Has Trump Decided We Will Follow Sweden and Just Not Told Us?

The above headline is taken from the latest essay by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman.

He writes:

Since Trump’s pronouncements are simultaneously convoluted, contradictory and dishonest, here’s my guess at what he is saying:

“The Greatest Generation preserved American liberty and capitalism by taking Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day — in the face of a barrage of Nazi shelling that could and did kill many of them. I am calling on our generation to preserve American liberty and capitalism today by going shopping in the malls of Omaha, Nebraska, in the face of a coronavirus pandemic that will likely only kill 1 percent of you, if you do get infected. So be brave — get back to work and take back your old life.”

Yes, if you total up all of Trump’s recent words and deeds, he is saying to the American people: between the two basic models for dealing with the pandemic in the world — China’s rigorous top-down, test, track, trace and quarantine model — while waiting for a vaccine to provide herd immunity — and Sweden’s more bottom up, protect-the-most-vulnerable-and-let-the-rest-get-back-to-work-and-get-the-infection-and-develop-natural-herd-immunity model, your president has decided for Sweden’s approach... 

[T]his is the only conclusion you can draw from all the ways Trump has backed off from his own government guidelines and backed up his end-the-lockdown followers, who, like most of the country, have grown both weary of the guidelines and desperate to get back to work and paychecks.

I hope so but talk about dishonest, Friedman claims the death rate for those infected is 1%. It is likely somewhere between 30% and 90% lower than that. Further, the majority of deaths are among the elderly with serious chronic diseases. They should self isolate.

In other words, Friedman is putting a dishonest, worst possible spin, on a move by Trump that may make the most sense given what scientists beyond the strange Dr. Fauci are telling us.

 -RW