Sure you know it! It’s the 1980’s band REO Speedwagon – Take It on the Run
COVID at the White House
We wouldn’t have known that Presidential aide Hope Hicks tested positive for COVID-19, except a reporter broke the story. We didn’t know that Hicks was positive, but the President did when he attended a Trump Fundraiser in New Jersey Thursday night. He had first hand exposure to COVID, but he went to the affair at his Bedminster estate anyway. And we might not know that Trump and his wife Melania tested positive for COVID-19, except for the “leak” about Hicks.
We “heard it from a friend”, specifically, from Bloomberg News. We did not hear it from the White House, or the Trump Campaign until after the Hicks story was already out. But we now realize the President knew that he was directly exposed to an infected person. And yet he continued with his schedule including the fundraiser. It was only after all of that, in the middle of the night, that he tweeted:
“Tonight, @ FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”
Friday the President entered Walter Reed Military Hospital. They have already used two “experimental” therapies on him. Current information states he’s doing well, with “mild” symptoms. We hope that’s true, and wish him a quick recovery. But he is a seventy-four year old man, with co-morbidities, he is in the hospital, and they are using “experimental” therapies. Other “friends” say things might not be as rosy as they seem.
Circle of “Friends”
This is the way the COVID-19 virus spreads, from one circle of people to another. The song lyrics go, “I heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you’ve been messing around”. Or like the old game of “telephone,” except with COVID the message always seems to stay intact. And no matter how careful you are, any interaction could be the beginning of infection.
The infected Republican leadership list keeps growing: The President and his wife, Senators Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and Ron Johnson, Trump 2020 Campaign Manager Bill Stepian, RNC Chairman Rona McDaniel, former WH Counselor Kellyann Conway, Former Governor Chris Christie. All are now COVID positive.
The Trump Campaign acts like they are immune to COVID. At the debate the Trump family and staff scorned wearing masks, even after they were asked to don them by a Cleveland Clinic physician. At the “outdoor” campaign rallies, social distancing is ignored, some wear masks and some don’t, but all are cheering and clapping. Most states aren’t allowing crowds at sporting events, or any indoor activities. But the Trump Campaign seems perfectly willing to risk a “super-spreader” event at every campaign rally, and uses their “FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS” to demand local authorities comply.
Hubris
Precautions aren’t always effective. Masks aren’t 100% against the COVID infection, but they help. Social distancing doesn’t guarantee protection, but it also helps. Hand sanitizer and avoiding physical contact won’t always work, but they aid in limiting spread as well. Put all of those things together, and risks of transmission are significantly reduced.
To ignore all of these precautions and carry on as if in the “before times” is the height of hubris. And the actions of the Trump Administration aren’t done from ignorance, but from the need to pursue their political message. As Senator Rick Scott of Florida said on Fox News Saturday, “…we have to get this economy going again”. What he didn’t say but is implicit in all of the Trump 2020 messaging are the words “at all costs,” including the cost of COVID-19.
The first fatal mistake that President Trump made was back in January and February. As we now know, he was well aware of the dangers of the impending COVID pandemic. Instead of preparing the United States for that onslaught, Trump chose to assure the American people that it would soon be gone. He believed re-election depended on the strength of the economy, and he didn’t want Wall Street to reflect a national crisis.
It’s the Economy
The Trump 2020 campaign still believes that the economy is their best hope for a second term in the White House. They act as if the pandemic is “behind us”. Americans have paid a heavy price for that choice with 210,000 dead. Scientists estimate that a different course starting with mask wearing and social distancing at the very beginning of the pandemic would have saved more than half of those lives.
America has also paid a heavy economic price. The White House trumpets the September employment figures. Jobs have increased by 660,000 jobs last month and unemployment fell to by ½ of a percent to 7.9. What they fail to mention is that 22 million jobs were lost in March and April, and only about half of those jobs have returned to the economy (Reuters). The 660,000 jobs in September aren’t new, they are some workers returning to the jobs they lost. This September report is the last before the November election.
“I heard it from a friend, that heard it from a friend…that the President’s been messing around”. The choices of this Administration led our nation to further division in our response to this pandemic. What should have been a “no brainer” response to disease has become a political controversy: simple decisions to wear a mask and socially distance are now a sign of political affiliation.
The best medical care in the world is available for Donald Trump, and it should be. But that care can’t heal the divisions he has created. We can only hope the election can begin that process.
