The Biggest Loser

On Saturday as his daily vaudeville act, Trump spoke about the malaria drug, Hydroxychloroquine, and said, "There's a possibility, a possibility, and I say it: what do you have to lose?...Take it. I really think they should take it."  He added, "Hydroxychloroquine. Try it. If you'd like."

I was reminded of an earlier quote that Trump said when he was running for president, and spoke to a group of black voters.

"What do you have to lose?"

Well, okay, what do you have to lose?  Among known possible side effects of Hydroxychloroquine are --. 

Headache with chest pain

Very slow heart rate

Mood changes

Difficulty breathing

Loss of hearing

Inability to move the eyes

Swollen glands

Death in pregnant women!

And much more.  But other than that...fine!

You can see the whole list here.  There are 41 potential side effects on it.

It's one thing for Trump to lie, or say irresponsible, reprehensible and dangerous things or create outrages in normal times.  After he does so, the brand new stories that he lies about and the new outrages he creates overlap with one another, and so his old lies and outrages get buried, as we all move on to the next one.

But the problem for him now is that when he lies about fake good news and fake cures...THIS is the ONLY story. It won't be buried by the next one to distract. THIS is the story. And pretty much everyone remembers the fake things and fake cures and fake smears he has lied about, and will remember the lies and false hope he will lie about upcoming, which -- to the people in the middle who aren't cultists but dearly want to believe the president -- when these lies don't come true and instead get worse by the day only serves to undercut their trust in him.

(Frank Rich has a great commentary in New York magazine that, in part, touches on this.  He refers to it as the "Potemkim Recovery," an allusion to the Russian military leader who built a fake village along the route Catherine the Great would be taking in order to create a false impression of opulence intended to deceive and impress her. You can read it here.)

What's so bizarre about all of Trump's inaction and lying, other than it’s Trump, is that it's so counter-productive to him -- wanting to make things that sound cheery so people will feel good, but creating a standard that can't possibly be met which will be remembered and infuriate the public -- and he is utterly unaware of it, which is why he keeps lying about his chipper rosy news of how things are going and what fake drugs to take. 

And making it even more bizarre is that since it’s clear his motivating drive is to win re-election (and keep the economy from cratering), which pushed him to these chipper, rosy denials and inaction, what would have actually helped his re-election (and probably the economy in the long-run) is if he had immediately clamped down and done everything to stop the infection from spreading cold.  He would have been seen as a real leader and much harder to beat.  But he’s done everything wrong, and it’s going to pummel the country and (at least happily) crush him.

But hey, what have you got to lose...?