Thanx Ellen.

Bemused, I got curious and looked it up. We are both right about Fauci’s reasons.
https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-doesnt-regret-advising-against-masks-early-in-pandemic-2020-7

Ellen. I recall a clip where Dr. Fauci said that all forms of PPE, but most especially surgical masks, were crucially needed for front-line staff. That’s before anybody realised (due to insufficient testing) that the virus had already spread throughout the country. Hospitals in the main hotspots were desperate (cf. Cuomo’s daily briefings) and that was the immediate priority: sick health workers can’t take care of anybody.

I don’t think Dr. Fauci’s early comments were based on early science as he probably knew what Trump already knew on 28th January (cf. Trump’s chat with Woodward). I think Dr. Fauci’s immediate priority focused on keeping the health workers safe so that they could continue to take care of others. As from late March/early April, Dr. Fauci was urging people to wear masks.

His failing to my mind lay in being more forceful in contradicting the idiot-in-chief (probably because he felt that he could do more if he wasn’t fired). Hindsight is always 20/20.

Bemused, That is a good observation about Trump and the future.

I, too, found it disappointing that Biden missed or chose to ignore opportunities to hit Trump (figuratively, of course) with some potentially major punches.

I do not recall what, exactly, Dr. Fauci said about masks but I thought the early science indicated they would not protect the wearer. Even now, they mostly protect others.

On balance, Trump is whining and focused on the past (lying through his teeth in most cases). He practically never talks about the future (except to fear-monger by lying through his teeth).

Fell asleep and am catching up with the rerun. 40 minutes into the debate, Biden has missed many opportunities to fact-check the President. I understand that that was probably a deliberate choice but hearing certain lies over and over again is beyond frustrating. A few examples, not necessarily the most egregious:

COVID-19 was a completely different beast to everybody … (except Trump, as per his conversation with Woodward in January 2020)- In March 2020, when the virus had not yet spread widely (as it would due to a leaky ban on travel with China), Dr. Fauci suggested (once, as I recall) that people did not need to wear masks because they were badly needed for front-line hospital staff because Trump refused to use the DPA to address PPE shortages. Since early April – and consistently over the past six months – Dr. Fauci has been urging Americans to wear a mask while Trump was making fun of anybody who did. And Trump was still making fun of masks at a rally last week. And it seems that Trump had NOT briefed the Task Force on the information he’d received from Xi (though he did talk about it with a journalist called Bob Woodward). Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeshhhhhhhhh.

Being under an IRS audit does not – I shouted at the TV: DOES NOT – prevent anybody from releasing their tax returns. That’s a whole truckload of BS.

It’s Trump who has/had a (undeclared) bank account in China and it’s Ivanka who’s received a slew of opportunities for her businesses in China. And that’s not counting the hundreds of thousands of people who stay at one of Trump’s establishments in order to gain access to Trump.

The mind boggles.

I actually think Trump is not doing as badly as he should be here.

“Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump” “with the exception, possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.”

Trump claims the kids separated from their parents, whose parents they can’t find, are “treated so well.”

Trump: If he’s elected, the stock market will crash.

Biden: People don’t live on the stock market.

Trump claims Biden’s health care plan will destroy Social Security and Medicare and ruin the country.

Trump is rambling about fracking during a discussion about health care.

Kirsten Welker is letting Trump steamroll too much.

“They spied on my campaign” “witch hunt.”

Trump was whining about Russia investigation.

Trump claims he paid millions and millions of dollars in taxes. Claims the $750 he actually paid was a filing fee.

Trump keeps saying there has been “nobody tougher on Russia” than himself. I hope Biden delivers a knockout punch.

How long until Trump attacks the moderator?

Trump sounds petulant, not strong and leaderlike.

Asked what to say to parents who are afraid to send their kids to school, Trump says, “we have to reopen.”

Biden says Trump mishandling alone makes him not entitled to a second term. “Still has no plan, no comprehensive plan.” Talks up mandatory masks, rapid testing and safely reopening.

First question is about coronavirus. Trump made it mostly about himself. Biden now hitting Trump hard on his failures.