“We’re Not Disposable”
Endangering Others
Trump endangered staff and secret service members when he returned to the White House against medical advice. He looked frail and weak. Trump shakily walked up a flight of stairs. He stupidly removed his mask. Experts say that someone in Trump‘s progression of the virus is still contagious. Several people could be seen waiting on him inside the entrance.
One of the agents assigned to the First Family told CNN “That never should have happened… The frustration with how we’re treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this though. We’re not disposable.”
The virus has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States. The real toll, based on the number of excess deaths this year, is probably closer to 275,000.
Instead, Trump acted like a pampered spoiled brat. Trump got an infusion of an experimental antibody cocktail. When his oxygen dipped, he was quickly put on a steroid normally given to patients with only severe cases of the disease. His experience is different than the stressful waiting game most patients experience.
Public health experts hoped that Trump would act responsibly and persuade his supporters to wearing masks and social distancing. These safety measures are essential to protecting loved ones.
The president’s comments drew outrage from scientists, ethicists and doctors, as well as some people whose relatives and friends were among the more than 210,000 people who have died in the United States. “I am struggling for words — this is crazy,” said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is just utterly irresponsible.”
Misinformation Super-Spreader
White House has spent days releasing conflicting and incomplete information about the true nature of his battle with Covid-19. Trump has been a super-spreader of disinformation for his entire presidency.
After receiving special treatment and state-of-the-art experimental treatment for Covid-19, Trump downplayed the deadly threat of the virus. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote. “Don’t let it dominate your life.”
Trump declared that he was already “better” and that “maybe I’m immune, I don’t know.” White House doctors acknowledged to reporters that the president was not yet out of danger. The president will take a five-day course of remdesivir, an antiviral drug, as well as the steroid dexamethasone.
“There is no doubt that Donald Trump is the largest spreader of specific and important types of misinformation today,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance, according to polls, Sixty percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. Just 37 percent approved. Sixty-three percent of the country said that the president had acted irresponsibly. And seven in 10 said they did not trust most of the information provided by the White House on the pandemic.
