Trump Turns the People’s House into a Petri Dish

Dick Polman on Aug 28, 2020

But the bottom line, of course - which Trump failed to mention Thursday night - is that America, with only four percent of the world’s population, has 25 percent of all confirmed cases. Indeed, between opening night and closing night of the Republican convention, more Americans died from the virus than died on 9/11.

Do the math: Since the dawn of Trump’s pandemic, we’ve had the body count equivalent of 6000 9/11s. If we recall how Republicans went ballistic when a grand total of two people died from Ebola during Obama’s tenure, just imagine how they’d be reacting now if Hillary Clinton - or Joe Biden - had racked up 180,000 dead. They wouldn’t be buying the lies that fouled the South Lawn.

“We are not prepared for a pandemic. Trump has rolled back progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. We need leadership that builds public trust, focuses on real threats, and mobilizes the world to stop outbreaks before they reach our shores.” That’s what Joe Biden said… on Oct. 15, 2019.

Will a pivotal share of voters guzzle Trump’s Kool-Aid a second time? I’m loath to predict, given what happened the first time. I just wish people would look up Trump’s 2016 acceptance speech and parse this particular passage:

“The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.”

Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com