Thread by @TheViewFromLL2

First question at the Fox covid-19 townhall, to Pence: Cuomo says they need 30K ventilators, what's the hold up?

Pence: *string of empty platitudes about supporting states, no answer offered whatsoever*

Pence: Trump initiated the DPA. The reality is though... whether it be ventilators or other equipment, what the President and I have witnessed is that everything we have asked for, we have been given. No one has said no yet.

In other words, Trump did NOT "initiate the DPA."

Pence, after the interviewer has moved on, suddenly says he wants to go back to the ventilator issue. He then claims that, thanks to Trump acting quickly w/ the FDA, it was discovered ventilators can be converted to serve far more people.

Bizarre that Trump is credited for this.

The Fox interviewers are actually giving it a decent go at trying to drill down on getting concrete answers from Pence. But Pence is a relentless bag of platitudes who has a meaningless stock phrase for everything, and gives no actual answers.

The Fox interviewers are still trying, bless their hearts.

But in response to more questions seeking specific answers, Pence has whipped out a piece of paper with "15 DAYS TO SLOW THE SPREAD ON IT" and is waving it around while he continues his content-free platitudes.

Pence's answer to all questions: "President Trump is taking bold and decisive action, and he's instructed the task force to find an effective way to address that issue. In accordance with his direction, we're working hard to find ways to help American families and workers."

Pence: "In Italy at this point, the average age of death at this point is 80. ... The average age of contracting the disease is 60. And no one under the age of 30 has died of the disease."

He's pushing hard on this idea that only very old people will be affected. It's false.

It is basically irrelevant what the Trump administration says about the availability of coronavirus testing. They always seek an immediate boost by promising millions of tests very soon, and their past failed promises on what the numbers will be are never remembered.

Ah, we're now at the "hydroxychloroquine is a miracle cure for coronavirus, let's talk about whether we have enough of a stockpile of this wonder drug to protect all Americans" stage of the town hall.

Pence: "Later this spring we expect breakthrough therapeutics" to treat coronavirus.

That would be nice. If only there was any reason to believe a word Pence says.

Pence: "I want to be very clear, what I hear from Drs. Birx & Fauci is that we are on a dual track" of fast-forwarding hydroxychloroquine's use. "It's a dual track. This is a president who, it's all of the above. State, local. Our healthcare workers have done an incredible job."

Pence interrupts the interviewer again, says he wants to go back to the ventilators issue again. Pence says he's please to announce he just confirmed that feds just shipped 2K ventilators to NY, and 2K more tomorrow.

Note: no reason to believe that's true until it's confirmed.

Trump says tons of people were telling him not to close travel from China but he did it anyway (note: he did not do this), and saved tens of thousands of lives because of it: "Call it luck or call it talent, it doesn't matter."

Interviewer: How do you make the decision to end the shutdown?
Trump: "Well you have to make the decision. We lose thousands and thousands of people every year to the flu, and we don't turn the country off. ... We have to get back to work."

Trump is complaining about all the "windmills" that Pelosi tried to sneak into the coronavirus bill ("they kill birds").

Trump has already said about three times now that he hates shaking hands, but as a politician you get used to it and now he kind of wants to do it.

Trump on why "the most successful country by far" can't have an extended shut down: "You're going to lose people. Suicides by the thousands." "We're the #1 country by far, and now a few people walk into the Oval Office and say, we have to close down the country."

The interviewer has spent FIVE separate questions trying to prompt Trump to talk about the gravity of the decision he made to do the two week shut down, and the deep consideration he gave to it.

Finally the interviewer asks: "How did you process that?"
Trump: "Not good."

Trump explains he only agreed to do the shutdown because he would have been "unbelievably criticized" if he hadn't done it. He complains that "somehow the word got out" that this is the way to deal with the coronavirus.

Interviewer: Earlier you said the covid-19 tests were perfect. But obviously they weren't perfect. What happened?
Trump: "No, what I said was perfect was my conversation with Ukraine."

Trump: "[Cuomo] should have ordered the ventilators..." He pulls out a paper: "This says Cuomo refused to buy the ventilators. ... So he had a chance to buy ventilators at a low price and he turned it down."

Trump is very mad that Cuomo criticized the fed govt's response.

Trump, on the Dow: "I think the Dow is helped by the fact... we're going to be opening relatively soon. ... We want to be open very soon, I think that's a big reason it went up." Says that the progress in negotiations on the Hill had less to do with the Dow's rise.

Dr. Birx claims Singapore took early action on coronavirus because it can "see China next door" and, uh... I have questions.

Dr. Birx says, in a way-too-cheery tone, that the good news is that we're going to change guidelines to reduce the amount of coronavirus testing being done, which will free up PPE so that it can instead be used by medical workers treating patients.

Dr. Birx, asked why the infection is so bad in New York, says it may have been from people traveling back from "Asia" after Christmas, and bringing it in with them.

Trump interjects: "Do you blame the governor for that?" Uh... what?

Trump: "Many more people are going to die if we allow [the shutdown] to continue."

Trump: "You can't compare with to 1918. That was a flu... where if you got it you had a 50/50 chance of dying. I think we're substantially under 1%... When you add the millions of ppl who get it and get better, we're substantially under 1%."

This is, obviously, a bunch of lies.

Trump keeps bringing up this idea that Americans want to work so badly that if we keep them "locked up" and away from their workplaces, they will commit suicide out of despair.