The pandemic was a national crisis, a nationwide emergency. Trump's hands were not tied. It was an issue of law not the tenth amendment. He could have requested congress pass laws that gave him the power to institute a national quarantine, national guidelines to manage the outbreak, etc during a national emergency. Many of the states asked for help conveying they did not have the resources and had no experience relating to criteria for a plan.

In addition, he could have embraced the responsibility to establish a nationwide plan based on the input of his expert scientists for the states to apply and pressured any states that chose not to comply, including state sovereignty resistance. The states asked for help early on to centralize purchasing of needed supplies and distribute according to need. He didn't want that hot potato and initially tossed it back to the states. When the fed. gov. decided to do something they created a bidding war and delays getting shipments to the states. I think it is perfectly clear Trump has failed the country from the very beginnings of the pandemic and continues to do so.

I think Maruzo is very sincere. To say or imply Maruzo is disingenuous reflects on your judgment not his.

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Dallas

I think what's really disingenuous is he claims to have absolute power over everything and everyone and referred to the Constitution numerous times to back up his claim.

Yet when it comes time for him to step up to the plate and unit the country on the pandemic issues, he withered away like a coward that he is and put the ball back in the state's court.

Normally I would agree with EODguy on the state's powers and the power limits of the president.

But looking at what he's done, what his family's done, and what his crooked administration has done this past 3 years, I do not buy that he did it because he knew the distinction.

He simply gave up because he's afraid of owning up to the responsibilities that comes with the presidency.

As for the mandates that I've been pushing....

The guidelines are proposed by the experts, not me. I simply offered them to whoever is willing to listen.

But I guess individual freedom trumps everything. Even common sense decency and the simple gestures of putting oneself in other people's shoes.

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Trump's only focus since the first announcement that COVID 19 was in the US was to do and say anything that downplays the pandemic. His single goal was and is to keep the stock market thriving and the economy growing. He did nothing to protect the people of our country from sickness or death. Nothing has changed as he continues to claim the virus is under control and there are only a few hots spots but nothing to be concerned about.

We are a worldwide example of what not to do, of dereliction of duty of a President and an inept congress that refuses to seek common ground to protect the nation from the inhumane practices of the Trump administration. Add the republican governors that blindly support Trump by not following the guidelines for opening and we are seeing the results.

Trump isn't going to endorse the guidelines nor will his followers. I don't believe we have seen the worst of the first wave nor can I imagine how bad the worst will be. My guess is that COVID 19 or its mutation will be alive and doing well this time next year.

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Dallas

Trump's actions thus far, on just about everything, reminds me so much of Bernie Madoff. A psychotic person who feels little to no empathy for others.

I think it's probably a genetic defect. These people simply don't feel for the plight of others the way a normal person would.

The problem with growing or festering a large and fresh size virus pool is you are feeding the viruses and giving it time to grow and mutate into more varieties. Only time will tell whether it'll be a more deadly version than the previous generation. But we've already discovered a deadlier version of covid that came from mutation a few weeks ago.

People follow the leader blindly and deduce less and less with their reasoning ability.

I don't care for finding reasons to explain why we're in the sxxthole we're in now. I want, like most of us here, to help stem the tide of the infections and bring us back to healthy normalcy.

https://apple.news/AYG6P2XjMToausHxC94iuHA

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Democrat, Republican, same disease. The problem is systemic, not one individual or one party.

Take care of yourselves and your families if they'll listen (some of mine don't). I don't think Republican voters are the only ones not following guidelines. The people who were out over Memorial Day and protesting could not have all been Republicans.

The things that are really bad now, are the same problems we have had for a long time, but are now being magnified because of covid. Service industry being such a large portion of our jobs, no home-side production/supply, inadequate health care system, small middle class, wealth gap, etc as the list could go on and on.

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According to Doctors that have offered their opinion on Trump's mental health, he is likely a narcissist. (There has been no official diagnosis of any kind). One of the primary symptoms of a narcissist is total lack of empathy. There are several types of narcissists. Trump symptoms are most like those of a Malignant Narcissist.

There is now a mutation of the virus that is more contagious. Don't know if it is in US yet.

Until there is a nationwide plan to get COVID 19 under control I don't think it will happen. Even then the vast majority of difference in success or failure of a national plan is the adherence by all citizens. The caveat is that it must not be complicated by politics, must be a bipartisan plan and implementation. That won't happen. But, even if it did, somewhere on the rest of the planet there will still be an outbreak on its way here. I think the short story will be that COVID 19 will be manageable 2 years or more after there is a vaccine

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Dallas

I agree, that it is certainly not all republicans that aren't wearing masks but I think republicans are more likely to follow Trump's lead.

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Dallas

Well said. But every country have their own set of problems. We get by because we’re still the strongest country on the planet even with all these social and economical issues you’ve pointed out.

Problem is, I think we’ve hit a major hurdle that our citizens can’t seem to overcome.

I went to visit my parents today. My sister has been taking care of them for the past 5 months and more. She won’t let me in the house because I forgot my mask in the car. I went back to put it on yet she still won’t let me in. I had to tell her I was tested negative recently and Then I called my dad who finally let me in to see them.

We definitely need a national plan, I’ve been saying it from the start. But there’s so much resistance, from the top, all the way down.

The lack of a coherent message from the top makes fighting this pandemic that much harder.

NPR’s correspondant Yuki Neguchi said this past Saturday on NPR’s Up First: “... messaging influences behavior, and behavior in this case is driving up infections..”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...=1000482526469

It is still incredulous to me how we can overcome the harder issues that other countries failed on, but have such a hard time with following some simple guidelines recommended by our own health experts.

Im all for personal freedom and choice, but not at the expense of other people’s well being.

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He most definitely IS a narcissist BC. DEFINITELY.

And I agree. I think this will be with us at least until Xmas '21. But there isn't much that can be done about it (in the US) other than requiring face masks when entering businesses (50% transmission reduction last stat I saw) and keeping bars closed. Ideally you would keep restaurants closed too... but good f'ing luck with that. That's a significant portion of the economy (unfortunately). All us fat Americans would throw a sh*t fit if we couldn't go out to eat.

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