So Donald Trump had another humiliating 24
hours ending yesterday on the eve of the Republican
National Convention, which starts tonight.
First, of course, Trump golfed on Saturday
as the Corona virus death toll reached and
surpassed 180000 deaths.
OK, we're a global embarrassment.
Trump is still golfing.
Don't need to spend a lot of time on that
Sunday.
Trump announces a big press briefing.
Huge medical announcement is going to be made.
Big treatment news about coronavirus.
Wow.
What could that be?
They schedule it for 530 word leaks.
The announcement is an FDA emergency use authorization
for convalescent plasma.
What that's been around is a corona virus
trial treatment for months.
Tons of countries have been using convalescent.
How is how is that an announcement that Trump.
What?
What?
That is what it was.
Donald Trump trying to take credit for something
he had nothing to do with isn't news and isn't
unique to the United States.
And, of course, Donald Trump continues to
mispronounce the word plasma as plasma seven
times, in fact, during this announcement.
Here is Trump struggling to even read what
the announcement is really historic announcement
in our battle against the Jonah virus that
will save countless lives.
The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization,
and that's such a powerful term emergency
use authorization for a treatment known as
convalescent plasma.
Why can't somebody tell him it's plasma?
Is that like when you forget someone's name
the second time you meet them and you don't
want to ask?
And then you've met them 10 times and now
it's too late to ask.
And at this point, nobody wants to be the
person to go up to Trump and say, sir, as
Trump says, people talk to him, sir, it's
plasma, not plasma.
Then more importantly, substantively, Trump
exaggerated the benefit of plasma or plasma
as it may be vaccines to save lives were removing
unnecessary barriers and delays not by cutting
corners, but by marshaling the full power
of the federal government.
We've provided 48 million dollars to fund
the Mayo Clinic study that tested the efficacy
of convalescent plasma for patients with the
virus.
Through this study, over 100000 Americans
have already enrolled to receive this treatment.
And it has proven to reduce mortality by 35
percent.
It's a tremendous number.
The FDA, M.I.T., Harvard and Mount Sinai Hospital
have also found.
Convalescent plasma meant to be a very effective
method of fighting this horrible disease based
on the science and the data.
The FDA has made the independent determination
that the treatment is safe and very effective.
Now, there are actual questions about whether
this emergency use authorization makes sense.
So to remind you, this is a trial treatment
that's been around the world for months.
There's nothing special about the U.S. trying
convalescent plasma.
There's a good thread on Twitter which explains
that by giving an emergency user authorization,
you're making the treatment available to weigh
more people who aren't actually that sick
and who would likely recover anyway and could
end up skewing the results and exposing people
to some pretty serious side effects, which
can include as a result of these plasma transfusions,
lung injury, blood clots, kidney issues, et
cetera.
So one of the reasons you would maybe not
do an EU way early is that when you keep the
treatment as part of randomly controlled trials,
you're actually carefully selecting sicker
patients where you need something extra.
I have a relative in Argentina who has coronavirus
right now and they would have been able to
give her convalescent plasma, but they decided
she's not sick enough.
And because there are side effects, we don't
want to just start giving it to everybody
at this point in time.
You don't want to put people who aren't that
sick at risk of dangerous side effects and
skew the results by giving the treatment to
people who are less sick and likely to recover
anyway.
When you have an emergency use authorization.
People start asking for this.
It's more available.
You start giving it to people who aren't that
sick.
You end up with people with side effects that
didn't really need the treatment.
And the treatment can appear more effective
than it is all because Trump wants something
to announce.
Okay, so then Trump takes just three questions
at a completely non newsworthy press briefing.
One of the questions is from right wing propaganda
network Ohayon.
And then he walks off so quickly after only
three questions that you can tell, the other
people on the stage are surprised that that's
it.
Trump's leaving.
Take a look.
Very much great.
The pressure on your doctor on to authorize
this, Mr. Tucker.
Authorize this.
You didn't answer the question.
Answer the question.
So that was part one of Trump's late afternoon.
Then Trump was interviewed by this horrible
Fox News host, Steve Hilton, and it was just
a train wreck.
Yet again, this was another one of those interviews
meant to be easy.
That just goes bad for Trump.
Trump has been asked about and has failed
to answer.
What's your biggest accomplishment from your
first term?
Trump in the past has given no answer multiple
times to that question.
This time he had an answer, and comically
it was worse than no answer at all.
Trump says his big accomplishments are health
care and transparency.
Listen to this.
With health care, we've done a great job.
One of the other things I did, I think huge
in the future is good transparency.
I approved transparency that's bigger than
health care that people had working on.
One of them is like the all time expert on
transparency, highly respected man doctor.
He said, sir, if you get this approved, this
is bigger than health care transparency where
you can go and negotiate and picking the best
way that helps people because people will
be able to negotiate their prices, which right
now they can't.
People will be able to get better doctors
who know what's good for good hospitals.
By the way, hospitals are against it because
it makes them good, good hospitals and good
doctors.
It's good for good hospitals.
It's the biggest thing maybe in health care
of anything I'm doing.
So let's think that through health care, Trump
tried twice, I believe, in 2017 to get a plan
passed that would replace Obamacare with something
that would lead to 24 to 32 million people
losing health care.
Then what he did on health care is strip the
man the mandate from Obamacare, which merely
makes Obamacare function worse.
It doesn't actually get rid of it.
It just makes it function worse.
Then he says transparency has been an accomplishment.
I don't even have to get into that.
I mean, you know, Logan Act, Hatch Act violations
lining his pockets and those of his family
and friends not showing us his taxes, not
cooperating with multiple investigations.
So his accomplishments, he says, our health
care and transparency out of this world.
And then again, Trump says he's been the best
president for black people in history other
than maybe Abraham Lincoln.
What do you have to say to people who won't?
Law and order and racial justice.
First of all, I think I've done more for the
black community than any other president other
than perhaps Abraham Lincoln.
And I think it's true with criminal justice
reform and opportunity zones and all of the
things I've done.
Prison reform.
I mean, what I've done is more than anybody
else.
I don't know if it's being recognized at all.
This little clip, those 23 seconds are everything
that Trump is.
I've done the most of anybody.
And nobody gives me credit.
That is the Trump presidency in a nutshell,
failing on everything while claiming success
and claiming nobody is giving you credit for
that success.
Another disastrous day for Trump by normal
people standards leading up to the RNC, which
starts tonight.
It's gonna be wild.
It's gonna be wild.
Make sure you're following me on Twitter at
David Pakman.
I will be tweeting during
the RNC and live streaming.
