he talks about the central theme of the show, the cost of lies. Mazin says we can get away with a lie for a very long time, but the truth just doesn’t care.
The show documents the technical reasons for the Chernobyl disaster. But it also shows how lying and covering up the truth cost lives.
At the beginning of the disaster there was a lack of accurate information. But when the information was finally available people were afraid to communicate the truth. They downplayed the size and scope of the disaster. Because of this the response was delayed. Appropriate protective gear wasn’t available for workers. (Just like the HHS workers who processed the coronavirus evacuees )
The stories of the various workers who went in to stop a larger disaster and clean up the radioactive debris are heroic. The ones who knew it was a death sentence and went in anyway because they knew they were saving lives were especially heart breaking. But others got cancer and died because officials muzzled the people who knew the truth.
The last part of the clip from Chernobyl also struck me. The scientist is told by the bureaucrat that he’s not going to do anything. She leaves his office but before she goes she tells the secretary about the disaster, tells her to leave the city and to take the iodine pills she gives her. The message is, “Your boss is an incompetent idiot, so we’ll have to work around him to save lives.”
How many will die until Trump and his protectors in the GOP are forced out?
States with tight budgets have an alternative!
