Arguing that "the cure can't be worse than the problem," Larry Kudlow argued that reviving the economy was more important than saving lives. “The president is right. The cure can’t be worse than the disease,” Kudlow said on Fox News Channel. “And we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs.”
This comes after Trump tweeted that same language after midnight last night in all caps:
At the time, it was unclear what "15-day period" he was referring to, and what decision he was talking about. But since then, reports have emerged that he's getting tired of listening to medical experts. The Washington Post reports that he's restless and tired of talking about the virus all the time, every day. Here's a suggestion for that: Quit doing the joke press conferences every day.
AP reports that he misses his rallies. So for him, the rallies and happy talk and self-affirming feedback he gets from his cult is more important. But it's HIS BASE he's likely to kill if he quits listening to the Faucis and other experts of the world.
This isn't going to be over on March 30th, no matter how hard he wishes, and the total inaction by Trump to get supplies to states and funding to hospitals is a CRIME.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner is filling Trump's empty head with conspiracy talk and suggestions that this pandemic should be handled with magic solutions. Gabe Sherman:
Trump’s view that he can ignore Fauci’s opinion may be influenced by advice he’s getting from Jared Kushner, whose outside-the-box efforts have often rankled those in charge of managing the crisis. According to two sources, Kushner has told Trump about experimental treatments he’s heard about from executives in Silicon Valley. “Jared is bringing conspiracy theories to Trump about potential treatments,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. Another former West Wing official told me: “Trump is like an 11-year-old boy waiting for the fairy godmother to bring him a magic pill.”
Digby writes:
It’s pulling teeth to get some people to abide by the voluntary guidelines. Cities are having to close down public spaces because people simply refuse to observe the social distancing rules that say you need to stay 6 feet away from anyone you don’t live with when you go out in public. If the administration and the Republicans decide that it’s “worth it” to let the virus run wild it will mean culling the herd by forcing the health care system to make the horrifying decision to allow the elderly and already infirm to die for lack of resources. In America. In 2020.
The economy isn't going to restart until we conquer this virus. And we are not going to conquer this virus by killing millions in a hurry, the way Trump wants.
Jared Yates Sexton tweeted this, which I thought summarized Kudlow quite well:
People need to understand this is the corporate mindset made into government. It's weighing profit against human life and always choosing profit. This is who we have been and why we're in this situation.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) March 23, 2020
And to echo John Amato, I'll just say that Kudlow should have been fired a long time ago for his happy talk and bullshit around this crisis. This is what we knew would happen if Trump was elected. Now it's happened, and he seems to be fine with "culling the herd" and letting a generation die rather than making rich people suffer some hardship.
UPDATE: As I was writing this, Trump started another rally press conference wit this nugget:
“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself” pic.twitter.com/HaP51pKf3i
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) March 23, 2020
Yep, they want to kill us.
