Why is there no discussion about how DeBlasio reacted to the coronavirus outbreak initially?

https://giphy.com/gifs/thats-bait-srTYyZ1BjBtGU

Wait, you think DeBlasio should have been contradicting the President and shutting down NY when the President said it was all a Democratic hoax? I am so surprised by you @seawulf575 !

Also, NYC did not become the hardest hit part of the country until this week. Washington state ws hit hard early, and the White House called the Governor of Washington “a snake”. Should DeBlasio been a snake too?

@Darth_Algar Why is it that any time a question concerning bad behavior by Dems is brought up, your initial reaction is that it is flame bait? Is it so hard for you to comprehend that Dems could be slime, just like Repubs? Are you THAT inured in their rhetoric?

@zenvelo At this same time (as when DeBlasio was making his tweet), there were other governors and mayors that were taking action to combat the spread. Washington State declared a state of emergency and had identified communally transmitted cases of the disease. Trump NEVER said everyone had to do what he said. He DID say that he urged governors and mayors take action to prevent the spread and that the Feds would work with them. Apparently DeBlasio’s plan was for NYC to continue on with business as usual.
But here’s the question, and it is one that you are showing to be valid, why is it that Trump is held to task for not taking action quickly enough, yet a full month after issuing his first travel ban, and days after Washington state declared a state of emergency and identified communally transmitted cases, DeBlasio is suggesting everyone goes on with things as normal…and no one calls him on it? You are even trying (weakly) to defend him by blaming Trump. So you think his tweet was accurate and timely and didn’t contribute to the growing problem in NYC at all?

I’ve seen coverage of de Blasio’s poor handling of COVID-19 in a variety of sources. It’s also being widely discussed by current and former New Yorkers (by which I mean both those who are from the city and those who are from the rest of the state). My wife and I are both former New Yorkers, and we still have family there. I don’t think a single recent conversation with one of our parents has failed to include the topic of how Cuomo and de Blasio are handling the pandemic.

To the extent that political news outlets are covering Trump’s response to COVID-19 more than de Blasio’s response, it might have something to do with the fact that Trump is currently running for reelection whereas de Blasio is term limited and therefore cannot run for reelection next year. It might also have something to with the fact that Trump is the President of the United States, while de Blasio is the Mayor of New York City (an important office, to be sure, but not quite as important as the president).

@seawulf575

The bait is in your framing of the question. It’s not designed to spark real discussion, only to stir up more back and forth bickering. If you’re seriously interested in thoughtful discourse then you might want to reconsider your technique.

de Blasio screwed up, and I have no problem saying so. I also have yet to hear him deny it. Our fool, on the other hand does not hesitate to blame everyone but himself as though we might forget his tirelessly advising us that the outbreak is no big deal.

@SavoirFaire I hope your family members in NY are safe. It is strange times when a statement like that comes out, eh? It’s good to know that some outlets are covering DeBlasio’s handling of this pandemic. I don’t know the answer of why others are not. If it is strictly because of proximity to election time, then our MSM has failed miserably. They have stopped reporting the news and have instead turned into propagandists that are trying to sway election results. If someone isn’t up for re-election they aren’t worth talking about. And there might be some truth in that. Because, in my mind, when we get to your second thought…that Trump is POTUS and DeBlasio is only mayor…it holds true even more. Yes, POTUS is a much more high profile job than Mayor of NYC, but NYC has become THE epicenter in our country for the Covid-19 virus. The MSM seems to be all over Trump for not reacting quickly enough, not taking it seriously, and not being doom and gloom yet these are EXACTLY what DeBlasio did and most are not calling him on it. And this is not a defense of Trump, it a condemnation of the MSM.

@Darth_Algar have you thought, maybe, it is your reluctance to look negatively on anything Democratic Party or MSM that makes you see flame bait?

@seawulf575

Reluctance? I’ve taken the Democratic Party to task many times. If you haven’t seen it or haven’t paid attention that’s not my issue.

Your constant squawking of “MSM”, “MSM” is just inane parroting, however.

@Darth_Algar so it isn’t the Dem party, but the propagandists you are protecting? Okay. And that is, after all, what this question is really about…the MSM that won’t accurately report stuff.

I didn’t know that Bill DeBlasio – real name Warren Welhelm [?]- gave most people the idea the he was supposed to be anything but an idiot.
If expectations are low, they are easy to meet.

By the way, if the MSM is not accurately reporting the news, which propagandist supplied YOU the information?

@seawulf575

No, your parroting of “MSM” is idiotic because it’s an unthinking buzzword employed by people like Trump (and Sarah Palin before him) to evoke an ingrained distrust, even hostility, towards anybody in the press who doesn’t tow their line or handle them with kid gloves.

But tell me – which “propagandists” do you prefer?

@Darth_Algar Which propagandists? Gee, how about any of the major “news” outlets that continually talk about how Trump is handling things so wrong and yet still refuse to discuss the blatant misinformation DeBlasio put out? Take your pick. The fact they all have a major liberal slant is probably meaningless, eh?

But your question ignores the reality of which man you would expect to receive the greater coverage. And this is most emphatically the case when you ask which of the 2 is more prone to dependably provide the press the juiciest verbal sensationalist fkups. You’re blaming the press because Trump is center ring in the spotlight that he insists must be focused on himself. And the mountain of footage of him downplaying and denying the severity of the disease will be just one more albatross hanging from his neck to accompany the staggering death tolls and economic disruptions. Your fool will talk his way into the headlines and will not allow any mention of deBlasio or anyone else any precedence excluding himself.

@stanleybmanly The question does not ignore anything. In the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and the initial reactions, it would be expected that President Trump would get far more coverage. But now, with NYC being THE hotspot in this country for the virus, the actions of the mayor become far more important. Having the press now covering his comments from earlier on would be a cautionary tale for why it is important to self-quarantine, use social distancing, and to avoid crowds. Yet they refuse to do so. They only want to try blaming everything on President Trump. At this point, covering DeBlasio’s initial reactions (even a month after the initial travel ban and with the state of emergency being declared in Washington state) are VERY pertinent. It is only the Orange-Man-Bad attitude from the left that avoids the honest reporting.

@seawulf575: The first Coronavirus case in NYC was March 1. I work in the county right outside of NYC (Westchester) and the first case there, the attorney who lives in New Rochelle and works in NYC, was Tuesday, 3/10. A good friend works with the neighbor of the first case, so I was hearing first hand about it as it unfolded, literally, as the neighbor was texting my friend (her coworker) about the news being outside her house, etc. Simultaneously, as I was hearing on the phone about the coworker, my coworker was telling me about it from a work standpoint (government).

Within two weeks of that, in Westchester County, schools were closed, stores, restaurants, gyms, bars, etc. were all closed. It was amazing how fast the virus spread and how quickly everything shut down. Within a week of the first positive case, I was working from home.

I had dinner plans for 3/24 and I asked the friends I had plans with if we should postpone. This discussion took place around 3/16. One of my friends wanted to keep the plans because she said “a lot of things will probably close down in April.” The County Exec in Westchester closed things down right after 3/16 and within two days of that, I was working from home.

I’m sure in due time, DeBlasio will have to face the music about his tweet on March 2. However, I can assure you nobody would have predicted how quickly this thing spread in the area. Our heads were spinning about how fast it spread. I was saying to a friend of mine, “if you had told me two weeks ago that within two weeks, everything would be closed and schools would probably be closed for the rest of the school year, I’d have said “get the fuck outta here. Now look. It’s like the world has shut down.

@jca2 “However, I can assure you nobody would have predicted how quickly this thing spread in the area” I get that. But isn’t that exactly what the MSM is trying to pin on Trump? That he didn’t predict it properly and didn’t react quickly enough? Again…not defending Trump but trying to figure out why the MSM continues to focus this sort of thought process against him when DeBlasio was lackadaisical long past when Trump was. And now NYC is in dreadful shape. It is possibly true that DeBlasio will have to face the music, but I doubt it. No one is talking about it now and as time moves away from the point of impact, it will fall from importance in their minds. Once the crisis is over, no one will care to talk about it. So he will basically have caused problems and never be held accountable for it.

@seawulf575: I am not a fan of Trump but have not and will not argue now about how Trump handled the Covid 19 crisis. It will undoubtedly come up during election debates, and that’s for him to deal with. I don’t know enough about it, as far as Trump goes, to argue about it. I can’t speak for other people as far as what or why they’re saying. No doubt DeBlasio, too, will have to face the music in reference to it.

In general, I’ve been trying to avoid political arguments here and in general, as it does nothing except get people pissed off and I don’t have time for it in my personal life. My point above about DeBlasio was merely to give the perspective of someone who lives not far from NYC and knows first hand what went on.

We argue endlessly here over whether Trump drives the news cycle or the fool’s downside is mere invention and exaggeration of the press. To me, the argument that Trump is piled on by the media is a clear cut example of “blame the messenger”. It is equivalent to stating that the sinking of the Titanic is not a disaster because coverage of the event was biased against the Lusitania.

In the end, de Blasio will be called on the carpet by the powerful media outlets circulating the news in that city. I have no doubt about it, but come November it won’t be that city’s mayor, that will be contrasted with the fool, but rather the exemplary conduct of New York’s governor that will be among the talking points against the idiot.

I just heard on the news (NYC news) that the first positive case in New Rochelle is going to return home tomorrow. He’s been in the hospital ever since he was diagnosed. The guy who drove him to the hospital became positive, too, from having him in the car.