Countdown 88 days

TRUMP’S THOUGHTS        

It’s difficult to get into anyone’s head let alone a stable genius with a very large brain.  Let me attempt this feat. I do have some similar attributes, as I have an actual degree in Economics and graduated in 1969.  I know Trump claimed to have a degree in Economics and graduated in 1968. He has falsely claimed he graduated at the top of his class, which has proven to be patently false and there are no records of having any honors bestowed on him at graduation.  I like Trump did not graduate at or near the top of my class, however one semester when I was not working at least 2 and at times 3 jobs with a wife and child at home, I managed to be on the Dean’s List with highest honors. This was the one semester where all my classes were in math and engineering.  Trump is said not to be an avid reader, I on the other hand also am not an avid reader of literature, however I do consume news all day long. I also know what I don’t know and do not confuse observations from facts. Living for years overseas I can spot propaganda and conspiracy theories. 

Lets look into the mind of an individual in pure economic terms having this be his or her sole motivation. Economics will squeeze out any empathy from ones sole. Economics relishes itself as an arbiter in the allocation of scarce resources over competing ends. Trump thinks he is the sole arbiter with unlimited authority to do as he pleases. The best economists are those that know what they don’t know, and are curious enough to learn, based on facts and not on someone’s observations.

Trump has this odd relationship with reality. His lack of curiosity for anything that is counter to his set thinking makes him susceptible to confirmation bias. The best example is his insistence that Covid-19 was like the flu and would just disappear. Initially in January that was his tune.

No one could tell him otherwise since he could not see any real impact of the virus and compared the death toll to the average flu season initially. This, when Biden and all experts were warning of and he was advised of a potential impending disaster.

His confirmation bias puts a spotlight on hydroxychloroquine as a prime example. A doctor dressed in a white gown with a group of other doctors last week put on a show touting the eye witnessed accounts of the drug as a miracle cure and to throw away your masks. This staged show by a quack snake oil doctor was all Trump needed to hear, when he again promotes its use. This, after 3 double blind studies, have shown no beneficial effects of the drug in any phase of the virus and has serious side effects.

Every month since then Trump has repeated that manta “It will just disappear” . Yet I can understand his thinking on this. With Trump’s lack of curiosity his confirmation bias kicks in when he sees a graph that shows a bell shaped curve showing how other countries have peaked and are now at near 0 cases, he gets this bias. He must think we will have the same bell shaped curve and he is now proven wrong and cannot see why. The United States peaked in cases and continues at the high level now for months, with no turn around to the downside of the curve.

  Someone needs to get another graph showing him the reality and slip it under the seam between the ground and his bubble or wait till someone opens a window to air out the stench. They also need to tell him all these countries had a singular national strategy not a 50 state strategy, with mobility to transfer anywhere.

Trump has the same bias with testing. Trump looked at the numbers of tests other countries have conducted and they are now re-opening, so why test or why not slow down testing? Trump has thought the peak has passed and there is no longer a need for testing. After all “it will just go away”.