The Republicans have, in a move that is hard to appreciate even for profane political reasons, chosen a man many would consider a murderer as the unofficial head of their party. The former President of the United States, Donald Trump, and many of his associates and supporters, are responsible for thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States through their denial and hindrance of the understanding and awareness of a lethal disease.
As a consequence of this catastrophic error and poor judgment in leadership, a large percentage of the electorate has been misled and captivated in a cult of denial. The culpability and infamy of these leaders will assuredly be forged in our history books, but for now, in the political and social whirlwind in which we live, there’s a tendency to let things slip from our full attention. It may be, however, that just the number of cases and deaths alone, which now exceeds the number of deaths in our country from the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, will be startling enough to any living, feeling person to refocus our attention on reality.
The emergence of the Omicron mutation, the burden on our hospitals and medical front-line workers and the intensified threat to our safety and that of our loved ones has, again, dimmed the hoped-for light at the end of the tunnel. We need to remember and understand some of the major reasons why we’re in the mess we are in. I will deal with one.
Last summer while on vacation, an acquaintance of mine, a hedge-fund manager, informed me that not only he and his family were not vaccinated, but that they were reliably informed that the COVID “scare” was a hoax promoted by the Democrats to gain electoral advantage. In addition, this person informed me that they no longer felt comfortable in the Boston suburb where they lived and would soon move to more conservative South Dakota where they would be more politically at home. This person went on to praise Q-Anon and some of the myths associated with Hillary Clinton as a murderer of children. Before this incident, I had only read skeptically about the degree of division between political parties and the lies and magical thinking that some self-proclaimed Republicans have come to believe as a mark of a new, self-destructive cult. The true believers of this cult have rejected the use of masks, vaccinations and safe distance directions from knowledgeable and sincere health officials.
They have proudly joined a death-dealing parade of COVID deniers and disease vectors in the name of their personal freedom. Their so-called “freedom” has supported the spread of COVID, killed or made ill thousands of their cultic constituents and infected, made ill or killed other more responsible citizens. Let’s be honest: The original death-dealing lie came from Donald Trump, then President of the United States, and is still perpetuated by many of his loyalists. This lie is a contagious virus in its own right and has resulted in the devotion and trust of his supporters in a person who resisted scientific advice that would have kept people safe.
We can in no way forget this death-dealing advice and the sickness and death that resulted. Nor can we forget all the components, all the blunders of an incompetent and dangerous leader: The politicization of a deadly pandemic along with propaganda and false news that continues to this day to cause great harm and death, the silencing of disease experts, the promotion of the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine, the defunding of the CDC pandemic team prior to the pandemic, the delay in assisting the states with obtaining testing facilities, the refusal to activate a federal emergency status, the inflammatory “China Virus” that set up hostility and brutal attacks to our Chinese citizens, the anti-mask stupidity, his infecting and causing death to people in close contact with him when he knew he was infected with COVID, his theatrics such as ripping off the mask in defiance when he returned from the hospital for COVID treatment, the delay or refusal to share vaccine production with other nations, leading to the development and spread of more variants.
And the list goes on, and so do the deaths, with an expectation of reaching one million in 2022.
After four years of lies, ruthlessness and incompetent leadership this Mussolini cutout ended his presidency encouraging an act of insurrection. We all witnessed a historical first in this abhorrent act against our democracy.
Early in December at a MAGA rally in Dallas, Trump proudly announced (to loud objections from some of his unmasked constituents) that he was fully vaccinated. So, does this mean that over the graves of thousands, this likely re-up Republican candidate for President of the United States in 2024 has seen the light? Pinch me, it must be a bad dream.
Edward W. Lovely lives in Topsham.
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