"We cant have the cure be worse than the problem"
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Original Question
What are your thoughts on this?
Trump: "We cant have the cure be worse than the problem"
This seems to be dividing up one problem into two separate problems, in order to construct a false dilemma (black and white or either or thinking). The cure (shutting down non essential business and social distancing) being difficult is a part of the pandemic problem itself.
Logical form: Either we shut business down to social distance and the economy suffers leading to more deaths than the virus (unfounded claim), or we don't shut business down and the economy booms saving lives (unfounded claim.) Deaths caused by the economic decline due to the pandemic are also deaths caused by the pandemic in an indirect way.
It also seems to be cherry picking the economic problem, while ignoring the virus's infection rate, death rate and the consequences of that problem (which also causes the economy to suffer more in the long run.)
Its also a non sequitur as the conclusion does not follow the premise. Opening the economy back up, sending people back to work and ignoring medical experts as a solution to the pandemic is a conclusion that does not follow.
The reasoning goes along these lines: We cant take action to stop the spread of the virus, because stopping the spread of the virus is a big economic problem. So, we will just not change anything to our economic system.
This seems to be the same argument (or line of reasoning) for climate change deniers. Listening to the experts and taking action is bad for business and the economy, so we wont take action and ignore the problem. This fails to acknowledge that the current economic system is what exacerbates the current problem in the first place. This is a form of denial based on a cognitive bias for a certain type of socioeconomic ideology.
So, it could also be an avoiding the issue fallacy.
Answers
2I think you may be reading to much into this statement. In fairness, Trump's rhetoric supports what you are arguing, but the statement alone:
We cant have the cure be worse than the problem
is not fallacious or even problematic, in my view. In fact, it is quite reasonable. Generally speaking, the purpose of a cure is make the problem better. If it makes the problem worse, that is an undesirable outcome.
Of course, this says nothing about applying this idea to any specific problem/cure. Trump could be wrong about the facts and his understanding of what the problem is, the "cure" is, and his overall assessment of the pros and cons of proposed "cures." This would simply make him either factually incorrect or having a opinion that could lead to an undesirable outcome.
False Equivalence The Benjamin Franklin axiom that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is as true today as it was when Franklin made the quote. Although many use the quote when referring to health, Franklin actually was addressing fire safety.
Trump's dictum is an adulteration of the Franklin axiom. Trump makes several assumptions while mangling the historical basis. This is simplified rhetoric with deliberate ambiguity to sound persuasive .
What cure? I am not aware that anyone anywhere in the world has announced a cure for Covid-19. There are labs working to produce a vaccine, but that could take months. So, this cannot be the type of cure he is referring too, but rather he is inferring the current, common sense approach of keeping the species apart from one another to reduce the spread of a highly contagious virus ( "social distancing" ). This is a preventative measure, not a "cure", and although he subverts the language here to conflate this comparison in the public's consciousness, this ambiguous framing becomes a false equivalent. Prevention is hardly the same as a cure.
So, first he fabricates this false equivalence, then hinges his argument against maintaining the social distancing safeguard upon this becoming worse than the "problem". It's kind of like extolling factory workers who have taken shelter in the street to race back into a burning factory to continue their work!
Drilling down further on Trump's carefully crafted and self-serving dictum, while readers may initially assume what he means by "problem" is a reference to the high numbers of sick or dying, that's not what he has in mind at all, is it? To Trump, the main problem is not the toll Covid-19 is extracting upon humanity; what Trump is far more concerned about is the economy, the unemployment figures ( poised to top 40% unemployed in April ) and the stock market: in other words, formerly his primary strengths headed into the election.
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