President Donald Trump's lead physician, Dr. Sean Conley, is no doubt a first rate doctor. His current problem is that he isn't a very good liar. He led another Trump doctor's press conference today, and much of what he said contradicted what he had said just the day before, or it contradicted what White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had been saying.
If these doctors' press conferences aren't expensive photo ops, they seem to be a terrible waste of some very expensive talent. Yesterday's press conference involved Dr. Conley and nine other white lab coats. This morning he was joined by seven medical workers in white lab coats. Most of these people are clearly just there for show; they say nothing. The few that do speak always prefix their remarks with praise for their team, and their commander-in-chief. It's important to remember that they are all Naval officers in the chain of command, and Trump is their boss.
It should be expected that they will lie about the true condition of the commander-in-chief if ordered to. One could easily imagine a situation where telling such lies could be a matter of national security, but there could be less scrupulous reasons as well. Theirs is not to reason why. If we could see their orders, we'd probably understand why they sound so stupid.
When I think of the meters running over the heads of all these medical people, not only the time in front of the camera, but the time in staging as well, I can't help but think, “Don't you have something else to do?” You'd never put up with it; nor would I. I'd tell Dr. Conley to go around and talk to every member of his team, and then come back here, and give us a report - and no more meetings to discuss who will say what. Only on the taxpayer's dole! Trump's $750, on a good year, might pay for about 15 minutes of this. If all this is for the political purposes I suspect, Trump is in violation of campaign finance laws, and should reimburse the taxpayers.
Dr. Conley began, “Since we spoke last [on Saturday], the president has continued to improve.” That was good news, because on Saturday he said Trump was “doing very well.” But while his condition may have improved going forward from Saturday to Sunday, in retrospect, it seemed to be getting worse as we looked back to Friday! Whereas on Saturday, Dr. Conley had described Trump as having had a “fever” on Friday, now it had been a “high fever,” and we found out that the drug therapies he was on included not just Regeneron, and remdesivir, which we were told about yesterday, but the steroid dexamethasone too. This has raised a lot of questions among medical experts because the combined use of these three treatments at the same time is unprecedented. Much of what we were told, combined with what was said yesterday, both by the doctors and the White House, has created more smoke than light about the state of the president's health.
The most curious thing Dr. Sean Conley said was this:
“I didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we're trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. The matter is, is that [Trump's] doing really well.”
That first part comes off as very unscientific, even mystical. How could any information he gave to the public affect the course of the illness one way or another? Is he confusing the public's perception of the disease with the disease itself, the way Trump confuses the number of COVID-19 cases found by testing with the number actually existing? Of course, this is the doctor that prescribed him hydroxychloroquine. Fortunately, that is out of the picture now.
The reason Trump is “doing really well” is that Trump isn't really sick. The only way Dr. Conley's information could steer the course of illness is if the “illness” being treated is Trump's poor standing in the polls.
It came off that they were hiding something because they were. It's just that simple. They are doctors, yes soldiers, but doctors first, not actors or politicians. Dr. Conley gives the “tell” to that in this very statement; “wasn't necessarily true?”, who talks like that? Don't hold your breath waiting for Trump to say he's not necessarily lying to us.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020
If Trump really has COVID19, then why was he not wearing a mask in the hospital videos? To me, he sounds as healthy as ever, certainly not like someone just recovering from a serious respiratory virus, but what do I know? I'm not a doctor.
Trump says in this video:
“It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID, I learned it by really going to school. I get it, and I understand it.”Just as I predicted yesterday, he is going use his “illness” to present himself as “re-born” on the COVID issue, and try to reframe his relationship to it ahead of the election.
Minutes after he posted this video, he had the secret service take him on a presidential motorcade so that he could wave to his supporters on the street, and then right back to the hospital. This is in sharp contrast to the visitation rights of your average hospitalized novel coronavirus patient. They may die there without ever being allowed a visit from a family member. Then there is the small question of subjecting two secret service agents to close contact with a Covid patient, in a sealed box with recirculating air. So much for Blue Lives Matter. They promised to take a bullet for the president, not a virus.
BREAKING: Moments after stating “I learned a lot about COVID”, the President takes a joyride in an enclosed space with presumably #COVID19 negative people, all while on experimental medications.pic.twitter.com/q3uc3YYLrg
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) October 4, 2020
Trump knows that British PM Boris Johnson was hospitalized with COVID-19, and his popularity soared, at least for a while, when he came out. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro never had to go into the hospital, but recovering helped his popularity nonetheless.
And Trump is very familiar with the old medical excuse. He used bone spurs to avoid service in the Vietnam War. Trump may be the greatest con man that ever lived, but in this case, he is playing a trick that may be the most primal, and basic, con of all times. What child hasn't feigned a stomach ache, or such, to avoid going to school because of a test, a bully, or another reason that had nothing to do with illness? Later, this same ploy, or con, may be employed to avoid a sticky situation at work. That is precisely what Trump is doing. He is just doing it on the grandest scale possible.
Clay Claiborne
Read yesterday's post on Trump's illness here: Is Trump trying to pull a #ConGimmick?Also on Tuesday: The Trump Show hospital episode closes
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