S*** the President Says – 10/5/2020

Ladies and gentlemen, behold, some s*** the president said during the previous week:

“I put the mask on, you know when I think I need it.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

We’ll file this under “things that didn’t age well” because on the way home from that night’s event (if not earlier), our president contracted COVID-19. At the debate itself, Trump’s family refused to wear masks inside the building – and passed COVID to 11 media and event staff. Somehow, the Americans with the very best access to information wound up the very last people to figure this whole thing out.

“I don’t – I don’t wear masks like [Joe Biden]. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

Joe Biden does not have COVID-19.

“[Dr. Fauci] said very strongly: Masks are not good. Then he changed his mind. He’s admitted — I’m ok with masks.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

Looking back at the transcript, I was surprised to see just how skeptical President Trump sounded about wearing masks. Obviously with a new virus, facts will develop and smart people will change their minds to absorb those facts, which explains Dr. Fauci’s change regarding masks. I don’t know what explains our president.

“[The Democrats] had Merrick Garland, but the problem is they didn’t have the elections so they were stopped, and probably that would happen in reversal so definitely would happen reverse. So we won the election and we have the right to do it.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

This, like so many thoughts uttered by our president, is barely coherent but the outline of a rational thought is there. The idea is that there are no longer any principles when it comes to Supreme Court nominees being confirmed during a presidential election year. The “principle” stated here is simply that his political party has the power today to do what they want, so they’re going to do it. We should keep this in mind just in case anyone is interested in granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. in a few months.

“Your party wants to go Socialist. They’re gonna dominate you, Joe, you know that.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

What to do when you’d rather run against a socialist but your opponent clearly isn’t one? No problem! Just disregard the man you’re debating whom just won the Democratic primary and insist his party secretly wants something they just rejected at the ballot box. Foolproof logic, foolproof strategy.

“Yes I have [come up with a healthcare plan]. Of course I have. I’ll get rid of the individual mandate which was added. That was absolutely a big thing, that was the worst part of Obamacare. The worst part of Obamacare. Well, I’ll ask Joe [Biden]. The individual mandate was the most unpopular aspect of Obamacare. I got rid of it.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

Two quick observations here. First, this followed an observation by the moderator that President Trump has not proposed a replacement for Obamacare in four years. Trump’s answer was a “Yeah huh” followed by one part of Obamacare he’ll get rid of. No hint of a plan. Secondly, his Republican Party is currently arguing to the Supreme Court that without the individual mandate, the entire law should be struck down, leaving 20 million people out of luck. Without a replacement plan, a whole ton of people could be left out in the cold during a pandemic.

“Obamacare is no good…We took away the individual mandate…Listen, this is the way it is. And that destroyed, that they shouldn’t even call it Obamacare. But I had a choice to make. Do I let my people run it really well, or badly. If I run it badly they’ll probably blame him, but they’ll blame me, but more importantly I want to help people.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

I guess we’re still waiting for that healthcare plan.

“That’s me, and I just had a meeting with them; they said, ‘The problem is, no matter how well you run Obamacare, it’s a disaster. It’s too expensive, premiums are too high, that it doesn’t work,’ I suppose, people – yes we do want to get rid of it. I want to get rid of something.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

With this, the president’s time expired and it was Joe Biden’s turn to talk about healthcare policy. It’s abundantly clear we have a president fighting to repeal a law he doesn’t understand, to replace it with something he hasn’t yet identified. Not good.

“We got the gowns, we got the masks, we made the ventilators – you wouldn’t have made ventilators – and now we’re weeks away from a vaccine.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

I’m all for a coronavirus vaccine but let’s be honest: “As scientists with a long track record of experience in this field, this is simply not going to happen,” said Dr. David A. Nace, chief medical officer at UPMC Senior Communities. Not in “weeks.”

“I disagree with him. No, I disagree with both of them. And he didn’t say that.”

9/29/2020 presidential debate.

Watching the mind of a bulls***ter first formulate his response to unfavorable information is fun to behold. Faced with the quote of a Trump Administration official saying the vaccine is likely to take much longer than Trump says, Trump simultaneously offers two contradictory explanations. Par for the course.

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That’s our report for this week. Be sure to check out the links for more info on any particular topic and, as always, thanks for reading.