Saturday, May 23, 2020

More Indications of Trump's Mental Deterioration


More Things Which Highlight Trump’s Mental Deficiency

        Asked on May 5th, how USA Covid testing compared to other nations on a per capita basis, he said this: “You know, when you say “per capita” there’s many per capitas. It’s, like per capita relative to what? But you can look at just about any category and we’re really at the top, meaning positive on a per capita basis too.”

          You really can’t make this shit up. Per capita has one and only one definition: “per unit of population: by or for each person”. Period. In the case of Covid testing, the data is aggregated by a larger grouping of tests (per 1000 persons), since no nation has tested all their people. This is still a “per capita” ratio, multiplied by a thousand.  Since this quote is from May 5th, the numbers of US tested per 1000 population was far lower than yesterday (May 23) when I looked up the actual numbers. By May 22 numbers Trump is still off the rails. We have tested a lot of people, but we have lots to test. Reducing this to a “reductio ad absurdum” example: Iceland has tested 17.6% of its entire population, but we're "better" although we've tested about 3.7% of our population? Yes, we have tested more, but not on a per capita basis. As of May 22, numerous European nations have tested more individuals per capita than the USA.   South Korea, which Trump cites as doing a lot, has tested less than half, per capita that of the USA!

        As a self-proclaimed genius who graduated from Wharton, this moron categorically does not know the definition of “per capita.” Of course, since he spoke, he lied about his educational prowess too. Donald Trump was not even an “honors” grad. The graduation program lists all scholars who distinguished themselves by maintaining a B average or better (Cum Laude or Magna cum Laude). Trump is not on the list, he was nowhere near the top of his class, as he has falsely proclaimed. 

       Fortunately for the truth seekers, when he had his lawyer threaten Penn, Wharton and the College Board with lawsuits if ever they revealed any academic transcripts or SAT score, he forgot about the graduation ceremony program

       Next case: as a series of generally ludicrous assertions we have:

        The Oval Office conference claim that U.S. officials and scientists are working as quickly as possible to produce a coronavirus vaccine, and Trump asserted that he’s in charge of its development in “Operation Warp Speed.”    In charge? Really. Where is his lab?

        This is the same moron who did an “on mike” speculation that inhaling a disinfectant might work. Same guy different day, a statement which made it evident that, at least in the moment, he wasn’t sure about the difference between a “palliative treatment” (antiviral remdesivir), an anti-malarial “preventive “oral  medication, since debunked as ineffective, (hydroxychloroquine),  and a vaccine, as yet to be developed, which is a preventive, not a treatment.  Of course, Trump, always the “American exceptionalism” trumpeter, failed to mention the promising British vaccine, developed at Oxford, already in human trials.   

        Perhaps the most bizarre recent example of Trumpian devolution can be found in his own words, as entered by his own thumbs: On Thursday, May 21, the grand Cheetoh tweeted this:   
“Many will disagree, but @FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd. Sure, there are some truly GREAT people on Fox, but you also have some real ‘garbage’ littered all over the network, people like Dummy Juan Williams, Schumerite Chris Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others. They repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points and lies. All of the good is totally nullified, and more. Net Result = BAD! CNN & MSDNC are all in for the Do Nothing Democrats! Fox WAS Great!”

       Having never watched Fox News for more than 15 seconds due to a sensitive gag reflex, I don’t know precisely what triggered this, but I love it. If Fox is injecting even a scintilla of truthful reportage into their news programming that means some of the die-hard MAGA folks may at least be exposed to some reality. It’s a start.  

        And finally, for today:

        Trump’s continued firing of Inspectors General of the various government agencies is causing the bodies to pile up. It should bother any true believer in Constitutional  government and its implicit “checks and balances”,  that the White House simply paves the way to more abuses of power by “canning” those who might point them out as their mandate requires. Loyalty of these folks is pledged to the Constitution, not any individual.

         Trump definitely sees it otherwise. The latest casualty is (now former) State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he asked President Donald Trump to remove Linick because the independent watchdog was "undermining" the department and wasn't performing in a way that the top US diplomat wanted him to. I guess there’s “independent” and then there’s the Trump administration’s ass covering obfuscation. So why did Linick have to go?

       A Democratic aide on Capitol Hill elaborated that the inspector general's office "was looking into the secretary's misuse of a political appointee at the Department to perform personal tasks for himself and Mrs. Pompeo."  (You know, such as having an individual paid to do the public’s job, go walk the Pompeo family dog?) Linick had been on the job since 2013 and had recently issued reports criticizing some Trump appointees of retaliating against career public servants. And there we have it. criticize any aspect of Trump behavior and hit the bricks!

        In recent weeks, the president also removed Michael Atkinson as inspector general of the intelligence community, as well as Glenn Fine, who had been named to oversee the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Not everyone remained silent on the issue:

        Senator Chris Murphy, (D-Ct) “tweeted” “if Inspector General Linick was fired because he was conducting an investigation of conduct by Secretary Pompeo, the Senate cannot let this stand.”

        Two Republican Senators, Mitt Romney of Utah and Charles Grassley of Iowa. also pushed back on Saturday. “The firings of multiple IGs without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose,” Romney said on Twitter, calling it a “threat to accountable democracy.”  Grassley said in a statement that “a general lack of confidence” in an IG “simply is not sufficient to satisfy Congress.”

        November approaches. Don’t miss the opportunity to end the bleeding!        

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