Many TV ads show happy people living the good life on account of a patent medicine. Viewers are urged to improve their own lives by asking a doctor if that medicine is right for them. The is often a long list of side-effects which evidently doesn’t weaken the appeal of the advertisement. Finally, the viewer is reminded to call the doctor if something goes wrong. You may have a problem, but the advertiser doesn’t have one.
Call your doctor. Don’t bother to call a lawyer, we told you about the risks.
These ads must be effective–they are ubiquitous and expensive. We wouldn’t see them if they weren’t effective. Yet one might not expect doctors to respond to patient requests for a drug they saw advertised on TV.
An article in today’s NY Times clears this up. Ellen Gabler and Michael H. Keller report a spike in prescriptions for cloroquine and hydroxycloroquine, drugs praised by President Trump. Prescriptions were written by “rheumatologists, cardiologists, dermatologists, psychiatrists and podiatrists.” What were these doctors thinking:
- Did they rely on DJT’s expertise?
- Did they passively prescribe what the patient asked for?
- Did drug companies offer incentives?
Or what?
New NY 23rd 
Dr. Trump..
Unfit. Unwell. Unacceptable..Crazy
There’s a technical term for injecting chemicals into your body….
embalming
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The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow direct-to-consumer drug advertising that includes product claims.
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Last week, Doctor Bonespurs suggested ingesting disinfectants as a coronavirus treatment. Ears in the Trump TeaParty Tinfoil Hat Troop tingled at the tease.
What followed after his dangerous comments was a frantic rush by manufacturers (Clorox and Lysol) the CDC, EPA, and other state emergency management agencies that disinfectants were in no shape or form to be used inside the human body.
Despite this, Emergency Management Centers received an avalanche of calls inquiring about the efficacy of the bleach drinking advice.
Asked on Monday if he bears any responsibility for the spike in emergency calls, Trump predictably said that he bears absolutely none at all.
Does he?
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More than 20,000 people have died from the coronavirus in each of these European countries: France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. More than 17,000 have died in New York City.
But in Germany — which is home to more people than any one of those other European countries and 10 times as many as New York — only about 6,000 have died.
How could that be?
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Trump isn’t responsible for foolish people, but he is responsible for what he says in the same sense as “loose lips sink ships.” Like the FED Chairperson, he must choose his words carefully.
Amy Davidson Sorkin, in a column in the April 27th New Yorker writes that “countries deemed to be doing well in the fight against the novel coronavirus have something in common: they are led by women. What if, at this juncture, there were a woman in the White House, she wonders.
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Does Trump have the responsibility to tell the truth?
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Responsible or not, presidents lie. Some presidents may surprise and disappoint, but not Trump–his character is an open book. We are responsible to discern truth in a fog of lies.
Trumps lies are particularly revealing–what he says appears to reflect his belief.
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A president / leader has an obligation to be honest. This may not always be possible, but it should be a goal, as constant as the North Star.
We, as citizens, have every right to expect honesty from the individual who holds the highest position in the USA /land. I have no training in psychology or psychiatry that would allow me to parse Trump’s lies to discern truth. I doubt many people do.
Trump would still be a failed real estate developer without his uncanny ability to identify enablers.
Here’s a good read and an excursion into philosophy.
Can one do evil without being evil?
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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5/ 3/2020 — Deborah Birx: “Our projections have always been between 100-240,000 American lives lost and that’s with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance”
In March, Trump acknowledged that deaths in the United States from coronavirus could reach 100,000 or more, adding that if the death toll stays at or below 100,000, “we all together have done a very good job.”
4/20/2020 Trump said,“Now we’re going toward 50 — I’m hearing, or 60,000 people. One is too many. I always say it. One is too many, but we’re going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower — as you know the lower (end of the projections) was supposed to be 100,000 people,”
5/3/2020 Trump said, “I used to say 65,000 and now I’m saying 80 or 90 and it goes up and it goes up rapidly.”
We shall see what tomorrow brings….
Sometimes, Trump’s lies have consequences….
On March 6, President Trump rejected claims that coronavirus testing was not sufficiently available. “Anybody that wants a test can get a test, that’s what the bottom line is,” he said. Later, he added: “Anybody that needs a test gets a test.”
Today, the Capitol physician is not able to provide tests for every member of the Senate.
We shall see about Trump’s confidence that Covid19 will not survive the summer.
What is it they say?
Fool me once…..shame on you.
Fool me twice…shame on ME!
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Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned on Sunday, “I think when you look out to the end of June, it’s probably the case that we’re going to get above 100,000 deaths nationally. … We may be facing the prospect that 20,000, 30,000 new cases a day diagnosed becomes a new normal. And 1,000 or more deaths becomes the new normal as well. Right now we’re seeing for about 30 days now, about 30,000 cases a day and 2,000 deaths a day. And if you factor in that we’re probably diagnosing only 1 in 10 infections, those 30,000 cases are really 300,000 cases.”
We should remember that the original estimate was 100k t0 240,000 deaths IF PROPER MITIGATION STEPS WERE TAKEN.
States are now reopening, relaxing mitigation measures, so the total number of fatalities is likely to be much higher.
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About telling the truth….and irony…
Trump (the truth challenged president) is loudly complaining that China did not tell the truth about the coronavirus, and somehow using this failure to excuse HIS FAILURE in handling the pandemic.
Who is responsible there, given that China (like Trump) has an established record of lying about all sorts of things?
Does China’s prevarication justify Trump’s poor leadership?
Or should Trump, as the leader of our country AND Commander in Chief, have been expected and prepared to deal with China’s false statements?
OR, is Trump lying about what he knew, and when he knew it??
We are heading towards more than 100,000 Americans dead, with no top end in sight. Who is responsible?
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For the record, Trump was still praising China and its leaders just a couple of months ago:
Feb. 26, remarks at a business roundtable in New Delhi, India:
“China is working very, very hard. I have spoken to President Xi, and they’re working very hard. And if you know anything about him, I think he’ll be in pretty good shape. They’re — they’ve had a rough patch, and I think right now they have it — it looks like they’re getting it under control more and more. They’re getting it more and more under control.”
Feb. 27, Coronavirus Task Force press conference:
“I spoke with President Xi. We had a great talk. He’s working very hard, I have to say. He’s working very, very hard. And if you can count on the reports coming out of China, that spread has gone down quite a bit. The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days. As opposed to getting larger, it’s actually gotten smaller.”
Feb. 29, Coronavirus Task Force press conference:
“China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down. … I think our relationship with China is very good. We just did a big trade deal. We’re starting on another trade deal with China — a very big one. And we’ve been working very closely. They’ve been talking to our people, we’ve been talking to their people, having to do with the virus.”
This is just a small sample. There are many more.
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and Trump is soon to have a propaganda arm, more reliable than FOX
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/trump-is-really-aiming-to-take-down-fox/amp#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
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Trump accuses China of lying–thats preposterous whether they do lie or not. He must imagine that accounts of his legion of lies are fake news. Fool me once, indeed; how about lie to me thousands of times.
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Covid-19 is reported to have killed 75,000 people to date, with ~ 2000 more (and up) dying every day.
The economy is wrecked, with unemployment currently at 15% and expected to reach 25%.
An early, forceful presidential response would have mitigated the outcome. PPE, masks, ventilators, test kits would all have reduced the number of infections and deaths. Trump chose to ignore the threat posed by the novel coronavirus in January and treat it as a PR problem. It was only when that position became untenable in March that real measures began to be implemented.
The problem posed by the coronavirus and the cratered economy threatens Trump’s reelection prospects. He is desperately anxious to ‘reopen’ the economy, but is blocked by the fear Americans have of becoming infected.
Trump tried yesterday to try to turn the page, and his minions have already started a chorus of ‘Mission Accomplished’. As shown by the aborted Coronavirus Task Force shutdown yesterday, people are not buying it. Yet.
Trump has already begun questioning the Covid-19 statistics as inflated numbers and overreported Fake News. Therefore, he says, it is not as dire a problem as reported by the ‘lamestream’ media. His minions, Kushner, Pence, Fox News will surely pick this propaganda up and amplify it. Then the 40% of the country that is the Trump Cult will start yelling about it. The 60% of us who have not drunk the Kool-Aid should prepare.
And then there is the issue of the ‘pro-life’ party eagerly willing to reopen the economy if only a few people are killed by the coronavirus. And Andy Cuomo’s rejoinder, “Every life is precious.” A Topic for another day….
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