“It is what it is.”

— Trump’s callous response regarding US coronavirus deaths during Fox News Sunday interview with Chris Wallace (7/19/20)

By Dan Peak
Commoner Call (7/20/20)

Dear Fellow Readers,

Trump is killing us. The opening quote is not even his worst. Incapable of admitting he’s ever been wrong, Trump once again assured all, coronavirus would “disappear”:

“I’ll be right eventually,” the president said. “You know, I said, it’s going to disappear. I’ll say it again, it’s going to disappear. And I’ll be right.”

After declaring the US had the lowest pandemic mortality rate Fox News interviewer Chris Wallace corrected Trump, noting the US does NOT have the lowest mortality rate; we are eighth for developed countries. Our testing rates are too low and NOT the basis for the accelerating number of new cases. Trump doesn’t even know what Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Redfield predicts for the fall. When pushed about a national policy for wearing masks, Trump nonsensically declared, “ masks can cause problems too”. Trump blames China, the World Health Organization, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the CDC and Redfield… Fox News Sunday spins the interview as Trump “pushes back against critics”, but you’ll see otherwise as Wallace slays and exposes Trump with facts. Or you could take a look at this Tom Tomorrow “Over the Cliff” cartoon for the summary of Trump’s coronavirus non-leadership.

Trump’s only consistency with non-leadership is chaos and he’ll dig deeper into his psychopathic bag of tricks for the new ‘thing’ to move media attention away from his last crisis to the newest one he is creating. Trump’s latest distraction has been provided by acting head of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chad Wolf. Wolf sends US troops into the streets of Portland, Oregon to attack US citizens and even that can’t stay on the front page of the news.

We are collateral damage for Trump’s ambitions and psychosis. It is Trump et al practicing ‘hear no coronavirus, see no coronavirus, speak no coronavirus’. And more and more people die.

*****

Our failure is epic

Watch retired English nurse teacher Dr. John Campbell explain the alarms going off over US neglect of basic coronavirus protections, he can’t hide his incredulity as he explains the horror show.

Or listen to director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota Dr. Michael Osterholm’s latest weekly update podcast.

The inconvenient truth for Trump is the coronavirus is hard to ignore. Forty-three states and territories are seeing increases in cases and many are severe. Trump will argue the problem is increased testing but cases are increasing much faster than added testing. And sadly, if testing shows a 10% or more positivity the rate of increase is increasing; the rate of new cases is not just increasing, it’s increasing at a faster rate. As of July 18 there are twelve states where new cases are accelerating.

So what is Trump’s game plan? I have already mentioned DISTRACTION in the form of US troops attacking protestors.

HIDE THE NUMBERS is the second leg of the plan. Trump is ordering hospitals to now bypass traditional reporting to the CDC to a new non-public accessible data repository. A leaker provided the New York Times with a federal assessment of school reopenings as “highest risk” while Trump views CDC guidelines as “too tough”. The CDC has now been barred from testifying before Congress next week.

You can use Trump’s interview with Chris Wallace to see how he will ATTACK THE SCIENCE.

And if you don’t like the bad news from testing, CUT BACK THE TESTING as Trump is “trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill”.

*****

There is new coronavirus news. Rashes are now considered another symptom of coronavirus. A study from South Korea confirms “older children (age 10-19) spread the virus coronavirus just as much as Adults”. And the US, Canada and Britain say Russian hackers are trying to steal vaccine research.

• A few positives: Multiple vaccine tests continue to show some initial promise.
• A low-cost rapid saliva test is being developed.
• Walmart issued a policy requiring masks and many other retailers followed suit – CVS, Target, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s… It is not a Right to make other people sick; there is no such thing as an American Disability Act (ADA) mask exemption.

In Trump’s eyes, if you die or get seriously ill you are doing it to make him look bad. Trump summoned all the discipline and positive leadership he’s capable of by wearing a mask for a photo op — once. Now he’s reverted to saying masks are part of the problem just like he normalized white supremacy with his “very fine people, on both sides” comment after the August 2017 violence in Charlottesville by right wing groups.

Trump treats science as debatable opinion, and he’s always of the wrong opinion. Trump’s lack of knowledge — whether from failure to inform, indifference or stupidity — is alarming. It is impossible to dissuade Trump from his own toxic soup of beliefs that guide his chaotic actions.

If you look at a map of where coronavirus cases are on the increase in the US, it looks like the increase is wherever people live.

I can only say stay safe and make wise decisions to protect yourself in spite of Trump.