October 15, 2020: Trump Turns Crisis into Tragedy

 

10/15/20: The president’s economic “rocket ship” recovery has blown up on the launch pad.

 

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“Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed ‘opinion leaders’ and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.”

 

The New England Journal of Medicine

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The unemployment figures for the latest reporting period are grim. Initial claims this week were 898,000, an increase of 53,000 over the last reporting period. Last week’s numbers were revised slightly upward.

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UNFORTUNATELY, the economy cannot recover fully until we get the virus under control. And the advice coming out of the White House seems to indicate that while the inmates are not running the asylum, which is good, no one is running the asylum. Which is bad.

 

According to President Trump, “we’re doing fine” in the battle to vanquish COVID-19. Lately, he has been suggesting that we simply open up everything, let everyone get infected, until we achieve “herd immunity,” and then survivors live happily ever after. Dr. Fauci has called the idea “ridiculous,” and “total nonsense.” Fauci also told CNN that with cases rising in 40 states it was time to “jolt the American public into a realization that we really can’t let this happen, because it’s on a trajectory of getting worse and worse.” (See: 11/5/20.)

 

Here’s how the latest Trump “plan” would work. When son Barron became infected, mom and dad would have sent him off to school regardless. If he hacked up a glob during first period, and his Algebra teacher caught COVID-19 and died, but all his classmates were exposed and developed only minor symptoms, well…success…one step closer to herd immunity!

 

The First Lady, who had contracted the virus, would still go over to see her parents. They would be exposed. So would any agents who traveled with her for her protection. They could stop at Starbucks for lattes and pass a few germs on to the baristas. Everyone is exposed and gets the virus and if they don’t get really sick or die…again...success! If Melania’s parents die, well, they lived long and fruitful lives! Viktor Knavs, her father, is 76. Her mother, Amilija, is 75. We know the president has stressed that most people who die are old.

 

So, no sweat.

 

Dr. Fauci isn’t the only health expert or scientist to call out the president for mishandling the crisis. He is merely the politest. The editor of Science magazine blasted Mr. Trump in an article titled “Trump Lied about Science.” The editors of Nature magazine decided to break tradition and endorse Biden for president. The most evocative line comes from the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine. Editors sum up the handiwork of Donald J. Trump this way: “Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed ‘opinion leaders’ and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.” 

 

The Journal almost never joins the political fray, but the experts have watched this president mishandle the pandemic, and have come away in shock and disgust:

 

Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.

 

The editors add that the current administration has “taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.”

Trump gets medical advice from Mike Lindell - this guy!

 

 

So, where do we stand today? Trump has thrown Dr. Fauci under the bus, claiming he’s been a “Democrat” all his life. Dr. Deborah Birx, another expert on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has been banished to the hinterlands. Young Barron Trump has recovered. That, at least, is good. The AMC movie chain is not recovering and faces bankruptcy. No one seems anxious to go into a dark place and eat buttered popcorn, while surrounded by strangers, who might have the bug. The U.S. airline industry is crippled. Passenger traffic was down 70% in August. Nick Saban, head coach of the University of Alabama football team, has caught the virus and been flagged by referees to spend two weeks in quarantine.

 

Florida Gators coach Dan Mullin called for 90,000 fans to “pack The Swamp,” as the university calls its football stadium, for a game with Louisiana State. Now, with the virus spreading among players and coaches from both teams, the game is canceled. Mullin, himself, soon tested positive.

 

The NFL has had to postpone several games and attendance has been drastically curtailed, if allowed. Billions have been lost to local economies.

 

Congress can’t agree on a second stimulus plan and Trump can’t convince his cult followers to take the simplest steps to halt the spread.

 

First, put on masks.

 

Second, social distancing. When possible, keep six feet away from people you love, and people you don’t. Don’t go to large gatherings if you can help it.

 

Wash your hands.

 

None of this is hard to grasp. We all want the country to recover, even if we don’t agree on who should be running it once it does. We are currently averaging 52,000 new cases per day. “This is a very ominous sign. I think we’re in for a pretty bad fall and winter,” Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, tells reporters. 

“This is the time when we could be entering one of the worst periods of our epidemic and one of our worst periods in modern American public health,” he said. “I’m very worried for the nation.”