Let’s wish Trump good health — and a healthy
realization that his actions have consequences
Opinion by
Columnist
Oct. 2, 2020 at 12:24 p.m. CDT
Even as
he awaited his coronavirus test results Thursday night, President Trump was
looking for ways to blame others.
“It’s
very hard when you’re with soldiers, when you are with airmen, when you’re with
the Marines, and the police officers, I’m with them so much,” he said. “And when they
come over to you, it’s hard to say, ‘Stay back, stay back.’ You know, it’s a
tough kind of a situation, it’s a terrible thing.”
Of
course, it likely wouldn’t have been a problem if he and they were wearing
masks and respecting distancing. Many of the cops, and the military, had to be
there, to escort him as he kept up heavy travel during the pandemic. But sure,
blame the cops and the troops.
It was
a classic example of a president unable to accept that his actions have
consequences.
This is
no time for schadenfreude or remarks about karma. I hope the president’s case
is mild, and I wish him a quick recovery. I’m not interested in speculating
about whether the illness will help him politically by generating a sympathy
effect or hurt him by returning the focus to the pandemic.
But
there is hope of a silver lining: that Trump’s experience could lead him, or at
least his supporters, to take the virus more seriously. In Britain, Prime
Minister Boris Johnson became more aggressive fighting the virus, and urged Britons to lose weight,
after his touch-and-go struggle with covid-19. We could save tens or hundreds
of thousands of American lives if Trump and his supporters reconsidered their
aversion to masks and social distancing.
It has
been eight months since Trump began to pooh-pooh the virus. We have seen more
than 200,000 covid-19 deaths in the United States since he said it was a “flu” that would “go away in April.” At
Tuesday’s debate (it’s possible Trump contracted the virus from aide Hope Hicks
that evening or at a mass rally the next night), Trump defended his rallies and
his cavalier thinking about masks, suggesting public health officials agree
with him and mocking Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s assiduous mask-wearing.
“Are
you not worried about the disease issue, sir?” moderator Chris Wallace asked.
“So far
we have had no problem whatsoever,” Trump said of his rallies. “We’ve had no
negative effect.” The death of Herman Cain six weeks after he attended Trump’s
Tulsa rally, and some evidence of post-rally
infections, apparently didn’t count.
For
much of his life, Trump has lived as if there were “no negative effect” — no
consequences — for his behavior.
He
skipped Vietnam while “suckers” and “losers” died there, then joked that
avoiding STDs was his “personal Vietnam.”
He had
numerous business failures but was often bailed out, by his father or by creditors.
He
engaged in adulterous behavior but paid for women’s silence.
He
abused his power by threatening a vulnerable ally’s military aid if the ally
didn’t help with his reelection, but Senate Republicans’ acquittal spared him.
He’s
rescued friends from legal consequences while teeing up probes of his
opponents, and his Justice Department has provided justification.
He has
produced falsehood after fabrication, and the White House has tried to use the
federal government to make whatever he said seem true.
He has
avoided taxes and congressional oversight and directed public funds to his
private business interests with impunity.
Two
decades ago, another Republican president, George W. Bush, told us:
“My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, ‘If it feels good, do
it; if you’ve got a problem, blame somebody else,’ to one in which every single
American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you
make.”
Now we
have a president who personifies the feel-good culture and blames his problems
on just about everybody else — Democrats, governors, foreigners, immigrants,
minorities, scientists, the media, you name it.
But the
virus isn’t subject to bluster and blame, only scientific truths. Robert
Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said we could
have the pandemic under control within four to eight weeks “if we can get
everyone to wear masks right now.”
Instead,
Trump has modeled recklessness and relied on luck — and hydroxychloroquine, of
course.
The
Post reports that Trump was in close contact with dozens of people Thursday
and didn’t wear a mask. He had traveled with Hicks, who had been seen without a
mask, to Pennsylvania for a rally Sunday, to Cleveland for the debate Tuesday
and to a campaign rally Wednesday in Minnesota, where Hicks began showing
symptoms.
After
Trump’s positive coronavirus test, White House spokesman Judd Deere said: “The
president takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in
support of him and the American people very seriously.”
That’s
nice. But if there were any good to come out of this unfortunate situation, it
would be that Trump and his supporters decided to take the health of all
Americans seriously.