Trump’s semi-virtual Republican re-nomination convention extravaganza is now in the record books. Officially, the convention stretched over four days from Monday, August 24 through Thursday, August 27 on live and video TV feeds from multiple locations.
Blissfully Ignorant, Mainly Maskless Trump Acceptance Crowd August 27, 2020
Given the unusual circumstances, and since Trump.45 is nearly always a One-Off, perhaps it is best to include a lead-in day and a two-day follow-up period to capture the essence. On the Sunday before the official start, Trump’s big announcement was FDA’s arm-twisted and mischaracterized EUA (Emergency Use Authorization)for Convalescent Plasma Treatment for COVID-19 infections.
No surprise, that politically forced introduction was so botched the entire thing was immediately drowned in controversy, modified, walked back, muddled, and then some public relations heads rolled. Another Fine Mess in the best comic American tradition of Laurel & Hardy. But that is a story for another time.
To close out the triumphant Trump Re-coronation Effort week we have the Friday afternoon New Hampshire mini-Air Hanger live rally in front of a smallish crowd, with few masks and little social distancing. This was a let down secondment to Trump.45’s largest live event (since the 6,000 at his sparsely attended Tulsa indoor rally on July 21) of about 1,000-1,500 on the South Lawn of the People’s House during his Thursday night nomination acceptance speech Super Spreader Event, but at least Trump.45 is back live and on the Rally Road with 65 days to go.
On Saturday, Trump.45 donned his other Red Cap (the USA version, not the MAGA classic) (guarding against any Hatch Act PC nitpickers, no doubt) and flew to storm struck Louisiana for a Presidential quickie to survey Laura’s trail of destruction from earlier in the Week on Wednesday and Thursday. Trump was there to celebrate the grit of our people, the limited disaster declaration he signed (5 of 64 parishes), the 2016 electoral victory Louisiana’s voters gave him, and the fortuitous timing of the 15th Anniversary of deadly Hurricane Katrina which cost 1,577 lives in Louisiana, caused $125 billion in damages, flooded New Orleans for weeks, and scattered its population across the US.
What in God’s Name is He Celebrating? Louisiana Disaster Visit 08/29/20
The Saturday take away, in the President’s own words from our Baton Rouge paper:
“I’m here to support the great people of Louisiana. It’s been a great state for me,” he said in Lake Charles. “It was a tremendously powerful storm.”
Perched at the head of two long tables in the fire station, Trump peppered the officials with a handful of questions and marveled about the size and power of the storm, by some measures the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana in the state’s modern history. Trump also noted that his visit coincided with the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Be Prepared: Trump with Portable Presidential Seal Louisiana Disaster 08/29/20
This latest disaster Porn episode where grieving and battered Louisiana residents and horrendous property damage are displayed as Photo Ops and Disaster Props in Trump’s All About Me show is almost more than a patriotic Louisiana inhabitant can bear. But that is also a story for another day.
Let me just interject that Trump.45 is not suffering from the Worst Louisiana Storm sent by God on his watch. As destructive as Laura was this week, collectively in Louisiana we dodged an incredible Nature’s Bullet, and Hurricane Katrina was worse than Laura by at least an Order of Magnitude. Trump.45 finishes a distant second in the Savior of His People from Hurricanes Division Finals. Voting for Trump in 2016 won’t get the water turned on and electricity transmission towers rebuilt and restored to Lake Charles and the rest of the tens of thousands affected in the next 60 days.
Trump On the Job Louisiana Disaster Walk By August 29, 2020
And Louisiana’s hard pressed folks want Trump in Washington doing what Presidents facing disaster are supposed to do; command and allocate Federal resources that only he can direct and manage, not wasting everyone’s time by watching a Guard unit clearing a big fallen tree on an empty street and poking around a warehouse full of supplies. Doesn’t he have assistants who can do the basic stuff, like Chad Wolf (illegal Acting Director of HHS though he is).
Is Trump really better able to grasp the magnitude of the problem by spending 60-90 minutes in person on the ground? Even Trump.45 with all his learning issues can’t be that concrete.
To be fair, at least he didn’t try tossing paper towels to supplicant props like he did in Puerto Rico during another famous Hurricane Disaster Photo Op gone awry.
But enough of the Disaster Porn rant for campaign photo ops.
Anyone watching the four nights of the latest Republican convention would be forgiven for assuming the Trump Plague 2020 (COVID-19 Pandemic) is but a distant well-controlled memory for the nation. Happy smiling faces, hugely maskless, cheerily nestled right on top of one another, fully enjoying a partisan political moment usurping the People’s House for private use, closing with political fireworks over a National Monument live in the background.
That was the reality TV view of the current state of US national circumstances beamed round the World, or at least as seen by Fox News fans.
Here’s the parallel real-life Pandemic Report for the same time frame. Trump’s Seven Day Wonder contribution to America’s national well-being.
- Day One (Sunday Prelim): 517 American Covid Deaths
- Day Two (Monday First Official Day): 427 American Covid Deaths
- Day Three (Tuesday Second Day): 1,183 American Covid Deaths
- Day Four (Wednesday Third Day): 1,210 American Covid Deaths
- Day Five (Thursday Final Day): 1,133 American Covid Deaths
- Day Six (Friday Post Convention): 1,008 American Covid Deaths
- Day Seven (Saturday Louisiana Drive By): 961 American Covid Deaths
Trump’s Seven Day Gift to America’s Pandemic Carnage: 6,437 Needless COVID-19 Deaths.
Please note that due to yet another massively incompetent Trump.45 failure, we don’t know exactly how many Americans are dying each day because the Government can’t even count the dead scientifically and responsibly. We must rely on capable private resources to perform a government mandated function we all already pay taxes for and have for decades without problems. Thanks to the New York Times, the Washington Post, John Hopkins CSSE, and others for filling the Gap that Shouldn’t Ever Be. That’s entirely on Trump’s Rounded Shoulders.
As a 40-year public health professional, this absurdity makes me want to weep, before I start to throw things. How anyone could now trust public health advice on safely reopening schools, or applying criteria for playing team sports, or managing Covid testing, or approving a vaccine for efficacy and safety from the nest of political hack Appointees of Trump’s governing cabal is simply beyond stupid. Doing so will make tens of thousands more innocent Americans sick, and get thousands more killed before this is over.
Reasonable but not definite scientific studies estimate that about 80% of US COVID-19 deaths so far were preventable, if Trump.45 had acted on sound scientific and medical advice for Public Health measures. Instead we have all suffered the spectacle and consequences of Trump.45 listening to poseurs like Navarro and Mnuchin’s epidemiological musings, and relying on his own famously overblown and unreliable gut instincts in technical matters large and small.
One more little item. Trump.45 has proven over and over again he’s all about the base, stoking and inciting. Blaming All the Bad on the Blue States. Well, here we are just 65 days out, and Trump.45’s America is still for Red Only while he wants to Send in the Troops to Blue Cities. But then there is COVID-19. That nasty little virus, which didn’t get the All Hands Memo. At a time when it is almost too late to fix things for voting purposes, and Covid is Top Of Mind for you know, like suburban Moms, and Old Folks, and Rural Folks with few Hospital Beds, here is the US Dirty Dozen 12 States with the Most Covid Deaths in the last 7 Days.
And behold. Eleven out of 12 are Red States; and the worst two are the veritable anchor for Trump.45’s hopes in 2020, Texas and Florida. They are followed closely by Georgia and Arizona. Of the week’s 6,400 odd US deaths, Texas and Florida alone account for nearly 30%, punching well above their weight in a bad way.
Only California is real blue at 3rd place, while Louisiana is Blue only for Governor well back in 8th place, as is North Carolina in 10th. All three Blues of a sort combined account for 1,117 Covid Deaths in the last week, less than Texas alone, though their combined population at risk is larger.
In Trump.45’s binary world, the Worst Covid Death Tolls for the week of his proud Convention is Reds 85%, Blues 15%. Bad Juju, Man. And that’s with serious fudge. Since only California is Blue from 2016 voting, the real number for the 12 Most Deadly US States this past week is Reds 88%, Blues 12%.
What Does It All Mean?
Based on our current steady rate of 900-1,000 new Dead Americans every day, for the 65 days left until Election Day another 58,000 to 65,000 of our fellow citizens will perish due to Trump’s 2020 Plague.
As of tonight, Johns Hopkins tells us there have been 183,057 documented American Deaths from COVID-19.
In ten years of active fighting from 1965-1975, the United States lost 58,318 lives in the Vietnam War.
Vietnam War Memorial At Night: A Sacred Place Washington DC
In six months from March 2020 through August 2020 Trump has ordered and presided while 3 more Vietnam War Death Tolls have been visited upon American civilians on his Watch and under his presumed care and responsibility. Before we all get a chance to vote in November, his policies will inflict another complete Vietnam Death Toll upon our nation.
Take a moment to reflect. Trump’s Watch. Trump is Commander-in-Chief. Trump’s America. Four full Vietnams of Deaths in 8 months. A tsunami of failure.
Taking account of the drastically shortened time frame, eight months versus 10 years to accomplish the destruction, Trump’s active current Pandemic Death record in 2020 is 60 times worse than all of Vietnam, and four Presidents who were responsible.
Three Soldiers Statue at Vietnam War Memorial Washington DC
This is Happening Right Now. Right Before Your Eyes.
That makes Hurricane Katrina and all her devastation look like a gentle spring shower.
And Trump the Worst Commander-in-Chief in American History for safeguarding American civilian lives, which is his primary Sworn Duty as President under the Constitution.
And that’s the real story from a Seven Day Week in August 2020 when Trump.45 proclaimed Four More Years, It’s His House, Only He can Fix It, and Wouldn’t Ivanka make a Great Female President.
Do Your Job America! Vote On November 3rd.
Stop the Carnage!