The person most responsible for Donald Trump coming down with COVID-19 is absolutely Donald Trump. But unfortunately for the concept of karma, for the virus to get around to the man who purposely lied about the danger it represents from the very beginning of the outbreak, it had to go through over seven million other Americans. What’s worse is that Trump has created such a culture of resistance to science and reason, that even as he’s giving a personal demonstration of what happens if you follow his advice, his supporters across the country are not about to give up on the ideas he’s spent over half a year driving home.
In August, the Center for Public Integrity began releasing a series of confidential memos between the White House Coronavirus Task Force and state officials. What they showed was that while Trump was demanding that schools and businesses reopen, the task force was repeatedly warning against exactly those actions. Not surprisingly, governors almost uniformly ignored what they were being told behind the scenes and moved in the direction that Trump was publicly advocating.
As a near perfect example, additional memos issued on September 20 included warning the governor of Missouri that the state, which was seeing both a rapid growth in new cases and a high level of positive tests, needed to institute a mask mandate. It was the second month in a row the recommendation was issued. But Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, “repeated his opposition to a statewide order.” One day later, Parson tested positive for COVID-19.
Trump’s purposeful downplaying of COVID-19 from the outset has generated a series of consequences that can be measured directly in increased business for gravediggers.
- Trump’s resistance to wearing a mask, which started all the way back at the end of March, has resulted in millions of others making a twisted connection between refusing to wear a mask and some concept of “freedom.”
- Attorney General William Barr compared social distancing guidelines to restrict large gatherings and limit operation of businesses where the virus is most readily spread, the worst thing since slavery.
- Trump has repeatedly provided false assurance that COVID-19 can be treated through everything from malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to injecting disinfectant.
- Trump has repeatedly insisted that COVID-19 is less dangerous that seasonal flu and insisted that reported deaths from COVID-19 are “fake numbers.”
- Trump has repeatedly dismissed the value of testing and insisted that states should do less, not more.
- Trump has insisted that children cannot spread COVID-19 even through both studies and direct evidence showed that children spread the disease as well as adults.
The result of all these false narratives has been to create a culture where Republican governors feel that they have to open the schools, they have to open all businesses, they have to dismiss the effectiveness of masks, they have to downplay reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Because admitting the truth means being seen as disloyal to Trump.
As Trump demonstrates how to be the ultimate bad role model, and governors follow his lead, people across the country have refused to wear masks, insisted on schools reopening, protested any restrictions on businesses, and insisted that anyone who displayed concern was needlessly afraid. And why shouldn’t they? After all, they were getting their direction straight from the top.
The damage that Trump has done hasn’t stopped with Trump supporters. Failures to issue mask mandates and issue proper restrictions affect everyone, and it’s hard for many people to understand why they should wear a mask or take precautions when they see their neighbors going on about their lives as if nothing is wrong.
Why shouldn’t people dismiss statements from the CDC? Donald Trump does. Why shouldn’t they feel free to disagree with the opinions of medical experts? Donald Trump does. Why shouldn’t they refuse to wear a mask, ignore social distancing, and insist on everything being wide open? Donald Trump does.
Donald Trump testing positive for COVID-19 is the direct result of the culture of disdain for science, medicine, and common sense that Trump himself created. That doesn’t mean it’s justice. Because justice doesn’t leave 210,000 bodies in its wake.
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