[EBH]

And you know what’s really frightening...

It’s being led by President Trump. I would have thought he wouldn’t fall for this type of stunt or even allow the destruction of the MAGA economy to this extent.

I am honestly more terrified of the future now than ever before. It many ways it is a future I don’t want to live to see.

[Alberta's Child]

President Trump has no choice but to appear presidential. He didn’t push this economy off the rails. It started when state/local governments and businesses and industries began imposing their own restrictions.

Once a panic gets started, government leaders are basically forced to react to it. Think of it this way:

Either the disease is a serious threat or it is not. A leader can either react or he can ignore it. That means there are four possible combinations of circumstances here.

1. If the threat is real and the government reacts to it, then the government is acting appropriately.

2. If the threat is real and the government ignores it, you will have political turmoil.

3. If there is no threat but the government reacts to it, then at least people feel confident that the government was being appropriately cautious.

4. If there is no threat and the government does nothing, then life just goes on.

So you see the political calculus at work here: In three of the four scenarios, the response to “Do something!” is the one with the most favorable political outcome.

[lilypad]

Perhaps this is a big experiment in case there is biological warfare in the future.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, I don’t blame President Trump (much). I think he’s doing the best balancing act possible at this time, given the forces against him.

I’m not terrified of the future, exactly, but I don’t like the way things are going at the moment, either.

[ManHunter]

Remember, the president is a notorious germophobe and, no matter what he does or fails to do, he’ll be crucified by the media. Witness the “hoax” meme and the criticism for imposing a travel ban on China, but not doing it soon enough in the case of Europe. Ergo, he’s taking the safe route because it’s his inclination to do so in such a case and because it’s likely to generate the least amount of criticism from both parties. It’s a damned shame that it’s destroying our economy at the same time and the longer it goes on, the longer it’ll take to recover.