n taped interviews with Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward,
President Donald Trump repeatedly said the coronavirus “ ‘is deadly
stuff,’” but “knowingly played down” the pandemic “because, ‘I don’t
want to create a panic.’” So he kept reassuring Americans with
statements like, “We have it very much under control in this country.”
All the while people were dying, never mind panicking. Aware that the
coronavirus “was life-threatening and vastly more serious than the
seasonal flu ” he “dismiss[ed] concerns about the lethality of the
virus,” publicly saying, “ ‘It’s a little like the regular flu that we
have shots for . . . and we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a
fairly quick manner.’”
At a South Carolina rally, he even “denounced Democrats for their
concerns about the virus as ‘their new hoax.’” And Woodward reported
also: “He made a conscious choice not only to mislead the public but
also to actively pressure governors to reopen before his own government
guidelines said they were ready.” (“Trump Admits Downplaying the Virus Knowing It Was ‘Deadly Stuff,’” By Maggie Haberman, The New York Times, Sept. 10, 2020)
President Trump’s taped interviews reveal not only his indifference
to the danger of the pandemic to Americans, but his willingness to
inflict it on them for his own narcissistic ends. He makes a big deal
about literally hugging the American flag, but Americans themselves who
get in the way of his re-election campaign are shrugged off.
An example of deliberately misleading the American people is
President Trump telling Bob Woodward, “Part of it is the viciousness.
You know when it attacks the lungs. . . . And now it’s turning out it’s
not just older people, Bob. . . . It’s not just old, older. Young people
too – plenty of young people.” Possessing this critical information,
Trump made a contrary assertion in an “interview broadcast by “Fox and
Friends” on August 5: “If you look at children,” he said, “children are
almost, and I would say almost definitely, but almost immune from this
disease. . . . They’ve got stronger immune systems than we do somehow
for this.” (Ibid) Apparently he already knew and kept secret: that “there has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks.”
The report says, “While some US leaders – including President Trump –
have said the virus doesn’t pose a large risk to children, one recent
study suggests older children can transmit the virus just as much as
adults. Another study said children younger than 5 carry a higher viral
load than adults, raising even more questions about their role in
transmission.” And William Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard
Medical School, said, “Children ages zero to five can be ‘highly
infectious to other people. It turns out they have a thousand times more
virus in their nose than you need to infect, so they’re very, very
contagious.’ “ (By Jen Christensen, Lauren Mascarenhas, Christina
Maxouris and Sandee LaMotte, Aug. 11, 2020)
The reported “most comprehensive U.S. accounting to date of pediatric
infections and fatalities reveal that there have been 391,814 known
cases and 121 deaths among people under the age of 21 from February to
July.” And “of those killed by the covid-19 . . . more than 75 percent
have been Hispanic, Black and American Indian children, even though they
represent 41 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.” These findings “echo pandemic
disparities well-documented among adults. Previous studies have found
the virus’s death toll is twice as high among people of color under age
65 as for White Americans.” (“Coronavirus kills far more Hispanic and Black children than White youths, CDC study finds,” by William Wan, The Washington Post, Sept.5, 2020).
Trump knew that children were not immune to the virus. Yet as summer began, he “tweets that ‘little leaguers ‘will be playing baseball soon’: in the meantime ‘take care of mom and dad.’”
He also pushed for the re-opening of schools, and a number of children
attending classes have become infected with the virus. He could care
less about little leaguers – and their moms and dads.
Jesus is recorded as saying, “Whoever causes one of these little ones
– those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them if a
large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into
the sea.” (Mark 9: 42) Where are the Christian faith leaders?
Read more at:
Where Are the Christian Faith Leaders? - CounterPunch.org
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