This interview is PACKED. Gotta see it to believe it. People are making fun of Biden for hiding while Trump implodes, but I think Biden would be smart to ignore the bait.
Just a fraction of the highlights with my spin below.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transcript-fox-news-sunday-interview-with-president-trump
1. More on "if we didn't test, the numbers would be down."
There is some truth to the idea that "if you do zero tests, you find zero cases." That's why positive test rates are important. With those two together, we get a better picture of the prevalence of the disease in the community. Unfortunately, positive test rates are also up in the places where cases are up. So, Trump is right that the case numbers need context, but that additional context doesn't make things look better for him. This is not the "embers" that he suggests it is.
He then uses his distraction tactics to move coronavirus discussion to the wall and Mexico. (Total eyeroller for anyone with an IQ over 80, but his base will gobble this up.)
Wallace goes back to this later. Trump says he understands the importance of positive test rates??? I guess he does realize it is spreading more quickly but he's deliberately misleading. Weird thing to admit. His messaging is all over the place.
2. Bizarre dispute on mortality rates.
Wallace says we have the 7th worst mortality rate. Trump calls him fake news. Trump claims we have "the best mortality rate." Wallace's claim is correct by JHU numbers. Trump looks at a chart supplied by Kayleigh MacEnany that shows USA does not have the lowest mortality rate, points at it, and says "number one low mortality rate." Then says, "This shows America what fake news is." Again, he pointed at a chart that showed America did not have the lowest mortality rate in the world while saying it showed we had the lowest mortality rate in the world. Wallace's statement was backed up by the data provided by JHU.
3. He emphasizes that COVID-19 is not dangerous... sort of. Mostly. Sort of. But DEFINITELY not as bad as the not fake news media lies don't not not show you to distract from the true lies that it is definitely maybe the not biggest disaster. Or maybe not.
He says 99.7% of people eventually recover. A couple weeks ago, he said it's harmless for 99% of cases, so this is an improvement in truthfulness (to his credit).
The problem is that .3% of the country dying until we hit herd immunity (conservatively, 80% of the population needs to develop immunity for a disease this contagious) is still ~800,000 people. Even if we arbitrarily cut that in half, 400k deaths is far more significant than he is treating this. His cavalier attitude toward the whole thing is just bananaland and might cost him reelection. Wallace even extends Trump an invitation to show he takes this seriously. Instead of saying this is serious, Trump distracts by blaming China for everything and then downplays the danger. He says testing is not good because it creates the opportunity for fake news. He's still existing in the "COVID-19 is a Dem hoax and also a Chinese lab created bio-weapon and also not dangerous and also we are at war with an invisible enemy and also everything is actually fine and also I am fighting the do-nothing Dems to take significant action and also we already won this war and nothing more needs to be done" space.
Overall, this is a tough situation for any president. There is no good way out of this. Steady leadership would have won the day for him. A Pence style of speaking (even if he told just as many lies) would have gone over very well. Leadership here has to be assurance that he is taking this seriously, grieves for the loss of life, and he is doing everything he can. I am sympathetic to the lack of options Trump has to improve outcomes. He's botching this from the leadership perspective much more than from the executive perspective.
In some of the clearest gaslighting I've ever seen, he lays out this doozie for us:
"Everybody thought this summer it would go away and it would come back in the fall. Well, when the summer came, they used to say the heat -- the heat was good for it and it really knocks it out, remember? And then it might come back in the fall. So they got that one wrong."
Everybody thought this?? Trump was the only person who thought this.
4. Why is his administration attacking Fauci?
Asked about Fauci and why his admin is actively discrediting him, he goes to more weird back and forth messaging. This is his biggest problem. Effective leadership right now requires effective communication. He gets an F- on that. Why is he positioning Fauci as his enemy? I guess because Fauci says things that aren't good for him and we know by now that anything Trump doesn't like is a lie. But wait, there's more! In the next sentence he says he has a very good relationship with Fauci. So, wait, we should trust Fauci?
5. On whether this will just disappear:
TRUMP: I'll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, "It's going to disappear." I'll say it again.
WALLACE: But does that – does that discredit you?
TRUMP: It's going to disappear and I'll be right. I don’t think so.
6. Trump claims Biden wants to defund the police. Wallace calls him out for lying.
It goes on and on and on.
- Did not promise to accept the results of the election.
- The Confederate flag and renaming bases (he doesn't care that the military supports renaming bases)
- Wallace makes fun of the cognitive test he took ("one of the questions is 'What is this?' and it's a picture of an elephant.")
- All polls that say he is losing are fake
- Rallies are not health risks
- Republican governors are slowing reopening to make Trump look bad (?)
- the economy is actually in fantastic shape,
- he is simultaneously going to repeal ACA and also "100%" protect coverage for pre-existing conditions and introduce healthcare legislation and immigration legislation all in the next four weeks
- Mary Trump's book hurts his feelings... on and on.
Just a fraction of the highlights with my spin below.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transcript-fox-news-sunday-interview-with-president-trump
1. More on "if we didn't test, the numbers would be down."
There is some truth to the idea that "if you do zero tests, you find zero cases." That's why positive test rates are important. With those two together, we get a better picture of the prevalence of the disease in the community. Unfortunately, positive test rates are also up in the places where cases are up. So, Trump is right that the case numbers need context, but that additional context doesn't make things look better for him. This is not the "embers" that he suggests it is.
He then uses his distraction tactics to move coronavirus discussion to the wall and Mexico. (Total eyeroller for anyone with an IQ over 80, but his base will gobble this up.)
Wallace goes back to this later. Trump says he understands the importance of positive test rates??? I guess he does realize it is spreading more quickly but he's deliberately misleading. Weird thing to admit. His messaging is all over the place.
2. Bizarre dispute on mortality rates.
Wallace says we have the 7th worst mortality rate. Trump calls him fake news. Trump claims we have "the best mortality rate." Wallace's claim is correct by JHU numbers. Trump looks at a chart supplied by Kayleigh MacEnany that shows USA does not have the lowest mortality rate, points at it, and says "number one low mortality rate." Then says, "This shows America what fake news is." Again, he pointed at a chart that showed America did not have the lowest mortality rate in the world while saying it showed we had the lowest mortality rate in the world. Wallace's statement was backed up by the data provided by JHU.
3. He emphasizes that COVID-19 is not dangerous... sort of. Mostly. Sort of. But DEFINITELY not as bad as the not fake news media lies don't not not show you to distract from the true lies that it is definitely maybe the not biggest disaster. Or maybe not.
He says 99.7% of people eventually recover. A couple weeks ago, he said it's harmless for 99% of cases, so this is an improvement in truthfulness (to his credit).
The problem is that .3% of the country dying until we hit herd immunity (conservatively, 80% of the population needs to develop immunity for a disease this contagious) is still ~800,000 people. Even if we arbitrarily cut that in half, 400k deaths is far more significant than he is treating this. His cavalier attitude toward the whole thing is just bananaland and might cost him reelection. Wallace even extends Trump an invitation to show he takes this seriously. Instead of saying this is serious, Trump distracts by blaming China for everything and then downplays the danger. He says testing is not good because it creates the opportunity for fake news. He's still existing in the "COVID-19 is a Dem hoax and also a Chinese lab created bio-weapon and also not dangerous and also we are at war with an invisible enemy and also everything is actually fine and also I am fighting the do-nothing Dems to take significant action and also we already won this war and nothing more needs to be done" space.
Overall, this is a tough situation for any president. There is no good way out of this. Steady leadership would have won the day for him. A Pence style of speaking (even if he told just as many lies) would have gone over very well. Leadership here has to be assurance that he is taking this seriously, grieves for the loss of life, and he is doing everything he can. I am sympathetic to the lack of options Trump has to improve outcomes. He's botching this from the leadership perspective much more than from the executive perspective.
In some of the clearest gaslighting I've ever seen, he lays out this doozie for us:
"Everybody thought this summer it would go away and it would come back in the fall. Well, when the summer came, they used to say the heat -- the heat was good for it and it really knocks it out, remember? And then it might come back in the fall. So they got that one wrong."
Everybody thought this?? Trump was the only person who thought this.
4. Why is his administration attacking Fauci?
Asked about Fauci and why his admin is actively discrediting him, he goes to more weird back and forth messaging. This is his biggest problem. Effective leadership right now requires effective communication. He gets an F- on that. Why is he positioning Fauci as his enemy? I guess because Fauci says things that aren't good for him and we know by now that anything Trump doesn't like is a lie. But wait, there's more! In the next sentence he says he has a very good relationship with Fauci. So, wait, we should trust Fauci?
5. On whether this will just disappear:
TRUMP: I'll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, "It's going to disappear." I'll say it again.
WALLACE: But does that – does that discredit you?
TRUMP: It's going to disappear and I'll be right. I don’t think so.
6. Trump claims Biden wants to defund the police. Wallace calls him out for lying.
It goes on and on and on.
- Did not promise to accept the results of the election.
- The Confederate flag and renaming bases (he doesn't care that the military supports renaming bases)
- Wallace makes fun of the cognitive test he took ("one of the questions is 'What is this?' and it's a picture of an elephant.")
- All polls that say he is losing are fake
- Rallies are not health risks
- Republican governors are slowing reopening to make Trump look bad (?)
- the economy is actually in fantastic shape,
- he is simultaneously going to repeal ACA and also "100%" protect coverage for pre-existing conditions and introduce healthcare legislation and immigration legislation all in the next four weeks
- Mary Trump's book hurts his feelings... on and on.
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