Coronavirus – Page 4 – * Failed Pols

Many Americans wondered how long it would take for the White House to launch a smear campaign against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci, a world-renowned infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force, has displeased Donald Trump by daring to allow science to contradict Trump’s narrative about COVID-19. Last week, the Trump administration doubled down on its verbal attacks in efforts to discredit Fauci.

The world has become accustomed to Trump’s need to vaporize officials and others who disagree with him. Even experts presenting scientific facts are not immune; Trump sees adherence to scientific facts—at least those that are not in line with his messaging—as political ideology to be disempowered. Since science disagrees with the truth as created by Trump, science must be discredited. It’s not as surprising as it is disconcerting that Trump has attacked Fauci.

What’s a malignant narcissist to do, though, when he learns that 67 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic? Or when he sees that X percent of Americans are taking the virus more seriously than Trump wants them to? What other option is there, really, than for Trump to detract from the crisis and sow doubt and mistrust for the medical expert who, according to polls, Americans trust more than they trust Donald Trump? (And who, for that matter, has been portrayed affectionately by Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live?)

Fauci has not undercut the president, publicly undermined him, or attempted to discredit him. He has simply spoken the truth, however grim and frightening, about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 135,000 Americans to date. Truth has rarely aligned with the president’s agenda and world view, though, so Fauci must be dealt with.

As early as April, Trump was criticizing Fauci in response to Fauci’s candidness about COVID-19, and even retweeted a call for him to be fired. The two have not spoken in recent weeks.

Trump needs for the virus to just go away so that businesses can reopen, children can return to school, the economy can boom, and Trump can be re-elected. The way for the virus to go away, in Trumpworld, is to simply gaslight it away (along with “slowing the testing down, please,” since in Trumpworld, the reason we’re seeing more cases is that we’re doing more testing).

Fauci presents us with the facts about why COVID-19 continues to spread (we’re not following the recommended health and safety guidelines, which are just too inconvenient for some Americans to tolerate); and how we can help contain it and keep the death rate down until a vaccine is available (take responsibility, follow the recommended health and safety guidelines, and take the virus seriously). Recently, Fauci corrected Trump’s claim that “99 percent” of coronavirus cases in the United States are “totally harmless.”

“Obviously, that’s not the case,” said Fauci.

One only has to look at the statistics across the U.S. for proof that Fauci is right about that, as well as about his recommendations for social distancing and mask-wearing. Those states that have more closely followed the public health guidelines have had greater success in containing the virus; those states, such as Florida and Arizona, that went along with Donald Trump’s narrative about the virus and refused to follow guidelines as closely, are now paying the price with skyrocketing numbers of cases and deaths.

Again, truth is often not palatable in Trumpworld. Better to malign the tellers of truth than acknowledge an error of one’s own, or take leadership and address the pandemic head-on. And what more subtly effective way than to plant the idea that the truth spoken by Dr. Fauci is not reliable?

“Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” Trump said last week.

White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro said, “Dr. Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on.”

It’s helpful to keep in mind this administration’s tenuous relationship with truth-telling.

In a different administration, President George W. Bush once called Fauci, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, his hero.

In addition to its demeaning personal comments about Fauci, the Trump administration’s tactics have included using a video clip taken out of context where Fauci appeared to be downplaying the virus and advising against masks. Viewed in context with the cut portions of the video, it’s evident that Fauci was advising Americans early in the pandemic, based on what information was available at the time. Since then, as new information has come to light about the virus, Fauci has been candid about updating his advice.

Along with the video clip, the White House provided some journalists with what resembled opposition research on Fauci, as if Fauci were a political opponent instead of a member of the president’s own White House coronavirus task force.

On Saturday, a White House official said that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.”

The White House has shown that they have to resort to vague comments, aggressive “research,” and cherry-picked, out-of-context video clips and quotes in its attempts to denigrate Fauci.

Donald Trump would have difficulty firing Dr. Fauci, who has served under six different presidents as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Not only would Fauci need to be fired for cause by a direct supervisor, it would be a lengthy process. It’s much easier and faster, then, to try to go about damaging Fauci’s reputation and credibility. Unfortunately for Trump, that may be a challenge, since Fauci is widely regarded as credible and competent by a great number of Americans, including members of Congress.

Donald Trump is not threatened by world leaders. He doesn’t care who is smarter than he is, though he likes to proclaim how smart he himself is. He’s not daunted by those who have made Nobel-worthy contributions to mankind. He is threatened by those who are more popular than he is, and that includes the people that others tend to give credibility.

Though it’s clear that Trump has many things to envy about Dr. Anthony Fauci, what gets to Trump is that people are listening to Fauci, whose science contradicts Trump’s meaningless and senseless happy talk, and interferes with Trump’s goal to pretend that the virus will just fade away and all will be well again. Americans trust Fauci.

Fauci’s goal is to help save Americans. Donald Trump’s goal is re-election. To get to re-election, Trump has shown that he needs to take down whatever, and whomever, is in his way. The coronavirus is in Trump’s way, and Anthony Fauci, by virtue of his response to the coronavirus, is also in Trump’s way. Perhaps Trump thinks that if he could just succeed at his smear campaign against Fauci, his coronavirus nightmare would be extinguished, as well.

Trump takes aim at Dr. Fauci as coronavirus cases surge nationwide |
CBSN [2020-0713]

As COVID Infections Soar, Trump Attacks Dr. Fauci, CDC & Pushes Schools to Reopen at All Costs | Democracy Now! [2020-07-13]

In his most recent effort to pretend that the coronavirus is a thing of the past, Donald Trump is attempting to strong-arm schools into fully reopening this fall, despite a COVID-19 pandemic that shows no signs of abating. If K-12 schools don’t bring back students for on-site classes, Trump has threatened to withhold school funding. He has also criticized the CDC’s guidelines for re-opening schools, saying that they should be made less stringent.

Ignoring the fact that that Germany, Denmark, and Norway have succeeded in containing the spread of COVID-19, Trump tweeted, “In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”

Trump is tired of the COVID-19 virus. He’s tired of the impact it’s having on his approval ratings. He’s tired of being asked difficult questions. He’s tired of the inconvenience of it all. What’s more, he demonstrates an inability to reason out cause and effect. Reopening schools in the middle of a pandemic, he apparently believes, will convince Americans that the virus is behind them, demonstrate his great leadership in conquering the virus, and consequently improve his polling numbers.

“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools,” Trump also tweeted. “While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”

Appearing to support President Trump’s criticism of CDC guidelines for schools, Vice President Mike Pence told journalists at a Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Wednesday, “The president said today we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough. And that’s the reason next week the CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools.”

Using logic that sounded strangely akin to “We’re seeing more cases because we’re doing more testing,” Pence also said, “We don’t want the guidance from CDC to be a reason why schools don’t open.”

(In other words, “Science, schmience.”)

In a similarly confusing moment, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that the existing CDC guidelines aren’t meant to be prescriptive, that it was not the CDC’s intent to “provide a rationale to keep schools closed.”

So, while the CDC’s health and safety recommendations are optional for schools, Trump wants to make students return to school in person, no matter what, even if it puts them, their families, and school staff at risk. In Trump’s alternate reality, this will put the coronavirus in its place, and his ratings will soar.

Many schools fear reopening because they don’t have the resources to make the changes necessary for assuring health and safety for their students and staff. It’s ironic, then, that instead of authorizing funds to help these schools, Trump is threatening to reduce their funding. Pence, in fact, suggested that future COVID-19 relief bills might be tied to whether schools reopen.

It’s challenging for many families when kids can’t be physically at school. Opening schools unsafely, however, could result in much worse hardship. The country has been grappling with the quandary of how to get students the education and services they need, how to help working parents who have to miss work when their children are home, and how to keep everyone safe and healthy.

The solution is not to order everyone back to school as if that would make COVID-19 and all of its resulting economic, educational, and social issues just go away. With no plan in place, and no funding or resources allocated to address these problems or to ensure that schools are equipped for health and safety, families with school-age children have been placed in a bind.

Some governors are pushing back, saying the president has no authority over when schools reopen. (The president also can’t decide on his own to withhold funding from schools.)

“School reopenings are a state decision, period,” said New York governor Andrew Cuomo. “That is the law, and that is the way we are going to proceed. It’s not up to the president of the United States.”

And on Thursday, despite the criticism and implied pressure from Donald Trump, and contrary to Mike Pence’s hints that the CDC would be bending to Trump’s pressure, CDC Director Redfield said that the CDC would not be changing its guidelines, but would only be adding more information for schools on how to use the guidelines.

“Our guidelines are our guidelines, but we are going to provide additional reference documents to aid basically communities in trying to open K-through-12s,” Redfield said. “It’s not a revision of the guidelines; it’s just to provide additional information to help schools be able to use the guidance we put forward.”

Remember, though…they’re “just guidelines.” Presumably, though, schools will do what they can, even if it’s limited.

Trump’s claim that “young people do extraordinarily well” is not always true, since some children have underlying conditions. And all children are capable of transmitting the virus without symptoms.

Additionally, the reality is that children will be children— they’ll have runny noses, they’ll lose their masks, they’ll forget to wash their hands. And what about the kids who have had the “it’s a hoax” mentality instilled in them by MAGA parents? How fastidious will they be with the health and safety guidelines?

We must keep in mind that even if a return to schools is mandatory, the CDC has just made it clear that it is not mandatory for schools to follow the guidelines for keeping students and faculty healthy while they’re at school.

Donald Trump needs for schools to fully reopen— not for the wellbeing of our children, but for his campaign. During the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., he has demonstrated over and over again that the health and safety of Americans are of little consequence to him. This latest stunt should erase all doubt that this is true.

Trump Pressures Schools To Reopen Despite Coronavirus Surge | TODAY
[2020-07-08]

Trump calls for reopening of US schools amid COVID-19 pandemic |
Al Jazeera English [2020-07-08]

Tag: Coronavirus

Editorial: Does Trump Think His Fauci Smear Campaign Will Make the Coronavirus Go Away?

Editorial: Trump Wants Schools Open, CDC Guidelines Optional