Shooting From The Hip
Fox newscaster Bret Baier drew flack from conservative commentators on Sunday when he disputed President Trump’s claim that Trump’s comments about “washing out lungs with disinfectants” were “sarcastic.” Mr. Baier opined that: “that’s not how it looked.” Although I don’t generally condone criticism of Mr. Trump from the “same side of the aisle”, so to speak, (there’s MORE than enough criticism coming from the opposite “side of the aisle”), I must agree with Mr. Baier: it DIDN’T LOOK like sarcasm. And, it looked authentic enough where a number of disinfectant manufacturers were moved to make public statements warning against such use. Such a preposterous statement will not help his chances in November, I’m afraid.
Although, Mr. Trump is not a medical professional, I DON’T think that he actually believes that a good swig of Lysol is a recommended strategy for the treatment of COVID-19. I can’t imagine that he went home to Melania and announced “Honey, I’m home! Don’t worry about corona. I’ve got a big bottle of Mr. Clean!” I’m CERTAIN he doesn’t believe that, and DIDN’T believe that. But he DID say that. So what gives?
Mr. Trump suffers from what we in the medical world call “shooting from the hip.” In other words, speaking before carefully considering what you are about to say. Such a tendency in medicine is a very bad one, because medical educators fear, justified or not, that such a tendency might lead a future clinician to make rash decisions in patient care. Interns that speak too quickly soon learn not to do it. In the numerous didactic as well as patient care meetings that are a regular part of the physician-in-training’s day, such temerity would get you corrected, at the least. It might also get you laughed at or even dismissed from the team. Those interns that didn’t catch on would simply not succeed.
Donald Trump, the businessman, comes from an entirely different realm. As a successful entrepreneur he would meet, generally, only with those either in his direct employ or else with those wishing to do business with him. Such people would be unlikely to be critical of what he had to say or be dismissive in any way. Accordingly, for some 50 years of his life, Donald Trump’s utterances had ABSOLUTELY NO NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES, NO MATTER WHAT THE HECK HE SAID. He could, literally, say ANYTHING he darn well pleased. Coming from such a background it’s easy to understand his penchant for extemporaneous speech. I sometimes think, honestly, that, when given a question, he says THE FIRST THING THAT POPS INTO HIS HEAD. Because he’s never had to be careful in the past, he’s been slow to change. How DIFFERENT everything is now, where EVERY SINGLE WORD he utters is grist for the partisan hatred mill that grinds ALL news into a poisonous powder that they hope to use against him.
One other aspect of this problem is worth mentioning: the world of mega millions real estate thrives not always on accuracy, but, often, on exaggeration. “This piece of property isn’t just in a good location; it’s a GREAT location! It’s in the best location on PLANET EARTH. In fact, it’s in the best location in the whole SOLAR SYSTEM! THE GALAXY EVEN!” And, this deal “isn’t just a good deal; it’s the best deal in NEW YORK CITY! In fact, it’s the best deal in ALL OF AMERICA! THE WHOLE WORLD EVEN! And, not only that, it’s the BEST DEAL IN THE HISTORY OF MAN!” You get the idea. And, for the most part, in real estate, the various buyers/sellers eat this type of thing up with a spoon. Why? Because they WANT to believe it! How different it is now, where President Trump’s audience wants to believe ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HE SAYS. If he says it, it MUST BE WRONG! If he favors “drug A”, “drug A” MUST BE BAD! If he’s skeptical of “drug B”, “drug B” MUST BE GOOD! et. cetera.
Given all of the above, it will be crucial, going forward into this campaign season, that he reign in his natural tendency to speak “off the top of his head.” It will also be advisable to let medical professionals do the talking when it comes to medical information. He ISN’T, after all, a doctor of medicine! Let the doctors handle it, please!
If he doesn’t learn these things, this nation may find itself saddled with Joe Biden, the worst presidential candidate I have seen in my entire lifetime. Not only is he a creepy pervert, he is obviously, shockingly, senile.
So, can President Trump learn?… I believe he can. He figured out, for example, that trying to exert federal control over state reopening schedules was a “no win” endeavor, in which he would be “damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.” Accordingly, he wisely decided to delegate that authority to the states. Let’s hope that he continues on the “learning curve” and stops “shooting from the hip.” There’s MUCH at stake.