Our friend Jerry has another post detailing the complete failure of the disgraced former president when it came to the worst pandemic we’ve faced in over 100 years. I’ve included a link at the end to continue reading on his site. Thanks Jerry!
Who is to blame for the approximately 627,000 COVID-19 deaths in the USA (as of August 8, 2021)?
Immigrants. Specifically, immigrants crossing the nation’s southern border. Immigrants in search of asylum from rampant poverty, vicious gangs, and oppressive totalitarian governments. That’s the newest notion being circulated by Trumpist Republicans. And why not; the slanderous accusations conveniently combine defense for their cult leader and condemnation of the “others” they’ve long sought to wall off from their cities and their consciences.
But is there any truth to their claim? A brief history of COVID-19’s arrival and first year in America might be instructive.
A Brief History of Donald Trump’s Response to COVID in America America’s first official notice of COVID-19 came with assurances from the Bumbler-in-Chief that “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” That was January 22, 2020.
A month later, February 26, that same man, pretending to be an expert, declared, “You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” Clearly, according to the person in a position that made him most likely to set the tone for a national response to any trend, this new virus was nothing to be concerned about.
The day after the president made the above declaration, he told White House visitors, “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
The very next day, February 28, at a rally in South Carolina, Trump said, “One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.” While Trump did not explicitly say COVID itself was a hoax, many Americans—including many of his devoted followers—took his statement to mean that. The president had just stoked the fires of the COVID-is-a-hoax conspiracy theory.
On March 9 of 2020, the president tweeted, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” According to the man millions of Americans see as the greatest leader in American history, the common flu is far more dangerous than COVID-19. “Nothing to see here, folks. Go on about your business.” And with that statement, Trump added more fuel to the “COVID is a hoax” fire.
On March 24, Trump boasted, “There is tremendous hope as we look forward and we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” On that date, health officials estimated the number of COVID infections nationwide at 65,800. Just five days later, that infection number had risen to 161,800. The tunnel likely didn’t seem too bright for those tens of thousands of infected folks.
To continue reading, please click here: Grumpy’s Grumblings
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