History's Needle Is Stuck*

The CEO of a small ventilator company near Seattle has "received inquiries from a number of wealthy individuals hoping to buy their own personal ventilators, a fallback plan in case the American hospital system buckles."https://t.co/nDW5w3lfKh

— Kate Taylor (@katetaylornyt) March 18, 2020

So I spend the morning outside doing the Lord's work (actually, the lawn's work, but both start with "L" so close enough is good enough, right?  Well, in the Lord's clear air, okay?) and come inside to find the world still going to shit and the POTUS still going around in tighter and tighter circles.  But first:  it's money that matters!

NBC's Peter Alexander: "How are non-symptomatic professional athletes getting tests while others ... can't get them. Do the well-connected go to the front of the line? ... Should that happen?"

Trump: "No, I wouldn't say so, but perhaps that's been the story of life."

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 18, 2020

He's just the President in charge of the branch of government distributing and determining who gets tested.  What can he do about it?  Meanwhile, Trump speaks in public again:

Just as Trump and the WH task force are holding a briefing detailing the US response https://t.co/uEpypEcsP2

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 18, 2020

And at that point:

Dow erases all its gains since Donald Trump took office

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) March 18, 2020

Told his "credibility ratings" are very low, Trump says they're "very high," then falsely claims he's at 95% in the Republican Party, and says he's also beating "Sleepy Joe Biden" in Florida. (The reporter was referencing a poll result about how most people don't trust his info.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 18, 2020

A key takeaway of this press briefing is Birx saying they are hearing troubling reports from France about younger people getting sicker.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 18, 2020

And:

Important: Dr Birx warns that because of increased testing the curve trajectory will shoot up in the next 4-5 days as the number of those known to have confirmed cases increases -- and the number won't stabilize until next week.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 18, 2020

Not to worry, Dear Leader is content:

“We have very great approval numbers,” Trump says. “People like the job I’m doing.”

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 18, 2020

And he's very well informed:

The president was asked directly about this at the briefing and said he didn’t know of a report predicting 18 months. https://t.co/XxotQaeYtl

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 18, 2020

Rich people don't believe Pence, either:

Pence says there are "in excess of 10,000" ventilators currently in stockpile.

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 18, 2020

Or they can count, and know 10,000 is not that many in a country of 350 million.

Trump refers to himself as a “war time president” and says he sees this as a “war time” situation.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 18, 2020

MEOW (ask Russell Baker).  And remember yesterday, when Trump said he'd been on top of this pandemic before anyone was calling it a pandemic?  Trump doesn't, either:

Trump says the coronavirus "snuck up on us."

— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) March 18, 2020

War time presidents give problems nicknames to shame them.

Trump suggests again that he's calling it the Chinese virus to retaliate against China's conspiracy theories about the virus coming from the American military.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 18, 2020

Oh, good; battling international conspiracy theories.  That'll help in this crisis.
And in answer to this:

Is it really that important that the government appear to be “doing something” by spending trillions of new money in untried ways?

— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) March 18, 2020

This is why:

“I don’t agree with that,” Trump says when asked about Mnuchin telling Republicans yesterday that unemployment could rise to 20%.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 18, 2020

Just sayin'.  You can pretty much figure every elected official in D.C. is scared shitless by that number. Trump’s denial is not comforting them.

I have to get back to the garden....



*Ask yer grandpa!  Snot-nosed punks!