Ever since Joe Biden became the duly-elected 46th President of the United States, and Trump was effectively fired by the American people, we've been blessed with comparative calm. Sure, the occasional toadie (McCarthy, Graham, Scalise) ventures down to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the bloated ego, but by and large since Twitter bestowed the ultimate gift upon the nation (stripping DJT of his accounts), it's been relatively quiet... until now.
You'd think that after fomenting the January 6th attack on the Capitol, "the Donald" would be inclined to lay low. But as the country recently marked the one year anniversary of the Trump Pandemic, he's attempted to re-insert himself into the national dialogue by demanding full credit for the development of the Covid vaccines. Well, perhaps we should give him an iota of credit for the rapid pace, but it was primarily science that came through for us. And, given the history of Trump's response to the virus, it's a wonder he has the audacity to even raise the topic.
--In May of 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the White House pandemic response team. Tragically stupid.
--In January of 2020, he crowed "we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China." Speaking of China, he praised President Xi for his "transparency" and efforts to curb the virus.
--All along, Trump was made to understand how dangerous this virus was. He told Bob Woodward (in private) "This is deadly stuff". However, he assured the American people "this is a flu". He lied.
--He claimed that "one day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear". Delusional.
--By April of 2020, he was promoting hydroxychloroquine as "a great thing to try", contrary to all medical and scientific advice. This was followed by his off-hand suggestion that we investigate injecting the body with disinfectant/bleach, for a thorough cleaning. He also wondered about the possibility of hitting the body with "very powerful light", ultraviolet or otherwise. Insanity.
--In May, he proclaimed "this is going to go away without a vaccine", while May also saw the national death toll surpass 100,000.
--Once testing for Covid finally began to approach appropriate levels, he complained there was "too much testing" (because more and more cases were being uncovered). He took the U.S. out of the World Health Organization (in the middle of a pandemic!), and began his racist references to Coronavirus as "the China virus".
--By August 2020, he was once again proclaiming that everything was under control, and demanding that schools be reopened in the fall. September saw the national death toll pass 200,000 (and climbing).
--Trump was now solely focused on getting re-elected, Covid 19 be damned. He always scoffed at masks, as well as social distancing. When questioned if he was afraid of contracting the virus, he replied "I'm on a stage, it's very far away, so I'm not concerned at all". Apparently he had no concern for his supporters.
--In October, both Trump and the First Lady tested positive for Coronavirus. More than a dozen White House aides followed suit shortly thereafter. Ceremonies at the White House continued to serve as "super-spreaders" when all safety precautions were routinely ignored.
--On November 2nd, he falsely claimed that "Joe Biden is promising to delay the vaccine and turn America into a prison state--locking you in your homes while letting far-left rioters roam free. The Biden Lockdown will mean no school graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas or 4th of July. He'll listen to the scientists!"
Mercifully, Trump was booted out of the White House--he lost the popular vote by over 7,000,000 and suffered a landslide defeat in the Electoral College (306-232, almost the same margin as his win over Hillary Clinton, and he called it a "landslide"). At any rate, he's gone, though by the time he left D.C. the Trump pandemic had claimed over 400,000 lives. Given his complete failure at dealing with the crisis, he needs to be quiet now and let wiser heads prevail. Goodbye Donald, may the next time we see you be in court in New York!
