Ezra Klein: Trump’s Economic View Of Coronavirus A ‘False Choice’ | The Last Word | MSNBC

Ezra Klein, co-founder of Vox, tells Lawrence O'Donnell that President Trump fails to understand the enormity of the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Ezra says economists tell him this is "what happens if you mix a recession, a financial crisis, a natural disaster and a war."
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Ezra Klein: Trump's Economic View Of Coronavirus A ‘False Choice’ | The Last Word | MSNBC

60 comments

    1. @David Ellis Yea,you sure like telling people what to do don’t you? Why don’t you take your own advice and not kick this wasps nest.

    2. @David Ellis This from a person who said “i bet Trump won’t win”,”i bet Trump is a Russian spy” & “i bet there was a quid pro quo”.The commercial is over now,so go back to the disney channel.

    1. @TheFinalBoss typical trumper blame and make up a name, non educated reply is all your able to bring to the plate. “MAKE AMERICA SICK” Hat for you

    2. @Jim Battersbee I’m going to argue that the American founding fathers were good and/or well-educated men that had some good ideals on how the country should be run and operated, separation of powers and humanitarian values. (I know most of them owned slaves but many of them were actually deeply morally troubled by it through their lives; some call this hypocritical of them but it was the norm at the time so cannot use 21st century standards to judge those past periods). With that said It appears to be the more time I spent reading about the founders the more, I found that current American values are very far from what the American founders envisioned and thus I’m going to argue Americans are in big trouble politically because of it. I think this problem probably started to slowly creep in somewhere after FDR. When both parties began accepting big-money donors. Making GOP into the ultra-rightwing party a DNC into a right-wing party for the most part.

    3. @hue g rection Yeah, we got instead a draft dodging coward, Russian puppet & clown all wrapped up in one with fake hair & skin color. Winning!!!!

    4. @DoctorHver
      Thanks.
      For a start, slavery is not a “humanitarian value”. Neither is the land theft and genocide that preceded it.
      “21st century standards” did not just arise in the 21st century, slavery was outlawed in Britain in 1833.
      I agree, Americans are in massive trouble but not because of FDR, quite the reverse. The USA is in the process of collapse, caused by, as in most empires, its own greed, corruption, and inequality.. Can you begin to imagine how desperate, how much despair and pain it took to get Americans to elect an object as foul as Trump??
      Cheers

  1. He really let it slip today that he thinks very little of the people he governs. I can only hope his followers are actually paying attention this time. Of course, if they are not, we can count on the virus to elliminate any possibility of trump’s re-election…

  2. Trump is going through rally withdrawals. If 100k Americans have to die from this virus in order for him to start holding rallies again, then so be it.

    1. Do you have any idea how many Americans will die if our economy collapses and we go into another great depression. Oh were on YouTube I forgot

  3. With all this virus going around, why when they do there nonsense briefing are they all standing together practically on each other, go up to the podium without wiping down after each other????? It’s so so contagious I thought we were told !

    1. Sadly, the USA is being run by morons. It can only get worse but always remember, Trump was elected by the American people and the American political system.
      You know, the same one the US has waged endless losing wars to try and bring “democracy” to the 3rd world for the last 60 years.
      Cheers

    1. You do realize we won’t even have a health care system if our economy collapses just think of your logic.

    2. So technically you’re contradicting yourself because if he cares about the economy obviously cares about USA life’s because that is what pays the bills for everything moron. You think this country runs on magic.

    3. cee doubleyou Not surprised. Trump is as dumb as a bag of rocks but he loves that money — especially taxpayer money!

    4. @Ace1000ks1975 There is no guarantee that quarantining the entire country is going to do anything

  4. Someone needs to tell Trump, that sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is a train coming straight for us! 🚆 Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.
    Be smart, ignore Trump, stay safe! ✌️💜😷

    1. Maybe he should stay ON the track- certainly would take care of ONE of our problems. The “natural disaster” will have to run its course……

  5. That’s what trump does, fails at business and borrows, borrows. If conservatism is increasing the national debt by over 3 trillion since in office, so people think the economy is doing good, and now borrow another trillion to bail out rich corporations because of the virus. This will end the America we all love, and add it to one of the many failures of the trump slumpire. Trumpers should should wearing “Keep America Sick” Hats in support of the trump pandemic.

    1. I agree he is bankrupting us and our children. His calling should have been MAKE AMERICA BROKE AGAIN.

    1. 🗳️ Nov. 3rd :: Vote blue, no matter who!🗳️
      Don’t think of it as a vote for Biden or Bernie; think of it as a vote that will make Trump ‘feel the Bern’ of us saying, “Bye, Don!”, as he leaves office!
      Country over party!✌️💜 🇺🇲 Let’s dump Trump!

  6. First, we are in the very infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities in the coming weeks. Our hospitals will be overwhelmed, and people will die that didn’t have to. This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. But this is normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm. This enemy that we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not my opinion; this is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. We know what will happen; I want to help the community brace for this impact. Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying around you. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.

    1. Almost all social distancing and business closure restrictions are up to state governors. What restrictions does the executive branch currently mandate other than border closures and travel bans? I don’t think he wants to lift those restrictions.

    2. 80% of those found infected have shown no symptoms of the virus that is why social distancing was instituted in all the other country’s affected it is only in the US with it’s money mad lunatic right wing politics it is questioned.

    3. @Pete fl In the USA the states have rights and powers, we don’t want to give Trump more power. Each state and community has its own circumstances and needs and the governors are in charge of their state. If a particular state isn’t doing its job and affects other states that is when the federal government steps in.

  7. Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well-received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. families) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it of course increases your contacts with group (i.e. family) members. This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics. Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit. You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with. This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or a hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again and no one listens. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that chain.

    1. Mark Beames good advice, but the town Iive in, people are doing very little of that and I’m sure we will pay the price for it. Let me add it’s a Trump town.

  8. In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also take a long time to see the results. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it does. I promise you it does. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a “little”- a playdate, a haircut, or picking up a needless item at the store, etc. From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines all of the work the community has done so far. Until we get a viable vaccine this unprecedented outbreak will not be overcome in grand, sweeping gesture, rather only by the collection of individual choices our community makes in the coming months. This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices.

    My goal in writing this is to prevent communities from getting ‘sucker-punched’ by what the epidemiological community knows will happen in the coming weeks. It will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and become paralyzed by fear, or to ‘cheat’ a little bit in the coming weeks. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the importance of maintaining these measures, my hope is to encourage continued community spirit, strategizing, and action to persevere in this time of uncertainty.

  9. Dump just wants to get re-elected, and he is willing to sacrifice millions of people to do it. If there is a deadly pandemic, people are going to get seriously sick, and they won’t be able to work. Dump is just stupid.

  10. Just ignore the Rube in Chief. It’s the governors we should listen to, THEY run the states we live in. The Rube in Chief thinks he’s the boss, but he’s NOT. He can’t legally make anyone do anything with regards to opening their businesses. Republican fools, you wanna bet your life on your Dear Leader? Then, you’re too stupid to live.

    1. Edward Yamada here in Texas our governors main desire is to please Trump, were doomed. The lucky people live in blue states.

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