Trump's confusion on display during meeting with pharmaceutical execs

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-s-confusion-display-during-meeting-pharmaceutical-execs-n1147766

Far from inspiring confidence during a public-health crisis, Trump appeared awfully confused during his televised meeting with pharmaceutical execs.

By Steve Benen

<snip>

Throughout the gathering, Trump clearly wanted to hear -- and be able to say -- that a COVID-19 vaccine was right around the corner. "I've heard very quick numbers, that of months," the Republican claimed, pointing to rumors he couldn't identify. "And I've heard pretty much a year would be an outside number. So I think that's not a bad range."

It fell to Dr. Antony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to patiently try to explain the nature of the timeline.

"Let me make sure you get the ... information. A vaccine that you make and start testing in a year is not a vaccine that's deployable.... When is it going to be deployable? And that is going to be, at the earliest, a year to a year and a half, no matter how fast you go."

Trump, arms folded, asked pharmaceutical executives whether Fauci was correct. When they agreed, the president added, "Well, I think treatment in many ways might be more exciting." I'm not at all sure what that meant.

CNN's report on the meeting added:

Throughout the meeting, Trump was hyperfocused on pressing industry leaders in the room for a timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and treatment. But experts at the table -- from the administration and the pharmaceutical industry -- repeatedly emphasized that a vaccine can't be rushed to market before it's been declared safe for the public.

It was, at times, exasperating. The more Trump was told how long the entirety of the process -- development, testing, clinical trials, and deployment -- would realistically take, the more he tried to find someone to tell him what he wanted to hear.

</snip>

[hlthe2b]

1. It is as you'd expect from your most ignorant (ever) family member-- further impacted by dementia

That this display is not shocking for more people is what is devastating to me.

[barbtries]

39. for instance the media.

they've been reporting on him non-stop for 3 to 5 years. you cannot convince me that they are still surprised or shocked at his behavior. i think a party line has been dictated from the suits or something. it is maddening.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. There is a cure for TrumpRot, delivery date 11/03/20

n/t

[True Blue American]

3. Trump really can not comprehend facts

That are out side of his diminished capacity. He is getting so much worse and it is showing each time he tries to speak. His so called rallies are jokes.

I am not sure he will make it to election.

[Botany]

15. "His so called rallies are jokes."

It seems that many of the same people travel from rally to rally.

BTW i call them "Bund Rallies"

[LastDemocratInSC]

23. "Bund Rallies" is an appropriate description.

[Farmer-Rick]

37. Half the rally attendees are paid to attend.

He loves those rent a crowd folks cause he sure keeps them busy.

[Botany]

45. I don't know about the unwashed masses in his audiences but Trump almost always has a ...

... "rent a black" or two behind him @ his Bund Rallies.

[True Blue American]

68. I have seen many,especially the young,long haired girl in different outfits.

[Elwood P Dowd]

74. I've been calling them Hitler Rallies, but Bund Rallies is a good one to totally confuse the repukes

Very few Trump Davidians I know would get it.

[Botany]

79. Trump rallies are very much Bund rallies

And you can replace Hitler's use of "The Jews" with Trump's "illegals"

[yortsed snacilbuper]

17. "I am not sure he will make it to election."

I second that!

[Scarsdale]

49. Wishful thinking?

He should be carried off, kicking and screaming within a few weeks.

[uponit7771]

26. Also, a common mindset of a sociopath not to adhere to reality

[Rebl2]

58. No I

think he knows the facts, he just wanted to hear someone say a vaccine would be ready in a couple of months but nobody did.

[hlthe2b]

4. Not to mention his obvious confusion over what vaccines are (he thinks they "treat" disease)

and his bizarre and self-satisfied proposal that the Flu vaccine would work (assuming this would be revelatory for all assembled). JHC, he's stupid.

[PJMcK]

5. Trump is really stupid

He doesn't know how to listen or how to learn. He simply wants people to praise him and tell him what he wants to hear.

As the expressions goes, Trump is a stupid person's idea of a smart man.

[OMGWTF]

71. "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had." -- Wm. T. Kelly former professor Wharton

[live love laugh]

86. This ☝️

[True Blue American]

72. That is how they get there

By not listening.

[riversedge]

6. Why use the word -confused.? Trump was deliberately belligerent. His Ego was talking again.

[irisblue]

7. Dr Fauci, telling apricothellbeast at least a year

Was signal to the pharmacy CEOs to stop saying 2 months, Trump got fixated on that months phrase

[CaptYossarian]

8. Trump doesn't care that misinformation is extremely dangerous.

Any "facts" that he pulls out should be checked for polyps.

[yonder]

34. +1. Made me laugh.

[calimary]

67. GOOD one, CaptYossarian!

Check ‘em for polyps!

[CaptYossarian]

80. Is that Pence's job or Hannity's?

Now we'll have a rubber glove shortage to go along with the masks.

[Botany]

9. When is somebody from the republican party admit that Trump is just bone ass stupid and or crazy?

"Well, I think treatment in many ways might be more exciting." Yes, laying in a hospital
and fighting for your life as your respiratory system shuts down is just thrilling.


BTW Dr. Fauci (the one Trump was debating)

Education College of the Holy Cross
Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University (M.D.)
Known for HIV and the progression to AIDS
2020 coronavirus outbreak in the US
Awards Maxwell Finland Award (1989)
Ernst Jung Prize (1995)
Lasker Award (2007)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2008)
Robert Koch Prize (Gold, 2013)
Scientific career
Fields Immunology
Institutions National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

[Scarsdale]

53. How frustrating must it be for

this highly educated doctor to try to explain ANYTHING to the orange moron? tRump thinks he is the most intelligent person in any room. He is the president, after all! He must think the position comes with intelligence built in.

[Botany]

57. Trump tried to tell the scientists and Drs yesterday that "the new corona vaccine" will treat the ..

... disease" too. For the love God Dr. Fauci must have been dying having to deal with Trump's
stupidity as he is looking down the barrel of global pandemic that could kill millions and bring on
a global economic downturn.

[Scarsdale]

73. Maybe if tRump, or someone in his

inner circle gets this, he will wake up? I doubt it, he will blame it on democrats!

[GopherGal]

82. All the experts must have been struggling to suppress eye rolls...

I never could have managed it without an ophthalmologist on standby, but I guess that's why they get the big bucks.

BTW, Fauci's 79 and has been in that job (head of NIAID) for over 35 years, if I read the Wikipedia profile correctly. He's quoted in Politico as saying "You don't want to go to war with a president", but (unlike many in the White House) he's presumably not so beholden to el Cheeto that he has to sacrifice his credibility for a pat on the head.

[PA Democrat]

10. OMG. The idiot asked if the current influenza vaccine would work

for COVID-19. He is such a moron.

MSNBC played footage from the meeting.

[CatWoman]

11. just saw that

we are truly fucked

[uponit7771]

27. I've made the decision to buy a lot of canned food

[lapfog_1]

78. Way ahead of you... 60 day supply now

been thinking to go to the store one last time before the self quarantine.

[DesertRat]

12. Here he is actually asking if we could just use the seasonal flu vaccine...

Link to tweet

[yellowcanine]

31. Holy cow he actually did ask if the flu vaccine would work on coronavirus.

We are doomed.

[yonder]

38. Notice how the execs hedged from a hard "no" to a

"probably not" when asked if the flu vaccine could work?

They're scared of crossing him with the facts also.

He's a MoorAwn.

[Harker]

43. That's the scariest bit...

a hearty willingness to stretch and break facts for his ease of consumption, or to avoid his blind rages, is rife throughout the entire maladministration.

[machoneman]

66. Even 1st year law students know NOT to ask a question unless one already has the answer!

[Farmer-Rick]

42. Actually some vaccines before testing led to worse outcomes

They thought they had a vaccine...I think for MARS.... But when they tested it, all the rats that had been given the vaccine died. So thoroughly testing is very important.

Look how belligerent Trump looks. He's angry science doesn't do what he tells it.

Plan on getting the Coronavirus if you are an American. With angry Trump at the helm, nothing is going to stop the spread. And God help you if Trump forces through an untested bad vaccine.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Reminds me of GWBII and his incessant demand that everything pointed to Iraq.

Last edited Tue Mar 3, 2020, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Iraq, Iraq.

Well, Trump isn't going to get this one faster just by his say so. Unless, of course, someone gives him what he wants and the vaccine is ineffective, or worse, makes the virus more vaccine resistant.

[leftieNanner]

50. Let's test it on him first

[BSdetect]

14. Exactly what Hitler did with the army staff.

[central scrutinizer]

16. Treatment might be exciting??

WTF does that even mean? Maybe he was thinking of his “treatment” by Stormy Daniels.

[riversedge]

18. Trump is beyond confused.

[Botany]

19. Doesn't this sound exciting?

Respiratory failure is a condition in which your blood doesn't have enough oxygen or has too much carbon dioxide.

[tblue37]

35. He probably means that developing effective treatment regimes might prove more

promising in the short run than trying to develop a vaccine.

Of course, with his muddled thinking, and with his limited vocabulary, what comes out is absolute gibberish.

[GopherGal]

84. Bingo!

"more promising in the short run" is just too complex of an idea for him to retain much less express.

So it boils down to "more exciting"

But, like that stopped clock that's right twice a day, he may actually be correct about the "more promising in the short run". The earliest available treatments are likely to be re-purposing of other virus treatments that are already on the market and therefore have manufacturing processes already in place and safety data already available.

Though it likely registered in his brain as "when I ask about treatments they can give me something closer to the answer I want, so that's more exciting".

[GusBob]

20. I think folks replying here got it all wrong

Trump knows exactly what hes doing.
These are pharm execs. They are due to profit off the vaccine. He of all people gets that.
He is a salesman, a con man, a shill for them.

Profits help Wall Street. He was trying to send a message

Id bet he asked the pharm execs, most of whom are huge campaign contributors to let him know when to buy stock in their company

[malaise]

21. Now go and watch the Pence gathering

He repeated the Con's shit before stating the facts.

It's as if the rest of the kakistocracy cannot dare contradict the fucking idiot.

[safeinOhio]

22. Time for him to call in his most trusted science advisor..

Paula White, his spiritual advisor and prayer circle expert.

She has Colloidal Silver and bleach ready to go today. Only 45.99 per dose and if you within the next hour.......

[ChazInAz]

52. Paula White?

I thought his science advisor was Erich Von Daniken.

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. Maybe he thinks that formulating a virus is like Dr. McCoy used to do it....

and they can have something that will cure people of the unique, previously unknown virus by the end of the hour long episode.

It's simple, obviously.

[djacq]

47. Best Dr. McCoy scene;

[link:

|

[duforsure]

25. Could be signs of his

Using drugs. Maybe not prescription ones. I've seen others act out , and confused often from drug abuse, and his erratic behavior problems are also signs of it. He needs either to submit to drug testing or hair taken to be analyzed.

[spanone]

28. 'More exciting'?????? WTF everything is a reality show to this POS

[wishstar]

29. I couldn't decipher what those "experts" were saying either

Guess they didn't want to enrage him and panic the public with reality that there will be no vaccine available to general public for 12 to 18 months after all the preliminary trials and tests.

He obviously wanted to hear that vaccine would be available in 2 to 3 months.

[yellowcanine]

30. Pollyanna Trump is between the truth and a hard place.

[mountain grammy]

32. He's a fucking moron.

[left-of-center2012]

33. "he tried to find someone to tell him what he wanted to hear"

Which is why he appointed VP Pence "Coronavirus Czar".

[Jim__]

36. They need to find some child's toy to distract him.

Then, while he's playing with his new toy, the grown-ups can talk.

[NCjack]

40. Maybe his stooges can explain it to dotard-#45 this way.

Developing a vaccine is like a woman having a baby. It doesn't matter how much money and manpower you make available to the woman, producing a baby will take about 9 months. Producing a vaccine -- that's going to take 12 to 18 months.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

41. Yes...zero regard for the process. Moran

[Fritz Walter]

44. Let's just tell him that a vaccine WILL be ready for clinical trials next week

But the researchers will need a LOT of test subjects, and we must start at the top:
-All cabinet members and their families
-Senate RepubliCONs, their campaign staff, and donors
-Representatives Gaetz, Jordan and Nunes
-MAGAts, especially the clowns who are being paid to attend his rallies
-Pox News on-air personalities
-His adult family members, including Iskanka's husband, JarJar.

[usaf-vet]

54. To the contrary, I think you have laid out a perfect set of test subjects. You can be damn sure.....

...they will elbow themselves to the front of the line as soon as it is ready to be deployed.

NO intended.

[captain queeg]

70. Beat me to it

[usaf-vet]

46. Really? Trump doesn't care what the experts are telling him. He will go out & lie about the timeline

Was Susan Collins in the room. Her belief that Trump learned something anything is still laughable. The source in the following quote is as delusional as Suzan Collins.

A source familiar with the administration's response said the scientists and experts gathered for the meeting were able to convince Trump that it will likely take a year or longer for an effective vaccine to be on the market. "I think he's got it now," the source said.

[dawg day]

48. Fauci, unlike the cabinet, isn't afraid to tell the truth.

Trump is going to punish him.

[Duppers]

55. That's what I was thinking.

He's such a moronic jerk.

[EllieBC]

51. He's like a damn toddler.

You said we were going to Disnetworld. That means NOW. No it means when I said it means. Next winter. YOU SAID NOW. No I didn’t.

This goes on until you put Paw Patrol on and throw them some snacks.

So someone put some cartoons on and get the overly large toddler a bag of goldfish so the adults can talk.

[berksdem]

56. This guy is worse

than a spoiled little brat. He is incapable of understanding anything and wants everything to fit his narrative.

[Rabrrrrrr]

59. Now that the shit-for-brains is working outside of his own company

and his own TV shows, he's realizing that there are a whole lot of people in the world who work solely on facts, and who won't feed him bullshit like the toadies that he's always surrounded himself with.

The fact that he has any supporters left speaks to how well the FOX News/Christian right propaganda machine works in this country; and that is quite terrifying.

[captain queeg]

77. Can you imagine having to prepare a briefing for this half wit?

From what we know:
1. A PowerPoint with just a handful of slides
2. Use small words, nothing more than two syllables.
3. Use the word “Trump” regularly, somehow praising him
4. Minimal facts and hard numbers
5. Any charts would have to be pie or bar charts, he couldn’t understand terms like exponential growth

[Toorich]

60. ....Der Fuhrer......

....sends orders from the Fuhrerbunker: I must have my Wonder Vaccine!! NOW! Heil!

[Faux pas]

61. He was

hoping that if he asked the same question, in different ways, they would say what he wanted them to say. Typical con man trick.

[onethatcares]

62. did he fire them yet?

and appoint a "minister of what I want to hear"?

[calimary]

63. And after all that he's STILL gonna be searching the world for somebody - anybody -

who’ll tell him what he wants to hear.

That’s his M.O.

It won’t matter what level of expert tries to get through to him. He wants an instant “fix” and he wants it NOW. Yesterday. Next week at the latest. So he wins himself extra bragging rights about how HE ALONE was able to get everybody off their asses and speeding toward a quickie-instant magic cure. You know, like you see ‘em do on TV! The problems all get solved, miraculously, before the ending credits and closing theme music!

And he can be proved right again, as usual, that the miraculous cure was indeed just right around the corner!

Must be nice to have such a simplistic mind. Everything is sooooooo simple and all problems get solved in a mere 15 minutes, max. That you can just make miracles happen by sheer force of will.

[thenelm1]

64. There's always the fad of the early 19th century, the scarifier to bleed patients.

Or maybe better yet, leeches!! Should be plenty of those in the "swamp".

[calimary]

69. Those are the ones in his Cabinet and campaign offices.

[tiptonic]

65. What if

What if, Benedict donald, caught the virus? What would the rePulsives do then?

[iluvtennis]

75. Trump is either mentally challenged or just doesn't want to understand.Dr Martin Luther King Jr said

the following:

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity., Martin Luther King Jr.

[gibraltar72]

76. Has a grasp on absolutely nothing.

[Johonny]

81. If he wants it faster he has to, you know, spend government resources on it.

[Demovictory9]

83. what's sad is that he is pressing for a quick development of the vaccine for his own ego, not

because of concern for the sick

[Totally Tunsie]

85. Chump needs a vaccine developed quickly so that he can

use it as his election knockout. "Hey, Look what I got done! I alone solved COVID-19 by insisting on a quick fix vaccine! Praise me! Tell me how wonderful I am! RE-ELECT ME!"