When Donald Trump learned months ago that the coronavirus was a looming threat, he did nothing. Well, he did play golf and whatnot, but he failed to keep this country safe. And really, Trump supporters should have been pissed off that their president wasn’t putting up a fight against the pandemic.
Still, they followed their leader and bashed people for wearing protective face masks and practicing social distancing guidelines, so here we are with Trump and the first lady testing positive to COVID-19. And Hope Hicks. And RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. And US Senator Mike Lee. And three reporters covering the White House. We’re sure this list will get longer.
In light of all of that, you’d think the Trump administration would take the coronavirus pandemic seriously, but you’d be wrong.
According to KTLA, a senior White House official said on Friday that protective face masks will still not be mandatory at the White House, describing facial coverings as “a personal choice,” despite overwhelming scientific evidence that they help to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Oh, and there’s this:
And the White House is not planning to move to a different, more reliable testing system after the one it uses failed to detect that adviser Hope Hicks had the virus the day she began experiencing symptoms.
It’s almost as if our super-spreader president is intentionally spreading the disease by disregarding rules, disregarding the advice of all of the experts at his disposal, downplaying the virus, and by holding events to largely maskless crowds.
Those in Trump’s orbit know that his chances of reelection are now “fucked.” Still, we can’t expect a 74-year-old man that is obviously suffering from a narcissistic disorder to change even though two hundred and eight thousand Americans have died on his watch. Instead of acting like a leader, Donald J. Trump acted like a 5th-grade bully, mocking Democratic nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing.
We’re going to be in this for the long-haul, but it didn’t have to be this bad. If guidelines had been abided by initially, we’d all be going to our favorite restaurants and enjoying a walk downtown on the weekends. Or going to the beach. Remember the beach? Those were fun times.
Featured image via Michael Vadon/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
