31 March, 2020
So much of the news lately has been seriously depressing. A doubling of the domestic Covid-19 death count over two days last weekend; a best case projection of 100,000 American deaths, with other estimates ranging into the millions. One of the most troubling is found in an article by the Guardian, a highly respected news organization based in the UK. You should read this before continuing beyond.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/trump-coronavirus-politics-us-health-disaster
Natural disasters, the domain of government response, are tragic. The response, however, becomes criminal when the actions and in-actions of leadership result in thousands of unnecessary deaths. Absorb the facts of the article above and tell me how you can come to any other conclusion.
If you’ve been getting your information about current events from outlets like Fox News or from Trump himself, you were told that Covid-19 was no big deal; that the American outbreak would soon end, that the danger was being severely overblown by the liberal fake news media; that it was all a plot by Democrats to weaken Trump’s election chances.
I trust that everyone reading this is now very clear about whom the actual reporters of fake news were – and are. There is no force more destructive of the possibility American democracy represents than the Fox news channel.
We have a right to expect a much higher level of truth, of fact and of integrity from our leaders and news organizations than we have ever received from Trump, Fox News or the right-wing media.
Many people in our community are selflessly sewing PPE, due to the national shortage. The fact that we are even talking about PPE shortages is a testament to Trump’s total failure. Every American should be wearing a nose and mouth covering whenever out in public, as you see in urban videos from China, Japan and Korea. Doing so limits the spread of the virus by capturing the droplets dispersed by coughs and sneezes and even speech of the often-asymptomatic infected. Doing so shows respect for the front-line soldiers of this war: the grocery store and restaurant take-out workers and others who provide the essentials of life. Given the lack of testing, you can’t really know if you are infected. Only the shortage of PPE and the greater need for it by medical personnel have prevented universal wearing of masks in public as a national mandate. Even a bandana or scarf would help.
Colorado Governor Pollis has outlined an effective, rational response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KORIzi2oVQY. A key component is widespread testing and contact tracing, to identify and isolate the infected as rapidly as possible.
However, unlike other nations, testing is still being rationed across America. America STILL lacks the capacity to test for infection to the degree needed for rapid isolation and contact tracing – the cornerstone of every effective response. This is just one of Trump’s deadly failures.
Supply logistics is not rocket science. Action at the end of January, when the danger became clear, would have left our nation much better prepared. Trump didn’t declare a national emergency, activating FEMA, until Friday March 13th. The Army Corps of Engineers still has limited involvement, when both they and FEMA could have been mobilized by late January, to locate vacant spaces and make plans for expanded medical and isolation facilities across the country. Expanded facilities are necessary both to limit the spread of the virus, and to insure that beds, equipment and supplies would be sufficient to meet peak demand. Lacking this capacity, sick Americans for whom there are no available medical facilities will die.
The US military logistics commands have the skills and experience to transport materials highly efficiently. National supply chain management for critical goods – which Trump refuses to consider, telling state governors to do it themselves – would eliminate much of the wasted effort and profiteering resulting from states and hospitals individually competing for available critical supplies.
Throughout the development of this crisis, Trump’s words have consistently been ‘happy talk’ leading gullible people to severely underestimate the danger posed by this disease. People who trust what he says fail to take appropriate safeguards and are likely to contract and spread the virus, leading to their own deaths and/or the deaths of others. Trumps words kill. Trumps failure to act and lead as any leader who cares about other people would have, is causing and will cause the needless death of thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – of Americans. Trump is a murderer.
In law, treason is criminal disloyalty, typically to the state. It is a crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one’s nation or sovereign.
Trumps actions and in-actions have been treasonous. Trump deserves to be tried, convicted and executed for high treason.
I understand that this is a time when we all must pull together. The time for analyzing what could have been done better is later. At the same time, when a narcissistic sociopath is actively causing death, you don’t just stand by and watch.