Just before the election, as cases of COVID-19 shot to new records in the United States, a second wave of cases was also rising across Europe. Nations like France, Italy, and Spain, which were hit so hard in the pandemic’s opening weeks, were chasing the United States toward terrifying new heights of disease. Both America and Europe appeared to be on parallel courses toward disaster.
Two weeks later, that’s no longer true. While the number of cases in Europe remains high, prompt action has broken the new wave of growth. Cases in France are down. Cases in Italy are down. Cases in Spain are down. All after governments stepped in to bolster restrictions and restore social distancing guidelines that had been relaxed over the summer. Meanwhile in the United States, there has been no action to halt the rising tide. None at all. And the results are nothing less than hideous.
When White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said “We’re not going to control the pandemic” during an October interview, he wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t already obvious. It’s been months since Donald Trump has even made a pretense of trying to address the crisis. It’s clear that Trump long ago signed out of any concern over the virus—other than bragging about his own survival thanks to a timely dose of a medication unavailable to 99.9% of those infected.
The day after the election, Meadows himself tested positive for COVID-19 … then went on to work for two days before admitting the fact to a few of his aids on Friday. Over that same period, at least five other White House officials tested positive. That includes one of Meadows’ aides, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and attorney David Bossie. Bossie spent a hot second in charge of Trump’s campaign of election denial before discovering that the heat was actually a COVID-19 fever. Also testing positive was Charlton Boyd, an aide to Jared Kushner … please remember that what you’re thinking right now is wrong.
As CNBC reports, that wasn’t the end of the growing White House hotspot. White House Political Director Brian Jack has also tested positive. So has former White House aide Healy Baumgardner, who apparently attended Trump’s “victory party” as a guest of Rudy Giuliani. All of which shows that, following the wide ranging effects of the Rose Garden superspreader event at the start of October, the White House learned … not a damn thing.
It was no surprise at all that Mike Pence, the supposed head of Trump’s coronavirus task force, responded to the spike of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by announcing that … he was going on vacation. Which may be the best symbol of the genuine disdain that the entire Republican Party holds for the populace. It’s only improved by the fact that Pence has now cancelled his vacation, not out of concern over the 1,000+ Americans dying every day, but because he thought it was a bad look to run off while Trump was still complaining about the election.
Pence may have decided to put off dipping his pale toes in the Gulf (the fact that Tropical Storm Eta is currently blasting his designated vacation spot may have also played a role), but he hasn’t stepped up on stage to announce any new actions, plans, or good housekeeping tips. Just about the only thing that has come out of the White House concerning COVID-19 in the past week has been complaints that Pfizer released good news about a vaccine four days after the election, which apparently means that Big Pharma is also part of the Deep State.
On Wednesday, the United States reported over 140,000 new cases of COVID-19. That’s more than 30,000 cases above where it was a week ago. Unfortunately, as far as the virus is concerned, that rate of growth—and more—is perfectly sustainable. No matter what retired radiologist Scott Atlas may claim, the United States is nowhere near reaching the likely impossible “herd immunity.” For the virus, Trump has built a Disneyland filled with people who believe masks are a political statement and science is just an opinion.
He’s set the country up to fail. And we are.
Source: Daily Kos
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