Trump Tweets or Not for Thursday’s Open Thread

May 7, 2020 12:09 pm EDT Tiff Trump Tweets (Open Thread) Comments Off on Trump Tweets or Not for Thursday’s Open Thread
Trump Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

It’s Thursday.

It’s 7:16 a.m. CA time and 10:16 a.m. D.C. time and at those times it’s been 18 hours since the last President Impeached tweet. This is not unheard of, and it’s unlikely to last the whole day, but for now he has zero tweets and zero retweets.

But, since he has not tweeted, so far, for Thursday, we are going to do things a bit different this thread, until such time as President Menace tweets.

On Wednesday Kayleigh McEnany our latest White House Press Secretary held her second ever press briefing. During the briefing she is asked if she would like to take back a statement she made on February 25th, saying that, “we will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.”

Her response in part; Well, first, let me note I was asked a question on Fox Business about the President’s travel restrictions. I noted what was the intent behind those travel restrictions, which is: We will not see the coronavirus come here. We will not see terrorism come here — referring to an earlier set of travel restrictions. 

She then added; I guess I would turn the question back on the media, and ask similar questions.

McEnany: Does Vox want to take back that they proclaimed that the coronavirus would not be a deadly pandemic?

On March 24th, 2020, Vox via Twitter explained they had deleted a tweet from January 31st, “that no longer reflects the current reality of the coronavirus story.”

This is a screen-cap of the post that was removed by Vox, verified by Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake. Blake also verified the other articles mentioned in this post, as the ones I believed McEnany was referencing.

I have been unable to locate the article linked in the screen-cap, but it appears that Vox did in fact take back what they said at the end of January regarding the coronavirus.

McEnany: Does the Washington Post want to take back that they told Americans to “Get a Grippe,” the flu is bigger than the coronavirus? 

This Washington Post article was published on February 1st, 2020, written by Health reporter Lenny Bernstein. McEnany was referencing the headline only and left out two words from that headline, “Get a grippe, America. The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus, for now.”

McEnany: Does the Washington Post, likewise, want to take back that our brains are causing us to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus? 

This Washington Post article was a Perspective piece written by David Ropeik who is a retired Harvard Instructor who authored a book titled, “How Risky Is It Really? Why our fears don’t always match the facts.”

The piece headlined, “How our brains make coronavirus seem scarier than it is,” was published on January 31st, 2020.

I’m not sure where McEnany came up with “our brains are causing us to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus,” as it appears zero times, in either the headline or the actual article, what Ropeik is attempting to explain is that, “The two coronavirus contagions are upon us, both the disease and our fear. The disease is new. The fear, however, is not. Both need to be understood, because both are dangerous.”

He goes on to list examples, focusing on the mental health aspect of any new unknown disease such as West Nile or events such as 9/11. The article itself deals with anxiety and fear of the unknown.

McEnany: Does the New York Times want to take back that fear of the virus maybe spre- — spreading faster than the virus itself?

This New York Times piece was written by Megan Specia, Constant Méheut, and Christopher Schuetze. Highlighting this article McEnany once again quotes the headline but as she did above, she leaves out two key words, “In Europe, Fear Spreads Faster Than the Coronavirus Itself. It was published on February 18th, 2020.

The article opens, “LONDON — A British man who tested positive for coronavirus was branded a “super spreader,” his every movement detailed by the local media.”

At the time the story was written according to the reporters, Europe had 42 confirmed cases, they write:

With 42 confirmed cases across the continent, the coronavirus outbreak is far less serious in Europe than it is in China, where more than 2,000 people have died and the fight to contain the virus has taken on the trappings of a wartime campaign.

But fear itself is proving contagious. And with that fear comes a new social stigma for people and places that have been associated with the outbreak.

The New York Times. 02/18/2020.

McEnany: Does NPR want to take back that the flu was a much bigger threat than the coronavirus?

This NPR piece written by Allison Aubery was published on January 29th, 2020, it’s titled, “Worried About Catching The New Coronavirus? In The U.S, Flu Is A Bigger Threat.”

Aubery explains, “If you live in the U.S., your risk of contracting the new strain of coronavirus identified in China is exceedingly low,” she adds, “So far, the only people infected in the U.S. have been those who have traveled to the region in China where the virus first turned up in humans. And though that could change, one thing is for certain: Another severe respiratory virus that threatens lives — the influenza or flu virus — is very active in the U.S. right now.”

She continues to explain that a flu shot is the best prevention against the flu and that according to University of California, Riverside epidemiologist Brandon Brown, there was another way protect from not only the flu but might help to keep you safe from the coronavirus as well.

What was Brown’s pro-tip at the time of publication? Washing our hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

McEnany: And finally, once again, the Washington Post — would they like to take back that the government should not respond aggressively to the coronavirus?

This Washington Post Perspective piece was published on February 3rd, written by Wendy Parmet and Michael Sinha, was titled, “Why we should be wary of an aggressive government response to the coronavirus.”

They write:

Although this [U.S. travel ban on Chinese foreign nationals] may assuage critics who insisted that the administration take more aggressive action, history and epidemiology warn us that such measures are unlikely to work. Respiratory diseases are not easily contained by travel bans or quarantines. Rather than contain an epidemic, harsh, coercive policies often scapegoat already-marginalized populations and intensify panic rather than quell it.

History offers ample reasons to be wary that authorities may resort to discriminatory measures in the face of a frightening disease. When bubonic plague came to San Francisco in 1900, for example, the city twice enacted racially motivated, scientifically dubious measures. 

First, health officials required that Asian residents be inoculated with an experimental vaccine before traveling outside the city. After a federal court, in a rare example of judicial intervention during a public health panic, struck down that measure, the city established a quarantine around a neighborhood where many Chinese residents lived, enforcing it only against Chinese residents. 

Washington Post. 02/03/2020.

At this point you might be wondering how come I burned ink on fact-checking our I will never lie to Press Secretary.

Well, for one thing, the White House obsession, the Right in general obsession with the media has reached an all time high, they focus on the network, not the article themselves, the same is true with the headlines. This isn’t to say the Left doesn’t do the same, they can and do, the difference right now, the administration in the White House is Republican and our President has declared the media an enemy of the people.

For another, this is a tweet from the Right leaning Washington Examiner, explaining that McEnany threw the press for a loop with her statement.

Which I guess is possible the only thing they leave out, is McEnany gave the media zero chance to respond as she ended the briefing by stating, “I’ll leave you with those questions and maybe you’ll have some answers in a few days,” and fled the room.

As to taking a few days to have answers, I found all but one article, in 15 minutes of googling searching McEnany’s questions of the media.

Her full remarks can be found at White House.gov.

In Other News.

CNN reported that a member of the U.S. Navy who serves as one of the Impeached President’s personal valets has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The White House confirmed CNN’s reporting stating, “We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for Coronavirus,” Hogan Gidely the Deputy White House Press Secretary added, “The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and remain and good health.”

In funnier news, the Trump campaign is once again hard at work proving they are morons.

And like any good Trump lackey Brad is now blaming the media for using the Death Star.

As a reminder the Death Star was controlled by the bad guys…

Update.

It’s tweeted…

As you know, I designated this day to be a National Day of Prayer.

From the Proclamation:

In 1988, the Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer, “on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.”

White House.gov. 03/07/2020.

I guess by “I” he meant Congress?

I have zero idea if President I Employ Idiots will tweet within time for updating, it’s now been 19 hours since his last tweet.

This post might be updated.

This is an Open Thread.

About the opinions in this article…

Any opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website or of the other authors/contributors who write for it.

About Tiff 2557 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.