Typical Trump

This is how Trump works.

1.  Make a statement that falls just short of an accusation, i.e., allude, don't accuse.
2.  Follow up by saying "he doesn't know if it's true or not" or words to that effect.
3.  Let the right-wing media echo and amplify the accusation as if it is true.

And that's just what he does in this disgusting miscomprehension of the dramatically increased use of face masks for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.


Donald Trump Just Suggested Healthcare Workers Are Stealing And Selling Face Masks

First statement:

" “For years [suppliers] have been delivering ten to twenty thousand masks. OK, it’s a New York hospital and it’s packed all the time but how do you go from ten to twenty thousand to 300,000?”

“Something’s going on and you ought to look into it as reporters.

“Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door? And we have that in a lot of different places so somebody should probably look into that because I just don’t see from a practical standpoint how that’s possible.”

Then he says:

Asked by a reporter to explain his comments more fully, Trump said: “I don’t think it’s hoarding, I think it’s worse than hoarding.”

He added: “I don’t know, I don’t know, I think that’s for other people to check out.”

So now, you see, anyone or any organization reporting on demand for protective equipment, or shortages thereof, will be called into question as to whether they have investigated if these items are "going out the back door" (wink wink).

Did you know that many doctors, particularly in New York, are Jewish, and those who practice the Judaism faith have been caricatured, particularly by the farther reaches of the right-wing, as nefariously always trying to make money, rightly or wrongly, off of other people, particularly those of the white Caucasian Christian type?

We'll see how this gets reported on Fox.

This is how:

"How do you go from 10 to 20 to 30,000, to 300,000 [masks] -- even though this is different," Trump asked. "Something is going on, and you ought to look into it as reporters. Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door? How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000? And, we have that in a lot of different places. So, somebody should probably look into that. I just don’t see from a practical standpoint how that's possible to go from that to that, and we have that happening in numerous places."

Pressed on the matter later at the briefing, Trump called on New Yorkers to "check" Gov. Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio, both Democrats, about the changing mask numbers. "People should check them, because there's something going on." He asserted that it could be "something worse than hoarding."

Cuomo said earlier this month that some people were stealing medical supplies. "Not just people taking a couple or three, I mean just actual thefts of those products," Cuomo said. "I've asked the state police to do an investigation, look at places that are selling masks, medical equipment, protective wear, feeding the anxiety." Nevertheless, a CNN "fact-check" reporter, among others, accused Trump of making his claim without "evidence."

See what's missing?  The "out the back door" part of the quote.  THAT's the implication of a nefarious black market.  Fox News can only go so far as to say he asserted  it was "something worse than hoarding".  But that doesn't show that he implied part of the medical establishment might be trying to profiteer.

Furthermore, there's a difference between people stealing medical supplies, which other articles say has been more like petty theft driven by anxiety about not having such products available, and an actual black market that would be causing much more demand than the medical community needs.

So Trump makes it look like the demand might not be mainly because of the rapidly increasing number of cases and corresponding medical treatment, casting doubt on the severity of the problem, and also makes it look like the urban medical establishment (in the big cities)* is trying to make a buck on this.

*I.e. rich Jewish Democrat doctors.

It's his typical game, and the people who he wants to get the message are getting the message from where he wants them to hear it from.

The con continues.