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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDonald Trump's Cult of Personality Did This
The president of the United States is a menace to public health.
I dont mean that I disagree with him on policy, although I do. I dont mean that I abhor the presidents expressed bigotry toward religious and ethnic minorities, although that is also true. I am not referring to Donald Trumps efforts to corrupt the Justice Department, shield his criminal associates from legal peril, or funnel taxpayer money to his tacky hotels and golf courses, although all of these things are reason enough to oppose the president.
What I am referring to is the fact that, soon after the coronavirus outbreak emerged in China, the rest of the world began to regard it as a threat to public health, while Trump has seen it as a public-relations problem. Trumps primary method of dealing with public-relations problems is to exert the full force of the authoritarian cult of personality that surrounds him to deny that a problem even exists. This approach has paid political dividends for the Republican Party, in the form of judicial appointments, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a rapid erosion of the rule of law. But applied to the deadly pandemic now sweeping the planet, all it has done is exacerbate the inevitable public-health crisis, while leaving both the federal government and the entire swath of the country that hangs on his every word unprepared for the catastrophe now unfolding in the United States. The cardinal belief of Trumpism is that loyalty to Trump is loyalty to the country, and that equation leaves no room for the public interest.
Neither the tide of pestilence sweeping the nation nor the economic calamity that will follow was inevitable. They are the predictable outcomes of the presidents authoritarian instincts, his obvious incompetence, and the propaganda apparatus that has shielded him from accountability by ensuring that the public is blinded to his role in the scale of this disaster.
Trumps first public remarks on the coronavirus came during an interview with the CNBC reporter Joe Kernen on January 22. Kernen asked, Are there worries about a pandemic at this point? To which Trump replied, No. Not at all. Andwerewe have it totally under control. Its one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. Itsgoing to be just fine. In February, he falsely declared that we are very close to a vaccine, and that within a couple of days [the number of cases] is going to be down to close to zero. In early March, he was still urging Americans to ignore the issue, saying, It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/donald-trump-menace-public-health/608449/
lpbk2713
(42,753 posts)They deserve it.
msongs
(67,394 posts)MFM008
(19,804 posts)Supporters
Deserve the brunt of this.
renate
(13,776 posts)They knew exactly what they were serving up. Their viewers just lapped it up.
I have nothing but contempt for MAGAts who were consciously racist and hateful, but Fox took advantage of the fact that their less educated and more trusting viewers were... undiscerning and gullible.
Fox management is not stupid. They preyed on those who are.
This is 90% on them. Trump is just the engineer of our destruction who would be a footnote in history if it werent for them.
tanyev
(42,544 posts)I've been looking for just the right article to print out and send in the reply envelope I got from President Donald J. Trump and the Make America Great Again Committee to order a MAGA hat. I think this is the winner. Thanks for posting.