I appreciate your thoughtful post, reminiscing about a lot of the great things Trump did while he was President, and there were a lot. I was a huge supporter of his at one time too, as my posting history shows, even at times creating Live threads for his rallies.
But my feelings about him started changing during covid, and have continued to evolve especially in the post mortem analysis we are still going through, that bray focuses on today. Take a look at the comment I singled out above. I’ve posted links showing that it was the Trump administration that re-enabled the gain of function testing that had been blocked. And I’m not letting China off the hook, but we were an active participant, if not the driver for the gain of function research that was being done there.
Trump knew all this, but still trotted Fauci out there in front of us every day. He never stopped the gain of function research either, when he could have before leaving office, just as Obama had. Instead, he publicly just acts as if it doesn’t exist, even though it’s one of the most dangerous things being done in the world by anyone.
I can understand if some think this issue just isn’t that big, but it is for me. I think the whole world, mankind itself, is still at risk. If not from man made viruses, but also from the panic that we saw that led to the shutdown of travel and our entire economy, and eventually the forced DNA-modifying shots on millions, etc.
This is the quintessential issue of our time. Bray touches on that today, and has before. But there’s still too many who want to paint Trump as a victim in all this, when he was, and more importantly still is, an active participant on the side of gain of function, and the vaccines.
An interesting comment that, So that leaves us with WHO to support in 2024 - UNIPARTY (A.K.A. DeSantis, Pence, etc.) or Trump with his faults
It isn’t a choice between painting Trump as a victim versus an active participant.
Both are false.
We live in horrible times where people willingly lie, spread falsehoods and are happy to see the suffering of others, sometimes for no reason at all but that it please them. The only true difference between now and prior ages is the ability to do this across the globe simultaneously to billions of people.
No matter, I’d still take Trump back over any of the last many Presidents save Reagan, and even he had some rough spots.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I hear you and assume you are speaking with bona fides and not out to pin things on Trump. I see your point, but feel that Trump himself set up the Covid Task Force and placed VP Pence in charge (who in turn got outmaneuvered by Fauci and Birx). And Fauci endeavored to (a) cover his own butt, (b) get wealthier and (c) force any blame to fall on Trump to drive him out of office. I do see Trump as a victim of Fauci’s dishonesty in promoting bio-weapon research and his quibbling about “gain of function” or weaponizing (debated with Sen Rand Paul), for Trump to have reasonably been able to discern the potential pitfalls. Fauci was always conniving and deceitful, and actually maniacal where he himself decried “But it is worth the risks!”. We can’t pin blame on Trump to the level you propose.
Understand completely, but you are letting the coup win. Until there is another fighter like Trump, it is Trump. He delegated Pence to oversee it which was a mistake which he was too trusting of what he was up against.
The entire world was in a state of panic. Trump had to depend on the expertise of the USG like the FDA, CDC, NIH, and people like Fauci. Dissent was squashed by Big Tech, the MSM, Big Pharma, and Deep State. Trump brought in Scott Atlas to hear a different viewpoint, but he was vilified as well. I doubt any President would have had the courage to go against the collective wisdom of the Establishment and its many allies.
I have never heard Trump defend gain of function research. Trump was attacked unmercifully by the "Resistance" even before he took office. He was spied upon by the FBI and Intel community. There were two impeachments, the Russia Hoax, etc. that consumed much of his time and energy. Covid was just another crisis in the long list of weapons the opposition used against him. And Trump is still being attacked incessantly.
I knew about this in the beginning of 2019. I got horribly sick for several days.
Did you know about it then?