January 28, 2020: President Germaphobe Used to Blame Obama when Ebola "Spread"

 

1/28/20: We all know the president is a germaphobe. Considering current concerns, related to the coronavirus, it seemed like a good idea to see what Citizen Trump thought about the way President Obama handled the Ebola scare in 2014. 

In those days, Trump was just an ordinary asshole with a Twitter account and only a few lonely souls paid attention to what he said. When I checked his Twitter archive, however, I was surprised to see that back in the day he fired off 103 tweets and retweets on the topic of Ebola.

Ebola was highly infectious and deadly.

Medical team moving an infected patient.

 

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“President Obama has a personal responsibility to visit & embrace all people in the US who contract Ebola!” 

Citizen Trump

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Naturally, he used most of those posts to stir up hatred and fear, because that’s what he does best. It was too bad, he tweeted, if missionaries and doctors went to West African to help – and got sick, themselves. “The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back,” he howled. “People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!” 

Consequences? 

Death?

 

You had all the typical Trumpisms: Obama was “stupid” to let sick Americans return. Obama didn’t “care” about the public. “It’s almost like he’s saying F-you to U.S. public,” Trump insisted. “Ebola is now a household name in America,” he yipped. A patient who showed symptoms only after returning from a trip to Liberia had “lied” on reentry. The contagion might even change society in a positive way. “Something very important, and indeed society changing, may come out of the Ebola epidemic that will be a very good thing,” Trump tweeted. “NO SHAKING HANDS!” 

It wasn’t long before he landed on this nugget of unmitigated ignorance. Since it was Obama’s fault a doctor returned to America, and a nurse in Houston who treated him contracted the disease, Trump screamed, “Obama has a personal responsibility to visit & embrace all people in the US who contract Ebola!”

 

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IT’S INTERESTING to go back and look at some of the stories from those days. ABC had a list of people infected, who came to the United States. It included missionaries, a doctor, even a doctor who worked as a missionary in West Africa. Trump insisted all flights to the U.S. from the region should be canceled. (Had those patients, all American citizens, then died overseas, Trump could have blamed Mr. Obama for that too.) Wikipedia has what seems like a solid list: seven patients who contracted the disease overseas, who returned to the United States. Four healthcare professionals in this country became infected. One of four died, as did a patient. 

So, the panic was overblown. At this checking, there are six cases of the new coronavirus in the U.S. 

If we follow Trump Logic, this is all Trump’s fault. Some serious hugging & embracing will soon be in order.