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New England Journal of Medicine: 'Dangerously incompetent' politicians must go

Angry Floof

Angry Floof

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I wonder how many more respected institutions will break decades or centuries of non-involvement in politics to do the right thing?

New England Journal of Medicine: 'Dangerously incompetent' politicians must go

The New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, on Wednesday broke with a nearly two-century tradition of avoiding politics to lambast U.S. politicians for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a first for the journal, the editors called for Americans to vote out leaders who have not done enough to address the pandemic.

“When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent,” the editors wrote. “We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.”
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JohnG said:
A site that I like to get scientifically vetted medical info from is Science Based Medicine. They have always had a strict policy about being non political - until now.
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Have they made a statement regarding politics? I see an article that examines the medical care Trump received and critiques the doctors involved and their medical decisions, but it's not a condemnation of the actions and policies of Trump or his administration.

Edit: After reading the full article, it may not give a clear statement of condemnation or call to vote or anything like that, but a comprehensive critique of Trump's medical care will necessarily have to examine the stupidity and reckless actions and policies of Trump and his administration.

The President was basically mocking masks as a sign of weakness, as performance, as a signifier of political leanings—his supporters are still accusing Biden of using masks as a “prop”—while members of Trump’s entourage pointedly took their masks off after being seated to watch the debate. (Unfortunately, he’s not wrong about masks having become a signifier of political beliefs, but he is largely responsible for that.) Indeed, he’s said even worse.
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That's just one tidbit. It goes on and on from there, going over every detail of statements and actions that have had health consequences and promoted medical misinformation. Excellent article.
 
Trausti said:
Angry Floof said:
Trausti said:
Poor Andrew Cuomo.
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Do you have anything to add here? Is empty, irrelevant sniping all you've got anymore?
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Oh, right. De Blasio, too. Are they not incompetent politicians?
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:rofl: Really? This is your response to established, respected (for good reason) institutions condemning an incompetent grifter president? Really? Cuomo and De Blasio are somehow relevant to this? This is a very flimsy and pathetic attempt to defend your authority figure.
 
That's too little and kinda late. Them being nice and professional pisses me off.
I want them go full authority on republicans and especially their media talking heads with their stupid pretty faces.
 
Trausti said:
Angry Floof said:
Trausti said:
Poor Andrew Cuomo.
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Do you have anything to add here? Is empty, irrelevant sniping all you've got anymore?
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Oh, right. De Blasio, too. Are they not incompetent politicians?
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They made mistakes, but they they eventually got better with their response. On the other hand, Trump has never learned one thing ever about it or corrected any mistake. Since day one, his plan has been to treat it only as a p.r. issue and try to pretend the virus is not a problem. That's why the US has one of the worst results of the major nations. It's also why the white house has become a covid hot zone. He's even using that same "no problem" p.r. tactic with his own infection, and that will likely have the same outcome for him.

He would likely be winning the election if he handled it like all the healthy functioning governments have. Every leader who looked like they gave the slightest care about it saw their ratings rise. And probably all of them made mistakes too, but they learned and learning from the mistakes. He didn't even have to do much more than sit back and let the experts lead on it. But he's an idiot psychopath, and so he's losing badly.
 
New England Journal of Medicine Rails Trump Covid-19 Response
notes that publication's editorial:
Dying in a Leadership Vacuum | NEJM
The magnitude of this failure is astonishing. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering,1 the United States leads the world in Covid-19 cases and in deaths due to the disease, far exceeding the numbers in much larger countries, such as China. The death rate in this country is more than double that of Canada, exceeds that of Japan, a country with a vulnerable and elderly population, by a factor of almost 50, and even dwarfs the rates in lower-middle-income countries, such as Vietnam, by a factor of almost 2000. Covid-19 is an overwhelming challenge, and many factors contribute to its severity. But the one we can control is how we behave. And in the United States we have consistently behaved poorly.
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Gizmodo summarizes that letter:
  • The inability to provide “even the most basic personal protective equipment to health care workers and the general public” at the beginning of the pandemic.
  • Our number of tests performed per infected person ranks below Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia—a statistic that makes no sense considering our wealth and resources.
  • A failure to expand testing capacity, causing significant delays and “rendering the results useless for disease control.”
  • The “lackadaisical” approach to social distancing in many regions.
  • The federal government’s abandonment of disease control to the states.
  • The undermining of expertise at government institutions and repeated interference with scientific work at the CDC, NIH, and FDA.
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COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

The editorial ends with
Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.
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I think some of the Republican governors are equally to blame.

Now, Trump's attitude is getting even worse since he seems to be recovering from COVID. Just yesterday he repeated the same lies about how the virus is disappearing and a vaccine will be out very, very soon. I would call him dangerously unhinged, not just incompetent.
 
southernhybrid said:
I think some of the Republican governors are equally to blame.

Now, Trump's attitude is getting even worse since he seems to be recovering from COVID. Just yesterday he repeated the same lies about how the virus is disappearing and a vaccine will be out very, very soon. I would call him dangerously unhinged, not just incompetent.
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They are all to blame. Governors, the *resident, the Senate, everyone with an R next to their name.

It will only get worse now, if it doesn't kill him.
 
And in a year when the west is burning up town by town while down south there are two "once in a lifetime" hurricanes six weeks apart, grinding up whole towns, the climatologists join the list of scientists ignored by conservatives.
 
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02800-9

Nature Magazine has taken a strong stance against Trump.

...
If Trump wins in November, researchers fear the worst. “The Trump folks have poured an acid on public institutions that is much more powerful than anything we’ve seen before,” says Victor.
“People can shake some of these things off after one term, but to have him elected again, given everything he has done, that would be extraordinary. And the damage done would be much greater.”
...
 
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