No Tests = No Problem
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Original Question
Yesterday the president said "If we didn't do so many tests, we wouldn't have so many cases". He also said "If we stopped testing now, we'd have very few cases".
Putting aside personal political leanings, how many fallacies are evidenced by this argument?
Comments on Question
I don't see it as a fallacy at all in that his comment was "tounge in cheek" and no matter. If 0 tests were performed there would be 0 results. However even he knows that there would still be cases.
Technically the wording though would make it a false statement of course.
Answers
3I don't see any logic involved, just two false assertions. I think it's a case of buy one non sequitur get one free.
I'm very confident that you mean the president of the USA, but as the internet isn't the USA it would seem appropriate to say that.
"If we didn't do so many tests, we wouldn't have so many cases"
This is a Non Sequitur Fallacy as the conclusion does not follow from the premise. It does not follow because testing does not create new cases, it only allows you to know about them.
It could also be a kind of Equivocation Fallacy with the word "cases." Because "cases" could mean an actual Covid-19 infection created by the virus, or it could mean a statistical number created by the test.
"If we stopped testing now, we'd have very few cases".
This is also the same Non-sequitur and the same Equivocation fallacies just framed in a slightly different way.
Yesterday the president said "If we didn't do so many tests, we wouldn't have so many cases". He also said "If we stopped testing now, we'd have very few cases".
None.
There aren't any fallacies, just a misleading statement. The number of real cases (X) is not dependent on the number of tests (Z). However, the number of nominal cases (Y) is dependent on Z, since testing and giving a positive result will add one unit to Y. Not testing, but still being positive, will withhold from Y one unit.
So while Trump is technically correct in the context of discussion of Y (example - a major news outlet saying America has a given number of cases), his statement is false in the context of X - it is the virus that is causing the cases, not testing, which can only reveal them. If Z = 0, it does not follow logically that X = 0, though Y would significantly decrease. The virus would still exist, causing biological, economic and social problems - and probably more of them, since there'd be no way to track who is affected directly, and who isn't.
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If we stopped checking immigration status at the border, we would have a lot less illegal immigration. Same illogical argument.