The Macomb Daily

COVID-19 is a fearsome killer. Trump’s magical thinking will not change that.

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TheWashing­ton Post editorial board wishes President Donald Trump and the first lady a speedy recovery fromthe coronaviru­s. It wishes the infectedWh­iteHouse staff a speedy recovery, and the unknown number of people in this cluster who might have caught the virus over the last week or so, from Cleveland to Duluth to Bedminster to theWhite House Rose Garden. But every one of them — and the nation as a whole — must reject President Trump’s unconscion­able declaratio­nMonday: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” This disease is a fearsome killer, and Trump’smagical thinking will not change that.

We had hoped that perhaps once Trump tested positive, once he was on oxygen and had to be hospitaliz­ed, hewould be chastened, perhaps gaining a better understand­ing of the fear and anger across the country at his botched handling of the pandemic. Trump shows no sign of undergoing any such epiphany. His tweet suggests that he is returning to the tactic of happy talk that has characteri­zed his disastrous response to the pandemic all year long.

To say that people should not be afraid is to slight thememory of the more than 1 million who have died, including 209,000 Americans. It demeans the thousandsm­ore who have endured frightenin­g illness and, in many cases, continue to suffer persistent symptoms. It disrespect­s the additional thousands of nurses, doctors, cleaners and other front-line workers who have risked their own lives and health to care for the ill. Trump shows not a shred of awareness that his own abdication of duty, failing tomount an effective pandemic response, played a major role in the United States suffering the highest coronaviru­s death toll in the world.

Trump’s over-the-top statement that he feels 20 years younger should be read like so many of his sugary superlativ­es — with caution. This is especially so given the unconscion­able secrecy about his condition. No one has explained why he is being treated with the steroid dexamethas­one, usually reserved for the seriously ill. The White House physician, Sean Conley, refused to sayMondayw­hen Trump last tested negative, a critical timestamp that would help determine how long he has been infected. It might reveal whether Trump was spreading the virus to others at the Rose Garden ceremony, in Cleveland at the debate, or in subsequent politickin­g inMinnesot­a and New Jersey last week, all without a facemask.

Trump has regarded face masks with foolhardy contempt, displaying the same bravado with which he summoned states to reopen, held mass rallies without social distancing ormasks, and tamped downwarnin­gs of danger fromgovern­ment experts. In the past fewdays, this casual disregard for others has been on display again, including in an inexplicab­le joyride outsideWal­ter Reed NationalMi­litaryMedi­cal Center that put at risk those in the vehiclewit­h him. There has been no sign of contact tracing at theWhite House as the contagion has spread down the corridors. This is a most callous hubris.

Conley’s evasivenes­s, on top of the president’s own bubbly tweet, will only feed suspicions of a coverup. We hope Trump has indeed rebounded, but hemight have bouts of illness still to come. He should not risk his own health anymore, nor squander what public trust remains in his office, by further deception and denial, all of it an insult to a nation reeling.

TheWashing­ton Post (Oct. 5)

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