From a comment made in the New Yorker by David Remnick April 12, 2020
From the start, the Trump administration has waged war on science and expertise, making a great nation peculiarly vulnerable to the foreseeable public-health calamity of the coronavirus.
The fact that the United States is experiencing tremendous losses—that it has far more COVID-19 cases than any other country in the world—relates to a number of collective risk factors and preëxisting conditions. The most notable one is to be found in the Oval Office!
Kayleigh McEnany, a loud promoter of birtherism and of Trump talking points during the 2016 campaign, cheerfully told the Fox Business audience, “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here, we will not see terrorism come here, and isn’t that refreshing when contrasting it with the awful Presidency of President Obama?” Now McEnany is the President’s press secretary.
Instead of dealing with COVID-19 using all the scientists at his disposal, he points to his brain housing group and says that is all he needs to make decisions. He uses the press conference as a place to make political statements to bolster his bid for re-election! Trump has made it clear that he does not approve of efforts to make voting easier in November. Why should he? He takes a dim view of early voting, voting by mail, and same-day registration. Such reforms, he complains, would produce “levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
I (John Love) think we should all read that last statement again! I still cannot believe that Trump could be so ignorant of what the words he uttered meant, but I really shouldn’t be! Basically, he just said that without cheating, gerrymandering, and voter suppression, Republicans couldn’t get elected! Probably the only true thing Trump has ever said! And one last thought, Trump and budget cutters thought the federal government spent too much on public health. Year after year, they have slashed agencies whose mission was to protect the public from pandemics. You know, after the welfare check he wrote to the rich, Trump cannot afford to fund health initiatives, feed children, or take care of at-risk elderly!
The Love Chronicles 