Trump ignores lessons of his pandemic failures as election looms

9/2/20
The fatal flaw of President Donald Trump's botched pandemic response has been a yearning for a quick return to normality that is dangerous and unattainable while the coronavirus still lies in wait. And now he may be making the same mistake again. When he is not diverting attention from the health crisis by stoking controversy over racial injustice and unrest in US cities, Trump has returned to his aggressive push to get the economy firing on all cylinders. A new demand for a full slate of college football games follows his earlier demands for all kids and students to get back to class. His demand for reopening without offering solutions that could restore a semblance of regular life safely is another apparent sign he's prioritizing his political prospects over science. With 184,000 Americans already dead, White House officials are hoping that Trump's dive into cultural warfare following protests and unrest over police brutality will to some extent cover over his liabilities on the pandemic. "We've done a great job in Covid but we don't get the credit," Trump said on Fox News on Monday. While US infections and deaths are declining, they remain at levels unseen in most of the developed world. There are flashing warning signs through the Midwest.

But the unspoken reality of that approach is that many more Americans will contract Covid-19 before the election, and thousands more will die. That is likely to play into efforts by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to crush Trump's hopes of a second term by lambasting his failures during the pandemic. "Mr. Trump, you want to talk about fear?" Biden asked on Monday. "Do you know what people are afraid of in America? They're afraid they're going to get Covid. They're afraid they're going to get sick and die, and that is in no small part, it's because of you." New reporting reveals that White House officials have all but given up hopes of stopping the pathogen and are now returning to a forceful state opening strategy. Trump's growing impatience coincides with multiple reports that the White House is growing receptive to the herd immunity, a theory reportedly advanced by the President's favorite new adviser Dr. Scott Atlas. In a dereliction of duty, Trump's administration has failed to put in place measures like a massive test and tracing program that might make such a goal possible and limit its potential danger. One being learned in the rest of the world -- is that the virus just doesn't go away. The only way to reopen colleges, businesses, restaurants and travel is to conquer it.

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Rogue Valley said:

Trump ignores lessons of his pandemic failures as election looms

Trump will do everything possible to divert campaign news/discussions away from his COVID mismanagement debacle.

But Americans are not fooled. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, nearly 60% of Americans said Trump is at least partly responsible for the protracted school and business closures due to the virus, as well as for the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. By contrast, most Americans do not see crime as a major priority and do not think it is increasing in their communities, the poll showed.

Somehow (by creating more city chaos and racial strife), Trump has to change the narrative away from COVID-19.

Click to expand...

Rogue Valley said:

Trump ignores lessons of his pandemic failures as election looms

Trump will do everything possible to divert campaign news/discussions away from his COVID mismanagement debacle.

But Americans are not fooled. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, nearly 60% of Americans said Trump is at least partly responsible for the protracted school and business closures due to the virus, as well as for the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. By contrast, most Americans do not see crime as a major priority and do not think it is increasing in their communities, the poll showed.

Somehow (by creating more city chaos and racial strife), Trump has to change the narrative away from COVID-19.

Click to expand...

Rogue Valley said:

Trump ignores lessons of his pandemic failures as election looms

Trump will do everything possible to divert campaign news/discussions away from his COVID mismanagement debacle.

But Americans are not fooled. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, nearly 60% of Americans said Trump is at least partly responsible for the protracted school and business closures due to the virus, as well as for the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. By contrast, most Americans do not see crime as a major priority and do not think it is increasing in their communities, the poll showed.

Somehow (by creating more city chaos and racial strife), Trump has to change the narrative away from COVID-19.

Click to expand...

Greenbeard said:

New cases peaked sometime in mid-to-late July following the late May/Memorial Day push to reopen. So one might expect a 6-8 week lag between the push to reopen all schools and the next wave hitting hard. So, mid to late October.

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