Isn't it striking that Trump would put this slavishly loyal nonentity in a classic "guaranteed to fail" situation? This does smell like a prelude to an execution.
Posts: 12759 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
Originally posted by Piano*Dad: Isn't it striking that Trump would put this slavishly loyal nonentity in a classic "guaranteed to fail" situation? This does smell like a prelude to an execution.
Is that different from Obama putting Biden in charge of pushing gun control reform right after Sandy Hook?
I did not think Obama was setting Biden up to fail then, I do not think Trump is setting Pence to fail now. In both cases, I see no problem having the VPOTUS leading an effort to deal with a looming national crisis.
Ax, it's not that he's setting Pence up to fail. He's just setting up his fall guy in case things go south. Or at least that's what Trump's prior actions would seem to indicate he would be likely to do; in his mind he does everything perfectly, and it's someone else that screwed up and he proclaims exactly that, often and loudly.
In this case, he can't fire the offender, though.
Let's hope Pence listens to public health experts this time around. He didn't do that when he was governor of Indiana during an HIV epidemic. It wasn't pretty.
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38223 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
Originally posted by Piano*Dad: Isn't it striking that Trump would put this slavishly loyal nonentity in a classic "guaranteed to fail" situation? This does smell like a prelude to an execution.
Is that different from Obama putting Biden in charge of pushing gun control reform right after Sandy Hook?
I did not think Obama was setting Biden up to fail then, I do not think Trump is setting Pence to fail now. In both cases, I see no problem having the VPOTUS leading an effort to deal with a looming national crisis.
No, I don't think these are similar situations at all. Biden was put in charge of a political effort. Its "failure" was highly probable, and the failure was itself a political event that solidified Democratic messaging for future elections. Biden's own efforts, frustrated by real humans on the other side, also became part of his political resume, as we see in his current responses to Sanders even today.
If and when Covid-19 becomes a fact of life, Pence can become a scapegoat for the boss to escape responsibility and rise above it.
Posts: 12759 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
Our president had to be going crazy over a problem that involves both declining stock prices and germs. This is the guy, after all, who thinks shaking hands is “barbaric,” who is followed around by aides bearing sanitizer. During his press conference he told the story of a fever-ridden supporter who gave him a hug. Do you think it was an apocryphal fantasy? Either way, the idea has been haunting him forever.
Meanwhile, he’s come up with a totally new explanation for the stock market skid. It turns out investors were not frightened so much by the pandemic as the Democratic debate.
“I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves,” Trump told reporters.
Plus that virus thing is … not necessarily a big deal. What really “shocked” him, Trump said, was his discovery that “the flu in our country kills 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year.”
So the problems are the Democrats and the flu. The answers are Mike Pence and … reminding the public once again that Nancy Pelosi’s district has a big homeless problem.
Earlier in the day Trump argued, via tweet, that despite the expressions of concern by the evil media and “incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades,” the government is perfectly prepared to handle the coronavirus. Which he misspelled “caronavirus.” But nobody’s perfect.
The president had been saying everything is totally under control for some time. (“It’s one person coming in from China.”) The whole administration picked up the cry. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, 82, overcame his habit of dozing off at meetings long enough to tell Fox Business Network that the disease would “accelerate the return of jobs” from overseas.
Trump totally agrees. “What it’s gonna do is keep people home, and they’re going to travel to places we have,” he said.
See? The virus thing is a bonus.
quote:
The run-up to the Pence unveiling had not been exactly calming for citizens who wanted to have faith in competent White House oversight. Barack Obama used to have special epidemic-watching groups just in case this kind of crisis developed. One was headed by the highly regarded Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, who got sent packing by John Bolton. Another infectious disease expert, Tom Bossert, suddenly vanished from the Department of Homeland Security in 2018, presumably also at the hand of John You-know-who.
quote:
Virus Week hasn’t really provided a whole lot of comfort to citizens who wanted to believe the president’s replacements were super high quality.
The nation got its first real look at Chad Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary, who appeared before a Senate subcommittee and admitted he had no idea how the virus was transmitted among humans, exactly how dangerous it was, or … pretty much anything.
When Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican not known for anti-administration bias, asked whether the country had enough respirators to deal with a coronavirus epidemic, Wolf answered in the affirmative.
“We just heard testimony that we don’t,” Kennedy responded.
“OK,” said Wolf.
To be fair, he’s only been on the job since November. He’s the fifth head of Homeland Security Trump’s had in the last three years. Good thing he has a deputy — or at least an acting deputy — to help. That would be Ken Cuccinelli, who made news this week when he went on Twitter to ask for tips on how to find an online map of coronavirus sites posted by Johns Hopkins University. (“Here’s hoping it goes back up soon.”)
Losing faith in presidential appointees for health protection? Stop being so negative. They’re all vetted by the Presidential Personnel Office, which is now headed by John McEntee, 29, who was previously fired from another White House job because of concerns about a history of gambling problems and tax issues.
McEntee will be getting plenty of help from other stellar appointees, the newest being a 23-year-old college undergraduate. Together they’re going to be cleaning house, getting rid of folks who are insufficiently loyal to the president. Or maybe aren’t qualified or something. Never can tell.
Also part of the new coronavirus response team is Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services — a veteran cabinet member and experienced former pharmaceutical lobbyist.
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Azar was asked if he’d consider using some of the billions of dollars in funds for Trump’s border wall to help combat the current health crisis.
Azar just chuckled. Actually, people, this is probably not a theme we ought to be pursuing. Chances are, if the president is encouraged to mix the subjects of coronavirus and Mexico walls, he’ll suddenly announce that we need a barrier much bigger and thicker and more expensive, so it can stop the flow of immigrant germs.
There's a proposed 16% cut to the CDC budget, too....wonder if they'll rethink that...
Originally posted by Piano*Dad: Isn't it striking that Trump would put this slavishly loyal nonentity in a classic "guaranteed to fail" situation? This does smell like a prelude to an execution.
Is that different from Obama putting Biden in charge of pushing gun control reform right after Sandy Hook?
I did not think Obama was setting Biden up to fail then, I do not think Trump is setting Pence to fail now. In both cases, I see no problem having the VPOTUS leading an effort to deal with a looming national crisis.
For the record, I have no problem with making Pence the titular head of this, obviously it'll still get run out of HHS but he'll add to the visibility and urgency.
Oh ****, I might need to take that back. It looks like this could be more about message control than management. The NIH, CDC, and HHS are supposed to funnel media requests through his office.
-------------------------------- If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
Posts: 33811 | Location: On the Hudson | Registered: 20 April 2005
