2/29/20: President Trump announces that the uproar over the coronavirus is a “hoax”
cooked up by Democrats to make him look bad.
____________________
Those of us on the other side of the political fence don’t
want plague to sweep the land.
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In fact, it pissed him off, he told another cheering throng
at one of his rallies, Friday night, to think that these un-American Democrats would
stoop so low as to “politicize” the crisis just to score cheap points.
Unfortunately, in the real world, where disease can kill
regardless of politics, the first U.S. citizen to contract the COVID-19 virus on
these shores has died.
(If the past is prologue, we know Trump won’t spend much time
thinking about the first person to die.)
*
ON FRIDAY, Don Jr. did his best not to politicize the crisis
by insisting Democrats wanted millions of Americans to die, just so the last
survivors could vote against his dad.
So, once again, let’s be clear. Those of us on the other side
of the political fence don’t want plague to sweep the land.
We do, however, believe that Jr.’s dad must be stopped at
almost any cost from gaining a second term.
To drink deep the toxins President Trump has spilled into the
waters of political discourse, let’s go back and see how he assessed the
handling of an even more dangerous disease when Barack Obama was in charge. It
was the summer of 2014. A new outbreak of Ebola was threatening to spread in
West Africa, and, of course, by plane or boat, around the globe.
If we do a little digging, we quickly learn that Citizen Trump
went bonkers as soon as the first case reached our shores. When
I checked his Twitter archive, I was surprised to see he fired off 103
tweets and retweets on the topic of Ebola.
Don Jr. might want to look at the hysterical responses posted
by his dad, that summer and fall. If people were stirring up panic in those
days, for political points, his father was stirring with the biggest ladle of
all. The nadir may have been reached been when dad labeled Obama a “psycho” for
the way in which he was handling the disease. Going low, in other words, is a
Trump family trait.
One of the most striking aspects of those five score and
three tweets/retweets is how little sympathy Citizen Don had for others. That
includes his own countrymen and women when they fell ill. Once it became known
that Dr. Kent Brantley, who had been working in West Africa and contracted the
disease, was allowed to return to the U.S., Trump howled as if the doctor
was going to come traipsing into Trump Tower and spit in his soup. On August 1,
2014, Trump had this to offer: “The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people
back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer
the consequences!”
Remember that line.
One good howl deserved another, and Trump howled long and
loud and with no more grasp of the science than a coyote on a hill. Trump screamed
that all flights from West Africa must be stopped. No infected patients should
be allowed to return. Send the doctors to them instead. The fact we were taking
infected patients, he said, was “absolutely CRAZY – stupid pols.”
To listen to Trump was to believe that every move Obama made
was meant to unleash pestilence in the streets. Below are some of Trump’s worst
posts, with editorial comment supplied. Each and every one helped fuel hysteria
and not one but was meant to score sleazebag political points.
Sept. 16: “Can you believe that the U.S.
will be sending 3000 troops to Africa to help with Ebola. They will come
home infected? We have enough problems.”
(No
member of the U.S. military was infected while deployed.)
Sept. 19: “Why are we sending thousands
of ill-trained soldiers into Ebola infested areas of Africa! Bring
the plague back to U.S.? Obama is so stupid.”
Sept. 30: Here we go! I stated long ago
that we should cancel all flights from West Africa. Now we
have Ebola in U.S., AND IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE!
(Trump
had already perfected the all-caps Twitter YELP.)
Same day: “The United States must immediately institute strong travel
restrictions or Ebola will be all over the United States-a plague like no
other!
(Seven Americans
who contracted Ebola overseas were brought home.)
Oct. 2: “The Ebola patient
who came into our country knew exactly what he was doing. Came into contact
with over 100 people. Here we go-I told you so!”
(Thomas Duncan,
a Liberian citizen, had been visiting family in Texas when he fell sick.)
Same day: “How incompetent are our
leaders allowing these Ebola infected people to come into our country
with all of the problems and danger entailed!”
(Obama failed!
He let the guy in.)
Oct. 4: “This Ebola patient
Thomas Duncan, who fraudulently entered the U.S. by signing false papers, is
causing havoc. If he lives, prosecute!”
(As for
prosecuting, Duncan soon dies.)
Same day: “Something very important, and
indeed society changing, may come out of the Ebola epidemic that will
be a very good thing: NO SHAKING HANDS!”
(Trump,
the germaphobe, can only hope.)
Same day: “President Obama - close down
the flights from Ebola infected areas right now, before it is too
late! What the hell is wrong with you?”
Citizen Trump, who probably knew no more about Ebola, or science
in general, than a lazy fourth grader, announces on October 6: “I will be on
Fox & Friends (@foxandfriends) at 7.00. Fighting Ebola will be a
topic!”
(This is
a guy who believes exercise depletes the body’s finite supply of energy.)
Oct. 7: “Despite the ever
increasing Ebola disaster, Obama refuses to stop flights from West
Africa. It’s almost like he’s saying F-you to U.S. public.”
Oct. 9: “Obama won’t send troops to
fight jihadists, yet sends them to Liberia to contract Ebola. He is a
delusional failure.”
The next day Trump makes a second appearance on Fox News and tells
the gaping boobs who watch why he doesn’t trust Obama when it comes to Ebola.
Or Benghazi!
Same day: “Obama is making
the Ebola problem much worse than it needs to be in the U.S. by not
halting flights from West Africa. Airport testing a joke.”
(Airport
testing is currently our first line of defense
against COVID-19.)
Oct. 12: “Here we go - A healthcare
worker who treated Thomas Duncan, the man who flew into the U.S. from West
Africa infected with Ebola, caught it!”
(A total
of four Americans, in addition to the original seven, will be infected in weeks
ahead.)
Same day: “I don’t know if President
Obama isn’t stopping the flights from Ebola torn West Africa because
he is stubborn, stupid, or just doesn’t care!”
(What
kind of people would politicize a health crisis!!!)
Same day (a retweet): “‘@trucksellr2007:
150 travelers arriving daily in the U.S. from the Ebola hot zones of
west Africa? This is insanity! #StopTheFlights.’”
Then we had this classic piece of what passed then – and
still passes in similar forms – for Trumpian thought:
Oct. 15: “President Obama has a
personal responsibility to visit & embrace all people in the US who
contract Ebola!
Same day: “A nurse in Dallas who
treated Ebola patient Thomas Duncan was allowed to fly to Cleveland. She
should never have been so allowed! The real JV.”
(With
Trump human sympathy rarely intrudes.)
Oct. 17: “Obama just appointed
an Ebola Czar with zero experience in the medical area and zero
experience in infectious disease control. A TOTAL JOKE!”
(Trump
puts VP Mike Pence in charge of his COVID-19 team!)
Oct. 20: “I will be on @foxandfriends
at 7.00 - 45 minutes. Talking about Ebola, Obama and other strange U.S.
happenings!”
(Trump,
talking science!!!)
Oct. 23: “There is a good possibility
that a person who treated patients in West Africa and who FLEW into New York
has Ebola. Touched many, bedlam!”
(Bedlam!)
Same day: “If this doctor, who so
recklessly flew into New York from West Africa, has Ebola, then Obama should apologize to the
American people & resign!”
(See.
Not scoring political points at all!)
Same day: “President Obama has a major
meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all
over the country, but decided to play golf!”
 |
What is Trump doing during this crisis? Go figure! |
Oct. 24: “The Ebola doctor
who just flew to N.Y. from West Africa and went on the subway, bowling and dining
is a very SELFISH man-should have known!”
(Human
kindness is not in Trump’s box of tools.)
Oct. 28: “President Obama strongly
considering a plan to bring non-U.S. citizens with EBOLA to the United States
for treatment. Now I know he’s nuts!”
The next day, October 29, it’s back to Fox News! This time
Citizen Trump is there for an “interview @seanhannity discussing Obama’s failed
presidency, Ebola, DC Post Office, midterms & 2016.”
Same day: Trump quotes himself in a
retweet: “Donald Trump says it’s ‘morally unfair’ of Obama to send soldiers
into Ebola hot zone.”
(Morals
– always a Trump strong suit.)
Same day: “Obama will quarantine all
soldiers returning from Africa for 21 days. But he still allows all who contract Ebola into
country? Hypocrite.”
(All
Americans brought back since the COVID-19 outbreak have been quarantined.)
Then, with all the various measures taken to control the
spread of Ebola, not only inside the U.S.A., but also overseas, the outbreak was
over.
There was no “bedlam” in the United States. Only eleven
Americans contracted Ebola, seven overseas, four inside the United States. Two
died. Trump had panicked his fans for no good reason.
Save to rack up political points.
*
IT’S TELLING, too, that only twice since, has Trump tweeted
about Ebola. Once was to retweet Reverend Franklin Graham, on August 2, 2019.
That was the fifth anniversary of Dr. Brantley’s return to the U.S. The good
Christian doctor contracted Ebola in West Africa while doing both medical and missionary
work. It was Brantley who was allowed to return for treatment, to Emory
University in Atlanta, a decision that first set Citizen Trump off.
Now Trump approved of Pastor Graham’s take. Thank God, Dr.
Brantley had recovered, Graham said, a “Good Samaritan” who had gone to Africa
to do the Lord’s work.
The last mention, of course, was Trump bragging about
himself. Again, it was a retweet of a post from HHS Secretary Alex Azar: “Thanks
to US leadership under @POTUS, vaccines & therapeutics are saving lives
and helping those affected by the #Ebola outbreak in the #DRC. Working with regional and international
partners to stop the outbreak is one of our top global health priorities.
Exactly as it was back in 2014.
*
SO: WE’RE NOT ALL going to die. The spread of the COVID-19 virus
is a serious issue. But we’re not all going to keel over dead.
Three new cases on Friday were found in the U.S. One in
Oregon, particularly worrisome, since it was a school employee, one in
Washington State, and one in California, and all rattled people’s nerves. That
brought to four, cases in the U.S., where patients are not known to have traveled
to infected regions, nor thought to have had contact with anyone who did.
That means the threat may grow – and the Trump administration
may face a burgeoning problem.
But who could ever doubt Trump will rise to the occasion, and
find someone else to blame if anything goes wrong?
BLOGGER’S NOTE (9/25/21): This was not a risky prediction
to make. Who did Loser Don blame in the end? Everyone else.
