Incompetence is as incompetence does ...

From the Guardian, here: Trump accuses Obama of being 'grossly incompetent' after his coronavirus criticism - excerpt:

I have mentioned previously and I maintain today: Trump's behaviour as regards Covid-19 was disbelief because he knew it would hurt his hotel-business. That's all he was thinking about when early-on he gave his wishy-washy excuse for doing absolutely nothing.

And which eventually took America by surprise because Uncle Sam was wholly unprepared for the onslaught of Covid-19 that has thus taken provisionally more than 90,000 American lives.

Which is about the population of Reading, Pennsylvania ...

 

Well, competence hasn't really counted for much in Presidential candidates for quite some time. Trump is just carrying on a tradition.

 

Trump was the first one to sound the alarm on Chinese Covid 19.

 

You are a very good mind reader. Congratulations.

 

The La-la Land you live in is fascination, but not very helpful. Against the advice of people like Dr. Fauci et al and contrary to the strident criticisms and, yes, lawsuits from Democrats, Trump moved quicker than anyone before him to combat the virus. His hotel business (which he doesn't have, but I'll play along) was not even a distant idle thought in his mind.

 

The notion that Trump “thinks” is greatly exaggerated by both sides of the partisan divide.

 

89,000 of which were people who were near death - would have likely died from any serious flue. Pneumonia takes us all in the end - if you have not had the misfortune of some other cause.

In this demographic - Corona is more lethal than a regular flue.

Do we care ? - of course we do - and hopefully corona will have taught people to practice better hygiene - and increase our preparedness. - But - we would not have been much better prepared were it any other Administration.

 

Let's not confuse the word. Competence is a quality that is measurable. I have never known how to measure that quality of any politician on earth. It is a unique animal and the criterias for success seem to be how many times can they get reelected. Which simply shows how dumb some electors can be.

Competence is measurable when possible outcomes are agreed as the right ones. What is the competence level of a Democrat Senator or a Replicant Representative? I, for one, haven't the foggiest notion ...

 

His patterns of behaviour were imprinted at a very early age. All the rest seems manipulative self-centeredness.

Well worth the read from the Atlantic: The Mind of Donald Trump ...

PS: Yes! Surprise, surprise! He has one!

 

In some special setting competence may be quantifiable. In life, it is generally either evident or not. Trump is competent in maintaining himself as a prominent figure, as demonstrated over time. Otherwise, it is a very mixed bag.

 

Bit of a painful read to be honest - although I do agree the claim that patterns of behavior are imprinted at an early age - that's how the human being machine works.

It would have been nice if you had added some color - from the lengthy article - not just because it is Forum Policy - but because it helps folks understand what on earth you are talking about.

So what were these imprinted patterns ? Daddy Trump was was a Social Darwinist - and so is Donald - many of his actions can be seen through this prism.

Donald learned of his superior genetic stock at a young age - how hierarchies in society are the natural out cropping of the Genes survival instinct. That folks in high places are there because of genetic superiority - and to tamper with this would be to tamper with the "natural order"

 

"Superior genetic stock"?
Whew!
Nature is objective, neutral. Nature is what it is. There is no superior or inferior in nature, in the universe, except to the extent that humans are part of it and have this kind of binary illusion in mind.
"Superior" is entirely subjective. As such, what one deems "superior" is really only stating it for oneself. There is no greater 'tampering with the natural order" than imposing a relativist standard regarding what "high places" even means. Lao Tsu, Buddha and Jesus did not occupy what the world regards as high places, yet they are some of the the highest examples of humanity.

 

SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO

Dunno. Human nature, above all, is very curious. Superior for one group may not be the same for another group. It really depends upon "references" - that is, what is most important in the minds of humans.

Yes, the US can take credit for withdrawing from the British Royal Domain of the 18th century, then winning a War of Independence to assure that the budding country remain so. But, that did not stop either its founders or inheritors to inflict damage upon what was a truly innovative idea. Called "democracy".

Let's not forget - little did they know at the turn of the century - that the Agricultural Age was changing and the Industrial Age would take its place. This happened first with the steam-engine that powered devices that generally replaced man-power far more effectively. But the steam engine was concocted at the end of the 17th century and yet took another century to fully disrupt agriculture by making manufacturing the prime employer.

If technology was changing the face of America and generating great riches for some people, the notion of fairness of income was not predominant. So, "controlling what happens in LaLaLand on the Potomac" became a high-priority item. First with the south that needed more "say" because it was wholly dependent upon slavery for cheap manpower but Europeans were flocking to the jobs that "Industry" was creating in the northern states. The Civil War in the 1860s was all but inevitable because slavery was still a necessity to field the crops that, once picked, steam-driven trains brought to markets.

History gets tangled and it is not as progressive as we might think. Plenty of time passes between notable dates of renovation and enhanced output that benefits entire populations.

Were it not for Hitler's defeat only a bit less than half a century ago, Europe would be still a fiefdom of the Nazis. It is now a very close resemblance to the US. Both of which resonate throughout the world as prime examples of Functional Working Democracies. But there remains a BigDifference between the two.

And that is the notion of Income Fairness. The US is still wedded to its Winner-Takes-All-Capitalism. The EU has gone off in another direction notably pursuing the needs of the poorest of its members. These fundamental references are very different between the two "democracies" and thus the political-divergence between the two are highly substantial ...

 

Again Trumpers fall back on
"Well they were gonna die anyway..."

 

It's the negative consequence of 4- or 8-year term limits. No one walks into the office of president with the experience to be "leader of the free world", and 4 or 8 years of on-the-job training isn't enough to perfect the skills. Wouldn't trade the system for any other though, as imperfect as it is.

What's questionable is the competency of voters when they vote for inept Congressmen essentially for lifetime terms as our ruling elite.

 

True. This country is "heavy" in seniors. 8% of the U.S. population is over 75 years. Another 22% is 55-75 years.

No country with 30% of the population over 55 years would fare well in fatalities from a new virus, regardless who is sitting in the White House.

59% of U.S. Covid deaths are people over 75 years. 33% in people 55-74.

 

Advances in medical science have increased U.S. life expectancy from 68 years in 1950 to 79 years in 2020. Meanwhile, we started eating a really crummy, processed-food diet, heavy in sugars, salts and starches.

Sometimes nature rebalances things and humbles the arrogance of human intelligence.

 

And you think you are qualified to determine the competency of other voters?

 

And sometimes pandemics happen and sometimes the leadership does all the wrong things when they do happen

 

https://www.indexmundi.com/south_korea/demographics_profile.html

Wrong again.

Par for the course

 

Explained by diet and lifestyle.

S. Korea overall mortality:
Death rate
6.3 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.)

In the U.S., 8.5 people out of a 1000 die per year (before Covid). Lazy, fat and happy here, aren't we?

 

Yes, you should write a letter to Mayor Di Blasio and Governor Cuomo about that, since governors are responsible for the health of the residents in their state.

The federal government plays a supportive role when governor's fail to do their job. Imagine how bad New York would have been if the federal government hadn't scrambled to get additional resources there so that no one was ever denied a hospital bed for lack of capacity.

 

It must also be pointed out that the population of Korea (north and south, for that matter) is made up of tough survivors of repeated wars and catastrophes that, fortunately perhaps) Americans have not experienced.

 

It's not an unpopular position that voters elect a bunch of clowns to Congress over and over, many for unlimited life-time terms. What does that say about the competency of voters?



Who has been "responsible" for making decisions for decades, and who has only be in government as a novice for 3.5 years?

 

That's nice - but I am not a "Trumper" - and ad hom is not an argument for much