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The most cogent explanation I’ve seen thus far for why Trump’s physician didn’t want to say how bad it is because it might make it worse is that Trump is already agitated and seeing his doctor saying his state on TV would make him worse.
I don’t remember who said it. But that makes sense to me, that they’d publicly lie because the TV audience for Trump’s people is an audience of one.
Like how people openly say they’re going on Fox News in order to address him because it’s more effective than a meeting.
He’s not talking about negotiating with the virus. He’s negotiating with a cowardly old man who is panicked.
Trump is notoriously called a germaphobe. He’s not. He’s a racist and a physical coward. Any danger to his own body is terrifying.
The germaphobe lie is a great excuse for him to be racist. But a true germaphobe would not have been so disrespectful of this virus.
But he is repeatedly and visibly terrified of any reminder of mortality (his disgust with and fear of injured or disabled people) and he freaks out at any potential for his own injury or illness.
He is agitated already. Agitation is not generally great for sick people. Imagine if his doctor goes on TV and says it’s not going super well?
I’m not defending the doctors, btw. I’m just noting that this is where we’re at. Very DEATH OF STALIN type deadly bob.
In the movie, it’s hard to find a good doctor because the good doctors have already been sent to Siberia. (See: the Trump administration fires competent, honest people)
So they round up retired doctors and barely confirmed doctors and all the doctors know that if they deliver bad news, they will be punished for it. (See: the Trump admin and Trump in particular punish bad news)
So they have to say that he’s not doing well without saying that he’s not doing well. And they have to thread a fine line. If they say he’s doing well and he dies: punishment. If they say he’s doing poorly, then they’ve failed at their jobs: punishment.
*tread a fine line; I’m typing on my phone
Anyway, that’s where we are in terms of the mentality of our leadership. And Trump is scared and he wants the best and he may well be demanding potentially harmful treatments he doesn’t need because hes reactive and never reflective.
He has all the reactive qualities of previous tyrants, but he’s also much less capable of complex cognitive thought than any twentieth-century authoritarian I can think of. He’s much more like a hereditary monarch in that sense.
I also want to add something related to what @NaomiKritzer says in this smart thread. https://twitter.com/NaomiKritzer/status/1312794687221248000
This is a known thing in disability studies. Rich people sometimes have worse outcomes because they can afford ALL the interventions.
Interventions are not always the right choice, and too much information without context is dangerous. (Why Theranos would still have been bad had it worked exactly as they said it would.)
If you are an Important person seeking care, you want to see doctors doing a lot of things. But medical interventions come with risks, and demanding more can be harmful.
I referred to President Garfield there, whose care after he was shot by Guiteau contributed to the agony of his death. He had the finest doctors, who, following the medical advice of the day, fucked his body up in horrendous ways.
I would bet money I don't have that a physically cowardly rich man currently suffering is demanding every intervention.
He is likely an impediment to his own care. His doctors are forced to work with a legally powerful irrational angry scared person who can destroy them.
Eugenicists gonna eugenics, for sure. https://twitter.com/Rechanmole/status/1312825791428915203?s=20
We think of the big interventions when we think of harmful interventions, but it plays out in smaller ways as well. Consider the episiotomy, formerly routine in childbirth.
When I say "formerly," I mean until REALLY recently. The episiotomy is a cut made to prevent vaginal tearing during childbirth.
Tearing seems bad! Why not make a neat incision and prevent it? But tearing happens along weak points, while cutting slices through connective tissue. Tearing heals better.
But a cut is easier to sew up (straight line, easier for doctors) and it looks tidier. And it justifies the need for expertise. The doctor prevented something that seems bad to a layperson.
Medical interventions pile up because lots of things we don't like happen with bodies, and we'd like to prevent them, but sometimes prevention is worse than allowing the bad thing to happen.
So Trump's current biggest risk is as it ever was: it's Trump. He's too rich, too coddled, too important, and too much an uninquisitive, reactive narcissist to get gentle or honest care.
