Economic relief is coming for all of us, hopefully. Donald Trump just signed the first of what will be several coronavirus economic relief bills. From what I can understand – there are at least three or four major bills going around – I think most of us will get a $1000 check within the next two weeks, and it might even be for $2000. Small businesses are likely getting their own stimulus checks too, worth $300 billion all total. All in all, the coronavirus stimulus package may be worth $1 trillion. Much needed, for many people. The idea that by the end of the summer, America could have 20-30% unemployment is so shocking and scary.
I’m not dwelling on the back-and-forth between parties, nor am I assigning blame or credit to anyone in particular. It’s my understanding that Mitt Romney got the ball rolling on this whole concept of just sending out $1000 checks, but Democrats in the House put together the first comprehensive economic relief bill, and now turtleman Mitch McConnell is saying that he wants even more economic relief and on and on. If it results in every taxpaying citizen getting several thousand dollars over the course of the next few months, it will be well worth it.
Unfortunately, Trump doing a few good things (more like a few marginally okay things) means that he can’t help himself and he just has to signal that he’s still a white nationalist. This motherf–ker keeps calling it the “China Virus.” People say that Trump and the Republicans would love to make this coronavirus conversation into a culture war or a discussion about racism. It’s true, they would. Thankfully, most of us can talk about all things at once – Trump is a racist who is scapegoating China (and encouraging racism against Asian peeps) AND he’s an incompetent buffoon who has made the pandemic worse in a million ways.
I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
PS… I hate the way he says “China”: JY-NA. Like it’s a slang word for vagina. JY-NA Virus.
Trump defends saying “Chinese virus” to refer to COVID-19:
“It’s not racist at all, no. Not at all. It comes from China. That’s why. It comes from China.” pic.twitter.com/G9EKtpGAua
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 19, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I was glad I was able to hear and see his press conference yesterday myself. I was shocked and abhorred with his demeanor and his words. And I was speaking with a friend about this situation and he is a republican. He was actually telling me that this is all to mess with the election. I had to end the conversation.
I’m so scared what this all means. They wouldn’t be doing this if it isn’t serious. I think it’s great that there finally trying to do something but I’d rather have the government forgive loans or allow people not to pay rent when we officially quarantine as a nation.
Would be good to do both plans. People need immediate cash for groceries, medication…
I saw that Ayanna Pressley and Elizabeth Warren are saying some kind of loan relief needs to be in the next round of legislation.
My job didn’t close so I can’t collect unemployment? The owners are trumpers. Plus I clean the bathrooms w clients and 60 employees.
Ya. It looks like you only receive money if you make under 75k though, right? So that doesn’t help me. My husband is technically making over 100k on salary, but he isn’t taking in money till this is over because he’s paying for benefits to his laid off employees, and I work at a hospital and make a little over 75k…we have a baby in daycare and we live in the city, soooo not sure how we’re going to pay even just those two bills plus groceries on just my salary if the restaurant industry closes down more than a month. We’d have to take away their benefits so we can pay bills at that point, which isn’t really fair to the people he had to lay off to keep the restaurant floating through this, but keeping a roof over our heads is going to win in that scenario. They need to send money to everyone…
Lua, I’m in the same boat. Single Mom, deadbeat dad. I make just short of $100K myself but I live in LA where that’s not the same as if I lived in the middle of the country. So yeah, this won’t help me.
I’m sorry for the troubles you and your husband are going through. Thoughts and Prayers to you and yours during this difficult time. (I know that’s not much but it’s the best I got to offer)
😏
I think the more we argue with the right about what to call it the more they dig in their heels. And then they get to change the subject. I just keep calling it covid-19 and don’t let them get to play the victim again. That’s when I remember to think with my head and not my heart
I just…… These people make me want to scream in frustration legit all the time. I’m not sure how to stop myself from yelling you are putting people lives at risk!! Stop being sucked in to this mans lies and doubling down.
We have to remember that 45 knew he screwed up big time. Now he wants to divert our attention from him screwing us and put it The blame on China. Yes, China screwed up and denied they had a problem. However, as 45 said two days ago he knew we had a pandemic long before anyone said it was a pandemic. instead of doing something about it, he was telling us it was a HOAX started by the dems to hurt him. The proper name for this virus is COVID 19, we should use that name and stop letting the lying liar in chief divide us by calling the virus a name that will hurt another race. Chinese people are being harassed and hurt by small minded people and that’s wrong.
+1. Everything you said.
And he defended the unnamed staffer who called it the Kung Fu virus. Chinese Americans have already been attacked in some places because of this. And I imagine most racists can’t tell one Asian background from another, so it’ll affect those with Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. ancestry.
I hate djt with the heat of a million suns.
And this is the man responsible for the administration of the Equal Employment Opportunities Act. That staffer should have been disciplined and the response should have been that the staffer had received discipline.
That’s really so messed up. People in this country suck.
I actually have a Japanese friend, she told me herself it’s difficult to tell Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or most Asians apart. Most people think she’s actually Chinese. Most of them would start speaking to her in their native language and she only spoke Japanese, but also knew just a smidgen of Mandarin. Apparently, none of them can tell what most Asians’ country of descent is. Which I never had any clue about.
Yes to this! My husband’s colleague is married to a Japanese woman and they live in the city of Chicago and when she was on the train last week some teenagers made a comment about not wanting to sit in that car because she probably has corona. This was last week.
Saying corona virus or covid 19 isn’t harder then saying China or Chinese. He knows exactly what he’s doing, once again fanning the flames for his base.
We make him relevant. We really need to ignore him.
Unfortunately for everyone with a pulse, he is the current POTUS, and as such has access to money, power, and nuclear codes. He also is the ultimate determinant of how the U.S. handles this crisis. All of that makes him, sadly and terrifyingly, relevant. Acting as if we can just stop paying attention to him is just a fantasy at this point.
People need to pay attention. And they need to vote him out. I’m not an American, and even I am absolutely terrified of what this man could do with another 4 years. If we all ignore him, it’s less likely than ever that people will realize how harmful, stupid, and virulent this orange dipsh*t is and vote accordingly in November.
Let’s ignore Vanessa Hudgens or however her name is spelled. SHE is irrelevent.
trump is only as relevant as we make him. It’s become clear that the Nancy Pelosi is running things.
China gives no f” s being that he and America better keep writing them their monthly payments. They are in debt to them and believe me the money for this bill will have to be borrowed from some other country. They need to stop all the remarks and bipartism and learn to work together with each other an other countries. As we just found out we ALL need each other an in the near future its gonna get worse.
It’s all nuts. My college age kid already lost her job in the service industry and it’s going to be near impossible to find one now. My husband’s office is having the staff work from home 1/2 the time so they can stagger and keep it at 50% occupancy but they are already talking shut down for at least a few weeks. I’m waiting for my tenants to stop paying rent because they lost a job. It’s not going to be good for anyone. Plus Trump looks and sounds so awful that he must have covid or some other terrible condition. And to top it off the gen z kids are running around like they are immune – spring break, bars, house parties.
I live in a neighborhood that is majority Chinese immigrants. We have a housemate who is South Asian. They all tell me that they are afraid; that people are blaming them. One of our neighbors, who is actually from Wuhan, is recovering from the virus. She contracted it here at the Biogen conference, along with 90 other people, and the Trump administration denied them testing because none of the attendees had traveled from China recently. His racism set it loose in the US; his racism is making it worse.
I had one of his diehard supporters defending him yesterday. She said the media was making more out of this than necessary. Trump was just naming it by site of origin and people just wanted to hate on him. I didn’t even argue with her. Just scrolled by the shouting screed and looked at cute animal posts.
Most of the GOP are showing their racist at an alarming level now. It’s like they aren’t even trying to feign civility or intelligence.
Yeah, I don’t think orange cheetos and his cohorts think about the fact that they are going to need China, whether it’s supplies, money or the knowledge and experience to combat it. Like yo, China has been sending experts, money and supplies all over Europe.
Pharma. We are going to need the pharma coming out of China.
Trump has investments in a med tech and testing company: Thermo Fisher Scientific that though being an American company, they manufacture in China. This racist game is mosttly perfomatic for him, but it is putting real people in danger.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213060533
“Trump claims he divested himself of those investments, but journalists, including those from Fortune Mag have not been able to find any actual proof of his having done so. https://fortune.com/2016/05/19/donald-trump-investments/
This may be in conspiracy theory territory, but deserves a deeper dive by reputable investigative organization and the House Dems. Apparently, Pro Publica has concerns as well. See a request for information about Thermo-Fisher here:
https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/organizations/thermo-fisher-scientific
Among things that looks suspicious are:
1. Trump Admin rejected proven reliable WHO test kits when we needed them the most. Why? Because he wanted to make money with his investments in Thermo Fisher, maybe? (Not only this issue but other concerns raised on this page at Empty Wheel – will make your hair stand on end!)
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/03/07/three-things-endemic-covid-19-edition/
2. After being in the works since last year, Thermo-Fisher suddenly acquires, 3-4 days ago, China company who is instrumental in making those test kits. Value of Thermo-Fisher suddenly surges. Coincidence? Maybe
https://www.heraldextra.com/business/thermo-fisher-buying-qiagen-in-deal-worth-about-b/article_5d6a9f5b-64b8-5996-871f-aa4aff77e617.html
3. In 2017, Trump goes to China and pledges a mega-billion investment of YOUR tax dollars into a number of China Biotech companies. Among them: Thermo-Fisher China subsidiary. Whose investment? His or ours?
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/02/here-are-the-corporate-dealmakers-joining-trump-in-china.html
If you google: Thermo Fisher Scientific Corp trump and follow some of the links, it certainly raises suspicion. “
He probably thinks of signing that bill as buying himself the next election. You know. Just at our cost as taxpayers.
Trump is just doing what all populists do: point out an easily identifiable villain for his supporters to blame for everything from natural disasters and crises to their own personal failings. He plays coy by saying he just calls it that because it originated in China but literally NO ONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD calls it that so sure.. Totally not trying to incite hate to take attention away from his own failings.
He’s about 5 minutes away from “but they call each other that!”
HA! You’re absolutely right.
Ignoring his trash would be wonderful if he didn’t have millions listening. I took a deep breath and dove into a Fox News article about the whole childish virus name calling, and it alarmed me. The things said about China are so scary I can’t believe people turn to this, but they do, and they read this stuff and I’ll tell you, I’ll be shocked if we DON’T march right on into WWIII. This garbage being spewed is hateful and angry and a call to arms. Forget trying to talk to these people. They’re off the rails. We need crop dusters to sprinkle valium .across the country at regular intervals. Certain areas call for lithium.
Trump himself is the America Virus. And judging by the surge of nationalism around the world, he must be hella contagious.
I’ll just drop this here, cut and paste from elle.com:
Presented without comment: the eight senators who voted against the coronavirus relief package on Wednesday.
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Jim Inhofe (R-OK); James Lankford (R-OK); Mike Lee (R-UT); Rand Paul (R-KY); Ben Sasse (R-NE); Tim Scott (R-SC), and Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Also presented without comment: Sasse and Inhofe will run for re-election this fall.
The OK Republican delegates are trash. Inhofe will get elected again because OK never learns. After living there for 10 years, I had to get out.
So much for “We The People”, when the people won’t put their power to good use. I mean, if a person’s record goes against the greater good during a time like this, why should they still remain in Congress? It doesn’t matter their reason(s) for opposing the bill (package); if it helps Americans during a national emergency – which this is – they should vote YES! Smh!
I am one of Ron Johnson’s “constituents”. Not that I’ve ever actually voted for the guy, but I live in Wisconsin. Seriously, screw him! He owned a company in my hometown, and he’s a jerk!
Covid-19 virus the – Trump-Fox Plague!
I don’t think it’s racist at all. It’s pushback against the idea the Chinese are currently promoting that the US army pioneered and unleashed the virus in China (covered in the nytimes etc.). Also, there’s a theory out there that the WHO delayed in calling this a pandemic because of the considerable funding they receive from China. If true, China has a lot to answer for.
I was trying to go get my refill for my Ventolin prescription this morning at Walgreens. I called yesterday and confirmed it was there and the pharmacy would be open at 9. Got there and it’s completely closed up. The employees told me that the pharmacist hadn’t shown up. He went somewhere else, so I have to go back again. They don’t have access to the pharmacy without a licensed pharmacist. So, even though our prescriptions are already filled, we can’t get them. Other people were there waiting with me. One said she even paid in advance so she could get in and out. The other was an older gentleman who said it’s all a conspiracy. Thank goodness I’m not out and have about two weeks left on what I have.
Donn, that’s horrible and outrageous! Walgreens is a huge chain. They should be able to call in another pharmacist from a different store to open your pharmacy so people can get their meds. If for some reason that’s impossible, you should insist it be filled at another Walgreens and let them sort out the transfer and insurance paperwork later.
I see Tulsi has dropped out and endorsed Biden.
How much of this is going to the seniors, long term unemployed and disabled and how will they receive the funds? Some people don’t pay taxes because they don’t work and they are struggling to get by. Ex: If you are disabled and get SSI, you don’t pay taxes so how will these people get their money? Do you have to prove your income?
This is going to be a mess.
he never ceases to be the strangest person. idk, he must have some type of untreated personality disorder or something.
He’s a sociopath.
I was reading last week about the ‘Spanish’ flu – everyone started calling it the Spanish flu because Spain was the only country that was playing it straight with people about what was going on. So yeah, people have sucked for a long time. You think we’d know better by now. It doesn’t matter where it came from, can still kill you!
Are we supposed to pretend it’s not a dog whistle to his base so they know he is as deeply racist as they are. Also, he most likely calls it China Virus since Novel Corona Virus 19 is too hard for his flappy lips to say and can’t say it right.
Trump is playing to his base, who are racist idiots themselves.