Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 871 Scott Adams： It's Time to Stop Using an Obama Afghanistan Strategy Against a Virus

00:00:00.000 Hey, hey everybody. Glad you could make it. Come on in. Gather round. We're going to set fire to the Republic today. It's time to go on offense.

00:00:27.000 I'm not happy. I'm not happy with the way things are going. I'll tell you about that. But not until we have a little simultaneous sip. And what do you need to do that? Well, not much. Not much, really.

00:00:42.100 All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass of tank or chalice or stein, a canteen jug or flask, a vessel of any kind. Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee.

00:00:52.520 And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure, the dopamine tip of the day, the thing that makes everything better, the simultaneous sip. Go.

00:01:02.260 Mmm. Tastes better than Trump pills. You know what Trump pills are, right? The Trump pills are the name I'm giving the combination of pills that are the hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin and zinc.

00:01:26.100 Because I really hate writing those down and I hate pronouncing them. So from this day forward, hashtag Trump pills. Let's hope they work for his sake.

00:01:40.040 All right. We're going to talk about some fun things and then some serious things.

00:01:46.200 This podcast, which, so this Periscope gets turned into a YouTube for replay. You can see it on Periscope and replay, but also gets turned into just an audio only.

00:01:57.660 And this week we hit number 77 on iTunes. So of all the podcasts in the world, of which I got to think there are quite a few, we've cracked the top 100 and it's number 77. It's good.

00:02:14.080 Um, the New York Times has an article today that just got lost because, you know, nobody cares about anything except the coronavirus, but there's this researcher who figured out how to reverse aging.

00:02:29.240 So while you are watching the crisis, you know, there's somebody over in a lab somewhere else like, oh, I just cured old age.

00:02:37.060 Now, is it real? Well, we've heard this a few times, maybe not, but at least at the cellular level, they've figured out how to reverse the age of a cell.

00:02:50.400 Now, it might take them a while to see if they can ramp that up into some kind of medicine that humans can use. I don't know if they'll get there or not.

00:02:57.980 But it's just fun that in the middle of this crisis, the most dramatically, at least potentially, positive thing in the history of human civilization just happened.

00:03:10.440 And nobody freaking cares. We don't care about it right now. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's good news. I don't know.

00:03:19.000 So I said last night, and I'll say it again in case anybody missed my Periscope last night, the president putting the Easter data on this is just brilliant.

00:03:26.860 It's good managing. It's good leadership. I said it before it happened, that we need at least their best guess.

00:03:35.480 It can change. It can change. You know, if we need to make it shorter or longer, it can change.

00:03:42.160 But it's really important to have an estimate out there. And now we have it.

00:03:46.360 And I love the fact that the president picked Easter because it associates, you know, the resurrection with our economy beginning its resurrection.

00:03:55.100 It's just sort of perfect. So I'm going to give some harsh grades today to the to the administration.

00:04:04.900 But I want to start with the good news. So so I'm not just all angry all day.

00:04:09.120 The good news is I think setting the date is brilliant. I think closing the China travel early was brilliant.

00:04:15.020 I think closing the European travel. Strong move. I think the team is very strong.

00:04:21.240 I like the I like the the updates every day. Those are great.

00:04:26.200 And there's a ton of stuff happening. All right.

00:04:28.860 So there's a whole bunch of stuff. If you're being fair, if you can remove yourself from the politics a little bit,

00:04:35.400 there's a whole bunch of stuff that the administration is really doing well.

00:04:38.640 But there are things that aren't. And we'll talk about those and what to do about it.

00:04:46.260 But first, I'd like to point out, and this will dovetail into the the meat of the conversation.

00:04:53.040 I've been saying for a while that the the republic has evolved.

00:04:57.060 No longer do we elect smart people, have them ride their horse off to Washington and make some votes for us.

00:05:04.080 Maybe we find out someday what they did. That was the original system.

00:05:08.560 It was fine in a world with no social media and people weren't that connected communication wise.

00:05:15.980 But now we are. And I've argued that the the republic has already evolved.

00:05:20.920 So there's social media is effectively running the country for anything that social media cares enough about.

00:05:28.540 You know, there's ninety nine percent of government we don't really care about.

00:05:31.620 It's, you know, collecting the garbage sort of stuff.

00:05:34.660 But for the one percent that we get excited about and the public can understand at some level,

00:05:41.140 the public is is driving the car.

00:05:44.420 If you want to see a good example of that, you just saw one of the best ones you'll ever see,

00:05:49.400 which is when Pelosi and Schumer parachuted into town to kill the relief deal by adding a bunch of pork to it.

00:05:57.020 But that's business as usual, usually, usually, you know, the whole concept of making laws is if you have a funding bill,

00:06:09.160 everybody throws their pork on there.

00:06:11.000 And it's actually part of the process, because if you can't get the senator from this state to vote for it,

00:06:16.960 maybe you can't get anything passed.

00:06:18.600 And the only way you can bribe that senator is to, you know, fund a military military base in his district or something like that.

00:06:29.280 So the pork has a functional purpose.

00:06:32.740 And mostly the public just says, I hate it, but I got other things to think about.

00:06:39.000 Just, you know, make something happen.

00:06:41.520 It doesn't have to be perfect.

00:06:42.760 Yeah, I know there's pork and it's sort of useful, but it's not.

00:06:47.200 I'll just let that go.

00:06:49.640 But in the middle of a national emergency, our totally out-of-touch leaders, Pelosi and Schumer,

00:06:57.740 and really, they are so disconnected from the zeitgeist,

00:07:02.120 they failed to read the room in a way that's just astounding.

00:07:07.520 Because right in front of us, they flew into town and they just broke the system to throw some pork in there.

00:07:18.700 So what happened?

00:07:20.220 Well, of course, the Republicans complained, but they weren't complaining to the Democrats.

00:07:26.600 They complained to their bosses.

00:07:29.260 The Republicans took it up to their bosses.

00:07:32.940 No, not the president.

00:07:34.160 The president is not the boss of Congress.

00:07:36.200 Yes, you are.

00:07:38.440 You are the bosses of Congress.

00:07:40.360 And what happened when the Republicans kicked it up to their bosses?

00:07:44.620 Well, we weren't happy, were we?

00:07:47.800 Because in this case, the pork is not okay.

00:07:52.060 It's not okay with the Democrats.

00:07:53.960 It's not okay with the Republicans.

00:07:56.400 And let me propose a rule for you, something to watch.

00:08:02.580 If you see Mark Cuban using gross profanity on social media, telling the government to get his act together, as he did,

00:08:13.680 and you see me using gross profanity in exactly the same mission, it's probably going to happen.

00:08:21.420 In other words, if you can piss off Mark Cuban and me at the same time, you're probably pissing off everybody.

00:08:28.540 You're probably pissing off everybody.

00:08:32.900 And if we get that mad, so that we're going to just take the filter off and say, as we did, I don't want to repeat the words,

00:08:40.080 but as Mark Cuban put it, in the cleanest, most leadership way, and by the way, he's a superstar in this, he's doing great.

00:08:50.120 He said this, do your effing job.

00:08:55.820 And I don't need any details.

00:08:58.780 That's the beginning of the conversation, and that's the end of the conversation.

00:09:04.360 I don't want to hear because.

00:09:06.280 I don't want to hear you can't do it.

00:09:07.680 I don't want to hear about the process.

00:09:08.880 I don't want to hear why it's a good idea to do it your way.

00:09:11.760 Nope.

00:09:12.980 Just do your effing job.

00:09:15.120 And you saw that it looks like they took the pork out of there, and they're getting it done.

00:09:19.460 Now, this is the cleanest example you've seen of the republic is not the elected people in charge.

00:09:27.200 They're only in charge when you and I don't care and we're not watching.

00:09:33.640 But when we care and we understand the topic, yeah, this was easy, pork, no pork, and we're engaged,

00:09:42.100 your elected people are not in charge, not even close.

00:09:46.060 You, the public, made them change their mind right in front of you.

00:09:51.640 There's no question about what happened.

00:09:53.520 The Democrats did not cave to the Republicans.

00:09:57.460 They caved to you, you, the public.

00:10:00.660 You're in charge.

00:10:01.480 This is important for what I'm going to talk about in a moment.

00:10:05.000 So here's what Pelosi said.

00:10:09.720 This is an actual quote from her, talking about, you know, the pork that she tried to put into the bill.

00:10:17.160 I think this was yesterday.

00:10:18.420 And she said this, quote,

00:10:19.460 There is a whole concern in our country.

00:10:23.320 What?

00:10:23.920 What is a whole concern?

00:10:26.460 Are there such things as partial concerns?

00:10:29.020 The first part of her sentence is literally babble. 0.53

00:10:32.120 It's actually nonsense and it doesn't get better. 0.90

00:10:34.380 So here it is.

00:10:35.740 There is a whole concern in our country. 0.99

00:10:37.440 What the fuck does that mean? 0.97

00:10:38.800 Sorry. 0.98

00:10:39.140 That if you're giving tens of billions of dollars to the airlines, okay, that's just a fact,

00:10:44.220 that we could at least have a shared value about what happens to the environment.

00:10:48.640 What?

00:10:49.880 That sentence doesn't make any sense, Nancy.

00:10:53.700 You're not reading the room.

00:10:55.520 You're not serving the public.

00:10:57.100 And I'm sorry, you're not even making sense.

00:10:59.960 You can't be our leader.

00:11:01.920 So from here until the crisis has passed, she's not in charge.

00:11:09.140 You are.

00:11:10.160 Do you want that in charge? 0.90

00:11:11.960 Do you want decisions about your life and death made by somebody who's 100 years old 1.00

00:11:17.000 and can't put a fucking sentence together in public? 1.00

00:11:20.340 No. 1.00

00:11:21.300 You don't want Joe fucking Biden and you don't want fucking decomposing Nancy Pelosi 1.00

00:11:26.520 who can't put a fucking sentence together. 1.00

00:11:28.920 They're not in charge. 1.00

00:11:30.960 And we're done with them.

00:11:33.460 We're done with them.

00:11:34.780 Because you, the people, you can tell them what to do now.

00:11:38.020 All right?

00:11:39.540 So do it.

00:11:41.100 It worked the first time.

00:11:42.920 It looks like some kind of stimulus bill is going to come.

00:11:45.880 But it wasn't because they did the job.

00:11:48.380 No.

00:11:48.780 It was because you did the job.

00:11:50.640 You did the job.

00:11:51.820 They didn't do the job.

00:11:52.720 So that's the number one complaint.

00:11:59.380 I got more.

00:12:01.680 Number two.

00:12:03.040 I've been saying for several days, can the government give us some visibility on their supply pipeline

00:12:10.740 for these critical medical supplies?

00:12:13.360 At least tell us how many you need, tell us how many you have, and then give us some visibility.

00:12:19.800 It doesn't have to be perfectly accurate, but some sense of the pipeline.

00:12:24.760 You have noticed that that has not happened.

00:12:27.040 Although I did hear one estimate that New York City thinks they need 20,000 ventilators and they got 4,000.

00:12:33.860 But that still doesn't tell you the story, right?

00:12:38.280 It doesn't tell you the story because how many are in the pipeline?

00:12:42.820 How many can they get?

00:12:45.040 Right?

00:12:45.520 You're flying blind.

00:12:47.560 Who is in charge?

00:12:49.700 You are.

00:12:51.080 You're in charge.

00:12:52.800 All right?

00:12:53.100 You're watching it yourself.

00:12:54.900 You're in charge.

00:12:55.980 And what information do you have to make a decision about ventilators?

00:13:01.200 None.

00:13:02.380 None.

00:13:03.500 It's been several days, and your government can't tell you how many we need, how many we have, and what's in the pipeline.

00:13:11.780 Failure. 1.00

00:13:13.840 Fucking failure. 1.00

00:13:15.980 That's simple shit. 1.00

00:13:18.140 All right? 1.00

00:13:18.560 That's simple shit. 0.99

00:13:20.280 Tell us the basics. 1.00

00:13:21.580 If you can't do that, failure.

00:13:25.660 All right?

00:13:26.260 How are we supposed to know what to do?

00:13:28.380 How are we supposed to mobilize?

00:13:29.720 How am I supposed to know?

00:13:30.700 Should I find a way to help making ventilators, or should I find a way to help making masks?

00:13:35.320 Because I could probably help.

00:13:37.740 I don't know.

00:13:39.220 Because I don't know what we have.

00:13:40.660 I don't know what's missing.

00:13:42.320 So why do we have this situation?

00:13:43.980 Well, let me tell you.

00:13:44.760 So we've got this War Powers Act.

00:13:46.600 If we had done it the standard way, the government would say, you, factory, are making masks.

00:13:52.160 I don't care if you don't like it.

00:13:53.680 It's a War Powers Act. 0.92

00:13:54.900 You're making ventilators.

00:13:55.980 You're making this.

00:13:57.560 If we had done it that way, that's the old traditional way, our government would know what we have, what we're making, what we need, what's in the pipeline.

00:14:08.320 If the government controlled it and just said, you factory, you factory, you factory, how many can you make?

00:14:14.180 All right, you can make 5,000.

00:14:15.600 I'll add that to my list.

00:14:17.600 But instead, the president has taken another approach.

00:14:20.900 It has some benefits.

00:14:21.800 It has some benefits.

00:14:22.680 So I'm not going to say this is a mistake.

00:14:25.540 I'm going to tell you what problems it caused, which is different from saying it was the wrong path.

00:14:30.080 So he's gone with, apparently there was so much voluntary cooperation from companies, which is great.

00:14:42.340 So that's the good news.

00:14:43.440 Apple, 3M, basically every company that could stood up and offered something.

00:14:52.200 So that's all good news, right?

00:14:54.080 Great news.

00:14:54.820 All these companies stepping up to do something, except because of that, we have no visibility.

00:15:03.540 I don't believe there's anybody in the government who has visibility of all the companies who have stepped up and what they're doing and what should be done.

00:15:11.940 So because we're doing it this way, instead of the government saying, you factory, make 20,000, you factory, make 30,000, in which case the government would know exactly what's in the pipeline.

00:15:21.960 I don't think they know, and I think we have a system in which they can't know, because it's people acting independently and just trying to figure it out.

00:15:31.320 Here's what I recommend for a solution.

00:15:36.540 Since we've already gone this path, we're not going to reverse it now, but that's the path we're on.

00:15:41.240 So here's how to fix it.

00:15:42.260 There have been a number of apps and websites built by people, spontaneous, just people saying,

00:15:48.740 I think there's a need to connect doctors to other doctors.

00:15:52.640 Somebody built that Slack channel.

00:15:55.720 Somebody else said, I think there's a need to connect the people who are making stuff with the people who are buying stuff.

00:16:01.980 And somebody built that.

00:16:02.920 That's already in existence.

00:16:04.380 But here's my problem.

00:16:06.140 We may have more than one of those.

00:16:08.820 In other words, we may have duplicated effort,

00:16:11.620 but now I need my leadership, I need my president at the next task force to say,

00:16:18.480 these are the ones we're going to endorse.

00:16:20.980 Because there are probably a number of websites that are trying to do the same thing.

00:16:25.460 Oh, you know, just patriots jumping in.

00:16:28.000 But it's confused the field.

00:16:30.400 At this point, somebody in the administration has to say,

00:16:34.360 here are the five apps and websites that everybody should use.

00:16:37.860 Please, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the people who used the other ones, built them,

00:16:42.760 jumped in, tried to help.

00:16:44.060 Thank you, thank you, thank you.

00:16:45.560 But we've got to get everything on the same platform.

00:16:47.960 Otherwise, we're flying blind.

00:16:50.020 So we've got to know what's in the pipeline,

00:16:52.460 and we've got to get it all on the same app.

00:16:55.440 And your leadership has not asked for that, as far as I know.

00:17:01.240 That's an F.

00:17:02.740 Sorry.

00:17:04.060 I'm grading tough today.

00:17:05.280 That's an F for visibility to the public.

00:17:08.700 Because the public is going to have to have a big role in running this war.

00:17:13.740 And if we're flying blind, we can't help.

00:17:16.740 All right.

00:17:21.160 Here's my big problem with what we're doing as a strategy.

00:17:25.820 And you're not going to like to hear this,

00:17:28.720 but I'm just going to be as honest as I can today.

00:17:32.420 Our strategy to fight this virus looks a lot like the Obama strategy for Afghanistan.

00:17:42.880 The Obama strategy for Afghanistan was apparently that if somebody in the field,

00:17:50.620 on the battlefield, said, hey, it looks like we found somebody to target,

00:17:54.740 they would have to run it all the way up to the chain.

00:17:57.080 And I don't know if Obama had to say yes or somebody at the top.

00:17:59.760 And by the time the word came back, the situation had changed.

00:18:04.260 So it was impossible to fight the war the way the people on the ground knew it should be fought,

00:18:10.060 because they weren't in charge.

00:18:11.940 It was all centralized. 0.99

00:18:13.780 That appears to be the same bad fucking strategy that we're using against the virus. 0.98

00:18:19.420 And here's what I mean. 0.97

00:18:20.760 Right now, the guidelines are that if you have some symptoms, you can get a test.

00:18:26.520 If you don't have symptoms, you can't get a test.

00:18:28.880 But if you have symptoms, you can get a test.

00:18:31.960 Can you get the meds?

00:18:33.980 Well, you can get the meds if the test comes back and says that you've got the coronavirus.

00:18:38.860 How long does that take?

00:18:40.820 Five days-ish.

00:18:43.020 Because the tests are all centralized,

00:18:45.420 and the whole process of who gets a pill and under what condition is centralized.

00:18:50.620 So the FDA has these guidelines about,

00:18:54.440 no, you've got to actually show in a test that takes five days,

00:19:01.540 you've got to show that you've got symptoms or that you really have the coronavirus,

00:19:05.140 and then your doctor or baby can give you some off-label meds.

00:19:08.780 All right?

00:19:09.160 So that's our situation.

00:19:10.540 That's the Afghanistan strategy. 1.00

00:19:12.900 So while you're waiting for your fucking test for five days, you could die. 1.00

00:19:16.900 Is that hypothetical? 1.00

00:19:19.960 No.

00:19:20.580 No, that's not hypothetical. 0.99

00:19:22.080 People are fucking dying because we've got an Afghanistan strategy, 0.98

00:19:26.800 meaning that you and the doctor can't make a battlefield decision. 0.99

00:19:31.080 Right?

00:19:31.680 That's the guidelines.

00:19:33.040 You and your doctor can't make a battlefield decision.

00:19:36.040 You've got to run it up to the FDA.

00:19:37.960 What's the FDA say?

00:19:39.400 Well, you've got to get a test.

00:19:40.540 Can I get a test?

00:19:41.380 I don't know.

00:19:41.860 Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

00:19:43.360 But they've got to go through the state labs, these old state official labs.

00:19:47.620 Are they geared up to be able to do the volume?

00:19:50.160 No.

00:19:50.880 Can they gear up to do the volume?

00:19:52.640 Probably not.

00:19:54.400 You have a completely failed strategy in place.

00:19:57.700 It's the Afghanistan strategy. 0.63

00:20:00.220 We know it doesn't work.

00:20:02.160 You've got to bring down the control to the doctor and the patient.

00:20:05.460 And I'm going to tell you how to get those meds from your doctor.

00:20:09.140 So I'm going to save the lives of everybody who's watching this

00:20:13.300 in the sense that your risk from the coronavirus is going to go from

00:20:17.280 a little bit too big to something closer to zero.

00:20:21.220 I'm going to tell you how to get the meds from your doctor.

00:20:24.500 I'm going to break the government.

00:20:27.940 All right?

00:20:28.420 At least for you.

00:20:29.640 So you're going to be freed of these government restrictions in a while

00:20:32.980 in a way that will work, absolutely.

00:20:36.480 Okay?

00:20:36.760 I'll get to that in a moment.

00:20:39.960 So we've got a testing process in which we can't do these home testing.

00:20:44.860 So you're not allowed to have a test kit at home, swab yourself,

00:20:49.500 and mail it in or drop it off someplace, which would be completely safe.

00:20:52.860 You actually have to go to a facility that's steaming in coronavirus

00:20:56.860 and infect your doctor, or maybe, and then wait five days 0.99

00:21:02.820 while you may or may not suddenly turn bad and fucking die 1.00

00:21:06.160 while you're waiting for your goddamn fucking incompetent government 1.00

00:21:10.900 to run the Afghanistan war strategy on a goddamn virus. 1.00

00:21:15.720 It's the wrong strategy. 0.99

00:21:17.760 I'm going to break it right now.

00:21:20.440 Okay?

00:21:20.660 So the strategy doesn't apply to you anymore.

00:21:25.180 And I'll tell you why.

00:21:26.880 But you're free of it.

00:21:29.400 And here's why.

00:21:30.200 Everybody who is in the know knows that the meds work.

00:21:37.920 I'll call them the Trump pills because I think it's funny.

00:21:40.300 It's easier to pronounce.

00:21:41.180 You know, the hydroxychloroquine, the azithromyces, and the zinc.

00:21:48.560 I'm here to tell you I have more information than you have about most things.

00:21:53.040 In other words, I'm pretty tapped in to the collective brain of the world at this point,

00:21:57.660 largely because of this process.

00:21:59.920 And I can tell you that pretty much all the doctors are prescribing it to themselves.

00:22:05.420 Pretty much all the doctors are making sure they have enough for their family. 0.99

00:22:08.880 I bet you you're not going to see one fucking famous person die from this disease 0.99

00:22:14.480 unless they have underlying conditions. 0.99

00:22:16.600 Why?

00:22:17.240 Because every famous person gets this drug as soon as they go in with symptoms.

00:22:21.720 Do you?

00:22:22.440 No.

00:22:23.200 No, you don't.

00:22:23.980 You go in with symptoms and they say,

00:22:25.480 Well, you have to take a test.

00:22:26.920 Where's the test?

00:22:27.620 We don't have it.

00:22:28.500 But maybe I can get one and then I'll test you.

00:22:30.700 Sometimes the test works and sometimes they don't. 1.00

00:22:32.980 But it's going to take five days and you might drown in your own fucking lung juice 0.99

00:22:36.620 while you're waiting. 0.99

00:22:38.880 Does a celebrity do that? 0.99

00:22:41.240 No.

00:22:41.820 Does a billionaire wait for the test? 1.00

00:22:44.380 Not one fucking time. 1.00

00:22:46.160 Every billionaire already has his drug. 0.99

00:22:48.540 I thought, I was kind of playing it cool for a while,

00:22:51.480 because I thought, oh, there must be some kind of shortage of the drug.

00:22:55.560 Now, I know what you're thinking.

00:22:57.040 You're saying, but Scott, Scott, Scott, it's not proven.

00:22:59.200 Let me tell you the cost benefit here.

00:23:04.860 These drugs are widely available.

00:23:06.540 You could probably get them at Walmart.

00:23:08.820 I don't recommend getting them if you don't have symptoms,

00:23:11.800 because that breaks the whole country, right, if you hoard them.

00:23:14.560 It'll be hard to get them without symptoms, but probably if you try it really hard, you could do it.

00:23:19.460 I just don't recommend it.

00:23:21.220 But the moment you get symptoms, I'm going to tell you how to get it before you get the test.

00:23:27.240 All right?

00:23:27.440 It's not allowed.

00:23:29.240 It's not recommended.

00:23:30.960 But I'll tell you how to do it.

00:23:32.880 So stay tuned.

00:23:35.720 So here's the tradeoff.

00:23:37.440 We know that this is a well-tolerated drug.

00:23:39.900 We know that if you're taking it short-term,

00:23:41.860 probably the worst-case scenario is you get a little diarrhea and maybe a little nausea.

00:23:47.180 No big deal.

00:23:48.560 Compared to drowning in your own lung juice, right, which is the other potential possibility.

00:23:57.440 We know that everywhere around the world it's being used, they're pretty happy about it.

00:24:03.920 For $20 and the risk of a little bit of diarrhea,

00:24:07.420 are you going to take five days of risk of dying from the coronavirus

00:24:10.900 plus giving it to everybody you touch?

00:24:14.920 No, you're not.

00:24:16.100 So let me tell you how to convince your doctor to skip the test and give you the meds.

00:24:23.240 All right.

00:24:25.420 I'm getting lit up by some messages from somebody who knows I'm on Periscope.

00:24:32.720 Okay.

00:24:37.080 Somebody says, where's your proof?

00:24:39.360 None. 1.00

00:24:40.220 If you're asking for proof, you're a fucking idiot. 1.00

00:24:42.960 Let me give you the tradeoff. 1.00

00:24:46.900 The tradeoff is it costs about $20 for a widely available drug.

00:24:52.060 It's worst-case scenario, because we've been using it for years,

00:24:55.700 is that if you took it for a long time, there might be some issues.

00:24:58.880 For a short time, a couple weeks or whatever the regimen is,

00:25:02.520 basically no side effects.

00:25:05.520 And if all your doctors are using it and all the tests are showing that it works,

00:25:10.180 Oh, wait, you say, did you see that?

00:25:12.740 Did you see the study that followed some people and said it didn't work?

00:25:17.640 You probably saw that in the news, right?

00:25:19.480 Bloomberg reported it.

00:25:21.360 Bloomberg.

00:25:22.460 Do you know where the study came from?

00:25:24.840 China.

00:25:25.880 There was a Chinese university, the only one who says it doesn't work.

00:25:30.340 Huh. 0.99

00:25:31.220 In the middle of fucking China using a massive disinformation campaign 1.00

00:25:36.200 to lie about every goddamn part of this virus situation. 1.00

00:25:41.000 They lied about how much, how a good problem was and that they had it. 0.99

00:25:44.660 They are lying now about their statistics.

00:25:47.200 They're lying about the United States being maybe responsible for it.

00:25:50.880 And I guarantee you that that study that came out of a Chinese university

00:25:55.640 was disinformation.

00:25:57.920 Can I prove it?

00:25:59.140 No.

00:25:59.880 But are you going to believe anything China tells you about the virus today?

00:26:03.080 No.

00:26:03.460 Look at every other source, and they all point in the same direction.

00:26:07.920 Every one.

00:26:09.160 Only one points in the other direction.

00:26:13.500 China.

00:26:14.700 A very small Chinese university, which, of course, is owned by the government.

00:26:20.800 So, don't hoard this drug, but here's how you get it.

00:26:25.080 Let me tell you the persuasion technique.

00:26:30.100 You go into your doctor, and you've clearly got the symptoms.

00:26:34.300 You know what the symptoms are.

00:26:35.780 You've clearly got them.

00:26:37.040 Your doctor says, yes, I agree.

00:26:39.340 It might not be coronavirus, but you do have the symptoms.

00:26:44.580 Here's how you convince your doctor to give you the drugs.

00:26:48.080 The first thing you need to know is that you need to go in there well-informed.

00:26:52.280 If your doctor even sniffs that you know less about this situation than the doctor, you might not get them.

00:27:02.540 So, job one is to know more than the doctor, or at least as much, just about this very narrow drug application.

00:27:10.200 And that's not hard.

00:27:12.060 So, I'll tell you what to know to prove to your doctor that you understand enough to get it off-label, because they can give it to you legally off-label without a test.

00:27:24.000 So, they don't go to jail if they give you the drug.

00:27:27.740 It's legal.

00:27:29.200 But the guidelines say you wait for the test.

00:27:32.740 Don't wait for the test.

00:27:35.040 That is your doctor.

00:27:36.900 Waiting for the test is the Afghanistan-Obama strategy, to let some centralized thing slow down the process that you know needs to be fast.

00:27:45.400 Here are the things you want to tell your doctor.

00:27:49.040 Number one, every doctor either is taking it, planning to take it, or has already stockpiled it. 1.00

00:27:56.020 Look at your doctor in the fucking eyes and say, 1.00

00:27:59.380 Tell me you won't take this for yourself if you get the symptoms. 1.00

00:28:04.820 Look me in the eye and tell me that you're going to wait five days for a test if your spouse starts a dry cough. 1.00

00:28:12.540 You fucking liar. 1.00

00:28:13.600 Because if you tell me that you wouldn't give your spouse that on day one, you're just lying. 1.00

00:28:19.520 Now, I don't call your doctor a fucking liar yet. 1.00

00:28:22.700 But they are a fucking liar if they say no. 1.00

00:28:25.000 No, I'd wait for the test. 1.00

00:28:26.360 Because that's what the FDA said.

00:28:28.280 No.

00:28:29.280 No doctor anywhere in the world will wait for the test if their own spouse has a dry cough in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

00:28:40.440 And don't believe anybody who says otherwise.

00:28:42.560 Secondly, other countries are massively taking it.

00:28:46.740 We know this to be true.

00:28:48.340 It's not a coincidence.

00:28:49.520 The other thing is that you should know the cost.

00:28:55.800 The cost of the regimen for getting the drugs, it's about a $20 cost for the entire cycle that you would be on it.

00:29:05.740 $20.

00:29:06.980 I mean, give or take.

00:29:08.240 The prices are all over the place.

00:29:09.660 What does it cost of a test?

00:29:12.580 $1,000.

00:29:15.540 Right?

00:29:16.320 Do you think you should take a $20 test that you can take immediately and take the odds of you worsening down to pretty low, according to anecdotally everything that's happening?

00:29:27.920 Or do you want to take a $1,000 test and wait five days and you might be dead before the test comes in?

00:29:34.520 There's no question, which is smart.

00:29:38.220 So make sure your doctor knows that the pills cost $20 and that the tests cost $1,000. 0.60

00:29:43.220 And then here's the kill shot. 1.00

00:29:48.200 Here's the kill shot. 1.00

00:29:50.280 Don't leave this one out. 0.51

00:29:52.960 So the high ground maneuver is to show that you understand the costs and the risks as much as the doctor does.

00:30:02.440 And here's the next part.

00:30:05.000 The disease progresses quickly.

00:30:08.680 That's the end of your persuasion.

00:30:10.500 The disease progresses quickly.

00:30:14.280 There are plenty of anecdotes that your doctor will be familiar with them of somebody who wasn't that bad and suddenly, you know, it's time for the ventilator.

00:30:22.540 So your doctor knows that.

00:30:24.720 If you show that you know it too, then you have said, I have potentially a deadly disease.

00:30:32.020 It could kill me before the test comes in.

00:30:35.020 It is legal for you to give it off label. 0.98

00:30:37.440 I will go literally fucking insane if I'm worrying about this for five days. 0.74

00:30:42.860 Because remember, doctor, you're not just treating my body. 0.97

00:30:46.200 You're treating my mind. 0.99

00:30:47.640 And if I don't get this drug and I have to wait five days, I'm going to fucking flip out. 0.99

00:30:53.220 And here's the next part. 0.96

00:30:55.960 Doctor, and by the way, this next thing I have used, and I know this works.

00:31:00.260 Doctor, here's the deal.

00:31:01.920 I am going to get that drug.

00:31:04.740 If you prescribe it to me, that's the preferred situation because you're my doctor.

00:31:09.020 And you can monitor my whole situation.

00:31:13.320 But if you don't give it to me, I'm going to walk out of here and I'm going to get it.

00:31:17.280 I'll get it on the black market, which can be done.

00:31:20.660 I'm going to shop for a doctor to give it to me who won't know as much about me.

00:31:24.460 But here's the thing, doctor, that I need you to understand.

00:31:27.740 By the end of today, I'm going to be on that drug.

00:31:31.180 I would prefer it be you.

00:31:33.340 Because I know you can.

00:31:34.580 I know it's legal.

00:31:35.660 And I know you're allowed to use your judgment when to use it and when to not.

00:31:39.500 You know that I understand the field.

00:31:42.460 You know that I've looked at the costs and the benefits.

00:31:44.400 And you know that although we don't have the long-term tests, that it's such a low risk,

00:31:50.360 it would be absolutely insane not to give it to me.

00:31:54.320 How many of your doctors are going to give it to you?

00:31:56.840 Well, either everyone or find another doctor.

00:32:00.200 So your ability to find a doctor that will give you this with that preamble,

00:32:05.620 you have to use the persuasion.

00:32:07.200 So you might want to bookmark this and play it back and write it down.

00:32:10.900 Because you want to hit all the points.

00:32:12.160 You need to know all the costs.

00:32:14.240 You need to know the risks.

00:32:15.980 You need to know that it's a fast-moving disease.

00:32:18.760 You need to know that the labs are going to take five days.

00:32:21.920 And that the risk-reward is simple.

00:32:24.420 And very importantly, you have to know that the doctors themselves are prescribing it to themselves.

00:32:30.840 Because that's sort of the end of the conversation.

00:32:33.620 If you can get your doctor to say,

00:32:35.420 yeah, I'd give it to my spouse under this situation.

00:32:38.820 Because they would.

00:32:40.160 They would.

00:32:42.160 I looked at the language for the right to try.

00:32:45.200 Now, the right to try act does not cover this situation.

00:32:48.900 The right to try was a 2018 law that said that if you've tried all other allowed treatments and they didn't work,

00:32:59.920 and you're willing to at least, oh, and you're not able to go into a clinical trial,

00:33:07.920 so if you can go into a clinical trial, you sort of have to, but then you might get the placebo.

00:33:14.340 Right?

00:33:14.940 So that's the risk.

00:33:16.060 But this right to try says that if for some reason you can't be in the trial and you've tried everything else,

00:33:22.800 under those conditions, you could try an experimental drug that has not gone through phase one trials.

00:33:29.640 Now, does this apply to the Trump pills?

00:33:35.580 And the answer is no, it does not.

00:33:38.880 But, and the reasons it doesn't is because it just doesn't quite fit the description of what's happening here.

00:33:46.420 And I'm pretty sure that lawyers would agree that this isn't quite meant for this situation, doesn't quite cover it.

00:33:53.280 But in attitude, it does.

00:33:57.740 In the, let's say, the spirit of the law, it absolutely does.

00:34:04.040 The spirit of the law is that if you think you're, you've got a deadly, you know, something that could kill you,

00:34:13.020 you get to be a little more flexible.

00:34:16.220 At least if you're using common sense about, you know, what you know and what you don't know and what the risks are.

00:34:22.200 Well, this is exactly that.

00:34:24.000 So it doesn't fit the right to try, but it is the right to try.

00:34:28.160 I mean, it is the right to try.

00:34:30.500 You know, you as a citizen have the right to try.

00:34:32.740 Now, if you're paying attention, you'll see that what I have done is I've taken power from the government.

00:34:40.300 So your government is telling you to pursue the Afghanistan strategy, wait five days for your test.

00:34:48.000 Oh, don't do the test at home.

00:34:50.160 That's got to be centralized.

00:34:52.780 And don't get the drug when it would be a smart idea in terms of risk reward.

00:34:58.060 No, I've got to wait for the test.

00:34:59.500 Obama-Afghanistan strategy.

00:35:04.880 Don't do it.

00:35:06.520 Take control.

00:35:07.160 All right.

00:35:08.040 So all of you who have heard my experience now are largely safe from the coronavirus.

00:35:14.660 Because everything that we've heard, and by the way, you should keep your social isolation like crazy.

00:35:21.680 It doesn't mean you should take risks. 1.00

00:35:23.260 That would be stupid. 1.00

00:35:24.500 Speaking of stupid, Dan Patrick, what is he, lieutenant governor or something of Texas? 1.00

00:35:36.140 I said this before, but I'm going to pile on because Brit Hume considered that Dan Patrick had an entirely reasonable viewpoint. 1.00

00:35:45.500 There's a lot of pushback on social media to that.

00:35:47.920 So I want to weigh in.

00:35:48.780 So Dan Patrick's point of view was that people over 70 would be willing to take the risk of sort of normalizing the economy because even though they're the ones most likely to die, they also want to leave a functioning economy for their grandchildren and children.

00:36:06.780 And so Dan Patrick was saying quite bravely that he would take that risk because it's for the greater good.

00:36:14.040 Here's my problem with that.

00:36:16.720 It's not for the greater good.

00:36:18.700 It's not.

00:36:19.440 If it were for the greater good, I would say, well, that's pretty noble.

00:36:24.380 You know, I would have like a ton of respect for somebody who said, you know, I'm in the danger zone and even I'm going to take a chance because I don't want it to hurt the rest of you.

00:36:34.760 But that's not what's happening.

00:36:36.060 If the 70-year-olds leave the house and go back to work, some number of them are going to fill our hospitals. 1.00

00:36:46.880 And that's my problem.

00:36:49.180 That's my problem.

00:36:50.640 So Dan Patrick, you're not taking a risk on yourself, which would be fine.

00:36:56.400 You know, taking a personal risk for the greater good.

00:36:58.920 Well, that's sort of the ultimate hero move, right?

00:37:04.580 So that would be great.

00:37:05.440 But he's not doing that.

00:37:06.600 He's taking a risk for us so he can get out of the house.

00:37:11.720 Now, I realize it's good for the grandchildren as well.

00:37:15.320 But Dan Patrick, I want you to stay home. 0.99

00:37:18.140 If you're asking me what I want, you know, what's good for me, what's good for, you know, my grandkids, I want you to stay the fuck home. 1.00

00:37:25.520 Stay the fuck home. 1.00

00:37:27.380 Don't become a casualty and fill up my ICU. 1.00

00:37:30.780 I might need that if I get a heart attack. 1.00

00:37:33.100 So stay the fuck home. 0.99

00:37:34.160 And Brit Hume, who is, I have to say, one of the most consistently reasonable voices on social media. 0.99

00:37:42.900 I mean, really, you know, whenever I see a Brit Hume tweet, I always read that thing.

00:37:48.080 If he tweets an article, I always read it.

00:37:51.120 He's just one of the better, you know, he sees the whole field.

00:37:55.280 I mean, he's just one of the best people talking about anything on TV.

00:37:59.260 But I don't think it's a reasonable viewpoint.

00:38:02.620 It's reasonable for him to take a risk for himself, but not on our behalf.

00:38:05.940 So here's what we need.

00:38:12.840 I think the public is going to need to lead the argument about reopening.

00:38:18.560 And I think it's already happening.

00:38:20.160 If you ask me, the president picking a date and getting a little more aggressive about opening is a response to the public.

00:38:28.180 I don't think that's just because smart people in the government said, oh, some of us think you ought to open, some of us don't.

00:38:35.600 We're trying to work it out.

00:38:36.460 I don't think it's that.

00:38:39.000 I think the public is driving that date.

00:38:42.740 You know, the government has to give us a date.

00:38:45.040 But I think the public is driving give us a date.

00:38:48.880 Everything's better when you have a date.

00:38:51.180 Because once you've removed some uncertainty, you know, there's always some, but you've removed a lot of uncertainty.

00:38:58.300 Is this a six-month thing or a two-month thing?

00:39:01.380 You know, it's closer to two than six.

00:39:03.260 That's removing a lot of uncertainty.

00:39:05.100 So that should be a big boost.

00:39:08.800 Let's see what the stock market's doing today.

00:39:13.300 Stock market.

00:39:16.340 Looking.

00:39:17.240 It's a little mixed.

00:39:18.580 We've got some ups.

00:39:19.720 We've got some downs.

00:39:20.660 I would expect that.

00:39:22.100 Yeah.

00:39:22.500 It should look mixed today.

00:39:25.340 That would be expected because yesterday was a big up day.

00:39:32.640 All right.

00:39:33.240 So let's go break the system.

00:39:37.440 Here's the thing.

00:39:38.300 If enough of you demanded the drug without the test, that's the law.

00:39:43.820 You get that, right?

00:39:45.040 If enough of you go to your doctors and are perfectly reasonable.

00:39:48.620 And by the way, you're not cheating.

00:39:51.300 You're just being smart.

00:39:52.640 You and your doctor can have an honest conversation about risk and reward.

00:39:57.980 You're allowed to do that.

00:39:59.440 You're not breaking any laws.

00:40:01.400 So go do it.

00:40:03.100 Go break the system. 0.99

00:40:04.720 Break the system.

00:40:05.840 By the day from now, I want to hear that anybody with symptoms is getting that drug.

00:40:12.260 I don't want to hear that people are unwisely waiting five days.

00:40:16.340 Just bully your doctor.

00:40:17.620 Push him.

00:40:18.880 I know there's at least one person watching right now who doesn't want to hear the sentence, bully your doctor.

00:40:26.760 But let me be as clear as I can.

00:40:29.480 Bully your doctor for your own good. 0.99

00:40:33.560 And if your doctor can't be bullied, and don't be a jerk about it. 1.00

00:40:36.980 You don't need to be. 0.99

00:40:37.720 You just need to lay out the case, and it should be fine. 0.99

00:40:40.240 You don't have to actually be a bully or actually be a jerk, but get what you want, or go somewhere else and get it. 0.99

00:40:49.440 But get what you want. 0.99

00:40:50.600 You don't have to worry about not getting it.

00:40:53.420 All right.

00:40:56.680 Let's see.

00:41:00.440 I saw.

00:41:02.020 So here's some CNN fake news.

00:41:04.080 So CNN had a headline that says, Physician on Trump's Request, colon, It's Really Impossible.

00:41:13.420 So if you saw this headline, Physician on Trump's Request.

00:41:18.020 Now, the topic was, Trump was mentioning that maybe some of the N95 masks, not all of them, but some of them could be sterilized and reused.

00:41:26.000 So that's Trump's request.

00:41:28.720 So CNN headline, Physician on Trump's Request, It's Really Impossible.

00:41:32.800 So you play the video, and you expect to hear a physician say that it's impossible to sterilize any N95 masks. 0.93

00:41:44.720 And so you play it, and it's not there. 0.93

00:41:48.200 It's actually not fucking there. 0.91

00:41:50.160 There's nothing in the interview in which this doctor said, of Trump's request, It's Really Impossible. 0.95

00:41:56.480 Didn't use those words.

00:41:58.080 Didn't use words to that effect.

00:42:00.500 Basically, just changed the subject.

00:42:02.800 Because it's just a doctor.

00:42:05.160 She's not some, this random physician, you know, who has some expertise about the disease probably, does not have expertise on designing and testing and sanitizing N95 masks.

00:42:18.860 And to her credit, did not offer an opinion because she's a doctor and she's not an expert on sanitizing and N95 masks of some type.

00:42:31.820 I'm pretty sure nobody is because nobody's really had to worry about it before.

00:42:35.440 So this is just grotesquely fake news.

00:42:41.260 The headline doesn't have any correlation with the actual story.

00:42:47.600 It's crazy.

00:42:49.480 So Prince Charles apparently got the coronavirus.

00:42:52.680 Seems to be feeling good.

00:42:53.920 What are the odds that he has already received the Trump pills?

00:42:59.480 They could call that, they might call it something different in England.

00:43:03.080 What are the odds in the comments?

00:43:06.580 Prince Charles has coronavirus.

00:43:09.120 What are the odds he's not already taking the $20 regimen of Trump pills? 0.99

00:43:15.960 Fucking zero. 1.00

00:43:18.900 Fucking zero. 1.00

00:43:20.680 Those are exactly the odds. 0.99

00:43:22.680 Not 1% that he's not taking them.

00:43:25.600 Not 2%. 0.99

00:43:26.580 He's fucking taking them. 0.99

00:43:29.240 So if you get, you know, those symptoms, go get your pills. 1.00

00:43:35.520 All right.

00:43:39.060 That's about all I have to, I don't know if masks can be sterilized, by the way.

00:43:42.820 I'm just saying that the CNN headline was fake.

00:43:45.960 I think I've said what I want to say.

00:43:52.500 Traffic seems to be pretty heavy right now.

00:43:55.620 So I'll say it again.

00:43:59.160 In an emergency, you know, leaders emerge.

00:44:03.020 You've got your president.

00:44:04.520 You've got your head of your FDA.

00:44:06.240 You've got, you know, head of the CDC.

00:44:07.920 A lot of leaders emerge in a crisis.

00:44:10.600 But that does not absolve you of your responsibility to also be a leader.

00:44:16.520 You also get to be a leader.

00:44:20.420 All right.

00:44:21.380 Now, you can lead in your household.

00:44:24.000 You can lead on social media.

00:44:25.600 You can lead in any number of ways.

00:44:28.140 But you don't get to not be one.

00:44:31.000 All right.

00:44:31.580 This is not a spectator sport.

00:44:34.180 So lead.

00:44:36.120 It's time for the people to take the decision away from the government.

00:44:40.100 The government has given you an Afghanistan strategy for testing.

00:44:45.200 You know, centralize, make you wait, die while you're waiting.

00:44:48.660 Don't do the smart cost-benefit thing and take the meds right away.

00:44:52.740 If that's your government strategy, then the government has lost its leadership.

00:44:57.640 Okay.

00:44:58.160 It doesn't have the moral authority to lead you anymore because that's...

00:45:03.320 And by the way, I would also accept a good argument from the government that says,

00:45:09.480 I'm not telling you the right stuff to do.

00:45:11.720 I would accept a good argument.

00:45:12.960 Yeah, Nevada has put a limit on the drug. 0.99

00:45:18.460 And I think that has to do with shortage and it has to do with the fact that those drugs

00:45:21.700 are used for other important diseases and those people don't want to be left without it.

00:45:26.940 So the Nevada decision should be seen as proving it's useful.

00:45:33.060 Because if Nevada thought that this was not a useful drug, I don't think they'd act this aggressively.

00:45:39.540 I think they'd just sort of try to talk you at them and say,

00:45:41.680 no, don't, you know, that's not tested.

00:45:44.860 But when you see the lengths that they're going to secure their supply,

00:45:51.440 don't, you know, you should interpret that.

00:45:55.100 All right.

00:45:55.900 So that's the dog that isn't barking.

00:45:59.440 The dog that isn't barking is that the drug works.

00:46:04.560 And if you're not getting it soon, you're in the Afghanistan Obama strategy

00:46:09.360 and it's not going to work.

00:46:11.220 All right.

00:46:12.200 That's all for now.

00:46:13.320 Go break the system. 0.99

00:46:15.080 It needs to be broken in just those few ways.

00:46:19.300 Let's see if we can change that by the end of the week.

00:46:21.540 And by the way, the studies that are happening in New York City,

00:46:26.140 because I think it was Monday they started giving people these Trump pills to test them.

00:46:31.480 So it's Thursday, right?

00:46:34.060 Today's Thursday.

00:46:35.340 From Monday to Thursday, you would already know if they worked.

00:46:39.560 Anecdotally, they do work that fast.

00:46:41.780 Anecdotally, you already know in 24 hours if the patient is recovering or getting worse.

00:46:47.200 By the third day, you pretty much know.

00:46:50.160 And I'm telling you that anybody who got the drug on Monday,

00:46:53.500 they might be close to symptom-free by now.

00:46:57.640 So if we wait one more day, that's a failure of leadership.

00:47:01.740 All right.

00:47:02.000 If we wait one more day where you have to wait for tests before you get the drug,

00:47:06.560 that's just a failure of leadership.

00:47:08.400 But it doesn't mean you have to fail because you can be a leader too.

00:47:12.460 So go make it happen.

00:47:14.000 Go break the system if it doesn't break itself.

00:47:16.220 Talk to you later.

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - March 25, 2020

Episode 871 Scott Adams： It's Time to Stop Using an Obama Afghanistan Strategy Against a Virus

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