Journos noted that earlier this morning, President Trump went on an “epic Bill Mitchell retweet binge,” but they missed the one that was the most important:
Trump is on an epic Bill Mitchell retweet binge this morning. Just what our nation needs in these difficult times.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 30, 2020
It was this one where the president called out Mitchell for defending Sweden’s coronavirus response:
Really? Have you looked at the numbers lately! https://t.co/bNDZKV1c8t
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2020
If you don’t follow Mitchell, he’s a huge critic of what’s gone on in the U.S. For example:
Dr Fauci is a clown – a very dangerous clown. I will assume President Trump has a broader strategy for keeping him around, but it does try one's patience to see Fauci at the podium.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) April 23, 2020
And called out the president for listening to Fauci and Birx:
Taking the counsel of Fauci and Birx is the single major mistake of the Trump presidency. He did it out of compassion for the American people and was told these were THE experts to listen to.
But they lied to him and continue to do so.
Bench them now Mr. President.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) April 24, 2020
With that said, it was weird for the WHO to jump in like it did. From the Washington Examiner:
Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s executive director for health emergencies, strongly defended the Nordic country after facing scrutiny from many academics for resisting stronger economic closures to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“I think there’s a perception out there that Sweden has not put in control measures and just has allowed the disease to spread,” Ryan said Wednesday. “Nothing can be further from the truth. Sweden has put in place a very strong public health policy around physical distancing, around caring and protecting for people in, in long-term facilities, and many other things.”
“What it has done differently is it has very much relied on its relationship with its citizenry, and the ability and willingness of citizens to implement physical distancing and to self-regulate, if you want to use that word,” Ryan continued.
We’ll be debating which response was the correct one for years to come, but if you compare per-capita numbers, the U.S. is doing better than Sweden:
Certain pundits continue to praise the Swedish response to Covid, but on the basis of deaths/million citizens Sweden’s results look bad compared to the chaos in the US or Germany’s more measured response, let alone South Korea.
What am I missing?https://t.co/CDPCdLzHx2 pic.twitter.com/qglSKyZvg3
— markrhill (@markrhill) April 30, 2020
And President Trump wants that known:
Despite reports to the contrary, Sweden is paying heavily for its decision not to lockdown. As of today, 2462 people have died there, a much higher number than the neighboring countries of Norway (207), Finland (206) or Denmark (443). The United States made the correct decision!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2020
But, again, there are potential benefits to Sweden’s slow burn strategy as we have no idea what our winter will look like and they do to some extent:
Sweden, btw, will not have a second wave because nothing will have changed there. This was always the reality, but it was deliberately obscured by politicians and the media to justify short-term policies without considering what came next.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 30, 2020
We’ll add the caveat that extrapolating from Sweden, with a population of only 10 million, probably doesn’t fit what’s happening in the U.S. anyway, but it is something to watch now that the president is pushing back on something many of his supporters were pushing for.
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