And his counter-factual tendencies, which are responsible for widespread harm but are nevertheless embraced by supporters as germane to Trump's political brand, were at work on multiple fronts Monday with America under assault from concurrent crises. For years, Trump has rejected the counsel of his own intelligence services and preferred propaganda from US adversary Russia. He cited an unnamed foreign leader who he claimed said they had mitigated their "explosive trees" problem by managing forest floors. "I don't think science knows, actually," Trump said, closing the official down. On the pandemic, and many other issues for which the US government was once counted upon for reasoned, scientific problem solving, it's too late for that.

Source: CNN September 15, 2020 03:56 UTC