This is the nightmare scenario and there is a high probability that this is how thing will play out.
Republicans close to Trump are discussing what kind of message Trump should put out that might limit the political damage. “He could come out and say, ‘Look, I had COVID and it wasn’t that bad. It just shows that I’m strong and we should open up the country,’” the former West Wing official said. “He could make a mockery of it.”
Remember for Trump anything less than 2 million dead is a victory.
Is is OK to feel sympathy for Trump. F**K NO! He's never felt anything for another person on this planet except contempt.
Donald Trump mocks Hillary Clinton over her pneumonia outbreak pic.twitter.com/feHjV6cLDa
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 2, 2016
...Trump is the vector by which the disease spread to himself and his wife, to Hicks and to any other members of his team who are infected. More than that, Trump is the vector by which COVID-19 has spread to millions of Americans. His continued disdain for wearing masks, safe social distancing, and suspension of large gatherings has directly resulted in widespread illness, and absolutely been the cause for thousands of deaths. Trusting Donald Trump is definitely not good for anyone.
Trump failure to lead, his unwillingness to take responsibility for the battle against the virus is now clear. He refused to take care of his own staff and support team in the White House just as he refused to take care of the American people.
I was there in the debate hall. The entire Trump entourage came in w masks, took them off as soon as they sat down, refused to put them on when asked by Cleveland Clinic personnel. Flouting defiantly the law & rules. And Trump shouting only 8-10 feet from Biden for 90 mins. Oy
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) October 2, 2020
On Fox News, @johnrobertsFox is visibly angry that @PressSec won't offer a clear denunciation of white supremacy: "Stop deflecting. Stop blaming the media. I'm tired of it. " pic.twitter.com/GcPcOsAHqJ
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 1, 2020
Trump's campaign team always places the responsibility for mask wearing and social distancing on the participants in Trump's events. They don't enforce any of either CDC guidelines or state and local requirements. The "law and order" candidate and his camp followers simple refuses to follow the rules.
But, the award for Trumpette of the Day goes to Trump Junior's girlfriend and featured Republican Convention speaker, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Guilfoyle, left Fox News under a bit of a cloud, but some light has now been shown on why she may have been asked to depart. A draft complaint regarding sexual harassment by Guilfoyle was never filed. Instead Fox paid the complainant four million dollars for her silence. Unfortunately for Guilfoyle and Fox, a copy of the complaint has surfaced.
According to a dozen well-informed sources familiar with her complaints, the assistant alleged that Guilfoyle, her direct supervisor, subjected her frequently to degrading, abusive, and sexually inappropriate behavior; among other things, she said that she was frequently required to work at Guilfoyle’s New York apartment while the Fox host displayed herself naked, and was shown photographs of the genitalia of men with whom Guilfoyle had had sexual relations.
There's lots more lurid details in the New Yorker.
Are these representatives of the "best people" Trump promised us he would employ to do the nation's business?
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| Wisconsin Covid-19 New Infection Rate* |
Update: Trump has not officially cancelled his La Crosse event, but city officials have been informed that Air Force One will not be coming to La Crosse, so they're assume Trump has listen to their pleas. No word on Trump's Green Bay rally, despite that community's serious Covid-19 outbreak.
Trump will be holding two of his MAGA hate fests in Wisconsin this week despite the fact that the state is experience a massive flare up in Covid-19 cases. In La Crosse, where Trump is planning a Covid-19 super spreader event for Saturday, county health officials last week put out a warning to the community stating, "You should assume that you will come into contact with COVID-19 whenever you interact with people outside of your household because we have widespread COVID-19 activity in our community."
LaCrosses' mayor doesn't want the Trump event in his community and doesn't understand how Trump can hold one of his maskless, social distancing free event while his state and community are facing a major increase in cases, hospitalization and deaths.
La Crosse, Wisconsin Mayor Tim Kabat told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on Thursday that he does not want President Donald Trump to hold a rally that’s planned to take place in his city on Saturday.
When Camerota asked Kabat why the president was ignoring the pleas of local health officials, he expressed bewilderment.Trump doesn't care about the impact of his events on the communities where they are held. As long as the MAGA hoards cheer him on Saturday, he doesn't care if they get sick and die after the event.
“I do not understand,” he said. “I think that’s, you know, something that we expect out of our leaders is to really lead by example. And in this case, obviously, it’s ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’ and coming out of the his own task force and talking about trying to again keep people safe.”
* Chart shows Covid-19 cases in Infections/Per Million. The worst historical infection rate on that basis was the April infection rate in New York + New Jersey. On a per capita basis Wisconsin is heading toward that peak infection rate.
Is Trump a mass murderer? A compelling case can be made that Trump considers that as long as Covid-19 deaths in the United States are below 2 million that he has beat the worst case scenario for the pandemic.
...When he was informed that an unchecked virus spreading throughout the spring and summer months could result in 2.2 million deaths, he immediately latched onto that number as a “Mendoza line” below which any degree of death was “acceptable” or a “victory.”
If you assume that a couple of million deaths are in the "budget" for this project, then for Trump that's just the cost of doing business. So, in Trump's mind, opening the economy and supporting his fringe anti-mask/anti-lockdown MAGA extremists is an acceptable stance to take. As long as less that 2.2 million Americans die, he can claim success.
This is not a strategy as much as it is another example, albeit an exceptionally deadly one, of Trump’s penchant for taking positions that require the least amount of thought and effort and that are weak and passive (e.g., “we’ll see what happens”). Further, a “strategy” that allows for a massive loss of life is permissible within Trump’s psychopathy and, as a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence put it, Trump’s “flat-out disregard for human life.” It is also consistent with the Trumpian worldview that there are “winners (those that survive)” and “losers (those who allow themselves to be killed).”
Trump continues to do nothing to stem the spread of the virus and, in fact, flaunts even the basic health guidelines such as masks wearing and social distancing. He and his enablers undermine the CDC and other health organizations routinely. This is the behavior of a man who has no consideration for the suffering he is creating and no concern for the deaths his policies are causing.
It's critical now to recognize that Trump's strategy relative to the pandemic was never to take an active role in mitigating the impact of the virus. As long as the overall loss of life was less than that early worst case prediction, Trump believed, and still appears to believe, that he can claim victory. In doing so, Trump is committing mass murder.
...Other countries with rational and competent leaders have gotten the virus under control. Our president is a weak and malicious leader who is choosing a strategy with the largest loss of life.
