And yes, I am relieved that the president is doing well.
Why are you shocked?
Have you not realized who you are talking to?
I am not rooting for a president to die in office, even this one who I despise. The number of presidents that died while in office in my lifetime is zero, and I hope it stays that way. My parents were toddlers when John Kennedy was assassinated. My living grandparents have had two presidents die while in office – the previously mentioned Kennedy when they were young adults and Franklin Roosevelt when they were children. I don’t bring up Kennedy since 1) they were living in the Dallas area when it happened, and 2) it will bring up terrible memories. Roosevelt may be different given their age when he passed, and they sensed that people around them were sad but did not understand why until later.
In addition to Kennedy and Roosevelt, six other presidents have died in office. Like Kennedy, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley died by an assassin’s bullet. Roosevelt along with William Henry Harrison, Taylor, and Harding died due to various health ailments that cut their time in office short.
There have been close calls: Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, Roosevelt in the period when he was president-elect, Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack while golfing in Denver in 1955, a member of the deranged Charles Manson Family made an attempt on Gerald Ford’s life in 1975, the attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981, and the numerous death threats levied towards every president that has required Secret Service to investigate.
Whatever feelings I have towards Trump or any other president that I have disagreements with pales in comparison to the feelings of grief the country would go through if a president was to die in office.
And rooting for any president’s death would be a slap in the face of my honorable military service.
What troubles me about the president’s stay at Walter Reed is how it has been spun as if this was another campaign event.
The president receiving any medical treatment is a sobering event and must be treated as such. Instead it was rendered as another rally with Trump supporters showing up outside of the hospital chanting support of THEIR president.
Press conferences outside of Walter Reed were at times contradictory of previous reports as well as conflicting with the timeline is being established of how long Trump and others within the White House had contracted COVID-19. Given how many lies this administration has told, there has been some skepticism about the seriousness of this hospital visit as well as this being fabricated in order to downplay Trump’s behavior in the first debate and The New York Times reporting on Trump’s taxes.
It appears that the announcement of Trump’s
choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court was a contributor
to spreading the disease that has so far infected
three US Senators, Trump’s third wife Melania Trump, his 2020 campaign manager,
Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel Romney, White House press secretary
Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne
Conway and her family through her daughter’s TikTok account, former New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie, advisor Steven Miller, communications director
Hope Hicks, and many others.
So far, the White House is not doing any contact tracing to inform those who attended that event to get tested. To all those people who work in the White House providing security and hospitality services and those in the press corps, this administration is telling you that you are nothing more than sacrifices for their benefit and whatever amuses them at the time.
Other contributors have been Donald Trump resuming as if COVID-19 is not a thing and continuing to hold large in person rallies similar to the one that was held in Tulsa, OK in June. One of the attendees was one of the candidates vying for the 2012 Republican nomination Herman Cain who eventually died of COVID-19 related complications.
If this was a fabrication, several people would have to be involved in it including the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are currently in quarantine after a Coast Guard admiral tested positive for COVID-19.
In the first (and possibly the only) presidential debate of the 2020 general election, Trump and his family traveled to Cleveland for that event. In the audience, Trump’s adult child removed their masks upon taking their seats despite the rules of the debate’s location. Trump then mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask and his reduced crowd size.
The top of the Democratic ticket – Biden and Senator Kamala Harris – each tweeted their well wishes to Trump. Former President Barack Obama also sent his remarks wishing the president good health. In response to this goodwill, the Trump campaign resumed their attacks on the Democratic ticket and Barack Obama in an e-mail sent to campaign supporters.
Instead of remaining in the hospital recovering, Trump held a parade outside where he waved to adoring fans from the safety of his vehicle. There are questions about how safe this was, primarily the Secret Service agents who are tasked with protecting the president.
Trump made a dramatic return to the White House on the same Marine One helicopter that transported him to Walter Reed and from the balcony removed his mask and waved as if he himself alone had conquered COVID-19.
Already this event is being used as part of the Trump campaign propaganda apparatus as if the only way to conquer COVID-19 is just by strength of will.
So that is why over 212,000 Americans died of COVID-19, they just lacked the strength of will which our dear leader has.
Please note the sarcasm in that last sentence.
Trump is claiming immunity to COVID-19 despite that upon further inspection of videos released showed that he is struggling to breathe. And Trump, despite his claims on being physically fit for the office, was not in the best condition and COVID-19 has likely worsened it.
And that is before I get into the medication that he is taking to combat COVID-19. The side effects include erratic mood swings which given Trump who can tell the difference.
Is anyone in the White House going to invoke provisions of the 25th Amendment or nah?
Overall, Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis sends a signal that he is not equipped to combat the pandemic. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump tweeted that he was ceasing negotiations on a new COVID-19 relief package between the White House and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and such negotiations would resume after the election when he wins. That tweet caused the stock market to drop about 600 points.
If it was not the 212,000 Americans dead and climbing that convinced you that Trump is not equipped to handle the pandemic, how about that fact that he, as president, who resides in one of the most secure locations, is surrounded by people willing to protect him and his family at all cost, and has access to medical facilities that will do whatever it takes to keep him alive is now one of the 7 million Americans who have been afflicted by this disease. And that Trump has become a COVID-19 super spreader due to his actions in continuing to downplay the pandemic.
There is one thing that sums up Trump’s COVID-19 response.
In photos released showing that he is still working despite being in the hospital, upon closer inspection it shows that Trump was signing blank pages.
It finally took for Trump to become the most well known COVID-19 patient to reveal that his administration has no plan whatsoever to keep any of us safe, including himself and those surrounding him, from this pandemic.
And the only way to put a competent plan in place is to vote him out along with his Republican enablers in less than four weeks from now.
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