Donald Trump no longer mentions COVID-19, as virus infection, hospitalizations, and deaths are surging in all of the 50 states. His abandonment of managing the pandemic and unwillingness to concede the election loss is final evidence that he is an autocratic narcissist and incapable of empathy. He continues to let people die from COVID and is encouraging people to defy CDC protocols proven to prevent infection. This behavior is a form of passive complicity in the inevitable loss of life. His super spreader rallies, fundraiser events, and anti-mask campaign has earned the him the title of the person who has single-handedly caused the greatest number of individuals to become infected with COVID. Today it was announced that over 100 members of the Secret Service who protected Trump and his family around the country for his COVID spreading rallies have tested positive. Proof, not fake news, that he truly doesn’t care about saving anyone’s life but his own.
Every state where Trump held rallies has become a hotspot for virus infection and death. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to identify the criminal who is responsible for the damage and loss to human life from COVID. Trump has refused to use his power to enact the WAR POWERS ACT which would help supply the entire country with PPE, rapid testing, extensive contact tracing, and military assistance for keeping supply chains open for food, medications and clothing. He chose not to use his power to save lives and chose instead to promote the theory that science and the media exaggerate the severity of COVID to damage him politically.
Trump effectively sold the false narrative to his supporters that COVID would just disappear, wasn’t deadly, did not warrant wearing masks, or closing schools and businesses. He chose to promote these positions for political reasons, believing that downplaying the pandemic would keep the economy strong and guarantee his re-election. The sociopathic aspect of his behaviors was proven by his admission on tape to journalist Bob Woodward that ” the virus was deadlier than the flu” yet he offered no commitment to prioritize a federal plan to contain it. Trump was fully informed about how to fight the spread of the virus by his COVID task force and yet disagreed with the experts and discouraged the public from heeding the scientific advice.
This presidents corruption and dishonesty are well-documented and undeniable, yet all he has to do is call his wrongdoing accusations “fake” and his followers believe him. Psychologists refer to that level of gullibility as denial. Trump, as with Charles Manson and Jim Jones, is a master at branding himself as god-like. He sold the lie that his politics is the one and only path to America’s success and survival. While selling that falsehood and creating a cult following, Trump has succeeded in using the presidency as a shield from legal consequences for his unethical, law- breaking behaviors and using the U.S. Treasury as his private bank account. If Trump would return the money he spent on golf trips, constant weekends at Mara- A- Lago, and Secret Service protection for his family’s travel indulgences, maybe we could fully fund the Heroes Act to provide financial support for millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and health insurance.
Trump supporters have proven they prefer the experience of euphoric hero worship over choosing a competent, authentically patriotic president. Historians will question how and why so many Americans bought Trump’s snake- oil, circus- barking style of communication and his nonsensical, grandiose claims about his intelligence, capabilities, and compassion for the American working class. In a way, it can be said he succeeded at duping his base so completely they lost perspective on the difference between truth and propaganda.
But he lost! He will be gone soon, and despite his threats to run again and saturate the media with his post-presidency anti-American attacks, he will soon be irrelevant and a sad embarrassment of a failed politician. If America survived four years of a president and an administration who violated the Constitution and tried to transform our democracy into a dictatorship, it can survive any challenge that lies ahead.
