Fox Lies, Trump Buys, People Die
There’s disturbing news on the coronavirus front. Fox news contributors, apparently egged on by their billionaire idols, are saying it’s time to put this whole prevent defense behind us.
Thar’s gold in them thar hills, if only business can return to normal they say, where private equity funders and their ilk can bleed the nation dry by gutting out what’s left of our private and public sectors. More money for the one percent is the thing that floats their boats.
Buoyed by reports of the rate of new infections slowing down in regions with high media concentration --nevermind that rural America is getting walloped-- President Trump's favorite TV personalities at Fox are unanimous in their assertions that the worst is behind us, and it’s time to open America up again.
On the same evening that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pointed out that an American was dying every 45 seconds, Fox News Tucker Carlson was essentially reporting that the crisis is over: "That short term crisis may have passed. We'll see but it looks like it may have."
https://twitter.com/existentialfish/status/1247707885536268291?s=20
As Bloomberg points out:
...with encouraging signs that the outbreak has plateaued in New York after an aggressive but economically costly social-distancing campaign, President Donald Trump and his top economic advisers are once again boldly talking about returning Americans to work.
“We’re looking at the concept where we open sections of the country and we’re also looking at the concept where you open up everything,” Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News on Tuesday night.
Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said earlier Tuesday on Fox News that reopening might begin within four to eight weeks.
“We are coming down, I think, the home stretch, that’s what the health experts are telling us,” he said at a White House event. “Once we can reopen this thing, I think it’s going to be very successful.”
Head cheerleader Sean Hannity has the story down pat, as Greg Sargent notes at the Washington Post:
Hannity’s strategy, of course, is Trump’s strategy. Trump has already telegraphed that, however extensive the eventual coronavirus damage in American deaths and economic carnage, Trump will take credit for having kept it to that supposed minimum.
This requires memory-holing Trump’s catastrophic refusal to take coronavirus seriously for weeks and weeks, and instead substituting a narrative in which he acted decisively throughout.
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1247903456817381377?s=20
A more realistic view is held by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who used his daily briefing Tuesday to speak about the weeks ahead.
But the sliver of optimism comes with a dose of reality for California’s nearly 40 million residents who are trapped in their homes for the foreseeable future: It will likely be the beginning of June, not May, before there is even a chance of easing the restrictions.
“As the curve comes down, it means the peak is pushed further out,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly. “We anticipate needing additional ventilators down the road into next month and into June.”
While wildly optimistic projections have called for a peak of infections in mid- to late-April, both Newsom and Ghaly threw cold water on that notion Tuesday. For California, it will likely be late-May before the surge recedes and numbers of new infections, hospitalizations and ICU patients begin to decrease.
Instead of wild-eyed predictions about a booming economy (not going to happen) as the president and his entourage are promoting, Newsom is using his platform to express concerns about how the people of California are faring, along with announcing the state would be sharing resources with other states.
He brought out California's Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, to announce a series of guides to help people manage stress during this time of crisis.
From KQED:
Burke Harris urged Californians to exercise, eat right, get enough sleep and try to still connect — albeit virtually — to their social support networks.
"Safe, stable and nurturing relationships help to protect our brains and bodies from the harmful effects of stress and adversity," she said.
She announced two "playbooks" that rely on evidence-based guidance for how to relieve stress. One is for everyone; the second is for parents and caregivers.
Newsom urged Californians to stay optimistic — and to help themselves by helping others.
The conservative media, including Fox, the Washington Examiner, and the National Review, are working to spread outrage by reporting that Newsom considers undocumented immigrants to be human beings and may funnel some assistance towards those impacted by the nationwide shutdown.
Some Republicans in California have already spoken out against the measure.
“I see the state of California and its budget as a house of cards, and with this coronavirus-induced recession, I’m just trying to figure out where the money would come from,” said state Sen. John Moorlach. “I would say helping undocumented would be a luxury item.”
https://twitter.com/CaroleMyers/status/1248015868996411392?s=20
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