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Welcome to the Commentary magazine Daily podcast today is Tuesday June 23rd 2020 I am John

Putt where it's the editor of commentary magazine with me as always senior editor a Greenwald

Hi Abe hi John senior writer Christine Rosen Hi Christine hi John and associate editor Noah

Rothman Hi Noah hi John okay so after a weekend in which we had staffers at the White House claiming

that Donald Trump was only joking when he said that he had wanted to slow testing down because

the numbers were too big Trump then both on Twitter and in another interview basically said

I want to slow down testing because the numbers are too big why did he do that and I want you

guys to take this on not in a tone of condemnation but in a tone of inquiry why did he do this

because it doesn't make sense even if he's reading the stage instruction you know the the

the stage directions allowed it still doesn't make sense okay just jump in anybody okay he did

it in part because he cannot tolerate being mocked or criticized for anything so this was this was

a virgin of his defense he's he's making a case for his the soundness of his judgment

I mean so I think the struggle here is with the premise of the question which precludes condemnation

which renders our ability to answer the question honestly very difficult you've been silenced

we've done it yes I am I am sorry I am I'm canceling you on the nation I have a little avenue that

I'm more than willing to go right down but the other ones are dead ends but there's that I have a

sort of weird theory which might not hold but there is I we've discussed this a little bit in the

past week or so there's a there's a change in the public mood about the pandemic for good or

for ill right it has led some people to take irresponsible steps towards acting as if there is

no pandemic there have been you know over reactions on both sides to those steps taken but I wonder if

Trump isn't in some way kind of testing that public mood right there's a there's a way in which

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