COVID-19 continues to kill over 1,000 Americans a day, and the death total has reached over 186,000. Colleges and public schools are experiencing increases in infection rates within the first two weeks of in-person learning. Despite these statistics, Trump continues to ridicule the CDC and his own Administrations’ guidelines, which encourage people to wear masks while in public and practice social distancing. On the contrary, he hosts super-spreader campaign gatherings with crowds not wearing masks or socially distancing. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, A CNN medical analyst and former cardiologist to Vice-President Dick Cheney, characterized Trump as having ” magical thinking” about the virus and using crowds of people as props to further his narrative that COVID-19 is not dangerous and is disappearing.
To further his attempts to counter the scientific facts about the virus, he has employed advisors who share his views. What person in their right mind would follow Mike Lindell, The Pillow Guy’s recommendation to ingest Oleandrin, an experimental botanical extract, which he claims is a miracle cure for COVID-19? What person in their right mind would trust Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no infectious disease expertise, over the expertise of Dr. Anthony Fauci, a globally renowned epidemiologist with 50 years experience? Dr. Scott is a proponent of ” herd immunity,” an approach to managing COVID, which guarantees the death of thousands or millions of Americans, all in support of Trump’s efforts to reject mask-wearing and social distancing.
Trump has decimated virtually every department in our government by hiring unqualified, corrupt, or blind loyalists into positions of power such as Postmaster Louis Dejoy, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Discredited Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, and Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt. Shysters, Wacko’s, and lovers of authoritarianism have taken over the government while Republicans in Congress cower in their opportunistic silence. Many members of the Republican party are respectable, patriotic, and intelligent and who Democrats have worked together with during their terms in Congress. Why can’t the Republican electorate support them over such a low-bar, unqualified person as Trump?
The strategy by Trump to sideline Dr. Fauci and place to Lindell and Scott as top advisors on the pandemic team is obvious; to put attention on fake remedies, to recklessly accelerate vaccine approvals, and to dismiss scientific advice to wear masks and socially distance to serve as distractions from the rising death rate from COVID and the continuous his failure to implement an effective plan to stop the spread of the virus.
Trump’s continued failure to effectively mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic effects proves he is not intellectually and morally capable of doing the job. He focuses mainly on the economy as he is rightfully concerned about his re-election chances as his poll numbers decline. So he will deny COVID as the main issue in America, force the opening of all businesses and schools, and tricking struggling Americans into thinking the stock market is a full reflection of the economy’s state. Most economists state that the president has little to do with the performance of the stock market.
Many Americans’ denial and resistance to wearing a mask, socially distance, and avoid large crowds can be directly correlated to Trump’s non- concerned messaging about the pandemic. He has been derelict in his duty to follow public health experts’ warnings and advice with pandemic experience. His reckless promoting of remedies like Lysol, hydroxychloroquine, convalescent plasma, and now Mr. Pillow Guy’s ” miracle cure” Oleandrine is proof that the only life he loves to protect is his own. An increasing number of family members and former friends and associates have come forth with damning accounts of Trump’s cruelty, narcissism, lack of empathy, immorality, and criminality. Republicans, you can find a better candidate to get behind. A president should be a model of respect, stability, and compassion. However, another Trump lie is that the world is jealous of us because he has been such a great president. If you read media headlines from around the world, America is pitied and laughed at, and Trump is always named as the reason for its decline on the global stage.
No former president has ever been as disliked, discredited, and disrespected as Donald Trump. His followers are easily captured by his misleading campaign narratives about dangerous immigrants or fabricated issues about anarchy and urban terrorism and the need to restore law and order. The disorder we see happening is under his watch due to his incompetence to deal with the pandemic and racial unrest effectively. Conversations with his supporters never include accolades for his solid character, transparency, honesty, or expertise. It’s always about a campaign soundbite that ignites their fears or prejudices. Every president has had flaws, but no president has taken such dangerous actions as Trump has to disparage and attempt to dismantle our democracy.
Let’s hope most Americans defy Trump’s reckless example and figure out how to have fun AND stay safe for the Labor Day weekend. Let’s also hope we don’t hear of more people becoming infected or dying from Trump’s ego-driven RNC super-spreader or his tarmac rally in Pennsylvania this week.
Available on Amazon books; Baby Boomer Resistance Part II. A Movement To Save Democracy, Posts from Impeachment To COVID.
