Fauci On Why Trump Backed Off Quarantine | Talking Points Memo

[paul_lukasiak]

The fact that Trump had to be dragged kicking and screaming from doing something he has no power to do (quarantine states) is bad enough.

But Fauci has to stop pretending that this was the result of some kind of “intensive debate” in which intelligent people discussed alternatives. There should have been no debate, because the idea itself was completely ridiculous – and Fauci’s framing of the “discussion” legitimizes what should be considered completely absurd.

Fauci also feeds into the “its the New Yorkers fault” narrative by saying that 56% of new infections are “coming from” New York. 56% of new confirmed case diagnoses are coming out of new york, in large part because of agressive testing. But we have no idea where these infections are “coming from” – most likely, a lot of these cases are coming from Louisiana and Florida.

Fauci knows better – he knows that by now, New Yorkers are already completely hunkered down. If he wants to have an impact on the spread of the virus, shut down Florida.

[sonsofares]

Oh, even he will succumb to the even deadlier virus that’s infected the entire government. It’s only a matter of time.

[pablointhegazebo]

Two if you count Gov. Cuomo.

[pshah]

Fauci went on to mention that about 56 percent of all new infections in the country are coming from the New York City area, which he said is “terrible suffering” for the people of New York and feels that personally as a native New Yorker.

How does he know this when other areas of the country haven’t done sufficient testing? As he somehow thrown in a “correction” factor? Forgive me, I’m no statistician.

[leftcoaster]

after “very intensive discussions” at the White House with the President last night.

This means lot of yelling and no doubt in my mind that Stephen Miller was involved in the idea to quarantine NY,CT, and NJ. This would be kids in cages multiplied by millions.

[tmulcaire]

Over the last three years Trump has gotten rid of every capable person in his administration–every person who valued reality over Trump’s ego. Now, this crisis has by happenstance forced him into working with at least one such individual, Fauci.

I’m afraid that the lesson to be drawn is that Fauci’s days are numbered. As deaths reach the tens of thousands, soon, the pressure on Trump to revert to form will be enormous. He will go on the attack: “New York/California/Washington is sending us their worst, sick, infected, dirty people, and all they want to do is infect you and your family.” Build that wall!

I wish I was just being snarky, but I’m afraid not.

[ralph_vonholst]

“What you don’t want is people traveling from that area to other areas of the country and inadvertently and innocently infecting other individuals,” Fauci said.

Of course not! Why have brusque New Yorkers traveling hither and yon spreading viruses when we can have snowbirds, crazy dude bro students on spring break and native Floridians transport it from Florida.

[sharong]

One thing worth noting- if you go to coronavirus.gov, the photo on the page has Fauci at the microphone and Trump is not in the picture.

[pshah]

You know what this means though? Once Trump finds out Fauci is taking credit for talking some sense into him, he’s going to revisit the idea and do the stupidest thing possible. It’s a clear pattern for him.

[leftcoaster]

This is probably confirmed cases. NY may have a greater supply of the tests and reagents than others.

[pablointhegazebo]

At least the schools are closed.

[ralph_vonholst]

As deaths reach the tens of thousands, soon, the pressure on Trump to revert to form will be enormous. He will go on the attack:

Or perhaps he’ll crawl under the bed fold himself into a fetal position with his thumb in his mouth and stay there for the duration. Even Trump has a limit.

[raph]

I hear your concern, but I honestly think Fauci is the one person who has more leverage over Trump than the other way around. There are others with serious military or law enforcement credibility (Comey, McMaster, Vindman, etc) which is why it makes sense to consider that ETTD may have no limit, but I think it actually does.

[justruss]

Have you seen the creepy social distancing video, collected from cell phone tracking? It showed the mobbing at the beaches and then the dissemination across the country as the same people traveled back. If that data is real, then closing the doors is far too late anyway. It is down to the individual to reduce their footprint and exposure.

[maximus]

Two if you count Gov. Cuomo.

Agreed, it’s most governor’s and mayor’s doing the heavy lifting. Others, not so much.

[pshah]

So it’s misleading, because without proper testing capabilities, we’re flying blind. Did he make that caveat? If not, I wish he hadn’t said that because he’s unintentionally making NY look bad when they’re actually doing the right thing.

Red states numbers are woefully undercounted is my point.

[raph]

if you go to coronavirus.gov, the photo on the page has Fauci at the microphone and Trump is not in the picture.

That is interesting, and of course done on purpose.

[noonm]

Bingo

COVID-19 is out of control everywhere. It’s just WA, CA, NY who’ve done enough testing to prove it yet.

This temperature/fever map from Kinsa is an ominous warning for Florida.

[becca656]

I recently (yesterday) found out the Wisconsin is not performing sufficient testing.

[raph]

Here’s the most recent version of that map (from healthweather.us):