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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Acquittal Is Making the Pandemic Worse
The Editorial Board
He was tried for putting his interests above the nations. Why stop now?
John Stoehr
Theres a fake argument circulating that goes something like this. The president isnt to blame for the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more Americans than were murdered on Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, the Democrats are to blame. They distracted Donald Trump with their pointless impeachment and failed attempt to remove him.
The lost month, as the Times called it, wasnt the result of indifference, paranoia and/or dereliction of duty on the part of the chief executive but instead the result of petty partisanship and senseless hate of a president fighting for the American people.
Or something like that. Its hard to say. These talking points are never well-thought. Just speaking them, as if they were spells and incantations, is what matters to the sycophants, golems and ghouls the president enjoys surrounding himself with.
In any case, we know the truth.
US intelligence officials briefed Trump in early January, warning that a contagion was coming the likes of which we have never seen before. The president did nothing. Senators from both parties were briefed in early February. They urged Trump to ask for emergency funding to counteract COVID-19s spread. The president did nothing.
https://stoehr.substack.com/p/943fb0e7-546a-4603-b8cf-2e6277be8bce
-snip-
Yes, Trump will block the states from getting coronavirus testing in order to keep the national number of dead artificially low. Yes, thats a terrible thing to presume of ones president, but seriously. What did you expect? Is any of this all that surprising?
This is the same president who ordered the confiscation of babies from immigrant mothers; who banned Muslims from entering the US from certain countries; who attacked civil liberties and undermined impartial justice; who inspired acts of antisemitism, racism and mass murder; who stole daily from public coffers; and who got away with treason, complaining all the while that he doesnt get enough credit.
The only people left in America capable of surprise are those who voted for his promise to punish people for the fun it. The only people left in America capable of surprise are those who dont think its fun anymore, not when they are getting punished. They might say what a Trump voter said about a year ago: I thought he was going to do good things. Hes not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.
Dont think Trump is in trouble with his base, though. Its as masochistic as it is sadistic. The GOP itself has a high tolerance for high frequency death, even if Republicans are among the dead. After all, gun massacres happen in red states, too. Instead of tightening their gun laws, however, they seek to loosen them more.
John Stoehr
November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough.....................
TwilightZone
(25,479 posts)I don't think Trump's approach would have been any different absent the impeachment. This is who he is. This is who he's always been. This is how he's always operated. He's an incompetent buffoon.
DFW
(54,437 posts)Trump would have acted in a similar manner, and the Senate Republicans would have acquitted him even if he had ALREADY had half a million Corona deaths to answer for. They would have acquitted him if all 500,000 dead had been loyal Republicans, and ten Republican Senators among them. Those Republican Senators' replacements would have voted to acquit the very man that was indirectly responsible for the deaths of their predecessors.
There is a reason that the lemming is so frequently used as their mascot animal.
PJMcK
(22,048 posts)This is an excellent article and I urge DUers to read it.
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)"Dont think Trump is in trouble with his base, though. Its as masochistic as it is sadistic. The GOP itself has a high tolerance for high frequency death, even if Republicans are among the dead."
I have been saying he is a sociopath, narcissistic sadist but his cult being masochists brings it full circle. It is an S&M relationship, isn't it? They are such masochists that he very easily could be reelected. They are fucking morons too and they drank the Kool-aid.
Good article.
AlexSFCA
(6,139 posts)C Moon
(12,221 posts)dchill
(38,532 posts)ffr
(22,671 posts)Knowing full well based on pandemic simulations performed last year, that our first responders and medical facilities would be overwhelmed and specifically that they run short of PPE.
What republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, have done is nothing short of criminal, bordering on genocide.