# ...from the President of the United States: WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078 "2020-03-23T05:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/81 "2020-03-23T22:12:32Z")
Starting to think all that “Death Panel” talk in 2009 was disingenuous. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/82 "2020-03-23T22:34:42Z")
> [@Harrington](#): > > Is there an emergency measure someone can invoke that relieves the president of his duties for abandoned recklessness endangering hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives? Like Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny,” that on a lesser scale? The 2016 voters are now stewing in their own soup. God help my liberal, democracy-loving soul, I started wondering today if a military coup would be all that bad. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/83 "2020-03-23T22:38:27Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Think positive! Trump could fall over dead of gravy _crushing Pence_. And Bill Barr, too?? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/84 "2020-03-23T22:38:44Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > The worst thing about all this is something **asahi** [noted above](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22205202&postcount=27). As bad as this is and is going to get, a potential silver lining would be the American people having an epiphany about their demagogue-loving, science-undermining, populism-run-amok ways and consciously deciding to expect more from themselves and their country going forward. But there is no realistic prospect of that happening. People will continue to cast blame in the wrong direction even as the president sells out their communities, their livelihoods and their very lives themselves. Unlikely. God has, by many peoples’ reckoning, killed billions through war, famine, murder, etc. or having allowed those things to happen. If things are bad, God will save you. If things are good, God is to thank for it. There is no version where bad can be attributed. There’s liable to be a strong correlation between the 40% of the nation who think that the universe is 10,000 years old and support for Donald Trump. And, likewise, for people who are very strong in thinking in the above terms. If things are bad, Trump will save you. If things are good, Trump is to thank for it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/85 "2020-03-23T23:21:02Z")
Interesting to note that Fauci is not at the “press conference” where Trump is talking about opening the country back up again. I’m unclear on why we still need a multi trillion dollar stimulus package if we are opening everything back up again though. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/86 "2020-03-23T23:38:32Z")
The “press conference” was like a tableau of ghastly. Watching the support team trying to keep it off their faces was comical – or it would have been if the subject matter weren’t so serious. I can’t listen to Trump talking but I was reading captions… did he actually say the death rate would be, figure, 50,000, and that’s “not so bad”??? Even William Barr couldn’t keep the shock off his face. I guess they decided to stop having the daily propaganda hour during times when the stock market is open. No doubt the juxtaposition of the dropping Dow simultaneous to the Orange One flapping his lips pissed him off. And I agree that Dr. Fauci’s absence is extremely troubling. We could see it coming, though. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/87 "2020-03-23T23:40:02Z")
So corporations will be able to donate to trump2020, of course. (Replying to Fiveyearlurker) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/88 "2020-03-23T23:54:32Z")
Of course Trump says this kind of shit. He’s in the pockets of Big Mortuary. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/89 "2020-03-23T23:58:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > And Bill Barr, too?? [Billie Burke voice] Yes, Dorothy, and Bill Barr, too![/BB voice]\* \*Millennials substitute Kristin Chenowith. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/90 "2020-03-24T00:05:24Z")
In today’s presser, Trump was seriously trying to compare the situation in the US to the one in Italy, saying that compared to Italy we have much less infection and way fewer deaths. He of course neglected to say that Italy’s population of 60 million people is crammed into a country the size of Arizona, for a population density of about 532 per square mile, while the US has 327 million people, penciling out to about 92 per square mile. Of course the infection rate will be lower and slower (for now). I don’t believe for a second that he hasn’t been briefed on this; he’s just lying by omission. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/91 "2020-03-24T00:20:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > In today’s presser, Trump was seriously trying to compare the situation in the US to the one in Italy, saying that compared to Italy we have much less infection and way fewer deaths. He of course neglected to say that Italy’s population of 60 million people is crammed into a country the size of Arizona, for a population density of about 532 per square mile, while the US has 327 million people, penciling out to about 92 per square mile. Of course the infection rate will be lower and slower (for now). I don’t believe for a second that he hasn’t been briefed on this; he’s just lying by omission. Oh, he was briefed. He just didn’t understand a word. Population density? Square miles? Miles are _long_, not square. Too complicated. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/92 "2020-03-24T00:45:38Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this. > > He advocated widespread use of medication that is not yet thoroughly tested, with side effects that could well be worse than the disease, and is tweeting this?! Donald Trump has no plan. He never really has a plan; he has a general idea for how he should act, which worked for him in limited arenas like being a conman, but in a big, complicated problem he is just reacting literally by the minute. Trump understands nothing at all about what’s happening. So his affinity to the malaria drug could end on Thursday. His hinting that they might lift lockdown restrictions on March 30 might be forgotten by 10 PM tonight, or might change five times between now and March 30. All that matters to Trump is 1. Does it make money for me? 2. Does it make people impressed with me? That’s it. If you told Trump that there was a pandemic strategy that would kill twenty million Americans, but that he would make money and get re-elected, he would absolutely choose that over a strategy that killed no one and caused him to lose the election. I am not exaggerating by even a little bit. He himself could not formulate that strategy, or any real strategy, but he’d choose to kill his countrymen for his own benefit every single time. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > I’m unclear on why we still need a multi trillion dollar stimulus package if we are opening everything back up again though. So rich people can loot the treasury. The moment this started getting bad, the rich people were getting in line to steal as much as they could. No fucking wonder socialism is back in vogue. If the state will not deliver justice, the mob will. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/93 "2020-03-24T00:47:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > If the state will not deliver justice, the mob will. Aye. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/94 "2020-03-24T02:11:21Z")
I know I’m going to catch fire and brimstone for this but…I sort of agree with Trump. He’s still a moron and he only tweeted this because he has (likely) lost million$ in the markets but I am concerned that we are overreacting. We’ve got posts like this: > [@](#): > > “Everyone dies” is a lot worse that “the made-up way we trade goods and services isn’t functioning as well as we’d like”, IMO. YMMV. C’mon, not everyone is going to die. I know it’s hyperbole but even still it’s over the top. We’ve so politicized the response to COVID that we can no longer have a rational discussion. People are comparing this to the Spanish Flu and we already know that the mortality rate of COVID is not the same. My fear is that when when this finally dies down and we are able to examine the results it’ll end up being similar to a bad flu. Which is still bad–80k people have died in a year from the flu–but in the end Trump would look like the sane one who didn’t go into hysterics. Just because Trump says something doesn’t mean we have to fly in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/95 "2020-03-24T02:25:50Z")
To be fair, Trump isn’t the only one getting antsy with the economic situation: [https://twitter.com/AntPascaleNY1/status/1242108576891576321?s=20](https://twitter.com/AntPascaleNY1/status/1242108576891576321?s=20) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/96 "2020-03-24T02:28:44Z")
I think learning that our precautions were an overreaction is the **ideal** outcome to the pandemic. I do hope and expect that in a year or so we’ll talk about how crazy everything was and look at pronouncements of doom through the lens of irony. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful now. I’m heartened by the news out of Wuhan that they are no longer seeing new homegrown infections; recently new cases are being reported only from visitors to the area. But it took them time and effort to get to that point. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/97 "2020-03-24T02:31:28Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I can’t listen to Trump talking but I was reading captions… did he actually say the death rate would be, figure, 50,000, and that’s “not so bad”??? Even William Barr couldn’t keep the shock off his face. I’ve not been able to find a video clip of this, nor have I seen it mentioned at the AP; if someone comes across either would you please post a link here? Thanks. (I stopped listening to the briefings; they are too frustrating and too slow to dole out information amidst the propaganda.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/98 "2020-03-24T02:36:05Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > C’mon, not everyone is going to die. I know it’s hyperbole but even still it’s over the top. :rolleyes: > [@Deeg](#): > > We’ve so politicized the response to COVID that we can no longer have a rational discussion. Bullshit > [@Deeg](#): > > People are comparing this to the Spanish Flu Bullshit. > [@Deeg](#): > > My fear is that when when this finally dies down and we are able to examine the results it’ll end up being similar to a bad flu. You’re clearly a fucking moron. _That’s_ your fear? :dubious: > [@Deeg](#): > > Which is still bad–80k people have died in a year from the flu–but in the end Trump would look like the sane one who didn’t go into hysterics. Then why did he declare a state of emergency? Why did he close borders? :dubious: Take your uninformed, stupid-ass opinions, your partisan opinions, and swallow them whole. Then go volunteer at a hospital without PPE, if you think it isn’t a big deal. You won’t. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/99 "2020-03-24T02:54:00Z")
Ship? What ship? There is no ship to steer. Trump scuttled it the moment he cast a shadow on the White House lawn. That was the first priority. ---
**Author:** ![Harrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac8455/32.png) [@Harrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harrington)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/100 "2020-03-24T03:02:44Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Yes, the [25th amendment to the Constitution](https://constitutionus.com/#x25) has just such a procedure. Unfortunately, it requires the VP and the cabinet members to initiate the process and I don’t see that happening unless Trump becomes physically disabled to the point where he can’t even talk. Yeah, I’m aware of the 25th Amendment, but that’s not what I was talking about, because it’s a process and might take too long, and, as you say, requires action from his own party members. That will never happen. I was more wondering about exigent circumstances, like hundreds of thousands of lives are imminently in danger due to the president’s reckless actions, which would allow someone to walk into the oval office tomorrow and say to the president, “Please come with us, sir.” My inquiry was pretty much in jest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078.md?page=6)