Personal freedom stands as the most liberal innovation of human civilization. How ironic that it stands as a key political manifesto of today’s conservative movement in America.
Adopting the mantra that limited government empowers personal freedom, conservative groups for the past two decades have been promoting the need to tear down what they see as over-reaching government authority. Donald Trump became their avatar upon his election as elected President and tore into his role with a vengeance.
Key targets have included science-based policies. Prominent among them has been climate science. Until the last few weeks, health science was also disdained.
Fortunately, the President has begun to primarily listen to real health scientists rather than pseudoscience prognosticators to deal with the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Here’s the timeline.
From the time the CDC published a health advisory on January 8 throughout February, Trump favored the pseudoscience line that the virus was no big deal. He then began to listen to health scientists but it wasn’t until March 13 that he declared the worldwide pandemic a national emergency. On March 23 he fell back on pseudoscience saying the country might get back to normal by Easter Sunday. Finally, the next day he spoke soberly and sadly what his health scientists had been saying, “this is going to be very painful” with U.S. deaths held to from 100,000 to 240,000, but can be in the millions if strict social distancing and handwashing guidelines are not followed.
Due to Trump’s dalliance with pseudoscience, we have been eking our way toward an effective response when we should have been racing.
The good news is that the President is now heeding health scientists Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx regarding steps needed to mitigate the virus’s impact. And it appears he is now taking more aggressive steps to increase test availability, lab capacity to process tests, medical supplies and ventilators, hospitals beds, and medical staff where needed.
Even with all this, Vice President Mike Pence said to expect America’s experience to be more like Italy’s, whose death rate is 15 times greater than ours so far.
A nation committed to individual freedom as we are cannot use the heavy hand of government to test, track, and isolate citizens as China, Singapore, and South Korea have effectively done. Neither can we mobilize massive on-the-ground government interventions. That means other, less strict but science-based means like shelter-at-home, social distancing, and hygiene must be adopted and aggressively pushed by leaders.
A big problem is elected officials who fall for pseudoscience cannot be trusted to aggressively take these steps to slow the virus. Indeed, it wasn’t until last week when the President personally urged Gov. DeSantis of Florida to shift gears and implement statewide shelter-in-place that Trump disciples Gov. Tate Reeves and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp did the same.
Even when leaders change their tune, a population force fed on limited government propaganda cannot be trusted to suddenly heed government proclamations. Indeed, Dr. Fauci had to be provided a security detail when anti-science fanatics began issuing him threats.
Getting his followers to shift gears on health science will test Trump’s leadership ability. Regrettably, the scorecard for this test will be America’s death rate.
"Father forgive them for they do not know what they do” – Luke 23:34
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Bill Crawford: Trump Changes Tune But Will His Followers?
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Plenty of comments here stating that the hospitals in the metro are totally empty. That nurses and doctors are not working and no Covid-19 patients filling the hospitals. The president changed his time because it is an election year and he was being skewered by the media. This is a giant hoax perpetrated by the left and the CARE ACT is a giant power grabbing porkulus bill. Chicken littles are echoing the doom porn but the reality is that fear is the only factor creating problems like panic hording and eventually hyper inflation.
Surely, everyday Trump is bombarded with advice from “experts” on both sides. Even Fauci’s bunch predicted between 100,000 and 2.2 million deaths. How can we expect a non- expert president to make all the right choices? Things do shift from day to day and I think Trump is trying to do the right thing. Hoping from the start that things would not be so bad and don’t panic everyone, but now pulling out all stops to minimize the tragedy.
Yet another example of how out of touch this Jackson columnist truly is. The unprecedented shutdown of the global economy for a virus that is less lethal than SARS or MERS is not really to stop the virus itself. The reality is that if the economic engine is ever restarted it will be done in such a way as to conform to the Paris Climate Accord and the UN/ICCC framework for combating climate change. Yep you all are being duped by this slight-of-hand hoax. And shills like Bill Crawford are weaponizing the hoax for use during the 2020 election.
This guy is like Bill Kristol and David Brooks. Pseudo Conservatives who were never Conservative. Kingfish gives him more attention every week than he gets elsewhere combined.
Trump continues however, to give mixed messages. For example, he says wear a mask and then says he won't. He was supporting social distancing while surrounded by CEOs and government employees standing shoulder to shoulder behind him.
His supporters seem to remain loyal even though they either refuse to accept his change of view on the virus or either stopped listening after they heard what they wanted to hear in his early news conferences.
Trumps most appalling statement to me is that if Governors wanted needed supplies from the Federal stockpile, they would have to be "good" to him. And, he has followed through with that by supplying Ohio, Michigan and Florida while leaving New York hanging. Indeed, I have reports from friends working in a hospital in one those states, located in an important Trump stronghold, that they got pallets of PPEs and ventilators when they had heard of no request ( the person is in ER) as none was yet needed. Their ventilator supply was a 2-4 hundred more than the hundred they already had ( too many to spend time counting as they arrived).
I was nearly as appalled when " Mr. Pillow" was put into a logistical position. We need those with an understanding of the supply chains , especially government supply chains. This notion that being successful selling pillows gives you the needed experience of understanding the hospital system and federal stock supply chain and even knowing who to call is frightening. Mr. Pillow has ZERO institutional knowledge.
Jared, can't seem to do simple math so as to understand that a request is not unreasonable if it's based on the affected population and the percentage of ventilators projected to be needed as the cases rise by the lowest prediction. Jared, some States have more people in one city than the population of entire States!
Someone please tell the President to call Honore and to turn him loose!
I'll bet George Bush wishes he'd called him first, before Brownie!
And, firing the Captain of a ship pleading for his crew was egregious. Trump should have fired his Sec of Navy for not responding to that Captain early on! We ALL knew there was a problem long before the letter!
Dumb and incompetent and believing in nonsense rather than science may make for entertaining television but it's going to destroy our Nation.
For 70 days, DonaldTrump dithered and deceived. And lives were lost because of his lies.
While talking with many in the medical community we can not tell there is any real problem out there. We are stocked up with food and plenty of masks, gloves and sanitizer but without media, I can not even tell anything is out of the ordinary.
My contacts include hospital administrators, doctors of many types, surgeons, nurses from Dr of to Rn's and no one has seen any impact worth worrying about if the metric is abnormal numbers of sick people.
I am wondering if something else is afoot or if we are being played a fool?
I am fair with statistics, exponential growth and virology as related to transmission and mortality. To stop or drastically slow the spread of a virus would require a situation that is not achievable at this time. Is there even a need to do anything different from a few months ago?
Very fair opinion. I’m sure if you asked trump he would lie about his initial statements and actions and his base would eat it up even though they heard different with their own ears. It’s sad that people would rather die and kill others than admit they placed their trust in the wrong people and it bit us all in the ass.
I'm not a Trump fan. But this "columnist" has a routine: rip on Trump and the GOP every Sunday in this space.
Please tell me he's paying for the privilege of doing this.
Never trust a man who talks down to people (Bill Crawford) like we are all dumbasses and then end his article that’s really not worth taking the time to read with a Bible verse. You want to preach to somebody? Go find you a congregation. Until then keep your opinions to yourself Bill. And leave the Lord out of it.
Anyone who twists scripture around to mean something completely different from what it means in context is of his father satan. Crawford’s daddy is the devil
@9:16, This is not some conspiracy, but it is true that Covid-19 has reduced the global carbon footprint to within IPCC recommended levels to combat climate change.
If we could sustain these C02 emission levels then we could reverse the warming trend. Climate Change is a more serious threat to the planet than Covid-19.
''CRAWFORD IS A SYNDICATED COLUMNIST FROM JACKSON''............................ the moment i saw that i knew this article was total BS. mr crawford needs a little indoctrination on how the chinese communist party works. i so wish i could send him there for a lesson.
''
11:05........you nailed it
It's good for Kingfish to allow Crawford to give us the jackass view, I mean democrat's view on different subjects. We all need to hear different opinions to world events, even if it comes from a bitter, envious, arrogant, pompous, self righteous, hypocrite like Bill Crawford. Crawford is well versed in the RINO point of view. For those who don't know, the RINO view, mirrors, the Democrat slightly left of center stance. Crawford is another, storefront, Christian that believes the government should do the work of the church. His contempt for President Trump, and those that would support him, is thinly veiled. The hypocrisy of Crawford accusing the President of pseudoscience, then pivoting, to give credence to the actual pseudoscience, of anthropomorphic climate change is simply hilarious. It is always a convenience to have selective memory to fit ones agenda. Could it have been an accident that Crawford forgot all the conflicting opinions that presented themselves when this pandemic started? I think not. Crawford, the hypocrite, remembers what fits his agenda. I have a Bible verse for you Mr. Crawford, Proverbs 6:19. It seems fit this columnist.
9:50 Mr. Pillow isn't taking over command of the supply chain, he switched his pillow factory over to making masks. He makes them, other people decide where they are needed most.
The captain of the Theodore Roosevelt stepped out of the chain of command. He was within his responsibilities to his command to notify his superiors of his concerns, but the minute he copied the letter to people who were sure to leak it to the press he was no longer following the prescribed methods for addressing those concerns. So in effect he is trying to use public opinion to force a course of action of his own choosing by the Navy. He knew he would be relieved when he released the letter, he knew what the certain consequences would be, and he went ahead with the course of action. Only he can decide whether it was worth it.
The Network is alive and well.
@9:59 AM
In January, Pres. Donald Trump signed an EO that stopped travel from China by Chinese nationals. The media criticized him as a xenophobe, comparing his EO to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Later, Nancy Pelosi did photo-ops in San Francsico's Chinatown calling him a racist xenophobe and encouraged fellow democrats to show their support for Chinese business.
Sho Nuff @12:32, You've been pretty quick to through out Bible verses in your comments. I suggest you review Matthew 7:5, or Luke 6:42.
@2:44, you don't know me well enough, to determine if I am a hypocrite, or not. I have been called many things in my journey through life, but a hypocrite was never one of them. Anyone in my list of friends, or associates will tell you the same. But, I digress, because the simple truth of the matter is you, @2:44, became offended by what I posted about your, whatever he is to you, Bill Crawford. So you came white knighting to the rescue. That is perfectly all right, because we know birds of a feather flock together, and now we understand what group you belong to. I am aware of many, many scriptures, having devoted many years of study to the same. I will remind you of Matthew 7:16, where the LORD gives us the understanding to know whom we are dealing with. He said we would know them by the fruit they produced. You coming to the defense of Crawford tells me you are of the same tree. From what I can tell your fruit is rotten. Bless your heart.
Every time I see folks whipping out the Bible in crisis situations like this one, I am reminded a joke from Katrina:
A guy drowns in his home and he gets to the Pearly Gates for assessment. He asks St. Peter why did God, who has always faithfully worshiped, forsake him in his time of dire need? Just as St. Peter begins to explain, God comes storming out, obviously a bit impatient. And God says, "Look, I've had it with this! A week before Katrina made landfall, it was Me who led all the officials to go on TV and warn everyone. And many of you didn't listen. And when Katrina was bearing down, it was Me who led those officials to order evacuations. Again, you didn't listen. And when the waters began to rise, I gave the Guard and many volunteers the strength to seek out those of you who wouldn't listen and offer you rescue. And you refused. Forsake you, My ass. I may be God, but even I get sick and tired of all of you idiots who refuse to listen to common sense. And if you don't like the way I operate you can go straight to hell!"
Poof.
Sho Nuff, I don't know Bill Crawford from Adam, and I was not defending him. I merely responded to your repeated comments wherein you presume to know the hearts and minds of large groups of people that you have probably never met, and then proceeded to pass judgment on them. Perhaps you should have someone read your own comments to you, so you can hear for yourself what you really sound like.
I have no doubt your theological training is far superior to mine. Nonetheless, if the shoe fits, you should probably wear it and take a long look inside your own heart, instead of everyone else's.
-2:44
Sho Nuff, I'll make it easy for you to see what I have seen from you with a few excerpts from you prior posts. -2:44
"even if it comes from a bitter, envious, arrogant, pompous, self righteous, hypocrite like Bill Crawford. . . . Crawford, the hypocrite, remembers what fits his agenda."
"You would rather get on this chat board, disparage, belittle, and ridicule people than have sex. Tell us, how inadequate do you feel?"
"Most, sometimes all, trying to show the rest of the room how intellectually superior they were to others gathered there. Some trotting out obscure facts, that in noway, added to the conversation of the subject being discussed. While others, reasoned against opinions that had been expressed concerning news events of the time. Pontificating to no end the superiority of "their" position. The possibility of them being in era, never once entered in to their thought process. Each in there own opinion, the most intelligent person in the room. A large portion of these people were convinced their bowel movements, had the fragrance of roses."
Well, well, well, aren't you the faithful warrior. You continue to white knight, even more determined to put this upstart stranger in his place. I know, you reasoned, I will throw his on words back at him, as if I'm not aware of what I posted. I must have hit a tender spot for you to have this response. You have me thinking all you re-posted applies to you. I, have no ego to protect, and because of that, I won't defend myself. You, on the other hand, have made some assumptions, or at least it seems that way to me. You have applied your limitations, to me. I posted, that I have years of Bible study, that was no boast. The truth of the matter, is you can't have a study of God, with out having a study of man, also. The Bible is an in depth study of the psyche of man. Of course you have no faith, or confidence in the wealth of knowledge hidden in the Christian Bible. The Bible reveals every fault, every failure, every character issue of the human race. Because of the Bible, I can know the hearts, and minds of people I haven't met, because these people are flesh, also. FYI here, I am flesh, also. Everything the Bible says applies to me. So, I have taken years of searching my own heart. I found the writer in the Bible was correct, when he wrote that God said, the heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. That, sir, applies to us all.
Sho Nuff, I believe it is human nature to see our own faults in others, which allows us to remain blind to them in ourselves. It is part of the human condition, and I suffer from it too. In my experience, it's when I am unable/unwilling to admit it to myself and to others that I am most inclined to cause harm.
-2:44
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