Some people say Trump wants it both ways
A reporter recently asked Trump if he regrets ordering a lockdown. Trump said he thought it was a mistake, and then in the very next paragraph he responded to a follow-up question saying he thought it was the right decision.
We’ve all seen Trump say he supports the lockdowns, then a day later suggest he supports the protesters, and then a day later warn Georgia not to re-open too fast, and then a day later say he supports the protesters, etc., etc.
Trump’s most devious method of playing both sides is to carefully word his statements in a way that allows for deniability, something to which reporters are catching on:
Trump was asked by a reporter: “With your tweets today, are you concerned that you might be stoking more racial violence or more racial discord?”
“No no, not at all,” Trump answered. “MAGA says make America great again. These are people that love our country.”
Trump then played his phony plausible deniability card, adding, “I have no idea if they’re going to be here. I was just asking.”
One of Trump’s favorite techniques is to say “some people say blah blah blah”. As in, there are reports that hydroxychloroquine is effective, or that he personally was taking hydroxychloroquine. Then, if it turns out to be effective he can take all the credit, and if it doesn’t he can say “I never recommended anyone else take the drug.”
In an administration full of surprising developments, a few days ago he achieved a new milestone with a series of tweets (assisted by his son):
Notice that he doesn’t directly accuse Joe Scarborough of murder. Rather “some people think” he got away with murder. What does Trump think? “Isn’t it obvious?”
Let’s play armchair detective and think about why Joe Scarborough would have murdered a young woman who worked for him when he was a congressman in DC. What does Trump want you to think?
Trump’s twitter followers don’t know much about nuclear disarmament or monetary policy, but they sure as heck know a lot about powerful men murdering young women who are close acquaintances. We’ve all seen dozens of films with this theme. These powerful men generally do not murder young women in order to steal their wallet.
I’m not going to insinuate anything about Joe Scarborough, or anything about what Trump is trying to do here, but “some people say” that police have found almost all murders of young women to be crimes of passion, and a boyfriend is often the guilty party.
Some people say that even victims of crimes of passion have their reputations dragged through the mud. The unfortunate Lori Klausutis’s widower certainly felt that way, as he was quite upset about Trump’s tweets.
I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her memory and our marriage. As her husband, I feel that one of my marital obligations is to protect her memory as I would have protected her in life. There has been a constant barrage of falsehoods, half-truths, innuendo and conspiracy theories since the day she died. . . .
The frequency, intensity, ugliness, and promulgation of these horrifying lies ever increases on the internet.
Some people say that Mr. Klausutis was remarkably restrained, given that Trump’s tweets seemed like the despicable act of a deranged madman:
Timothy Klausutis, Lori’s widower, wrote a remarkably restrained, poignant letter to Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, citing the pain that Mr. Trump’s “horrifying lies” about his wife’s death have caused him and the family, and asking Mr. Dorsey to remove Mr. Trump’s tweet.
What do I think about all of this? Like Trump, I’m not offering any opinion. If you disagree with anything in this post then please respond to the people that I have cited. Don’t leave a comment.
I will make a prediction, however. Stage one was pre-impeachment Trump, when he had to worry about various investigations as well as keeping the GOP in line. Now we are in stage two Trump, when he knows he can do anything he wants and the GOP won’t dare impeach him. But he does still have to worry about re-election in November, and thus doesn’t want to turn off swing voters.
In 2021 we will see stage three Trump, a man with literally nothing to constrain him.
Some people say we have never seen the real Trump. That he has a taste for revenge against those that slight him, even entire countries that slight him, which is almost unbounded. That he has an unstable personality that gets worse with age. Some people say that we’ll only see that Trump emerge in 2021, after he is re-elected.
Others say the real Trump has the courage and modesty and unselfishness and integrity of George Washington, and that we’ll see that Trump emerge in 2021.
Who’s right? “Isn’t it obvious?”
PS. More than 100,000 dead from a preventable plague, unemployment at 14.7% (probably 20%), our cities engulfed in flames, the rest of the world hates us. I think I’ll take a long nap—wake me up when America’s “great again”.
PPS. In case you are wondering, the riots of the 1960s did not affect the macroeconomy.
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31. May 2020 at 12:48
Scott,
maybe you should highlight quotes as such? I really thought for a second something terrible happened and your wife died. I was about this close to offer my condolences for heaven’s sake.
31. May 2020 at 15:30
“More than 100,000 dead from a preventable plague, unemployment at 14.7% (probably 20%), our cities engulfed in flames, the rest of the world hates us. I think I’ll take a long nap—wake me up when America’s “great again”.“
This sentence would’ve worked better if you hadn’t specifically listed four things that would be the case irrespective of whether Trump was elected.
31. May 2020 at 17:50
“More than 100,000 dead from a preventable plague, ”
The weird thing is I think Scott seriously believes this. It sure wasn’t preventable after it left China.
31. May 2020 at 19:06
Christian, Thanks. Somehow my indent function got deleted.
Mark, For heaven’s sake I certainly wasn’t suggesting Trump caused all this. I’m just wondering when he’s going to make us Great Again.
Todd, Yeah, Taiwan also has 100,000 deaths. So does Australia.
31. May 2020 at 19:56
“the rest of the world hates us.”–Scott Sumner. [I presume Sumner means the US, not Sumner and his followers]
That Trump does not have the personality to be President is obvious. That reality is separate from his policies, which of which are okay and, perhaps on balance, better than policies of establishment Donks and ‘Phants.
Bu—is America hated around the world?
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/05/12/in-taiwan-views-of-mainland-china-mostly-negative/
The above research, from Pew, strongly indicates Taiwanese, and especially younger Taiwanese, view the US much more highly than they view mainland China. If Taiwanese “hate” any nation, it is mainland China. not the US.
How would polls in, say Australia, Honk Kong or Thailand pan out? I recently read the huge fractions of young people in S Korea want to emigrate—but to the US, not China.
The US foreign-policy globalist establishment tries to hard to ruin the US reputation around the world, but US culture, and the tradition of freedom and democracy, are still attractive.
31. May 2020 at 20:15
“Yeah, Taiwan also has 100,000 deaths. So does Australia.”
You’ve lost the plot on this one, Scott. You mention two island nations, including one where it has been warm the entire time. There was no way coronavirus wasn’t going to arrive in North America and quickly spread. There is also something clearly going on in all Asian countries with *far* lower deaths per capita than in the West.
Japan never had a lockdown and the virus kept spreading with ultimately around 1,200 deaths which is about the same as South Korea with supposedly a rapid testing response. Have you figured out a way to explain radically different government responses between Japan and Korea yet the same result in the same area of the world? If you can, you know way more than epidemiologists seem to.
31. May 2020 at 22:31
Mark Z,
There’s a good case Trump has made all of these things worse. He isn’t even trying to make things better. We are now an international joke, but those of us who care are not laughing.
31. May 2020 at 22:34
Todd Kreider,
It would not have necessarily spread quickly in the US if we had a test and trace program. There’s a reason South Korea is doing so much better than us. There was no reason to have 100.000 Americans dead and the worst economy since the 30s.
Even now, more than half a year after Trump was being warned, we don’t have sufficient testing.
You must have really, really low standards for performance in government, but some of us demand better, and other Presidents have certainly delivered better.
31. May 2020 at 23:41
Can you explain why Japan has had the same number of deaths per capita as South Korea with less testing than the U.S. and no lockdown?
How do you explain higher deaths per capita in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and the U.K. than the U.S.?
1. June 2020 at 02:36
Michael,
It’s a dumb argument for sure simply because the populations aren’t the same, among other reasons.
Hell, using the raw number is even a stupid argument.
-Antarctica has fewer coronavirus deaths than america, so antarctica policy is better than america’s.
-China has higher math scores than the united states, so chinese math education must be better than the usa.
Lol
1. June 2020 at 02:58
our cities engulfed in flames
If you did any homework, you would find out that the arsonists are being directly funded through Act Blue.
No wonder the media doesn’t want them designated terrorists!
1. June 2020 at 13:05
Ben, You said:
“The US foreign-policy globalist establishment tries to hard to ruin the US reputation around the world, but US culture, and the tradition of freedom and democracy, are still attractive.”
Yup, except delete “globalist”. It’s the nationalists that are making America unpopular, even before Trump took office. Unless by “globalist” you mean people who think America should be able to tell the rest of the world what to do.
Todd, You said it wasn’t preventable after it left China. I showed it was. Then you shift the goalposts and talk about how it’s more difficult to control in the US. That’s true, but we still did an amazingly lousy job of it. You can’t just rely on climate, as New Orleans in March isn’t much different from New Zealand. South Korea is also cool in March, and did far better than the US.
As far as comparing Japan and Korea, you and most other people make the mistake of focusing on just one factor at a time. There are many factors than explain differences between countries, not just one. No one ever claimed that testing was the only important determinant of the severity of the pandemic.
Steve, You said:
“If you did any homework,”
If that’s “homework” then I’ll continue to rely on my preferred media sources.
1. June 2020 at 13:37
“Todd, You said it wasn’t preventable after it left China. I showed it was. Then you shift the goalposts and talk about how it’s more difficult to control in the US. That’s true, but we still did an amazingly lousy job of it. You can’t just rely on climate, as New Orleans in March isn’t much different from New Zealand. South Korea is also cool in March, and did far better than the US.”
I missed the part where you showed the U.S. or the E.U. could have prevented coranavirus from entering. Where did you write that?
It was 62 degrees the days before and after Mardi Gras in late February when the virus took off. In Sydney that week, it was 80 degrees – worlds apart. The first week in March was 72 degrees in New Orleans and 81 degrees in Sydney.
I’m not making any mistake comparing South Korea and Japan. You still haven’t explained how it is possible for Japan, with about the same
response as the U.S. with respect to very low testing but no lockdowns has managed to have the same per capita number of deaths as South Korea, which supposedly is a model nation of the pandemic. You don’t find that a little odd?
1. June 2020 at 13:49
Sumner, you define the term Useful Idiot.
Go to Act Blue and see who they fundraise for. Antifa is one of the groups. Then go see what Antifa does, look up their social media, join their private groups. Antifa organizes arson attacks and dissident beatings.
So yeah, you are a complete and utter moron. Has it occurred to you that your preferred media sources are lying to you, because they suffer from the same progressive guilt complex mental illness that you do?
1. June 2020 at 13:52
I’m being extremely harsh, but not nearly as harsh as you and millions of others deserve. You have absolutely no business whatsoever commenting on this when you are too ignorant to do basic research. All you are doing is providing material resources and comfort to the arsonists. My God.
1. June 2020 at 13:53
This is your “Arsonists are very fine people” moment. Except a thousand times worse. How does it feel to be a thousand times dumber than Trump?
1. June 2020 at 13:58
Todd Kreider,
Comparing other countries doesn’t matter. If we’d tested, traced, and quarantined early, we would have many more people alive, period. I’m not going to be distracted by any other dicussion. We had months to prepare and the preparations weren’t made. The fact that some other countries performed even worse is certainly irrelevant.
1. June 2020 at 15:12
It’s great that you are convinced but Scott says the U.S. could have avoided the entire pandemic despite no other non Asian country of size being able to stop the virus. Finland with 6 million did it but that’s the only country I know of. Of course many countries need to be compared and will be more systematically over time. It’s your choice, of course, whether or not to be distracted by analysis, of course. .
1. June 2020 at 23:57
Scott-
I don’t know if you are still reading, but long before Trump, the US got involved in most of Latin America, broad parts of the Mideast, in the Far East, often through military force, political machinations, assassinations, propaganda, etc. The US also used financial power to isolate certain nations (Iran) and in general, to bully people around.
But on whose behalf?
The US operates a $1.3 trillion a year global security operation, despite not the slightest threat of an invasion of the US.
This is obvious—-the US operates a global guard service for multinationals, and that defines US foreign and military postures. The foreign-policy establishment is for globalist multinationals, not US populists, or if you wish, US “nationalists” (who are usually less interventionist).
Is the US foreign-policy regime for good or bad?
Well, lately, I wonder. The multinationals have always been far, far more concerned with stability wherever they operate, rather than human rights. In the old days, think Latin America. Today, see multinationals and Communist Party of China. The CCP can incarcerate two million Muslims, who are not criminals, without the slightest whimper from Tesla. The NBA has gone mute on Hong Kong. Tesla and the NBA are the norm, not aberrations.
But the way, the CCP is exactly the same as the multinationals when it makes investments in Africa, or Latin America. They will back any regime that can deliver on a transaction.
Trump is sort of a sideshow in all of this. He has enacted some minor changes in trade with China, too small to be much concerned about. The multinationals (and their mouthpieces, in the US and in the CCP) loath Trump’s intervention not for the scale, but for the fact of it.
Multinationals are habituated to the US foreign policy establishment working for them. Any other posture is an outrage.
2. June 2020 at 00:47
“Mark, For heaven’s sake I certainly wasn’t suggesting Trump caused all this. I’m just wondering when he’s going to make us Great Again.”
Fine, but how many people would vote for someone with a campaign slogan like Jun Jun Sotto’s (https://twitter.com/ajaymehta/status/673150988581273601)? I honestly can’t find any information on whether he won, so not entirely a rhetorical questionl
2. June 2020 at 05:24
Well, America is great again. Great in the replay of the 1918 pandemic. Great in the replay of the Great Depression. Great in the replay of the race riots of the 1960s. And all just in one year. Can it get any greater than this?
You have to give Trump that he didn’t specify which kind of “great” he meant exactly. Maybe he meant all three? George W. would say: “Mission accomplished.” His father would say: “Read my lips.”
2. June 2020 at 10:12
Todd, I never said we could have zero cases, don’t be silly.
As for Japan and Korea, there are many factors involved, it’s silly to focus just on one.
And it’s especially silly to suggest Japan had about the same response as the US. They are much more likely to wear masks, much less likely to hug or shake hands, etc.
Steve, I see that you and Todd like to just make up things you think I believe.
Ben, You said:
“I don’t know if you are still reading, but long before Trump, the US got involved in most of Latin America, broad parts of the Mideast, in the Far East, often through military force, political machinations, assassinations, propaganda, etc.”
Thanks for pointing that out. I never knew any of that stuff.
Why do I even read comments? I must be crazy.
2. June 2020 at 10:36
@Todd Kreider
Remember, Scott might just be (not being sarcastic!) one of the great Monetary Policy economists ever—-time will tell.
But if it relates to anything else, he is a dodger and dancer—particularly on questions such as you have raised. What makes him great as an economist is what makes him frustrating on topics you have raised. He selectively interprets what you say, selectively chooses his facts etc. We all do that to some degree but he has a stronger belief in what he says than we do—and he is intellectually arrogant to the extreme
This is what makes him extremely entertaining to read (non economic topics) as well extremely informative (monetary policy).
When he starts calling you a moron, then you begin to really have fun—-he really thinks he is smarter than everyone—at least smarter than his readers
Remember, this is his “dumb blog”–meant for fun==although he can get pissed off. Econlib is always economics, very dificult to follow when he gets esoteric—but worth it.
2. June 2020 at 10:38
Assuming he responds to my note to you (I doubt it)—I know exactly what he will say—-its begging to be said.
3. June 2020 at 09:35
Michael, You said:
“Assuming he responds to my note to you (I doubt it)—I know exactly what he will say”
My response is “The cow jumped over the moon.”