# Trump says the US leading the world in coronavirus cases is 'a badge of honor' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149 "2020-05-19T22:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/21 "2020-05-20T17:35:08Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Back in the day, when I had friends in[sup]\*[/sup] the mental health industry, some of this buffoonery would lead to serious chats about “72-hour holds.” Now we put the guy in the White House instead. :smack: “\*”? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/22 "2020-05-20T17:54:03Z")
Sometimes he responds to criticism with a rote cluelessness that is absolutely mind-boggling. I keep coming up with analogies from my own life for some of these, like the stuff with the testing. I used to be a sales rep for a product used in high-end residential construction. I had an exclusive contract for the NY metro area. I can imagine having a really bad month and having my manager call me and say “Ann, what in the hell are you doing, staying home and watching TV all day? The guy that reps Montana had higher numbers than you last month. Do you want to keep your job?“ Which was a reaming I deserved if I had a bad month . But do you know what I wouldn’t do? Next month, if my numbers pulled up, I would NOT call my manager and say “Guess what! I outsold the guy in Montana last month! Give me praise and love! Because that would show I totally missed the fucking point, the point being I should be able to outsell the guy in Montana by a factor of ten every single time while asleep with both hands tied behind my back. Because he’s in Montana and I’m in New York City. It doesn’t even go to talent or skill. I was expected to beat South Dakota and Oklahoma, too. Doing less testing than South Korea was a pathetic underachievement. But when you’re the USA and start bragging about doing more testing than South Korea, or any other country, really - that just shows you don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/23 "2020-05-20T18:08:50Z")
He was being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/24 "2020-05-20T19:03:47Z")
It was a pun ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/25 "2020-05-20T19:22:07Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > “\*”? I thought it was obvious. My group of friends included _both_ servers and customers. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/26 "2020-05-20T19:23:16Z")
I guess it could be a badge of honor, sort of like the purple heart you get from accidentally shooting yourself in the arse. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/27 "2020-05-20T19:43:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Is it also a “badge of honor” that we have the greatest number of gun deaths in the world? If you call them second amendment solutions, it sounds a lot better. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/28 "2020-05-20T20:13:28Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Is it also a “badge of honor” that we have the greatest number of gun deaths in the world? Maybe you just do more gun testing. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/29 "2020-05-20T21:05:50Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > It was a pun No, not a pun, a … a … palindrome! Somebody was going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/30 "2020-05-20T22:18:08Z")
Hey, death before dishonor, right? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/31 "2020-05-20T23:10:37Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > _rabble rabble rabble_ in the OP. No. No more hamburglar shit on these boards. Notluob. ---
**Author:** ![malm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@malm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/32 "2020-05-20T23:12:27Z")
Faroe Islands: 0 active cases for a couple of weeks. 8986 tests, population about 55000 Is that about 18% of the population? About 160000 tests pr. Million I believe. Math and statistics isn’t my strong suit, but I believe that is correct. corona.fo > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Except that, in a surprising twist, Trump is lying. The United States is not leading the world in testing. We’re not even in the top ten. > > Which is an improvement. We used to not even be in the top fifty. Because Trump screwed up test procurement just like he screwed up everything else. > > Here’s the figures for the number of tests performed per million people ([cite](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104645/covid19-testing-rate-select-countries-worldwide/)): > > Spain 64,977 > Portugal 64,938 > Belgium 61,277 > Qatar 57,801 > Russia 50,383 > Italy 50,294 > Switzerland 40,487 > Belarus 39,692 > United Kingdom 39,542 > Germany 37,584 > United States 37,188 > > Here’s the figures for the number of tests performed compared to the number of confirmed cases found ([cite](https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing)): > > New Zealand 203.5 > Taiwan 158.3 > Australia 153.8 > South Korea 69.1 > Czech Republic 42.9 > Estonia 40.3 > Tunisia 40.2 > Iceland 31.7 > South Africa 30.6 > India 23.9 > Germany 18.6 > Serbia 17.8 > Canada 17.1 > Philippines 15.8 > Japan 15.6 > Italy 13.7 > Argentina 13.6 > Singapore 8.3 > Indonesia 8.2 > United States 8.0 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/33 "2020-05-21T04:51:00Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > When you’re a fucking sociopath like Trump, “honor” doesn’t mean what it means to sane people. Everything is about Trump’s ego. If his incompetence causes the entire country to catch on fire, he will be bragging about what a great job his administration did on sending the fire department to try to put out the flames (even though the fire department is done on a local level). I hope to god we learn something from this whole debacle. 63 million people thought this deranged fuck up was qualified to be president. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/34 "2020-05-21T08:44:40Z")
Someone want to help me with a billion-dollar idea? I’m envisioning a tin full of “Trump’s Turd Polish.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/35 "2020-05-21T13:10:52Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Someone want to help me with a billion-dollar idea? I’m envisioning a tin full of “Trump’s Turd Polish.” And it would be a tin that was actually full of shit, so you can spread that shit sheen around? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/36 "2020-05-21T13:36:10Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Someone want to help me with a billion-dollar idea? I’m envisioning a tin full of “Trump’s Turd Polish.” Market it to Sharper Image. They bought all his other bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/37 "2020-05-21T14:19:18Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Hey, death before dishonor, right? We get to have death AND dishonor. It’s a two-fer! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/38 "2020-05-21T14:53:30Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Market it to Sharper Image. They bought all his other bullshit. Surely you mean “Sharp_ie_ Image”. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/39 "2020-05-21T14:55:51Z")
Well, [that](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-governor-hutchinson-arkansas-governor-kelly-kansas/) clears it up! > [@A Very Good Brain](#): > > And, you know, when you say “per capita,” there’s many per capitas. It’s, like, per capita relative to what? But you can look at just about any category, and we’re really at the top, meaning positive on a per capita basis, too. They’ve done a great job. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149/40 "2020-05-21T15:12:13Z")
“Per capita”? What kind of furrin nonsense is that? We speak 'Murican in this country! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-says-the-us-leading-the-world-in-coronavirus-cases-is-a-badge-of-honor/854149.md?page=3)