The Irresponsibility of Giuliani
Masklessly criss-crossing the country.
As has now been widely reported, Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for Covid-19 and has been hospitalized. The exact nature of his symptoms is unknown. This is yet another example of a person affiliated with the administration who has publicly not taken the pandemic seriously with the predictable outcome of another infection.
Giuliani has been traveling the country representing Trump in his ongoing attempt to overturn the results of the elections.
One of his recent stops was Arizona. Now the Arizona Republic reports: Arizona Legislature shuts down after Rudy Giuliani possibly exposed lawmakers to COVID-19.
Giuliani had spent more than 10 hours discussing election concerns with Arizona Republicans — including two members of Congress and at least 13 current and future state lawmakers — at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix last Monday. He led the meeting maskless, flouting social distancing guidelines and posing for photos.
Giuliani also met privately with Republican lawmakers and legislative leadership the next day, according to lawmakers’ social media posts.
Giuliani was also in Michigan at live hearings this week. And there is, of course, just the exposure of others due to all this travel. Unnecessary travel, I would note, given that all of this stuff is a farce. Further, given that these tend to be informal events (as best I can tell, they are not formal hearings), they could be done easily using remote technology.
At some point, you’d think that Trump and the broader Republican world would start learning from these outcomes. After all, supporter Herman Cain contracted the disease, very possibly at Trump’s Tulsa rally, and died from it.
The grift machine needs to keep rolling. Each moment that passes where a dollar doesn’t come in, is lost opportunity. Giuliani is conducting a marketing campaign for the grift machine, courtroom and legislative success is not the point. If it ever was.
@Sleeping Dog:
It’s more than that. At least to some extent, one has to believe to grift effectively.
On occasion, I have had to deal with lobbyists and PR professionals. The thing is, people like that have to genuinely believe (sometimes only temporarily or situationally) in their message in order to do their jobs effectively.
I’m sure it’s the same with outright grifters and other assorted snake oil salesmen.
I’ve always likened it to drug dealers getting high on their own supply. It’s one of these things that seem kind of inevitable…
As I keep telling those who won’t wear masks, or who expose their noses when pretending to wear one, as well as those who insist on going out and meeting people and having gatherings: you’re looking to catch COVID, and eventually you’ll get it.
Well, Rudy just caught his. I’m not sure whether congratulations are in order, but compassion surely is not.
I won’t even say I’ve any sympathy for most of those he might have infected, as they’re mostly fellow maskholes and gatherers. Any sympathy si reserved for the healthcare workers he will expose, and those who won’t find hospital beds when they need them, because Rudy and co. have been busy filling them up with COVID patients.
The worst part is Rudy and company will get all the best doctors and treatments (at taxpayer expense, I’m sure) that the average person doesn’t have access to, will most likely survive, and will come out the other side declaring it “not that bad, no worse than the flu”. Just like Trump did.
Are we sure Giuliani has tested positive? I haven’t seen anything in the NYTimes or WaPo about this, other than Trumps tweet. And a tweet from Trump is not worth anything wrt reality. It’s not that I think it’s not true, just that there is no real evidence. And I can think of a couple of reasons why Giuliani would lie to Trump about being positive…
@MarkedMan:
CNN and others report he’s been hospitalized.
@MarkedMan:
CNN, the NYTimes, the BBC, the WaPo, and CBS have reported it.
@CSK: Yep, I see the NYTimes has it now. I had checked the Times earlier this morning and the WaPo just before I posted my comment. As of right this minute, the Post is still only mentioning Trumps tweet and not anything about hospitalization.
As I said, I didn’t necessarily think it was false, just that assuming something is factual based on a Trump tweet is ridiculous.
@MarkedMan:
Well, I heartily agree with your assessment of the veracity of Trump’s Tweets, but this one seems to have been correct, for once.
Andrew Giuliani and Rudy himself have confirmed the hospitalization. Rudy says he’s doing fine.
@MarkedMan:
You’re missing the point, in the Former Reality Show Host’s brain, this is winning. The more people w/Covid the more he can brag.
@Sleeping Dog:
Brag about what?
@MarkedMan: @Kathy: @CSK: I went through the same thought processes yesterday: at first the only source of this info was Trump’s tweet, and the initial news reports were simply that Trump tweeted Rudy had tested positive, so I was skeptical until the reports of his hospitalization came in.
Somebody posted a video yesterday which I’m not going to track down right now, and I warn you that if you’re eating breakfast, you might want to skip this description. It showed Rudy at what must have been a couple of weeks ago, where he’s standing behind Sidney Powell who’s speaking. He takes out a handkerchief and blows his nose, then he rubs his hands and face with it on the side he’d just blown his nose on.
It’s like the man is a character invented by the CDC in an informational video on how not to behave in a pandemic.
@Kylopod:
Thank you for the warning; I shall eschew viewing the video. The one of the the dye dripping down the side of his face quite put me off my food.
As the saying goes, “well, you’d be wrong.”
@CSK:
How close we’re getting to herd immunity! The dead, phoof, sacrifices for the cause.
@CSK:
Then why is he hospitalized?
@Sleeping Dog:
Ah, I see. Thank you.
@Scott:
He says he’s “getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”
News have bees scant of late, but ti seems much of the damage wrought by SARS-CoV-2 is partly due to overreaction by the innate immune system. This would explain why some people begin to feel better a day or two after the onset of symptoms, but then deteriorate.
It would also indicate that having neutralizing antibodies around earlier would help a great deal. This is borne out by some sketchy reports on phase 3 trials of antibody therapies, as well as a note on the Moderna vaccine trials to the effect that those who got the vaccine and contracted COVID-19 anyway, did not progress to a serious condition not required hospitalization.
In other words, the Moderna vaccine seems to prevent death when it can’t prevent disease, which would be really good. And monoclonal antibodies may change the course of the disease if given early.
We’ll have vaccines ins a few months. I don’t know the timeline for antibody therapy.
None of that is an excuse not to wear a mask, avoid gatherings, or fail to keep adequate distance from others.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Oh, I concur.
@Kathy: I highly recommend the “Science Versus” podcast for good “what we know about Covid” updates that go into more depth than usual
I hope Rudy chokes on it.
I begin to suspect that the GOP opposes contact tracing because it would move their death toll from the “unattributable statistical outcomes” to “attributable direct causation” category. Jenny McCarthy kills people by convincing others not to vaccinate, but she doesn’t actually go around infecting people with measles or mumps or flu. That I know of.
I am reminded of the early days of AIDS. When the manner of transmission was clarified, New York City and San Francisco ordered closures of the bathhouses. There was a furious reaction against this by some gay activists. My point is that all of us are vulnerable to disregarding well thought out and proper health measures when some emotional trigger is pulled. Motorcycle helmets, 55 mph speed limits, anti-tobacco efforts, nothing happens without controversy and some pigheadedness.
@MarkedMan:
There was a time when I hunted for podcasts left and right. because I ran out of Audible credits each month. But between 2-for-1 credit sales at Audible, and the free (included in the subscription) shorter books, and the nearly unlimited catalog at Scribd, I’ve had to drop podcasts like Lexicon Valley, Freakonomics, Tides of History, and even be choosy of which Our Fake History eps I play.
But I’ll take a look. This is important.
We just got back from our first out-of-county/state trip since March. Went all the way to Idaho AND stayed in a hotel!
The hotel was awesome. I’ve never seen the Snake River frozen over this early right above the falls! The waiter remembered us from pre-COVID and brought my daughter her favorite Tex-Mex/chicken strip burrito for her birthday, even though it’s not on the menu anymore.
Shopping was full of masks. Everybody but the obvious tweakers/Trumpies wore one. Available at all the front doors of every store.
We waited TWO HOURS for them to bring our new stove out to our truck, so boooooo on that….but I had plenty of time to remember other other small projects I needed to shop for, so I guess that’s good.
We came home to the Wyoming governor FINALLY issuing a statewide mask order and enhanced protocols on gatherings, bars, and restaurants, and I’m just finding out a good portion of the local school staff is quarantined with COVID.
Again….really glad I’m homeschooling.