Monday, March 9, 2020

Republican math troubles are all about propaganda that hides facts

Republican math is looking bad again - - because the facts again are worse.

Trump last week said Coronavirus cases were at 15 (when they were much higher) and predicted they'd soon go "close to zero." 

The latest count is over 700 - - that trend, like the death toll, is worsening - -  and wait until those long-delayed test kits which Trump also had earlier mis-estimated and under-supplied begin to produce unfortunate, reportable results.

Trump's self-protecting manipulations are hardly surprising, as we watched Trump and his loyalists lie against the obvious photographic evidence about the size of his inauguration crowd, and, more lately, about the size of many of his campaign rallies:
For example, Trump claimed 50,000 people were outside a rally in Houston because they couldn’t get in, but the city’s police chief said the number was much lower: 3,000. In Cleveland, Trump claimed “thousands” of people were outside because the venue was packed. But Twitter users at the event posted evidence that Trump didn’t fill the venue and that only a handful of people were milling around in the parking lot.
Regrettably, this is not just a Trump situation - - it's a Republican Party phenomenon and Wisconsin's GOP 'leaders' have provided many of their own fact-based challenges, including.

* Walker's boast about creating 250,000 new private sector jobs in four years. 

Didn't happen.

* Or Robin Vos's claim that Wisconsin's economy would take off like a rocket were Walker to win the recall election - - a boast which Walker himself had also made:
WI Republicans repeating failed Walker/jobs' fairy tales
...Walker himself mouthed the self-serving talking point about how his plans would spectacularly bring new jobs to Wisconsin:
Gov. Walker says business hiring will skyrocket after he wins recall election
SPRINGFIELD, IL (WTAQ) - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told an Illinois business conference today that quote, “like a rocket, you’ll see businesses hiring” after the June fifth recall election. 
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013 
As Wisconsin's Economy Remains Stalled, We Remember... 
The economic prediction of state legislator Robin Vos, now Assembly Speaker, who spoke with certainty in April 2012 about the coming boom in Wisconsin once Scott Walker nailed down the recall win: 
Once June 5 hits and Gov. Scott Walker is securely re-elected, “our economy is going to take off like a rocket,” state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Monday during a meeting with The Journal Times Editorial Board.  
So, why does Forbes rank Wisconsin 41st for business 
Gee, how come such trouble with numbers, and therefore about matters of finance and economics, which are sciences based on, you known, numbers, er, data.

Because The Walkers and Voses and Johnsons and Trumps of the political world think that propaganda can magically make things real - - better to lead gullible supporters around by the nose, and perhaps some donors, too - - when, in fact, numbers are facts that represent and explain greater facts - - a reality that Republicans shrug off the way they have twisted, abused, denied or buried facts about everything from coronavirus infections to redistricting to Foxconn and 13,000 [Sic] jobs - - 

From NBC Nightly News, 7/21/19
- - to climate change to wage growth during President Obama's tenure to science altogether.

And if all else fails, if there is something incontrovertibly scientifically all-facted-up because a machine is measuring it in real time, then just move the da*n machine to a place where it will gather different facts and tell the story which GOP special interests want told, and, presto! - - alternative fact - - problem solved, Walker and Trump and all Republicans move on, happy:
A bill to block use of an air quality monitor in Kohler-Andrae State Park has touched off a scientific and political debate. The discussion comes as Sheboygan County is trying to become the last full county in Wisconsin to meet federal standards on ozone pollution. 
The Republican-sponsored legislation would ban state funding of the air monitor and ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop using readings that show Sheboygan County exceeding federal ozone limits.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When Trump talked about the size of the crowd at his inauguration he was telling us --we lie to you, get used to it, we will do it all the time.