“If the message were to go out with complete objectivity, it would be disastrous for Trump. So, he is doing his best to prevent experts from speaking out or using their expertise, and he’s simply trying to divert attention… It will work for some people, but he can’t get over the fact that many, many people are dying — and they’re dying on his watch. Too many people are dying, and that’s the fact that he can’t cover up however much he tries.”
—Political science professor Max Skidmore, on Donald Trump’s efforts to silence officials who disagree with him, downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, and to dismiss statistics that don’t square with his demands to reopen the economy.
Louisiana Voice 
One thing he can be counted on to do is discredit the data. It is a tried and true tactic he has used successfully with his supporters in the past and will work for him again. He will say, and they will believe, that many deaths attributed to the virus were from other causes, but counted that way as part of the vast conspiracy to unseat him.
Well, Mr. Winham, if there is a “vast conspiracy to unseat him” I would love to know where I can join. I want to help. Maybe some Trump supporter can give me the information.
And, so it begins:
CJ, Start with CNN and MSNBC. Just keep watching those great information sources. Or, join Nancy Pelosi on twitter. Another great source of facts ! That is the lead in the movement you seek. Maybe you can send some money to Nancy as well. We do not want her to run low on chocolate ice cream !
Stephen, so true. Senator Warren’s father was a victim of corona virus. He was only 86 and a several year cancer patient, but the virus is what got him finally. And Joe Biden reported that over 600,000 had died because of Trump, so it must be true ( a reporter did correct him, but I found it amusing just the same).
Every death is tragic in its’ own right. I fail to see why this should be political in any way. Trump could stop this no more than anyone else around the world has, especially in a free society.And as one who did not support Obama, the swine flu/SARS deaths were not his fault either.
Zoe, When a President is involved, politics is always part of the story. And we agree that no one can stop a pandemic. However, the action of President Obama and impeached trump when informed that there was a potentially serious pandemic on the way were different. President Obama promptly declared an emergency and used what had been learned from prior pandemics to minimize the impact on the citizens of the USA.
Before there was a pandemic, impeached trump shut down the pandemic response office in the White House, reduced funding to the CDC and reduced staffing, at least in China where several prior pandemics had originated. When impeached trump was informed with increasing certainty and urgency from early November through January, that a pandemic was on the way and it could be very serious, even disrupting the economy, he did nothing. His administration refused to buy the available coronavirus tests, even after the CDC messed up their initial test development efforts. His administration stopped other labs from developing tests so the USA has been flying blind throughout this process. Some of us think he didn’t want tests because he didn’t want anyone to know how bad it was.
He never, ever consulted the response plans developed by the Obama administration. For example, it has been reported that one of the first steps in those plans is to ramp up production of PPE. Lack of PPE has cost lives.
In his public comments, he consistently took a wildly optimistic view, saying that every thing was under control. He seemed to believe that if he ignored the problem, it would magically go away. All these things interfered with our ability to respond to the crisis.
The short summary is that President Obama responded quickly and effectively and impeached trump responded very slowly and incompetently.
Zoe, you have asked what impeached trump could have done better in responding to this crisis, aside from generally following the Obama response manual. The answer is to:
1. Have sufficient testing so even non-symptomatic victims can be identified, especially for critical situations like people in dense living and working situations: Nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, meat packing plants et cetera.
2. Isolate people with positive tests.
3. Identify and trace the people the victim interacted with and test them.
This is what impeached trump is doing at the White House now that several staff members have tested positive. Many experts are saying that we should be able to do this before we open up the economy. But that option is not being talked about for everyone because we don’t have sufficient testing available. Some governors and others will do limited tracing but it should be everybody, everywhere.
Oh, Ms. Zoe, before we go attacking Joe Biden on his accuracy -forgetting all about Trump’s 18,000 plus lies – let’s also get make sure you get your facts straight. It was Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s BROTHER who died. Not her father.
Don’t confuse ’em with facts.
I know Fredster…but if she would watch CNN or MSNBC she would have known that.