Ever sit out in the wilderness, campfire petering along (yeah, this isn’t your fantasy), hear a wild, drawn out cry, and think, that’s the cry of the …
President Trump cast doubt Thursday on New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s assertion that his state, which has become the epicenter for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, will need 30,000 ventilators to properly care for the influx of patients anticipated to flood hospitals in coming weeks.
“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a phone interview. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’” [WaPo]
I have a feeling.
Or, from Fox News, a couple of weeks ago, when Trump was informed of estimated death rates:
In this clip, Trump:
1. Denies WHO's coronavirus death rate based on “hunch"
2. Calls coronavirus "corona flu"
3. Suggests it's fine for people w/ Covid-19 to go to work
4. Compares coronavirus to "the regular flu," indicating he doesn't get the difference pic.twitter.com/uC9c03zX31— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020
Now, this is just my hunch …
Yeah. No training, no learning, no curiosity, no idea. But he’s got a hunch. It’s the cry of the wild – and lame – amateur.
But, back to the WaPo article, this next paragraph was enlightening:
The president’s comments came shortly after the New York Times reported that the White House had abruptly called off a plan to announce this week that General Motors and Ventec Life Systems would be partnering to produce as many as 80,000 ventilators, citing concerns with the deal’s $1 billion price tag.
It’s all about the money, baby. Which is to say, given President Trump’s history of cutting financial corners, of refusing to pay what is specified in contracts, and from the comments of his offspring that money is all he thinks about, I think he’s projecting.
He’s projecting his grasping, underhanded ways on everyone else. If he can put himself in Governor Cuomo’s place and say, Ooooo, ooooo, I know how to get more and more of those oh so valuable ventilators – and notice he emphasizes their cost – well, then, since everyone is like himself in his mind, they’ll do it.
And, in his projection, he’s endangering all the hypothetical patients the doctors fear they’ll be faced with.
