“This is the way things have been at the White House since the beginning of the pandemic. To acknowledge or accommodate the virus was a weakness that invited ridicule. Trump grimaced when he saw aides wearing masks; he would say he couldn’t hear or understand masked officials when they spoke, current and former aides tell Time. When Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger told colleagues he wore a face covering to protect a family member with a respiratory condition, he was informed it was 'freaking people out' and he should stop doing so around the President.”
– Molly Ball, National Political Correspondent for Time (October 8, 2020)
Trump portrays himself as a tough guy who leads with strength and dominance. He dared COVID-19 to attack him, his family, and his supporters … and it did. As Molly Ball of Time said, this made it clear that “he would sacrifice those around him, the country and even potentially his own health – anything it took not to appear weak.”
(Molly Ball. “Donald Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis Is Forcing Him to Face His Personal—and Political—Vulnerability.” Time. October 8, 2020.)
Trump's reckless words and actions concerning the coronavirus stupefy national health officials and, frankly, defy common sense. After he was infected, he vainly did not want the world to know the virus could defeat his own “Superman” self-image.“Don’t let it dominate; don’t let it take over your lives,” he said after contracting the disease.
Why should America listen to a leader who has mishandled the pandemic and all of its complications? Trump has tried to “take over” the lives of countless innocents with his dangerous bravado. The result has been premature reopenings that drive spikes in coronavirus cases and superspreading campaign rallies that contribute to totally unnecessary infections and deaths.
Do you remember September 29 when Trump traveled to Cleveland to participate in the first general-election debate, pausing on the South Lawn to raise a fist at the cheering supporters gathered to see him off? After being seated in a Cleveland Clinic auditorium for the 90-minute debate, several members of the Trump family and Administration removed their masks in violation of the clinic’s rules, and rebuffed a clinic staffer who tried to offer them new ones. The candidates themselves were supposed to have been tested by their campaigns, but it’s unclear if Trump was.
Then, of course, there was the now-infamous Rose Garden ceremony when Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court – a misguided, dangerous, superspreader event that caused even former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to say “I was wrong not to wear a mask.”
On October 8, Molly Ball related …
“There are now more coronavirus cases connected to the White House outbreak than New Zealand has reported for the past week. The Rose Garden presentation of the President’s political Hail Mary–the court nominee who would galvanize women and conservatives and make everyone forget the virus–may have had the opposite effect.
“Trump himself is the single greatest source of false information about the election and COVID-19, according to separate studies by Cornell and Harvard. He is our national superspreader: of disinformation, of fear and division, of pure exhaustion.”
(Molly Ball. “Donald Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis Is Forcing Him to Face His Personal—and Political—Vulnerability.” Time. October 8, 2020.)
Trump views science as just another biased Deep State lie. He should have been personally responsible from the start, but he chose to declare himself the “greatest” health authority who claimed the virus was as mild as the flu, something that would magically disappear with the change of seasons. He purposely misled the public to gratify his enormous ego. Now, Trump refuses to acknowledge both his failed policies and the formidable opponent of the virus and, in turn, he uses denial to claim falsely that he has defeated the illness and America is “turning the corner.” It is a fantasy he pitches in tweets and comments every day.
As President Donald Trump downplays the pandemic’s severity and tells people to move on with their lives, even Republican governors like Mike DeWine of Ohio, Bill Lee of Tennessee, and Tate Reeves of Mississippi are pleading for basic public health precautions as their states face a new wave of coronavirus cases.
Dan Goldberg and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico say …
“The messages (from governors) come as large swaths of the country experience uncontrolled spread that state officials fear could swamp their already strapped health systems. They’re putting out calls for volunteers to help staff hospitals, placing new limits on public gatherings and urging, or in some cases mandating, the wearing of masks.”
(Dan Goldberg and Alice Miranda Ollstein. “Trump’s broadsides against science put GOP governors in a bind.” Politico. October 21, 2020.)
A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found about two-thirds of adults say they are worried that they or someone in their family will get sick from Covid-19, an increase of 13 percentage points since early April.
And more people now — about 42 percent — say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come, compared to the 33 percent who say the worst has passed. In September, the poll found an even split on this question.
Yet there remains a stark partisan divide on these fears, with just 42 percent of Republicans concerned they or a loved one will be infected, compared to 87 percent of Democrats.
(Ashley Kirzinger, Lunna Lopes, Audrey Kearney, and Mollyann Brodie.”KFF Health Tracking Poll – October 2020: The Future of the ACA and Biden’s Advantage On Health Care.” Kaiser Family Foundation. October 16, 2020.)
Trump's ego and his fragile masculinity are on display for the entire country to see. His presidency is political theater in which he has stage-managed COVID-19 with the sole aim of boosting his ego and political prospects (And, most likely, his bank account). In this drama, Trump casts himself as the fearless protagonist – now immune and healthier than ever – who offends all opposition and defies reason to become the people's superhero. In his mind he is a bad ass, an ultimate Terminator, a Rocky off the mat. Too bad his narcissism prevents him from realizing that he lacks essential heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, and morality. To Trump, it doesn't matter. His show must go on.
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