Trump points to imagined 'manuals' to argue against virus tests

[Nevilledog]

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-points-imagined-manuals-argue-against-virus-tests-n1235815

At one point in Donald Trump's interview with Axios' Jonathan Swan, the president complained, "When I took over we didn't even have a test."

In context, the Republican was referring a test on COVID-19, and he was correct: in 2017, there was no test for a virus that emerged in 2019. If only the Obama administration had invented a time machine in order to help Trump govern more effectively, this wouldn't have been such a problem.

But it was part of the same exchange that viewers were treated to a routine that might've been funny were it not such a serious subject.

TRUMP: You know there are those that say, you can test too much. You do know that.

SWAN: Who says that?

TRUMP: Oh, just read the manuals read the books.

SWAN: Manuals? What manuals?

TRUMP: Read the books. Read the books.

SWAN: What books?

*snip*

[soothsayer]

1. That Don guy might be an idiot

[Nevilledog]

2. Just might be.

[gratuitous]

3. SEE how easy that is, zillionaire pundits?

Trump: Stupid, unsupported statement.

You: Who says that?

Trump: Dissembles and invites you aboard his delusion.

You: Who says that?

Trump: "Read the manuals, read the books" dodge.

You: Manuals? What manuals?

Trump: Drops manuals, says read the books.

You: What books?

It's not rocket surgery. When Trump hands you a ticket for his crazy train, you don't have to board. When he tries to say you know what he's talking about, you don't have to agree just so you can be his best friend. That's not going to happen anyway. When he tries to hand-wave you away with an appeal to some unspecified authority, you don't have to just write it down. What authority are you talking about? What manuals? What books? Who are all these experts you claim support your demented world view? Name just one.

[LastDemocratInSC]

4. He has made the claim that "there was no test" several times.

Which means he is, indeed, stupid to even say that. And, his staff is too stupid to correct him or he's too stupid to grasp the concept if they did correct him. Or, he was lying because the angst of the moment required that.

Either way, he's unfit to be in the office and his voters are unfit to be in a voting booth.