7.12.20: The Plight of the Pitied Helpless Giant

A "pitied helpless giant" is how George Will described the perception that other countries around the world have of the United States because of our dismally tragic respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Will explained that politically for the president, this is worse than a 'Katrina moment' because we can compare our response to other countries and it's clear that we're failing at the task.

The last results from the CDC website, as of today, are as follows:

The total number of deaths just yesterday was 811. Even if the United States were to lower that number to 500 a day for the next 100 days, that would still total another 50,000 deaths by November.

The Asst. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D. said that we can bring this virus under control, but it has to be a collective effort with 95% compliance with community mask wearing. But that's simply not going to happen. Take for example, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) who recently mandated mask wearing in his state, but the citizens of the state aren't buying in, not at this point. Adm. Giroir also made it very clear that all the health professionals in the administration have been very clear and consistent when it comes to mask wearing. This clear and consistent message certainly hasn't come from Mr. Trump.

Now, there are those who commend the president for finally wearing a mask in public on his visit to Walter Reed Hospital yesterday, but let's be honest here, that's 4 months late and 133,666 lives short. It's a failure of national leadership pure and simply.

Maryland's governor Larry Hogan said he didn't want to Monday morning quarterback, casting blame at who was to fault in February and March because it's a waste of energy and not where we are now, with which we agree. However, he was clear to point out that we needed a national testing and tracing strategy from the beginning. That's on the president.

The same president is now pressuring governors to open schools in their respective states irrespective of the data and community safety. Chuck Todd interview the public schools superintendent of Miami-Dade county, which at present has a 29% positivity testing rate. That's almost 1 in 3 people in the entire county. Mr. Carvalho said that they would be very aggressive with mitigation strategies, but that science would be guiding policy, not politics.

Speaking of politics, you may know that the city of Washington D.C. is literally built on top of a swamp, which makes adding to it much easier than draining it. Point being, our current president is "in his element," with his latest act of commuting the sentence of Roger Stone on Friday.  Read Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Op-Ed in The Washington Post today and you'll be concisely reminded of the crimes committed by Mr. Stone. Relieved of any jail time, which he deserves, Mr. Stone said that he would not 'roll' on the president meaning that he will not tells what he knows, clearly implying that the president is guilty of something. To again quote George Will, "This is mob talk."

As Kristen Welker said, Mr. Trump is trying to paint his opponent (Joe Biden) as a criminal while at the same time commuting the sentence of a real criminal. What do they say - that dog don't hunt.


Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC, George Will, syndicated columnist; Anna Palmer, Politico