Trump, Melania Test Positive for COVID-19

 

President Trump took to Twitter just before 1 a.m. ET to announce that both he and the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19.

Sean Conley, the Physician to the President, released the following statement:

I release the following information with the permission of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

This evening I received confirmation that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The President and the First Lady are both well at this time and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.

The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments.

Get well soon, President and First Lady!

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  1. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):
    We finally have masks available that are much better than cloth masks in protecting the wearer – no thanks to Trump.* Disposable masks and cloth masks with filters do protect wearers and a combination of face shields with masks work quite well.

    That’s nice if you can afford them. With the current destruction of the economy that’s going on, I would imagine there are quite a few who can’t. With my husband out of work and severance having run out, I know I’m not going to be thinking about spending money on disposable masks and filters. If I have to wear a mask, I’ll stick with the unfiltered, cloth ones that I have.

     

    • #241
  2. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    Django (View Comment):
    People seem to have forgotten the common sense uttered early on. Masks don’t protect you; they protect others from you. One should assume he is infected and show enough consideration for others to wear the mask. That’s how masks work, if at all. 

    How well do they do that if the virus is small enough to travel through the mask? 

     

    • #242
  3. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    Brian Watt (View Comment):
    I think the President is more frustrated right now than weak. The last thing he wants to be is cooped up. There’s a campaign to run

    He should all his rallies on schedule and appear via a giant-screen broadcast.

    The Top 20 Underrated Movies of 1984 | Den of Geek

    The Lefty (D)/MSM heads will explode.

    • #243
  4. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Another analogy.

    In the 1988 Presidential Debates, Bernard Shaw began by asking Michael Dukakis if he would oppose the death penalty if his wife Kitty were raped and murdered.

    A normal human being would exclaim “What! How would I feel if my wife were raped and murdered! I would rip him apart with my own hands”

    Michael Dukakis is a lawyer. He answered the exact question before him, coldly and dispassionately. Dukakis lost the debate and later the election.

    For better or worse, lawyers are trained in law school and in the courtroom to not react emotionally but dispassionately. If you are ever wrongly accused of a crime, or wrongly accused of abusing your children, you will be very, very grateful that that is our training. But, it sometimes gets us in trouble when faced with an issue where everyone else is reacting with heartfelt emotions and we are reacting as a CPA.

    Could be the bloodless lawyer thing, could just be a soulless Democrat thing. 

    • #244
  5. MWD Dawg Member
    MWD Dawg
    @danok1

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Joseph Stanko (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    WilliamDean (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    2020 sucks.

    Let’s get the worst-case scenario out of the way: does the VP automatically take the place of POTUS on the ballot box?

    No. From what I read, the party’s national committee / leadership body would select a nominee, which of course COULD be the VP nominee, but doesn’t have to be. Whether the new nominee can make it onto the ballot or not varies by law from state to state.

    Not the information I wanted to hear, but its the information I asked for. Thank you.

    I’m just speculating here, but since we actually vote for electors, I’d think that if it’s too late to change the ballot the original slate of electors pledged to Trump would still be valid, and it would be up to them to decide how to cast their votes in the Electoral College.

    I doubt it’s that easy. They are pledged. They cant just use their discretion, not any more. I would think that if dead Trump and live Pence win. Pence becomes VP and the president slot goes to the House of representatives. Or Pence is made VP and the becomes President after that and the Senate votes on the VP. But honestly I hope it gets bogged down in litigation and no one becomes president and the Supreme court picks. But really Joe Biden (god chosen instrument on earth, a second King David, and savior of the Republic) just crushes the now dead Trump ticket as Republicans face complete electoral collapse. [Redacted]

    20th Amendment, in Section 3, states: “If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.” So Pence becomes President (since “dead Trump,” as you put it, did qualify and would be “president-elect”). Then the Senate would choose a VP.

    • #245
  6. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Weeping (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    People seem to have forgotten the common sense uttered early on. Masks don’t protect you; they protect others from you. One should assume he is infected and show enough consideration for others to wear the mask. That’s how masks work, if at all.

    How well do they do that if the virus is small enough to travel through the mask?

     

    I don’t know. It does not hurt to say so. 

    • #246
  7. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    Masks don’t protect you; they protect others from you.

    That’s what I’m taking about.

    The message being so confused and inconsistent by the “experts” does not help.

    On Sept 16 I saw Redfield on TV and he was asked about vaccines. He held up his mask and said something like: I actually have more faith in this mask to protect me than a vaccine. Does that mean the mask is protecting “him”? Or does it mean others wearing a mask is protecting him? Damned if I know.

    So if there is confusion about masks, we have the experts and those in charge to thank. This is their standard MO. To quote PJ O’Rourke: at some point obfuscation becomes malfeasance. We crossed that line long, long ago when it comes to many topics, certainly including healthcare and all things medical. It keeps the medical folks feeling oh so important and us poor rubes confused, uninformed, possibly scared and certainly dependent.  I’ll never forget an emergency doc telling me one of the little boys had a hematoma (??!!) I demanded English, he replied “bruise”. 

    And please, if you see me in a store wearing a mask, I’d give me a wide berth. It’s inevitably just been dug out from the bottom of my purse or the floor board of my car.

    • #247
  8. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    thelonious (View Comment):
    To be fair to hydroxychloroquine. Trump probably misunderstood on how to use it as a prophylactic.

    Probably not.  He has some of the best medical advice available.

    • #248
  9. Bob W Member
    Bob W
    @WBob

    MWD Dawg (View Comment):

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Joseph Stanko (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    WilliamDean (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    2020 sucks.

    Let’s get the worst-case scenario out of the way: does the VP automatically take the place of POTUS on the ballot box?

    No. From what I read, the party’s national committee / leadership body would select a nominee, which of course COULD be the VP nominee, but doesn’t have to be. Whether the new nominee can make it onto the ballot or not varies by law from state to state.

    Not the information I wanted to hear, but its the information I asked for. Thank you.

    I’m just speculating here, but since we actually vote for electors, I’d think that if it’s too late to change the ballot the original slate of electors pledged to Trump would still be valid, and it would be up to them to decide how to cast their votes in the Electoral College.

    I doubt it’s that easy. They are pledged. They cant just use their discretion, not any more. I would think that if dead Trump and live Pence win. Pence becomes VP and the president slot goes to the House of representatives. Or Pence is made VP and the becomes President after that and the Senate votes on the VP. But honestly I hope it gets bogged down in litigation and no one becomes president and the Supreme court picks. But really Joe Biden (god chosen instrument on earth, a second King David, and savior of the Republic) just crushes the now dead Trump ticket as Republicans face complete electoral collapse. [Redacted]

    20th Amendment, in Section 3, states: “If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.” So Pence becomes President (since “dead Trump,” as you put it, did qualify and would be “president-elect”). Then the Senate would choose a VP.

    I wonder if this would work if a president elect actually died before he was elected. It’s not like you can just refuse to count the votes for a ticket on which the candidate died. You’d have to treat it as if he died immediately after taking the oath of office. 

    • #249
  10. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    carcat74 (View Comment):

    I’ve never ‘flagged’ anyone, until today. I flagged TWO comments in the first page! Come on, people—let’s not become Twitter!

    I’d prefer those comments stayed. Are they sickening? Yes. Let’s not bail out the individuals who expressed them.

    One member has made over 20 comments on this post. That is a bit excessive.

    Gary, if anything I’ve been sympathetic to the hard time you receive on this site. That is not to say I haven’t disagreed with you, but I don’t recall making a comment that directly addressed you. I am not sympathetic today, though your first comment is downright innocent compared to one that follows shortly after from another member. This post seems like an appropriate place for well wishes, not expressions of support for potential replacement tickets.

    It is difficult, given all your past statements, not to read a hopeful tone into your comment. That is not fair to you. I’ll simply opine that your initial comment was not in good taste and express my hope it did not reflect your first impulse upon hearing the news.

    I was thinking like a “lawyer” who dissects situations instead as a “person” who expresses messages of condolences like Rachel Maddow, of all people did. I am sorry for the kerfuffle that I created.

    Often when a client asks my opinion of how to react to a situation, I will say “Well, as a lawyer, my response would be [how to wipe out the other side], but as a person, my response would be [how to have compassion for your spouse who you once loved]. Usually when I put it that way, the client will listen to their better angels. At the same time, I have avoided committing malpractice.

    Gary, you can’t excuse your behavior by being a lawyer.

    You have ended your comments too many times by desiring to drive “a stake through Trump’s chest”. You read that he was positive for covid and you immediately relished thinking this was the stake that was finally going to kill him.

    No, no, no. I have never wished for Trump to literally die. Trump is a beloved Child of God, and a sentient human being.

    You miss the context of the term “drive a stake through the heart.” In classic European folklore, the only way to kill a vampire, or to prevent a corpse from becoming a vampire, is to drive a wooden stake through their heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement_in_myth_and_art#:~:text=Vampires%20and%20other%20undead,-The%20idea%20that&text=In%20classic%20European%20folklore%2C%20it,and%20was%20buried%20in%201656.

    I believe that Trump and Trumpism need to be driven out of the Republican Party, just as the Bill Buckley exiled the John Birch Society. That is what I mean by driving a wooden stake through the heart of Trump and Trumpism.

    I believe that people like you need to be driven out of the Republican party because you keep calling us racist.

    Yet again, we see the COC does not apply to you.

    The overwhelming majority of members of the Republican Party are not racists.

    But they support Trump, and you just compared Trump supporters to Birchers. 

    Clearly, you are saying we are all racists, Gary. 

    Man up and own what you mean. 

    • #250
  11. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    , but we simply have to be able to forgive each other if this nation is going to survive. There was more brotherly feeling after the Civil War in this country than between some quarters in America right now.

    No I will not forgive many Americans unless they admit to their wrongs.

    I will not forgive someone who keeps saying I am a member of a cult and a racist.

    Never. Never. Never.

    If we are going into the fire, I will not go gently into the night.

    I, for one, have never said that you are a racist, nor do I believe that you are a racist.

    You are clearly saying I am a member of a cult, because you don’t deny that! 

    • #251
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I was thinking like a “lawyer” who dissects situations instead as a “person” who expresses messages of condolences like Rachel Maddow, of all people did. I am sorry for the kerfuffle that I created.

    Often when a client asks my opinion of how to react to a situation, I will say “Well, as a lawyer, my response would be [how to wipe out the other side], but as a person, my response would be [how to have compassion for your spouse who you once loved]. Usually when I put it that way, the client will listen to their better angels. At the same time, I have avoided committing malpractice.

    Gary, you can’t excuse your behavior by being a lawyer.

    You have ended your comments too many times by desiring to drive “a stake through Trump’s chest”. You read that he was positive for covid and you immediately relished thinking this was the stake that was finally going to kill him.

    No, no, no. I have never wished for Trump to literally die. Trump is a beloved Child of God, and a sentient human being.

    You miss the context of the term “drive a stake through the heart.” In classic European folklore, the only way to kill a vampire, or to prevent a corpse from becoming a vampire, is to drive a wooden stake through their heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement_in_myth_and_art#:~:text=Vampires%20and%20other%20undead,-The%20idea%20that&text=In%20classic%20European%20folklore%2C%20it,and%20was%20buried%20in%201656.

    I believe that Trump and Trumpism need to be driven out of the Republican Party, just as the Bill Buckley exiled the John Birch Society. That is what I mean by driving a wooden stake through the heart of Trump and Trumpism.

    I believe that people like you need to be driven out of the Republican party because you keep calling us racist.

    Yet again, we see the COC does not apply to you.

    The overwhelming majority of members of the Republican Party are not racists.

    But they support Trump, and you just compared Trump supporters to Birchers.

    Clearly, you are saying we are all racists, Gary.

    Man up and own what you mean.

    He must mean all those Republicans that don’t support Trump.  You know, over there in that phone booth —>

    • #252
  13. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Annefy (View Comment):
    And please, if you see me in a store wearing a mask, I’d give me a wide berth. It’s inevitably just been dug out from the bottom of my purse or the floor board of my car.

    I just “retired” one after a month. I was going into Walmart one day and one of the straps tore off as I pulled it from my pocket. It was only a couple days old, so I was able to poke another hole and re-tie the strap. That was about 3 weeks ago. It was a faithful companion.

    • #253
  14. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Django (View Comment):

    I heard Limbaugh say that 30% of Americans polled believed that a Covid-19 diagnosis was pretty much the same as a death sentence. It true, and it’s hard to believe, I admit, what effect will it have on society if Trump suffers nothing more serious in symptoms than what a bad cold would cause? Trump is in a risky age group and a public recovery should be a boost to national morale. Except for a few lunatics, that is.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pretty much said that if you got Covid-19 you would die. Other politicians have hinted as much. And of course the mass media has been actively pushing the implication (if not saying so outright) that a Covid-19 diagnosis was a certain death sentence. So, I would be surprised if only 30% of Americans believed that a Covid-19 diagnosis was pretty much the same as a death sentence. You have to hunt pretty far and wide and do a fair amount of arithmetic (often plus some algebra) to determine that only a small fraction of people (even in the “high risk” categories) actually die from the disease, or even suffer serious consequences.

    • #254
  15. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    But they support Trump, and you just compared Trump supporters to Birchers. 

    Clearly, you are saying we are all racists, Gary. 

    Man up and own what you mean. 

    Were Birchers racists?  I associate them more with paranoid conspiracy theories, such as the idea that fluoridation of water was a Commie plot.

    • #255
  16. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    Annefy (View Comment):
    And please, if you see me in a store wearing a mask, I’d give me a wide berth. It’s inevitably just been dug out from the bottom of my purse or the floor board of my car.

    I just “retired” one after a month. I was going into Walmart one day and one of the straps tore off as I pulled it from my pocket. It was only a couple days old, so I was able to poke another hole and re-tie the strap. That was about 3 weeks ago. It was a faithful companion.

    Fortunately, Walmart is happy to give you a new one.  At least here.

    • #256
  17. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Left wingers:  “YEAH!  Trump got the COVID.  He’s gonna DIE.”

    Micheal Moore: “Wait a minute.  He could be faking it.”

    I kid you not.

    Add Michael Moore to the list of left wingers whose minds have been broken by Trump.

    • #257
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pretty much said that if you got Covid-19 you would die.

    And that’s why he sent COVID patients back to nursing homes, which he now claims never happened…

    • #258
  19. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

     

    • #259
  20. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    thelonious (View Comment):

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    2020 sucks.

    Let’s get the worst-case scenario out of the way: does the VP automatically take the place of POTUS on the ballot box?

    I could vote for Pence-Haley; I will not vote for Trump-Pence.

    Ew… why? That’s like saying I can’t support Stalin but Kurchev was just fine. They are his enablers and therefore unfit and unworthy of support. Don’t go soft on me now we both took the NeverTrumper blood oath at Bill Kristols Geogrgetown cocktail party. That isn’t a thing you can just go back on.

    As for Trump getting COVID, well I’m sure his Hydroxychloroquine will save him. In fact wasn’t he taking it prophylactically? Or are we past that now?

    To be fair to hydroxychloroquine. Trump probably misunderstood on how to use it as a prophylactic.

     

     

     

    I’m pretty sure I saw Trump demonstrate on a banana one time on the news.

    • #260
  21. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    Django (View Comment):

    Weeping (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    People seem to have forgotten the common sense uttered early on. Masks don’t protect you; they protect others from you. One should assume he is infected and show enough consideration for others to wear the mask. That’s how masks work, if at all.

    How well do they do that if the virus is small enough to travel through the mask?

     

    I don’t know. It does not hurt to say so.

    My understanding is that while the virus itself is small enough to pass through a mask (insert quip about mosquitos and chain link fence here) that is only relevant if the virus is itself free floating as an aerosol.  While scientists have aerosolized the virus under laboratory conditions, there isn’t much evidence that it exists as an aerosol in the wild.    It seems that, in the wild, the virus is suspended within saliva and mucus droplets.    These droplets are large enough to be caught in a mask and don’t travel very far before falling out of the air.  Hence the social distancing.    There is a nice study from Duke university showing that many masks, even the double layer home made ones, do an excellent job of containing those droplets.

     

    https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/36/eabd3083

    Bandanas…not so much.   And those stretchy neck-gaiters are worse than no mask at all in that they don’t stop expelled droplets and shred large droplets (that would fall out of the air quickly) into many smaller ones that can hang in the air longer.

    • #261
  22. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    He could have worn a mask more frequently and he could have taken social distancing more seriously.

    And you could know when to quit.

    And you could learn to accept the truth without trying to shout it down.

    Great. Prove, then, that he got it because he didn’t wear a mask or social-distance enough. If that’s the “truth” then prove it.

    My sister-in-law wore a mask every time she went out in public. She lives surrounded by miles and miles of state forest so she is naturally socially-distant from everyone. Tell me how she got it. She doesn’t know, but since you’re so smart, you must know the truth.

    Mask-shaming is awful. It’s like a cult.

    Americans died because Trump turned wearing masks into a political issue rather than a matter of common sense.

    Do you know that?

    • #262
  23. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    Buckpasser (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    He could have worn a mask more frequently and he could have taken social distancing more seriously.

    And you could know when to quit.

    And you could learn to accept the truth without trying to shout it down.

    Great. Prove, then, that he got it because he didn’t wear a mask or social-distance enough. If that’s the “truth” then prove it.

    My sister-in-law wore a mask every time she went out in public. She lives surrounded by miles and miles of state forest so she is naturally socially-distant from everyone. Tell me how she got it. She doesn’t know, but since you’re so smart, you must know the truth.

    Mask-shaming is awful. It’s like a cult.

    Masking is a neurotic health cult. Watch people look at you on the street, even while you’re wearing a mask, and they dodge out of the way. Weird.

    I guess it’s official now. If Biden (or whoever that is) should win I will have to wear a rag….I mean a mask for the rest of my life. The government will not allow me to take it off. However, we still have time to change this.

    Last time I checked my watch this was still the United States of America!!

    If Biden wins, you can blame Trump. The President never tried to expand his base. Instead, he insisted on feeding red meat to his base and insulting everyone and anyone who didn’t fully support him. He went after Republicans who supported his policies a “mere” 95% of the time. He refused to prepare for the debate and when Biden was drowning in random words, Trump refused to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he jumped in time after time to save Biden from drowning.

    Actually, this is not playing to the base:

    • #263
  24. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    carcat74 (View Comment):

    I’ve never ‘flagged’ anyone, until today. I flagged TWO comments in the first page! Come on, people—let’s not become Twitter!

    I’d prefer those comments stayed. Are they sickening? Yes. Let’s not bail out the individuals who expressed them.

    One member has made over 20 comments on this post. That is a bit excessive.

    Gary, if anything I’ve been sympathetic to the hard time you receive on this site. That is not to say I haven’t disagreed with you, but I don’t recall making a comment that directly addressed you. I am not sympathetic today, though your first comment is downright innocent compared to one that follows shortly after from another member. This post seems like an appropriate place for well wishes, not expressions of support for potential replacement tickets.

    It is difficult, given all your past statements, not to read a hopeful tone into your comment. That is not fair to you. I’ll simply opine that your initial comment was not in good taste and express my hope it did not reflect your first impulse upon hearing the news.

    I was thinking like a “lawyer” who dissects situations instead as a “person” who expresses messages of condolences like Rachel Maddow, of all people did. I am sorry for the kerfuffle that I created.

    Often when a client asks my opinion of how to react to a situation, I will say “Well, as a lawyer, my response would be [how to wipe out the other side], but as a person, my response would be [how to have compassion for your spouse who you once loved]. Usually when I put it that way, the client will listen to their better angels. At the same time, I have avoided committing malpractice.

    Gary, you can’t excuse your behavior by being a lawyer.

    You have ended your comments too many times by desiring to drive “a stake through Trump’s chest”. You read that he was positive for covid and you immediately relished thinking this was the stake that was finally going to kill him.

    No, no, no. I have never wished for Trump to literally die. Trump is a beloved Child of God, and a sentient human being.

    You miss the context of the term “drive a stake through the heart.” In classic European folklore, the only way to kill a vampire, or to prevent a corpse from becoming a vampire, is to drive a wooden stake through their heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement_in_myth_and_art#:~:text=Vampires%20and%20other%20undead,-The%20idea%20that&text=In%20classic%20European%20folklore%2C%20it,and%20was%20buried%20in%201656.

    I believe that Trump and Trumpism need to be driven out of the Republican Party, just as the Bill Buckley exiled the John Birch Society. That is what I mean by driving a wooden stake through the heart of Trump and Trumpism.

    I believe that people like you need to be driven out of the Republican party because you keep calling us racist.

    Yet again, we see the COC does not apply to you.

    The overwhelming majority of members of the Republican Party are not racists.

    But they support Trump, and you just compared Trump supporters to Birchers.

    Clearly, you are saying we are all racists, Gary.

    Man up and own what you mean.

    Oh Bryan, you don’t understand analogies.  You are not a racist.  I do not think that any members of Ricochet are racists.  I do not think that most of Republicans are racists.  

    But now that you have demanded that I say what I mean and mean what I say, I will say this:

    I think that it was appropriate that racists have been run out of both the Republican and Democratic Parties.

    I think that it is appropriate the Joe McCarthy was run out of the Senate.  (Yes there were Communists in the government, but McCarthy went waaaaaaay overboard.)

    I think that it was appropriate that Buckley ran the Birchers out of the Republican Party.

    I think that it is appropriate that the Q-Anon folks be run out of the Republican Party.

    I think that it will be appropriate for Antifa to be run out of the Democratic Party.  

    Satisfied?

    • #264
  25. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    He could have worn a mask more frequently and he could have taken social distancing more seriously.

    And you could know when to quit.

    And you could learn to accept the truth without trying to shout it down.

    Great. Prove, then, that he got it because he didn’t wear a mask or social-distance enough. If that’s the “truth” then prove it.

    My sister-in-law wore a mask every time she went out in public. She lives surrounded by miles and miles of state forest so she is naturally socially-distant from everyone. Tell me how she got it. She doesn’t know, but since you’re so smart, you must know the truth.

    Mask-shaming is awful. It’s like a cult.

    Americans died because Trump turned wearing masks into a political issue rather than a matter of common sense.

    Do you know that?

    He may “know” it, but that doesn’t make it true.

    As Reagan said, “The problem with our friends on the left is not that they are ignorant, it’s that they know so much that isn’t so.”

    • #265
  26. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    I think that it will be appropriate for Antifa to be run out of the Democratic Party.

    Great, now just get Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi, and the others to agree.

    We won’t be holding our breath.

    • #266
  27. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    I heard Limbaugh say that 30% of Americans polled believed that a Covid-19 diagnosis was pretty much the same as a death sentence. It true, and it’s hard to believe, I admit, what effect will it have on society if Trump suffers nothing more serious in symptoms than what a bad cold would cause? Trump is in a risky age group and a public recovery should be a boost to national morale. Except for a few lunatics, that is.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pretty much said that if you got Covid-19 you would die. Other politicians have hinted as much. And of course the mass media has been actively pushing the implication (if not saying so outright) that a Covid-19 diagnosis was a certain death sentence. So, I would be surprised if only 30% of Americans believed that a Covid-19 diagnosis was pretty much the same as a death sentence. You have to hunt pretty far and wide and do a fair amount of arithmetic (often plus some algebra) to determine that only a small fraction of people (even in the “high risk” categories) actually die from the disease, or even suffer serious consequences.

    In the same vein Neil Cavuto had a bout of cranio-rectal inversion and started yelling, “This will kill you”, but he was ranting about hydroxychloroquine instead. 

    • #267
  28. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    Buckpasser (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    He could have worn a mask more frequently and he could have taken social distancing more seriously.

    And you could know when to quit.

    And you could learn to accept the truth without trying to shout it down.

    Great. Prove, then, that he got it because he didn’t wear a mask or social-distance enough. If that’s the “truth” then prove it.

    My sister-in-law wore a mask every time she went out in public. She lives surrounded by miles and miles of state forest so she is naturally socially-distant from everyone. Tell me how she got it. She doesn’t know, but since you’re so smart, you must know the truth.

    Mask-shaming is awful. It’s like a cult.

    Masking is a neurotic health cult. Watch people look at you on the street, even while you’re wearing a mask, and they dodge out of the way. Weird.

    I guess it’s official now. If Biden (or whoever that is) should win I will have to wear a rag….I mean a mask for the rest of my life. The government will not allow me to take it off. However, we still have time to change this.

    Last time I checked my watch this was still the United States of America!!

    If Biden wins, you can blame Trump. The President never tried to expand his base. Instead, he insisted on feeding red meat to his base and insulting everyone and anyone who didn’t fully support him. He went after Republicans who supported his policies a “mere” 95% of the time. He refused to prepare for the debate and when Biden was drowning in random words, Trump refused to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he jumped in time after time to save Biden from drowning.

    And: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-campaign-new-hampshire-rally-attendance-25-4-democrats-17-didnt-vote-in-2016

    Attendance at President Trump’s New Hampshire rally earlier this week included 17% of participants who did not vote in 2016, and slightly over 25% were Democratic voters, according to campaign manager Brad Parscale.

    “Big Data from New Hampshire: 52,559 Tickets, 24,732 Voters Identified (41% From NH), 17% Didn’t Vote in 2016, 25.4% Democrats. Thank You New Hampshire. Data Gold!” Parscale said on Twitter Monday.

    And: https://www.thenationalsentinel.com/2020/01/13/absolutely-amazing-nearly-43-percent-of-attendees-at-trumps-toledo-rally-ided-as-democrat-or-independent/

    On average, according to Parscale, 23 percent of rally-goers identify as Democrats; in Toledo, that figure was 21.9 percent. But Parscale, who has never before reported Independent stats, said that 20.9 percent of attendees said they were Independents, which means in total, roughly 42.8 percent of attendees were not Republicans.

    • #268
  29. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Chris O. (View Comment):

    carcat74 (View Comment):

    I’ve never ‘flagged’ anyone, until today. I flagged TWO comments in the first page! Come on, people—let’s not become Twitter!

    I’d prefer those comments stayed. Are they sickening? Yes. Let’s not bail out the individuals who expressed them.

    One member has made over 20 comments on this post. That is a bit excessive.

    Gary, if anything I’ve been sympathetic to the hard time you receive on this site. That is not to say I haven’t disagreed with you, but I don’t recall making a comment that directly addressed you. I am not sympathetic today, though your first comment is downright innocent compared to one that follows shortly after from another member. This post seems like an appropriate place for well wishes, not expressions of support for potential replacement tickets.

    It is difficult, given all your past statements, not to read a hopeful tone into your comment. That is not fair to you. I’ll simply opine that your initial comment was not in good taste and express my hope it did not reflect your first impulse upon hearing the news.

    I was thinking like a “lawyer” who dissects situations instead as a “person” who expresses messages of condolences like Rachel Maddow, of all people did. I am sorry for the kerfuffle that I created.

    Often when a client asks my opinion of how to react to a situation, I will say “Well, as a lawyer, my response would be [how to wipe out the other side], but as a person, my response would be [how to have compassion for your spouse who you once loved]. Usually when I put it that way, the client will listen to their better angels. At the same time, I have avoided committing malpractice.

    Gary, you can’t excuse your behavior by being a lawyer.

    You have ended your comments too many times by desiring to drive “a stake through Trump’s chest”. You read that he was positive for covid and you immediately relished thinking this was the stake that was finally going to kill him.

    No, no, no. I have never wished for Trump to literally die. Trump is a beloved Child of God, and a sentient human being.

    You miss the context of the term “drive a stake through the heart.” In classic European folklore, the only way to kill a vampire, or to prevent a corpse from becoming a vampire, is to drive a wooden stake through their heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement_in_myth_and_art#:~:text=Vampires%20and%20other%20undead,-The%20idea%20that&text=In%20classic%20European%20folklore%2C%20it,and%20was%20buried%20in%201656.

    I believe that Trump and Trumpism need to be driven out of the Republican Party, just as the Bill Buckley exiled the John Birch Society. That is what I mean by driving a wooden stake through the heart of Trump and Trumpism.

    I believe that people like you need to be driven out of the Republican party because you keep calling us racist.

    Yet again, we see the COC does not apply to you.

    The overwhelming majority of members of the Republican Party are not racists.

    But they support Trump, and you just compared Trump supporters to Birchers.

    Clearly, you are saying we are all racists, Gary.

    Man up and own what you mean.

    Oh Bryan, you don’t understand analogies. You are not a racist. I do not think that any members of Ricochet are racists. I do not think that most of Republicans are racists.

    But now that you have demanded that I say what I mean and mean what I say, I will say this:

    I think that it was appropriate that racists have been run out of both the Republican and Democratic Parties.

    I think that it is appropriate the Joe McCarthy was run out of the Senate. (Yes there were Communists in the government, but McCarthy went waaaaaaay overboard.)

    I think that it was appropriate that Buckley ran the Birchers out of the Republican Party.

    I think that it is appropriate that the Q-Anon folks be run out of the Republican Party.

    I think that it will be appropriate for Antifa to be run out of the Democratic Party.

    Satisfied?

    No.

    You have continued to say that Trump supporters are in a cult of personality. I don’t see you disavowing that. 

    And, let me rush to add, I am going to use the same response with you that you use with Trump when judging your disavowals. 

    • #269
  30. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    , but we simply have to be able to forgive each other if this nation is going to survive. There was more brotherly feeling after the Civil War in this country than between some quarters in America right now.

    No I will not forgive many Americans unless they admit to their wrongs.

    I will not forgive someone who keeps saying I am a member of a cult and a racist.

    Never. Never. Never.

    If we are going into the fire, I will not go gently into the night.

    I, for one, have never said that you are a racist, nor do I believe that you are a racist.

    You are clearly saying I am a member of a cult, because you don’t deny that!

    No, I said that Trump was trying to create a “Cult of Personality” which I believe, which is distinct from accusing someone who likes Trump from being a “cultist.”  However, the Mods have counseled me to not say that as it implies that supporters of Trump are all cultists.  I have acceded to their request.  

    Now that you are hopefully clear that I am not accusing you to be part of the “Q-Anon Cult” or the “Jonestown Cult,” let’s discuss the phrase “Cult of Personality,” I refer to Nikita Khrushchev’s 1956 “Secret Speech” to the 20th Party Congress, where Khrushchev pointed to how Stalin had overwhelmed the party into idolatry of himself.  

    I hope that I have clarified this issue for you.  It is possible you are suffering from GDS (Gary Derangement Syndrome) and I urge you to be aware of that possibility.  

    All my personal best,

    Gary

    • #270
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