The government have given the guidelines but it is the State Governors that will make the decision for their own state. If a state reopens and there is another surge of infections, it will be the fault of the State Governor for opening up again when the state wasn't ready. If a state is more cautious, and doesn't lift the restrictions of lock-down, it will inevitably lead to more job losses and more poverty, and Trump will blame the State Governors, stating they could open if they wanted. Two days ago Trump said he was all powerful and he'd make the decisions. There were 27,341 new cases in the USA today and 2,069 deaths.
I've never known a person backtrack as much as Trump. I'd say change his mind, but I don't think he's ever spoken what he actually thinks. He says exclusively what he thinks will make him more popular. His base will just accept it.
And we all think he's an idiot. You gotta hand it to him, he's got the blame deflection thing down to a fine art.
Anyone else think that USA could be close to another civil war? The right wing Trumpists are well enough armed to ensure that the National Guard would stand no chance and now even the moderates and more centre-left are realising that they may need to increase their weaponry. USA is the last place on earth I would want to visit after the virus has cleared. It just needs one final spark to anger Trump into saying something he really might live to regret and the powder-keg could blow. What a mess? World's most powerful nation? Heaven help us.
The absolute numbers in the US are huge but cases and deaths per million are well below European levels. Worst hit country for deaths per million? Belgium, worse than Italy and Spain but the media always focus on absolute cases and death numbers.
I can’t wait to go back. Focussing on overpaying the mortgage at the moment which is probably the only reason we hadn’t got a holiday booked for later this year.
Are we not counting San Marino? I'd be surprised if deaths in the US really have peaked, given the level of activity they were still allowing relatively recently. Trump seems to be trying to fight this virus with bluster, as he would a political opponent. I can't see it backing down.
Trump said yesterday that if they keep deaths below 100,000 they will have done a fantastic job. The same guy that so confidently proclaimed they were “about to be at 0 cases” when they only had 15.
A good point, San Marino eclipsing all countries. Having said that China just increased the measured deaths by over 40%, we’ll never really know the truth there. The UK’s chief medical adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance made a strange statement yesterday when covering total cumulative deaths saying he expected this to plateau and then reduce. Plateau would mean zero deaths, reducing suggests resurrection.
Yesterday was the third highest death toll for a single day in the USA since the pandemic began. Every briefing he tells dozens of lies, he denies he's ever said things he said only the day before, that his supporters heard him say, but they cheer him on. It's utterly bizarre. The lack of integrity from those who share his stage, when you can see on their faces that they disagree, but they follow his lead, and announce measures they know will see tens of thousands more die, it's beyond reason. I can't believe no one has assassinated him, or there hasn't been a military coup, or at the very least the population hasn't formed a queue to take it in turns to grab him by the lapels, give him a good shake and call him a fk*cing lunatic.
that’s what we were saying, you have to be a pigging genius to know what he stands for .He says something then immediately contradicts it , then picks out the stuff that worked and bigs that up and denies the rest.
Not a Civil War, but if they get any shortages of food/medicines I can certainly see civil disturbances and small-scale armed conflicts (like Waco). Perhaps it could happen in some areas too if they try to force mandatory vaccinations on some of the anti-vaxxer loons. The way that the different states are reacting is also likely to cause more frictions, with the Republican states generally having fewer restrictions (and populations likely to be against any restrictions) and more likely to have higher death tolls in the end. Whether that would escalate would depend on how the authorities react.
He's lucky in that the majority of the psychos and gun nuts in America support him because he plays to them.