On April 12 I wrote an article “Trump can not be trusted to reopen the economy” in which I stated:
Every step taken has been made with his own re-election foremost in mind. At every stage, he has put Trump first. It is undeniable that we have witnessed an American POTUS make decisions that prove he is willing to sacrifice American lives to save his re-election.
Less than 90 days later, it is clear my concerns were well-founded. In those days, he has:
- Pushed GOP governors to re-open sooner than taskforce guidelines suggested.
- Pushed GOP governors to continue re-opening despite not hitting guideline benchmarks.
- Disparaged every Democrat governor that followed the benchmarks for re-opening..
- Publicly encouraged every thug protesting against the slower re-opening, giving rise to the “Reopen NOW!” and anti-mask movements.
- Publicly threatened slower reopening & critical governors with cutting off needed federal funds.
- Removed the federal government from securing needed tests, leaving states to out-bid each other for limited supplies.
- Claimed Coronavirus was no worse than the flu, it would disappear, 99% of people suffer no consequences from it. All false.
- Held rallies defying public safety standards.
- Claimed to have the world’s best testing (26th in tests/1M people) and testing is the only reason cases are skyrocketing. A lie.
- As cases exploded, celebrated the addition of millions of new jobs that were really just a fraction of lost jobs returning.
- And finally (though not an exhaustive list) began warning that any slow down in the economy would be the fault of those restraining the reopening of the economy, not him.
Many have wondered why he would risk killing so many people just to campaign on jobs and the economy. The answer has two parts:
First, as he stated a couple of years ago, he believes that he “could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and get away with it.” Everything his followers and fellow elected GOP members have done since, convinced him that it’s even “better” than that – that he can kill thousands of Americans in public and “get away with it.” And… he is right (he has lost very little support of his base).
Second, he isn’t only campaigning on the economy. He is campaigning on racial divides, socialism fears and violence fears, while betting on Putin’s help again and the hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations and billionaires.
There is a good chance Trump will over-play his hand like he did ruining the USFL or multiple business and personal bankruptcies. But there is a small chance he will get lucky covid and the economy go “his way” somehow.
We all have to act now, and vote later like our lives – and the life of our Republic – depend on it.
(445 words)
Patrick On Politics 