In late March 2020, a quote attributed to United States President Donald Trump involving various state governors and access to ventilators began spread in the form of several text-based status update memes:
One of the shares appeared on the page “I can’t believe it’s not satire,” although it was shared after the two updates seen above:
All three posts contained an identical quote, quoting format, and even punctuation. They read:
“You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.” President Trump, March 24, 2020
First, we wrapped portions of the quote in search brackets to attempt to locate a transcript, video, or other indication the commentary originated with President Trump. However, only four results were returned — all to similar Facebook or social media posts:
Every post provided a date (March 24 2020) on which Trump purportedly made the remarks.
A top result on Google was a soft-paywalled New York Times/Associated Press piece headlined, “Flatter or Fight? Governors Seeking Help Must Navigate Trump.” That reporting began by referencing a specific request from Illinois’ governor J.B. Pritzker to Trump via a CNN segment:
At first, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker tried to play nice. He limited criticisms of the federal government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and asked for medical supplies through official channels.
But nothing came, so he went on television. The first-term Democrat blasted the Trump administration [March 22 2020] on CNN for failing to help states obtain masks, gloves and other protective gear.
It got President Donald Trump’s attention. After a Twitter feud and some mudslinging (Pritzker compared Trump to a “carnival barker”), the two got on the phone [on March 23 2020], and Trump promised Illinois 250,000 masks and 300 ventilators.
Facing an unprecedented public health crisis, governors are trying to get what they need from Washington, and fast. But that means navigating the disorienting politics of dealing with Trump, an unpredictable president with a love for cable news and a penchant for retribution.
A few paragraphs later, the article featured a partial version of the quote, attributing it to Trump during a Fox News appearance on March 24 2020:
“We are doing very well with, I think, almost all of the governors, for the most part,” he said during a town hall on Fox News on [March 24 2020]. “But you know, it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well.”
[…]
There’s no evidence that Trump has held up a governor’s request for assistance for personal or political reasons. Still aides say it’s understood that governors who say nice things about the federal response are more likely to be spared public criticism from the White House or threats of withheld assistance.
In the “briefings” section on WhiteHouse.gov, a complete transcript of Trump’s remarks at a March 24 2020 Fox News Town Hall was available (“Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in a Fox News Virtual Town Hall.”) Trump’s “two-way street” comments occurred in an exchange with panelist Dr. Marc Siegel, reproduced in full below (emphasis ours):
DR. SIEGEL: Mr. President, with the deaths going over 600 today, I want to say that fear — the fear that’s coming out of this disturbs me the most. And fear divides. You need unification and unified leadership to fight the fear.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
DR. SIEGEL: So I was really encouraged to see you reaching out to governors — Governor Cuomo, Governor Newsom — making liaisons that weren’t there before. Do you think that that kind of movement, where you’re the leader and other people work with you, will help us to isolate the virus in the epicenters where they are — to separate out those epicenters, to test the people in those centers, and to thereby squash the virus?
THE PRESIDENT: I do. I think, Doctor, it’s a very good thing. And Governor Newsom and I have been getting along really great. We’re sending the ship — the great hospital ship, as you know.
And we are doing very well with, I think, almost all of the governors. For the most part, it really has become something. It’s — it’s — we’re dealing almost every day. We’re speaking to each other, whether it’s conference calls. Usually we’ll have 50 governors on the call at the same time.
No, I think we’re doing very well. But, you know, it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well also. They can’t say, “Oh gee, we should get this, we should get that.” We’re doing a great job, like in New York, where we’re building, as I said, four hospitals, four medic- — we’re literally building hospitals and medical centers. And then I hear that, you know, there’s a problem with ventilators. Well, we sent them ventilators. And they could have had 15- or 16,000; all they had to do is order them two years ago. But they decided not to do it. They can’t blame us for that.
Siegel began by praising Trump’s efforts in interfacing with governors in all fifty states, highlighting the President’s discourse with the governors of New York (Andrew Cuomo) and California (Gavin Newsom) in particular. Siegel did not ask about ventilators specifically, instead addressing whether Trump’s relationships with governors in areas hard-hit by COVID-19 would assist in isolating “epicenters” of infection clusters and “thereby squash[ing]” the spread of the virus.
In response, Trump stated the federal government was sending a “hospital ship” to California. He then made the “two-way street” remark, indicating the executive branch was “doing very well” in ongoing coordination with governors, which he described as a “two-way street.” Trump went on to address a “problem with ventilators,” and the state of New York specifically.
As quoted above, Trump continued — after his “two-way street” comment, he referenced gubernatorial requests for ventilators. In that portion of his remarks, Trump said governors “could have” increased their states’ inventory of ventilators two years prior:
We’re doing a great job, like in New York, where we’re building, as I said, four hospitals, four medic- — we’re literally building hospitals and medical centers. And then I hear that, you know, there’s a problem with ventilators. Well, we sent them ventilators. And they could have had 15- or 16,000; all they had to do is order them two years ago. But they decided not to do it. They can’t blame us for that.
A shorter clip of Trump’s “two-way street” remark appeared in video form on Twitter:
Presumably Trump was referencing a shortage of ventilators in New York in March 2020, where COVID-19 rates remained particularly high. Two days after the Town Hall on Fox News, the New York Times reported that hospitals had resorted to sharing ventilators between as many as four gravely ill COVID-19 patients.
According to that story, New York’s last-ditch effort to save patients severely ill with COVID-19 began the week ending March 20 2020. As such, Trump comments likely included background information from Cuomo about shortages of ventilators on the ground in New York:
A New York hospital system has begun treating two patients instead of one on some ventilators, a desperate measure that could help alleviate a shortage of the critical breathing machines and help hospitals around the country respond to the surge of coronavirus patients expected in the coming weeks.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, began “ventilator sharing” this week, said Dr. Laureen Hill, chief operating officer at the Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center system. Doctors have developed protocols for the maneuver and now are rapidly scaling it up while also sharing their methods with the federal and state governments and other hospitals.
Ventilator sharing has been explored in a few scientific studies and has been used twice in crisis situations — the immediate aftermath of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and, as of several days ago, by an emergency physician, Dr. Marco Garrone, for coronavirus patients in Italy. This is believed to be the first time that it has been put forth as a longer-term strategy in the United States … On March 14 [2020], Dr. Charlene Babcock, an emergency physician at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, posted a YouTube video showing how to modify a ventilator to keep not one but four people breathing. It has already has more than 724,000 views.
Babcock was quoted as saying a “disclaimer” in the referenced video, indicating that the technique was “off-label use for a ventilator.” “Off-label” is a pharmaceutical and medical term indicating a device or drug is being used in manner inconsistent with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines — in short, ventilator “splitting” was an “any port in a storm” measure, something that would never take place under ideal circumstances.
Medical experts consulted by the paper noted why the ventilator sharing technique was not optimal. Although a larger pool of patients were afforded chances at survival, sharing ventilators was not without significant risks:
Among the concerns are the inability to monitor the impact on each individual; the potential for cross-contamination of infectious pathogens; and the possibility that instead of one person receiving lifesaving treatment, multiple patients would get dangerously subpar therapy.
On March 25 2020, a day after Trump’s Fox News interview, Cuomo addressed the shortage of ventilators in New York via Twitter:
After embedding the video above and quoting the excerpt above, the blog Law & Crime posited Trump’s that comments were directed at Cuomo and New York State:
Trump’s words were likely directed at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who has harshly criticized the Trump administration for downplaying the severity of the virus in its early stages and failing to utilize the full power of the federal government (Defense Production Act) to procure and allocate necessary resources (e.g., ventilators) in the weeks since the WHO declared a global pandemic. The state has been ravaged by the virus, and is home to more than half of the confirmed coronavirus cases in the nation as of [March 25 2020].
To recap, Trump said the following on March 24 2020 during a Fox News appearance:
No, I think we’re doing very well. But, you know, it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well also. They can’t say, “Oh gee, we should get this, we should get that.” We’re doing a great job, like in New York, where we’re building, as I said, four hospitals, four medic- — we’re literally building hospitals and medical centers. And then I hear that, you know, there’s a problem with ventilators. Well, we sent them ventilators. And they could have had 15- or 16,000; all they had to do is order them two years ago. But they decided not to do it. They can’t blame us for that.
What appeared to be a paraphrased version of the quote (with presumptive commentary included) circulated across Facebook status updates; wrapped quote marks misleadingly implied that the phrasing was a direct quote:
“You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.” President Trump, March 24, 2020
In a broader discussion about a COVID-19 ventilator shortage and ongoing talks between state governors and epicenters of viral infection, Trump described the negotiations as a two-way street. He did not specifically say governors had to “treat [him] well,” and he added that governors seeking additional ventilators ought to have ordered them “two years ago.” Pundits speculated Trump’s specific commentary was aimed at Cuomo and the state of New York due to a ventilator shortage. But overall, the circulating status updated were a partial quote, with the first portion misleadingly paraphrased based on that speculation.
- “You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.”
- “You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.” President Trump, March 24, 2020
- “You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.” President Trump, March 24, 2020
- “You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government’s Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it’s a two-way street.” President Trump, March 24, 2020
- You want Ventilators & Masks from the Federal Government's Reserves to treat your citizens? Well, Governors have to treat me well, it's a two-way street
- Flatter or Fight? Governors Seeking Help Must Navigate Trump
- Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in a Fox News Virtual Town Hall
- ‘The Other Option Is Death’: New York Starts Sharing of Ventilators
- Critics Say Trump’s ‘It’s a Two Way Street’ Message to Governors in Time of Crisis Is Yet Another Quid Pro Quo