
Der Spiegel: Are we witnessing the implosion of a superpower? - moioci
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-american-patient-how-trump-is-fueling-a-corona-disaster
======
RickJWagner
American citizen here.

I really think this is over the top. The US economy was doing very well prior
to the outbreak, the US doesn't seem to be doing much worse than other
countries. (Actually, the US seems to have a little better stats, judging by
death-per-million.)

Why is Der Spiegel posting such a one-sided story? Are they hoping in some way
to influence American politics? (Legitimate question.) If so, what is the
reason?

~~~
xcavier
Not sure where you get your news from, but clearly you need to read more
widely about what is actually happening on the ground in the US...

~~~
lostmsu
I am sure he is just referring to Worldometer. Is there much beyond that?

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matsdb
Outline.com is bypassing the paywall:
[https://outline.com/gvLNek](https://outline.com/gvLNek)

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hdkrgr
Working Link: [https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-american-
pati...](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-american-patient-how-
trump-is-fueling-a-corona-disaster-a-024a5cc9-2c07-419a-a351-67837b47f6bb)

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wildbunny
404

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4rt
Is there a link to the content please?

It seems to be heavily paywalled in a way I can usually get past.

~~~
superwayne
[http://archive.is/6WHB8](http://archive.is/6WHB8)

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Hermel
This is a link that works for me:
[https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-american-
pati...](https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-american-patient-how-
trump-is-fueling-a-corona-disaster-a-024a5cc9-2c07-419a-a351-67837b47f6bb)

You should note that “Der Spiegel” is left-leaning and has probably never lost
a single good word on Trump ever. Without having read the article, I expect
this to be based more on wishful thinking by doomsayers than on real concerns.

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benjohnson
TLDR: German author now understand that Americans have a system that
intentionally thwarts top-down control, and that, even so people, can still
learn to adapt and do the right thing even in a backdrop of insecurity.

Bonus Antics: German author uses "(sic)" in photo caption to imply that black
nurses from Brooklyn are not speaking proper English.

~~~
Noumenon72
The caption is a Trump quote from the paragraph above, intended to be
ironically juxtaposed with the nurses' actual problems.

~~~
benjohnson
Good catch. Even weirder in my opinion putting it next to nurses recuperating
from their work.

Der Spiegel didn't even get the date right - it was January 24th when Trump
said “We have very little problem [sic] in this country at this moment—five
[confirmed cases]. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”
according to the sources I can find.

~~~
Youden
I don't know what sources you're looking at, all the ones I could find say the
30th:

\- White House press release: [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-
statements/remarks-pres...](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-
statements/remarks-president-trump-usmca-celebration-american-workers-warren-
mi/)

\- Reuters: [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-china-usa-
trump/tr...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-china-usa-trump/trump-
says-coronavirus-outbreak-is-very-well-under-control-idUSKBN1ZT334)

\- Politico: [https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/30/trump-close-
coopera...](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/30/trump-close-cooperation-
china-coronavirus-109701)

\- Vox: [https://www.vox.com/2020/4/17/21225010/trump-who-attacks-
cor...](https://www.vox.com/2020/4/17/21225010/trump-who-attacks-coronavirus-
warnings)

\- ABC News: [https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/wary-irking-china-
tr...](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/wary-irking-china-trump-offers-
rosy-virus-threat-68632175)

\- Al Jazeera America:
[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/cloneofcloneofcloneof...](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/cloneofcloneofcloneofchina-
battles-coronavirus-o-200129233906291.html)

This wasn't difficult, I just searched "Trump coronavirus very little problem"
in Google News to get a vague idea, then limited it by date to get more
specific results.

I couldn't find any evidence whatsoever for it happening on the 24th. To
publish it on the 24th would require either time travel or some insight into
planned speeches.

It kinda feels like you're trying to discredit Der Spiegel for some reason.

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killIdeas
Between the very serious claims that deficits don't matter and free money
going around, I think we are seeing the nation change.

There will be a working class, and a leach class. It will forever define
politics in the United States. What starts as good intentions will be what
causes the end.

Our small business couldn't really afford to pay 15$/hr for a secretary, now
with free money as a competitor, I imagine the cost of unskilled labor will
only go up.

~~~
mschuster91
> There will be a working class, and a leach class. It will forever define
> politics in the United States.

That's already the status quo. The consequences of coronavirus will only
solidify this... just look at Amazon, they're taking over business from a
_lot_ of quarantine-closed small stores, no matter if food or non-food. Many
people will stick with Amazon, Bezos gets all the money, and entire 'hoods
will collapse once the lockdowns get lifted. The biggest companies have enough
cash, access to cash or fire their employees to ride out the lockdowns, the
small businesses will go belly up no matter how much "stimulus money" gets
injected.

I rather suspect that there will be a third class, or to be more precise, it
will become evident to everyone that this class exists: destitute people in
yet-unknown masses. Dozens of millions of people in the US have claimed
unemployment benefits. Give them a month or two to run out of savings and debt
options, and they'll be unable to make rent, get evicted, you get the rest.

