Two Views on Where Trump Stands
Apr 17, 2020
RUSH: There are two different pieces, columns, articles that I wish to share with you today to show you the contrast in attitude and apprehension that exists among Trump supporters — or, better stated, supporters of America, supporters of the American economy, people who understand and realize that we have to open it, that this whole notion of…
You know, the idea of flattening the curve? I have a couple stories, “We didn’t flatten the curve nearly as much as we need to flatten the curve. It’s not nearly enough.†Flattening the curve was not a solution to anything other than preventing overrun hospitals, and there weren’t any overrun hospitals. There weren’t even overrun hospitals in New York.
The hospital beds that were built for Andrew Cuomo were not necessary. He didn’t use them. The ventilators that he demanded? He end up getting more than he needed. The crisis as measured by those metrics never met the apocalyptic forecasts. So the circumstances under which we have been told, “We gotta flatten the curve, flatten the curve!â€
All that was ever gonna do was prolong, what? Not the suffering. It was not going to eliminate cases. It was not gonna speed up a reduction in cases. It was not gonna do that. It was not gonna reduce the number of people who died. The only reason for flattening the curve — i.e., social distancing and keeping you home. The only reason for that was to see to it that fewer people got sick right now so that they would not overwhelm the hospital system.
The hospital system wasn’t overwhelmed. It never came close to being overwhelmed nationwide, and it really… In New York state and New York City, with just a couple of outlier examples, not even there was it stressed to the degree that we were told was possible. So the bending the curve, flattening the curve? Yeah, it’s great for people that want to keep you the home and theoretically limit the spread.
But all we’re doing is delay the spread of the disease by keeping people at home. If you look at and try to define normal behavior, staying at home all day and not going to work and losing your job and not having money, that’s what’s not normal — and that, thus, cannot be sustained.
Getting up, going to work, earning a living, advancing your career, doing those kinds of things — going out and about and living life — is what is normal. And so the request has always been in the name of flattening the curve for everybody to live abnormally, and it cannot be sustained. People aren’t going to do it.
You see now there are revolts — most of them in Democrat states — against Democrat governors who are getting a little taste of their autocratic power and they’re tightening down on everything. And these protests, thank goodness for them. It shows that America is still alive and well. The America that wants to work, the America that wants to be productive, the America that’s willing to take risks and adapt is alive and well.
Now, these two pieces that eventually I’m going to share excerpts from. One’s by Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal. The headline to her piece: “Moving the Shutdown Goalposts — Liberals try to set Trump up to take the blame for any further coronavirus deaths.†Now, her piece features many points that we have been forecasting here all week, that whatever bad news there is after the reopening happens, including COVID-19 deaths, you know damn well they’re gonna blame it on Trump.
He knows they’re gonna blame it on him. The first death is going to be a medal winner! The media is going to treat them as though they have… Well, you can imagine the coverage that’s going to happen. She thinks… Her piece is devoted to how the Democrats are laying a trap for Trump and that Trump had better manage expectations.
He’d better not fall into this trap. You better tell people it’s gonna be slow going. He better stop this business that we’re gonna come back fast and stronger than ever. He’d better not do that because the Democrats are laying a trap. And I know this point of view is something many of you share. As lifelong Republicans, you are ready to be betrayed.
You’re ready for your leaders to be outsmarted. It happens seemingly every time you elect somebody you really like. And this is a continuation of that belief. That Trump, he better on the lookout. The Democrats are setting a trap! See, I think the truth is that Trump has management a massively successfully operation. I just got through saying how masterful I think this is.
It has been a brilliantly conceived strategy, this task force, the daily brief, the progress they’ve made. It has totally achieved its goals. And the Democrats know that. They’re the ones that have to redefine the goalposts. They’re the ones that have to move them. They’re the ones have to make it… Trump doesn’t have to. So I think Ms. Strassel’s piece, while worthwhile and useful, is…
Well, for my tastes — and I may be missing her point. But it’s a little too (sigh) potentially fatalistic. I don’t think she is, but she’s warning of the things that go wrong. The other piece is by somebody equally as pro-American, equally as pro-American economy, somebody who literally admires Donald Trump, and that’s Conrad Black from Canada.
His piece is all about how Trump is running rings around his opposition. “Political Elite Plays Its Last Card — Joe Biden is just a muddled amalgam of 40 years at the public trough, an arthritic wheelhorse in a machine that has broken down.†Conrad Black doesn’t think there’s any way the Democrats can outsmart Trump. He doesn’t think there’s any way the Democrats are gonna beat Trump.
He doesn’t think with Biden or whoever that the Democrats… He doesn’t believe in the formidable nature of the Democrats. He thinks they have been reduced to embarrassingly shallow and shoddy tactics that, for once, average Americans who don’t pay regular attention to the news and stuff can finally see. He thinks they’re imploding.
So these two pieces: One uber-positive (and Conrad always is) versus one that’s very cautiously optimistic, very, “Let’s not get ahead of the ourselves here. A lot could still go wrong! Trump could still be outmaneuvered,†da-da-da-da-da.
