"Here's the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you're gonna find more people, you're gonna find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down please!'" -- Trump pic.twitter.com/m5MOV9je70— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2020
Here Reuters covered it.
A White House official said Trump was joking about his call for a slowdown in testing.He didn't sound like he was kidding. But then I haven't listened to as many Trump lies as a White House official.
"He was obviously kidding. We are leading the world in testing and have conducted 25 million + in testing," the official said.
Maybe that's the excuse officials use when they get insane instructions from Trump? "That has to be a joke so lets ignore it".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYour last post had the right idea.
ReplyDeleteIf the proportion of people infected is constant then an increase in random testing will increase the number of detected cases, but the tests per case ratio will remain constant.
If the proportion of people infected falls, then the tests per case ratio will increase, as your graph shows. Good news.
I suggest that you keep this graph going. If the tests per case ratio starts falling, you will know that you are in trouble.
If the tests per case ratio starts falling, you will know that you are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds right. Good test.
David - Trump has taken great pride in the large number of tests being conducted. He boasts about it frequently. Either he was joking or his comment was mis-represented.
ReplyDeleteCheers
David, yes, but Trump doesn't seem to understand the the meaningful metric is tests per capita, not just the number of tests.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't sound like he was joking last night. It was a dangerous, heedless thing to say in any case.
David - I can't play the clip from your site, but I found it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti4sSRonNwY You have a good point. Trump did sound serious. His comment made no sense.
ReplyDeleteCheers
I just listened to a larger piece of the segment. It starts around 19:00 https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=268742514441057&ref=watch_permalink
ReplyDeleteTrump began by boasting about all the testing the US has done, over 25 million. Then he got to the part about asking that testing be slowed down. I think he was trying to make the point that more testing results in more known cases. I don't think he literally was asking that less testing be done. I think he was trying to drive home his point through exaggeration or sarcasm.
In this case, I don't think it worked. I think many listeners may have been misled into thinking he really wanted less testing. His words came out wrong. Don't forget he was speaking extemporaneously for around an hour.
Cheers
P.S. In one way, this press conference was a victory. It showed Trump's continuing mental strength. I don't think Joe Biden could give an effective, off the cuff, hour-long speech with no notes. Even Barack Obama was not as good as Trump in this one respect.
P.P.S. If the media weren't biased, they'd have asked Trump's spokesperson what he meant and simply reported that.
Cheers
David in Cal wrote:
ReplyDelete"I think he was trying to make the point that more testing results in more known cases."
Yes, I agree. That's the problem!
Today he refused to answer, twice, whether he ordered that testing be slowed down:
https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge/status/1275095209240604673
I think this borders on treason. Imagine if he ordered doctors not to test injured soldiers for brain injuries.
If the media weren't biased, they'd have asked Trump's spokesperson what he meant and simply reported that.
ReplyDeleteIf they were negligent. How many times has Trump contradicted his own spokespeople? It's almost impossible to coordinate a lie with that fellow.
They did ask Trump's spokeswomen, KMcE, and several other people. They all said he was being satirical. Trouble is, like Trump, everyone in his administration is already known as liar, and no one believes them.
ReplyDeleteDavid, Layzej - Whether of not you believe Trump's and KMcE's words, actions are what matter. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmxW3ukdfs from 7:50 to 8:20 to hear some of things this administration did that helped bring the number of tests to around half a million per day. (At my own local clinic, there's lots of spare testing capacity. I suspect that the limiting factor is the number of people going for tests, not the number of tests available.)
ReplyDeleteDavid, you're accusing Trump of treason because of some ambiguous words, words that have been clarified by his Press Secretary. IMHO people should appreciate leadership that led to enormous numbers of tests being available, leadership that led to the development of 144 different tests. The series of Trump/Pence press conferences on the virus presented the process of motivating the developing and manufacture of all these tests, as well as the process of making available necessary supplies, such as swabs and test tubes, and the process of setting up many additional test sites. All these good things didn't just happen.
Cheers
Whether of not you believe Trump's and KMcE's words, actions are what matter.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Rate of testing continues to grow.
Well Trump has just said he wasn't kidding about asking for less tests. So that's three times he's been asked and didn't deny it. As for him being prepared to put American lives at risk to make himself look good then he has form for that. This for instance is him talking about not wanting sick cruise ship passengers to disembark.
ReplyDelete“I’d rather have the people stay...I would rather — because I like the numbers being where they are — I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault,”
Then there was the indoor rally on Saturday where Trump was expecting to have a stadium full of people shouting and cheering. That's as long as they were willing to agree to a disclaimer on the sign up page stating that Trump wasn't liable if they caught COVID-19.
Thanks J.D.
ReplyDeleteYep:
"Trump Says He Wasn’t Joking About Slowing Down COVID-19 Testing: ‘I Don’t Kid’" https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-i-dont-kid-slowing-covid-19-testing-tulsa-rally via @TPM
Talking Points Memo is interpreting another ambiguous comment. Here's KM's explanation:
ReplyDeleteQ Kayleigh, the President said this morning that he was not kidding when he talked about slowing down testing. Do you want to revise anything you said yesterday about that or what other White House officials have said?
MS. MCENANY: So, first, let me note — I’ve talked to the President about testing a lot today — he has made it abundantly clear that he appreciates testing, that we have tested more Americans than any other country has tested in their respective countries in the world.
But what he was making was a serious point, and that’s why he said, “I don’t kid.” He was noting he was making a serious point, but he was using sarcasm to do that at the rally. And the serious point he was making is that when you test more people, you identify more cases.
But that shouldn’t be — the cases should not be indicative of the progress we’ve made. What’s indicative of the progress we’ve made is the fact that, per capita, we have fewer fatalities than Europe by a large margin. So that’s the point he was making on testing.
But make no mistake: The President appreciates testing and is very proud of the great work that we’ve done.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-gaggle-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenany/
Cheers
She doesn't have an easy job. It's impossible to coordinate a lie with him.
ReplyDeletethe cases should not be indicative of the progress we’ve made. What’s indicative of the progress we’ve made is the fact that, per capita, we have fewer fatalities than Europe by a large margin.
Even that is not true. Worldometer shows Europe with a population of 747,623,522 and 188,788 fatalities = 252 deaths/1M pop. USA has 373 deaths/1M pop. That's more deaths than Europe by a long shot.
Worldometer lists USA as the worst country in North America for deaths per capita, and 9th worst in the world.
The best you could say is that there are countries in Europe who have done worse, but that would be the only continent in the world you could say that of. USA has done worse than every country in all other continents.
There is an old aphorism that the map is not the territory.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly figures are not necessarily an accurate representation of the pandemic.
In this context it is disturbing to watch Donald Trump manipulating the figures.
It goes beyond trying to make the situation look better. Does he believe that by fiddling the figures he can magically reduce the scale of the epidemic?
With more information available I've been estimating R ten days in arrears by dividing the most recent daily case figures by the 7 day average ten days earlier, obtained here.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
For the US on June 13 R was 30,667/22,044 = 1.39
Does he believe that by fiddling the figures he can magically reduce the scale of the epidemic?
ReplyDeleteI think this has been his primary strategy throughout his life, and it's been very successful. He's secured loans when flat broke by telling people he's rich. This went well beyond falsifying documents - he even invented and masqueraded as PR guy "John Miller".
Even during his presidency he managed to avoid being thrown out of office largely by chanting "hoax!"
It's not clear that the strategy wouldn't work here as well. You may think that the truth would be obvious once people started seeing their friends die. You would be wrong.
This gentleman has a friend who died of COVID 19, and his son was on a ventilator. He says "but at the same time, you know you don't know what's the facts you know because you feel that one side plays it one way and the other side plays it another."
And this is while the data is available and reliable.
"All around the world, people are willing to die for their political beliefs. Think of it as evolution in action."
ReplyDelete"only delusible idiots like our current chief executive can be persuaded to don the robes of high office. Nice guys don’t crave power.)" — John Brunner (The Jagged Orbit)
ReplyDeleteFrom Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
ReplyDelete“It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
DiC: Whether of not you believe Trump's and KMcE's words, actions are what matter.
ReplyDeleteTrump plan to cut federal support for Covid-19 testing sites sparks alarm - The White House confirmed on Wednesday it will no longer fund 13 testing sites, including seven in Texas, despite that state reporting record highs in the number of coronavirus cases.