Tom Brokaw looks back at modern history and discusses America's lack of preparedness for key events. Aired on 04/21/2020.
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Tom Brokaw: America Hasn't Been Prepared For The Obvious | Morning Joe | MSNBC
How is it that every country was infected with the same coronavirus, but America had the worst national response to the outbreak, with more deaths and infection cases than any country in the world?
Perhaps If Trump had not been so incompetent and derelict in his duties as president, we would be in a better position to reopen the country and end social distancing sooner. If only he had read the multiple national security briefings that warned of the potential threat of a pandemic, many Americans would still be alive today. If only Trump had been a leader, and not a fraud, and a decent human being, instead of a failed human being, the country wouldn’t have the highest number of infections, and the highest number lives lost, than any other country in the world.
Trump said it was one person coming from China. He literally said that. He should be dragged out of the White House for that comment alone.
Trump Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
Trump March 7: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.”
Trump’s indifference, sincere ignorance, and conscientious stupidity, are directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. And no amountof lies, spin, or deflections will ever change that.
And Trump has trained his supporters to be just as indifferent, reckless, selfish, and sociopathic as he is. They are more than willing to contaminate an entire town, just so they can go bowling.
So do Trump and his supporters believe that the Spanish flu and the bubonic plague were hoaxes too? The bubonic plague wiped out half the population of Europe. It took Europe 200 years to return to the population numbers before the plague.
And the Spanish flu came in two waves. The first wave of infections came in March of 1918, and wasn’t as deadly or widespread, but that was just the calm before the storm. A second and more deadly mutated wave came back in the fall, and it was lethal enough to take the life of a perfectly healthy man in his twenties within 24 hours of showing symptoms. It infected at least 500 million people, and took at least 50 million lives. In the US alone, the virus took 195 thousand lives, in just October alone.
@Jc Cullars — See the comment below >>> NO…America sadly will not wake up until she is has complete fallen. And for the world’s sake…that may not be a bad thing. America has too many clueless and stupid people. This has been coming on for decades now. America is a Third-World nation now. Too bad that over half the nation does not know this fact.
@Steve -O You all get so riled up when faced with the truth, your only comeback is STFU !? Did you see the Bill Maher and Crenshaw debate…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTGBJMDcras… When Maher doesn’t have his cheering squad he folds like a cheap camera…in other words, typical liberal. The truly sad part is that the Chinese gov doesn’t even need to invest in propaganda in the west anymore, we do it for them. With so many useful idiots supporting china over the US because: “Orange man bad, Tucker man bad, China good just because.” These people (anti trump shills) do not value America or what this nation stands for: individual liberty and self ownership. Ask anyone from China if they own their life or does the CCP. So many in this country take their freedom for granted. One day we might have to actually fight for it, and you schmucks will be the first one’s to roll over. Count on it.
@Stan Kowalski sorry, not gonna waste time reading all that but I didnt get all riled up, I just like telling people to STFU, I get a kick out of it. Especially when I get feedback from it, then I know it hit home. Batter up!!!
@Steve -O Sure, why would you “waste time reading all that”…you might actually learn something., instead of being duped by the media and believing every word they tell you.
@Stan Kowalski first off, could never learn anything from mindless drivel. So I am supposed to believe you instead!?! Might have been born in the morning but it wasnt yesterday morning. I will stick with news channels.
Hit the nail on the head there
Fake News is the worst of all devestations
@Dimly Lit Zombie – What nail? What head? Where’s the fcking hammer? LOL!!! You people have lost it.
@Dimly Lit Zombie best go to work then if it’s fake.
All those trillions of dollars spent on fighting terrorism and yet the coronavirus has killed almost 20x more Americans in 4 weeks than the war in Afghanistan has in 20 years.
@Eddy Hanson they didn’t retract the paper because “oops! It was 12x not 55x”, they retracted it because it was *so fundamentally flawed the true answer could’ve been ZERO CASES once they redid the math! Lol.*
The fact there were even simpler non-math reasons to think they just managed to *recruite most of the positive cases* and *directly counted them* just makes it funny and kind of sad that you still don’t see how and why it is that none of the results can be extrapolated without it just being an arbitrary number you happen to like.
*AND* The current count is 850,000 US cases with 48,000 fatalities. That’s 5.6% even if we devided it by 12 *(your random number)* you still get *0.5%* , and last I checked five times a number wasn’t the same number …and I know you get bored easy but like I’ve said before covid has an upper limit of 80% of the population getting infected before we get to herd immunity while even Spanish Flu (maybe 5-10x times more than seasonal) only infected 30%. Meaning it’s still going to be significantly more total cases and fatalities *even if your math was right and if your number wasn’t arbitrary*
But your math is wrong and your number is still just pulled out of a hat. You *might* turn out to be right but only in the same way a raffle ticket is, by pure luck. However that’s a real long shot, because “reasons” you didn’t get the first three times.
@yeah I’m John Assal – what you don’t understand that the information you have is wrong and everyone knows it’s wrong. You are even admitting it’s wrong, but you are ridiculing me for using opposing “science” and you haven’t really read anything but there popular propaganda. Why are you defending that?. You do believe in science, don’t you? Another “oops” on your part is that the CDC is starting to qualify the deaths as covid19 deaths and how these are related to natural causes. The actual 43000 is closer to 22,000. In fact, they are starting to realize that the number of deaths from natural causes is going down significantly. My suggestion to you is to stop relying on data that changes dramatically on a daily basis and is in a downward trend. The science is not on your side. Next week at this time, I will still be saying the same thing accurately and you will be forced to change your analysis. Another suggestion is pick your battles and stop trying to be as smart as you think you are. You’re not and that’s obvious. I would suggest that you wait for more information before ridiculing people who have done that already.
@yeah I’m John Assal – oh, btw, [devide] is not spelled that way
@yeah I’m John Assal – what’s more is that you are criticizing me that my math is wrong when I never told you actual numbers and insisted it was a speculation because no one knows the numbers. You really need to think this through.
@yeah I’m John Assal – also, another very important statistic that is close to being accurate, 85% of deaths are 65 and over. As you can start to see that there is a great deal of important science that the media is ignoring.
Obama and Biden managed three Pandemics, (H1N1, Ebola, and the Coronavirus MERS) without shutting down the planet and brought the Country back from the 2007 Financial Collapse.
The problem is Trump, (like the current price of oil) is less than a zero.
@Eddy Hanson To be fair to you I should have worded my first comments like this “If what you say is true…” That would have prevented you misunderstanding. Sorry about that.
@foreigner fan facts.
@Ian Hamilton –
I understand your not believing what I said. Probably because no one is talking about it. That’s great leadership and the Republicans always behave that way. I wish some Democrats would acknowledge that from time to time. But, the reason that testing is not where it should be is that we allowed the Federal Government to take full control of it. They screwed it up as usual.
Obama cuts to the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2017/fy-2017-cdc-congressional-justification.pdf#page=42
Look at the graph in this CDC link. See the number of State run labs was zero?
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/testing-in-us.html
Commissioner Stephen Hahn first addressed the testing problem on Saturday by issuing new guidance that would allow the state labs to conduct not-yet-approved coronavirus testing on patients in response to the public health emergency. In return for skirting the Obama-era regulation, laboratories must apply for an F.D.A. review of the new test, document the test’s accuracy and notify the F.D.A. of the test’s validity prior to F.D.A. completing the approval process.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/04/trump-administration-obama-fda-rule-coronavirus-testing/
@Eddy Hanson Sincerely, Thank you for taking the time. I will go through all of this and report back.
Yes we did thanks TOO all AMERICANS
So touching at the end , that I shed a tear. You can hear it from the tone of his voice and see it on his face he’s worried for his grand children. As any parents would be. They live , work hard , build and try to give their kids the best they can in hopes that all they’ve taught and done is good enough before they leave this world. It’s just sad that it’s a monster that’s residing in the white house!
And Trump’s supports are willing to sacrifice their own for their fearless leader. How sad.
I wonder if he cares enough to give up meat? People would rather die from a virus or be crippled with poor health than give up meat! Are you busy creating the next pandemic? How about social distancing yourself from the rotting flesh of murdered animals and finally put an end to pandemics for good! Where do global pandemics come from? Animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change, deadly pandemics, poor health, deforestation, water depletion, habitat loss, species extinction and world hunger. Take animal products off your plate as they are not only unnecessary, but unhealthy and destructive as well. https://youtu.be/vPdvq_6EphU Pandemics will be more frequent and more deadly in the near future. Don’t believe me? Watch this link! https://youtu.be/G20cooZOiYE
Too much pride in America THAT is the problem.. Which is ironic considering most of the people protesting claim to be religious people yet they cannot see their own pride for what it is.
Dissonance
Joanne Battersby That is why you’re borders are closed?
@Joanne Battersby The sad thing is, you’re not wrong. It sucks living in America, even more being disabled since immigration isn’t an option.
@Daegda Games try emigration. You won’t. Because you settled and you don’t know how to do anything for yourself. You’re probably some fat college bum that wears pajamas to class because you think you’re so cool and enlightened. That’s America. A bunch of babies. It isn’t pride so much as a lack of shame.
Mr. Marzula, that’s what I love about “conservatives ” proud of their ignorance and stupidity! You mock someone who’s handicapped because of a single letter, that could be construed as a complaint about immigration laws of another country? This makes you proud? What kind of ignorant bigoted POS are you? You’re just another stupid bully, human trash, someday you may be looking through his eyes, there but for the grace of God go I.
Because our Government is only interested in making the Rich Richer.
@Stan Kowalski Fool! Remember when the Democrats wanted more constraints put on the stimulus money so it wouldn’t go to banks and publicly trade corporations? Yeah, it was the Democrats slowing things down. That small business money went dry before small businesses received a dime.
FAKE X-TIAN CUNTSERVATIVE FASCISTS are responsible.
@André Linoge You’re PHENOMENLLY
Misguided.
@noname 1379 There’s no god and no Jesus. Millions of children are SUFFERING worldwide every day. No DIVINE one in sight. The Republican FAKE X-TIAN FASCISTS are KIDNAPPING innocent children and LOCKING them up in CAGES. PEDOPHILES are Prolific in CHURCHES and the Republican party.
@Christine King The Democrats also put in plenty of “pork” for their pet projects like art funding, plus $35 million for the Kennedy Center !!! Talk about fools, that’s great use of money meant for small business, and by the way, a ton of that money went to liberal indoctrination centers…ahem, I mean universities like Harvard.
I’m willing to bet Mango calls this fake news and calls Brokaw part of the Deep State.
C’mon, that’s just too easy.
Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation was a life-changing book for me.
I took care of hundreds of WWII vets. It was a privilege. They were fascinating. My great uncle fought in N Africa and Italy.
David LG It was a rehash of a 100 other books by a self-important blowhard
Andrew Cass Uh-oh, sounds like we have another armchair “expert.” Where’s your proof? Where do you get your information? You’ve got nothing and no argument. Oh wait, your Mom is calling. She said your hot pocket is ready.
In 20 years, we will be fighting over fresh water. This is the next epidemic. Water.
@Manuel it can if it gets privatised, monetized and monopolized to the rich and the rich only
mark burke I don’t think you understand what an epidemic is.
@Manuel other than an epidemic meaning widespread effect on people, places or things. Yea if were fighting over water that would be an epidemic
@mark burke “epidemic” specifically relates to disease. But you’re right, drought and water shortages in certain places will be bad. But floods in other places will also be bad. Climate change — watch out. 🙏
@Matt Marzula nice way to advocate for suicide. Smoooooth!!!
Under trump America isn’t prepared for anything It’s a good thing we have knowledge Generals in the military that know what they have to do with or without trump permission
When trump eventually takes a stable genius’s interest in the ICBM launch codes and THAT button [ and he will ! ] .. let’s all trust that there’s loaded pistol in close proximity
@VIN STAFFORD 45 call too.
Good to see you Tom Brokaw and you are a legendary journalist of ours life time!!
My Father was on Pearl.
My Mother watched the Japanese planes attacking.
My family has provided our Great Nation with soldiers every generation for over a hundred years.
We UNIVERSALLY DESPISE Donald John Trump! Impeached Madman!
May God grant you strength and peace and bless you and your family. May he also expose to you the warmongering dogs of REV 22 : All the while building his love in your heart so when you meet him his advocate will stand in for you.
A culture of “Deny, deny, deny!” Children of the Lie!
Some folk haven’t even learned our most recent lesson yet, as all those in Texas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and South Carolina are about to find out.
Trump is now trying to destroy the powers of Congress and Moscow Mitch does nothing to stop him. I guess they are both following Putins orders.
@Marcellino Sananto Is English your first language?
@Jeff Gibson
Did ur mother have any children that lived?
@Marcellino Sananto Go back to your shithole country.
@Jeff Gibson
America is my country. . Ur ignorant racist response is typical right wing republiklan crap.
@Marcellino Sananto Then why didn’t you say so the first time I asked? You wanted to pick a fight.
This time it was because one guy failed to listen, read and understand intelligence memos.
Manuel right give me a link please
Hunter zolomon https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/new-york-coronakrise-101.html
Manuel sorry don’t speak German. Can you link me to an English one?
Hunter zolomon use google translate
Hunter zolomon I’m specifically referring to that article so no, there is no English version
“A failure of intelligence”, well said.
You realize that statement can be taken two ways.
Cheeto Von Tweeto yelled Deep State and his cultists repeated but he is the Deep state! He is dancing for every dead American! Putin approve.
Oh that’s a new one!! Cheeto von Tweeto! I am borrowing that one!!!
I m a historian too. People never learn, do they?
Probably because it happens to previous generations, not themselves, so people sadly are incapable to learn lessons from others in the past because they don’t feel the pain, unless it happens to themselves. People always need to learn things the hard way.
Ms. Harris, I think the reason people don’t learn from history is because it is encapsulated, in a paragraph or a book, events are interspersed with their daily lives. Refugees put in cages, aren’t concentration camps, but people never saw the newsreels of “happy Jews” working on public works projects. Hitler had newsreels, Trump has Twitter, Hitler had “lying press” Trump has “fake news” Hitler had the Nazi Party, Trump has the Republicans. Hitler had the support of the industrialists, Trump of the multinational corporations. Hitler dissolved the government, Trump threatened to adjourn Congress. Hitler started WWII, Trump’s crisis is a pandemic. Both used bigotry and racism to foment hate, and promote nationalism. But at each juncture people had to go to work, pay bills, raise children, and buy groceries. These events aren’t happening simultaneously, they are happening over years, even one or two, it fed off resentments that already existed, and like the boiling frog, it allows enough time for appearance of normalcy. That was history, it’s not like now. People forget history was once now.