Right-wing assaults on government, science and the media has made beating the pandemic nearly impossible

For America to minimize the damage from the current pandemic, the media must inform, science must innovate, and our government must administer like never before. Yet decades of politically-motivated attacks discrediting all three institutions, taken to a new level by President Trump, leave the American public in a vulnerable position.

Trump has consistently vilified the national media. When campaigning, he called the media “absolute scum” and “totally dishonest people.” As president, he has called news organizations “fake news” and “the enemy of the people” over and over. The examples are endless. Predictably, he has blamed the coronavirus crisis on the media, saying “We were very prepared. The only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media.”

Science has been another Trump target. He has gutted scientific expertise and administrative capacity in the executive branch, most notably failing to fill hundreds of vacancies in the Centers for Disease Control itself and disbanding the National Security Council’s taskforce on pandemics. During the coronavirus crisis, he has routinely disagreed with scientific experts, including, in the AP’s words, his “musing about injecting disinfectants into people [to treat COVID-19].” This follows his earlier public advocacy for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, also against leading scientists’ advice. Coupled with his flip-flopping on when to lift stay-at-home orders, the president has created confusion and endangered people.

Finally, President Trump has consistently demeaned essential government agencies, labeling them part of a “deep state,” such as when he “joked” about what he called “The Deep State Department.” Not surprisingly, he ignored another part of the supposed “deep state”—the intelligence community. Greg Miller and Ellen Nakashima reported in the Washington Post that Trump ignored repeated warnings about COVID-19 in his presidential daily brief in January and February. Throughout his presidency, unlike his predecessors, Trump has refused to read the daily brief.

The conservative movement’s project to degrade Americans’ trust and its collision with COVID-19

It is easy to think these are just examples of Trump’s unorthodox political style. Yet he is merely the apotheosis of a political approach that has animated much of the conservative movement for a half century or more: undermining trust in the media, science, and government.

Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon made media criticism key to their communication strategies in the 1960s and early 1970s. Conservative talk radio in the 1990s and Fox News in the 2000s made it central to their business models. Indeed, criticism of establishment media is either the most or second-most frequent topic on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. Fox News’ longtime slogan, “Fair and Balanced,” implicitly accused other news organizations of bias. Even though “Fair and Balanced” was officially dropped as the network slogan in 2017, criticism of the “mainstream media” is still a staple of Fox programming, especially on its prime-time opinion programs.

Link in my next post...

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/05/01/destroying-trust-in-the-media-science-and-government-has-left-america-vulnerable-to-disaster/

Well, the media is now a fucking joke, and government services have always been about half ass.

Science is cool an all, but it's reliance on government funding always makes it a little suspect too.

Sometimes you reap what you sew.

That being said, there are some crazy conspiracies going around too.

Didgee wrote:

Saw that yesterday.

You should see how Shaun King and his followers have all of a sudden become pro police and anti violence. It's comical.

This thread isn't about BLM anyway.

Lots of people say the media is a joke, but they rarely say why they think so.

More lies, Didge?  Consider this:

1. Southern racism has lasted nearly 400-years, not 1 day.
2. Trump, the highest officer in the land, encouraged not only this insurrection, but the Charlottesville white terrorist riots.
3. Capital Police encouraged white terrorists on 1/6, and may have been involved in the planning the insurrection.
4. White supremacist insurrectionists may have been working with Russians, as many ‘Top Secret’ files were stolen and otherwise compromised.

Ben Reilly wrote:This thread isn't about BLM anyway.

Lots of people say the media is a joke, but they rarely say why they think so.

It's a bias shit fest.

It's the RW who has to continually lie. This times it's, Trump won the election! Next time it will be, Trump won a seat on the Council of Gods.

The Republican Party is the bullshit fest.

Here is a perfect example that just came across my news feed.

Huffpost leads people to believe that the cop died ad a result of the attack.

In fact, he killed himself on Saturday, 3 days after the attack.

Like I said, a bias shit fest.

I heard, not that he had killed himself, but that he had died of weakly-related causes.

"He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries," https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-dies-pro-trump-riot/

But, now, apparently now their are others:

Fox 5 wrote:The chaos that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday has ended in now five deaths. Last night, U.S. Capitol Police said one of their own died of injuries sustained in that riot.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/888278

Officer Brian Sicknick was apparently struck in the head by a fire extinguisher.

Original Quill wrote:I heard, not that he had killed himself, but that he had died of weakly-related causes.

"He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,"  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-dies-pro-trump-riot/

But, now, apparently now their are others:

Fox 5 wrote:The chaos that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday has ended in now five deaths. Last night, U.S. Capitol Police said one of their own died of injuries sustained in that riot.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/888278

Officer Brian Sicknick was apparently struck in the head by a fire extinguisher.

Wrong cop. This is a second cop who killed himself yesterday

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:I heard, not that he had killed himself, but that he had died of weakly-related causes.

"He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,"  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-dies-pro-trump-riot/

But, now, apparently now their are others:



Officer Brian Sicknick was apparently struck in the head by a fire extinguisher.

Wrong cop. This is a second cop who killed himself yesterday

Oh...I didn't even know about the other cops. A suicide in the mix? Probably just an anomaly.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Wrong cop. This is a second cop who killed himself yesterday

Oh...I didn't even know about the other cops.  A suicide in the mix?  Probably just an anomaly.

Not according to HuffPost.

They tried to tie it the events of Wednesday.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Oh...I didn't even know about the other cops.  A suicide in the mix?  Probably just an anomaly.

Not according to HuffPost.

They tried to tie it the events of Wednesday.  

I'm glad they left me out of it, then.  I've tried to look it up, and I find nothing about it...re: Wednesday or otherwise.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Not according to HuffPost.

They tried to tie it the events of Wednesday.  

I'm glad they left me out of it, then.  I've tried to look it up, and I find nothing about it...re: Wednesday or otherwise.

Left you out?

Are you an editor at HuffPost or some shit now?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capitol-police-another-officer-has-died_n_5ffb3544c5b66f3f795eec94

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I'm glad they left me out of it, then.  I've tried to look it up, and I find nothing about it...re: Wednesday or otherwise.

Left you out?

Are you an editor at HuffPost or some shit now?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capitol-police-another-officer-has-died_n_5ffb3544c5b66f3f795eec94

All I'm saying is I've heard nothing about it.  In fact, I still haven't seen a link...from you or anyone else until this post.

Reading the link, it appears he died from other causes. But they are correct in that it happened afterwards.

Original Quill wrote:Reading the link, it appears he died from other causes.  But they are correct in that it happened afterwards.

And as far as they know completely unrelated inspite of the misleading headline.

This is why the media is not respected.

Maddog wrote:

Didgee wrote:

Saw that yesterday.  

You should see how Shaun King and his followers have all of a sudden become pro police and anti violence.  It's comical.

Indeed its comical, as we both condemn all forms of violence from right and left, but the double standards are amazing

Here some before and afters for you mate

How it started


How it is going

Make no mistake, 1/6 was no demonstration. It was an attempted coup...an armed, violent insurrection of a constitutional democracy, by autocratic forces.

The people involved should be put down. This is what we do with enemies of the state, who take action against it.

Original Quill wrote:Make no mistake, 1/6 was no demonstration.  It was an attempted coup...an armed, violent insurrection of a constitutional democracy, by autocratic forces.

The people involved should be put down.  This is what we do with enemies of the state, who take action against it.

Armed?

You talking about the horns on that dudes head?

Didgee wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Saw that yesterday.  

You should see how Shaun King and his followers have all of a sudden become pro police and anti violence.  It's comical.

Indeed its comical, as we both condemn all forms of violence from right and left, but the double standards are amazing

Here some before and afters for you mate

How it started


How it is going

Yup. And I expect double standards from politicians. The press is supposed to call them out, not join them.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Make no mistake, 1/6 was no demonstration.  It was an attempted coup...an armed, violent insurrection of a constitutional democracy, by autocratic forces.

The people involved should be put down.  This is what we do with enemies of the state, who take action against it.

Armed?

You talking about the horns on that dudes head?

I'm talking about the guns and explosives that the insurrectionists brought into the Capital building.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Armed?

You talking about the horns on that dudes head?

I'm talking about the guns and explosives that the insurrectionists brought into the Capital building.

Could you post link showing the weaponry brought to the capitol building?

Ben Reilly wrote:This thread isn't about BLM anyway.

Lots of people say the media is a joke, but they rarely say why they think so.

Well exactly.

JulesV wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:This thread isn't about BLM anyway.

Lots of people say the media is a joke, but they rarely say why they think so.

Well exactly.

I'm not lots of people. I give examples. I did on this thread.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I'm talking about the guns and explosives that the insurrectionists brought into the Capital building.

Could you post link showing the weaponry brought to the capitol building?

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2021/01/chaos-at-us-capitol-schumer-pelosi-to-trump-make-protesters-leave-latest-updates.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/us-capitol-riots-arrest-pelosi-desk/index.html

https://www.krgv.com/news/police-at-least-13-people-arrested-5-weapons-seized-after-mob-storms-u-s-capitol/

Maddog wrote:

JulesV wrote:

Well exactly.

I'm not lots of people. I give examples. I did on this thread.  

Did you quote me in error?  
I was not a speaking to you, or about you.

And the bit I was agreeing with is the bit which I specifically highlighted in Ben's post, not the bit you are talking about.

No doubt it's all my fault - again.
Even tho I took the trouble of highlighting the sentence, in order to avoid confusion.

JulesV wrote:

Maddog wrote:

I'm not lots of people. I give examples. I did on this thread.  

Did you quote me in error?  
I was not a speaking to you, or about you.

And the bit I was agreeing with is the bit which I specifically highlighted in Ben's post, not the bit you are talking about.

No doubt it's all my fault - again.
Even tho I took the trouble of highlighting the sentence, in order to avoid confusion.

I quoted both of you as you were in agreement.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Could you post link showing the weaponry brought to the capitol building?

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2021/01/chaos-at-us-capitol-schumer-pelosi-to-trump-make-protesters-leave-latest-updates.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/us-capitol-riots-arrest-pelosi-desk/index.html

https://www.krgv.com/news/police-at-least-13-people-arrested-5-weapons-seized-after-mob-storms-u-s-capitol/

I never said there weren't guns in the area.

We are talking about guns used in the storming of the building.