Risk v. Reward

 

There is a lot of criticism from the left, and a bit of worry from yours truly with respect to Trump's early release from Walter Reed. However, upon further review, I am onboard fully with the President's decision.

It's a risk-reward decision. Trump acknowledged that he was taking a risk, but how big of one? If you were to quantify this thing, it might put it all in perspective a bit more. I think the risk is pretty small. If it were a significant risk, then it might be different.

Risks are necessary sometimes. When you get on an airplane, there is a risk of a crash. If the plane crashes, your chances of survival are not good. But many people have taken that risk because the rewards of plane travel greatly compensate the small risk that you are taking when flying on one.

This pattern is repeated all the time. All of the time you have to make decisisons about risks and weigh them off against the rewards. It is a part of life. It has been a part of life since forever. Even in the animal kingdom, there are risks. In order to get something desired, even an animal will take a risk of being eaten in order to satisfy a need. Risks cannot be avoided.

Of course we are not animals. We can weigh risks and determine if they are acceptable. This is something every individual can make, and nobody else can make it for you. In the POTUS' case, it was his own well-being he was willing to risk. The benefit is to be free from the hospital. Who likes being in a hospital for any stretch of time?

There is also the risk of doing nothing. These are often hidden in your analysis. If the POTUS' stayed in the hospital, what was his risk of getting sick of something else? This is not a zero risk decision either. If there was zero risk, decisions wouldn't be necessary.

Unless the critics can show he took an unacceptable risk in coming out soon, then I am all for his early release. It is his risk to take, after all.

Historically, risk taking has gone bad. Consider the case of John F. Kennedy in Dallas Texas on the day of the assassination. Kennedy could have foregone a trip in an open limousine, but he wanted to be seen. As President, he must be seen. He took another risk and not having a Secret Service agent close by. He felt that it obstructed his view of the crowd and their view of him. If an agent were closer to him when the first shot hit him, an agent MIGHT have been able to cover him up with his own body and save his life. That risk cost Kennedy his own life. But it was his choice. He wanted to see the crowd, and he wanted the crowd to see him.

Kennedy could not have known about Oswald at that point anyway. Sometimes unknown factors can skew your analysis and the risks could have been seen as too great at the time. Kennedy remarked that an assassin could get in a high place and take a shot at him and nobody could stop it. But he must have felt that the risk was pretty small and he took the risk and the rest is history.

The point is that risks exist and cannot be avoided. We cannot create a risk free life.

You pays your money and you takes your chances. That's life. A life inside a shelter all the time is not much of a life.

I'm with the POTUS.