There may never have been a more gold-plated,
straight-from-the-palace, sucks to be a dirty peasant moment in American
history than the one that Donald Trump delivered from the White House
on Wednesday.
When a reporter asked whether the wealthy should be getting tested for COVID-19 even as thousands of people are being turned away, Trump had just the perfect response. "No, I wouldn't say so, but perhaps that’s been the story of life. That does happen on occasion."
What’s that? The peasants want equal access to a test that can inform their decisions and perhaps save their loved ones? Who do they think they are? Let them eat virus.
In a country where someone who performed CPR on a spouse who was dying from COVID-19 was denied a test, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms are being denied testing everywhere across the nation, it’s amazing to see that not only have celebrities, athletes, politicians, and the wealthy been getting tests on request, but they’ve been getting extraordinarily prompt service. Some, like Trump, have reported back results within hours of saying they had been tested, rather than the three days or more that regular citizens “lucky” enough to rate a nasal swab have waited to learn their fate.
Trump’s response that “perhaps that’s been the story of life,” a vapid acceptance that the rich really get an edge in every aspect of life and hey, that’s just the way it is, grates on every nerve for at least two reasons. First, a public health screening seems like the last place where someone’s bank account should have anything to do with whether or not they have access. This is a matter of not just testing one individual, but of protecting the nation. And that’s the second thing: this is just another example of how Donald Trump doesn’t think it’s his responsibility to do anything.
Trump is willing to step on stage and talk for an hour, and to accept all the credit if the stock market happens to inch upward while he’s rambling on. But Trump isn’t willing to do anything, or to accept any responsibility for doing anything. He’s not even willing to pretend that he’s upset about the unfairness of celebrities who have both the means and the finances to support precautionary quarantine getting instant access to tests that could be much better directed to those much less capable of setting life on hold for a matter of weeks.
And if Trump is so casually ready to accept that the wealthy get an edge when it comes to coronavirus testing, what does that say about ICU beds? About respirators? About the desperate level of care that thousands of Americans are going to need in the days immediately ahead?
Sorry, poor person. You need to give up that bed. That’s “the story of life.”
When a reporter asked whether the wealthy should be getting tested for COVID-19 even as thousands of people are being turned away, Trump had just the perfect response. "No, I wouldn't say so, but perhaps that’s been the story of life. That does happen on occasion."
What’s that? The peasants want equal access to a test that can inform their decisions and perhaps save their loved ones? Who do they think they are? Let them eat virus.
In a country where someone who performed CPR on a spouse who was dying from COVID-19 was denied a test, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms, and people with symptoms are being denied testing everywhere across the nation, it’s amazing to see that not only have celebrities, athletes, politicians, and the wealthy been getting tests on request, but they’ve been getting extraordinarily prompt service. Some, like Trump, have reported back results within hours of saying they had been tested, rather than the three days or more that regular citizens “lucky” enough to rate a nasal swab have waited to learn their fate.
Trump’s response that “perhaps that’s been the story of life,” a vapid acceptance that the rich really get an edge in every aspect of life and hey, that’s just the way it is, grates on every nerve for at least two reasons. First, a public health screening seems like the last place where someone’s bank account should have anything to do with whether or not they have access. This is a matter of not just testing one individual, but of protecting the nation. And that’s the second thing: this is just another example of how Donald Trump doesn’t think it’s his responsibility to do anything.
Trump is willing to step on stage and talk for an hour, and to accept all the credit if the stock market happens to inch upward while he’s rambling on. But Trump isn’t willing to do anything, or to accept any responsibility for doing anything. He’s not even willing to pretend that he’s upset about the unfairness of celebrities who have both the means and the finances to support precautionary quarantine getting instant access to tests that could be much better directed to those much less capable of setting life on hold for a matter of weeks.
And if Trump is so casually ready to accept that the wealthy get an edge when it comes to coronavirus testing, what does that say about ICU beds? About respirators? About the desperate level of care that thousands of Americans are going to need in the days immediately ahead?
Sorry, poor person. You need to give up that bed. That’s “the story of life.”
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