猫咪社区

We don鈥檛 know what course COVID-19 will take with Donald Trump. The White House insists he is well, even as the barrage of aggressive and even experimental treatments he鈥檚 received suggests his case is more severe than they let on.

But we do know that if anyone with the virus鈥攏ot to mention someone with Trump鈥檚 increased risk factors鈥攈as a good chance of pulling through, it鈥檚 him.

Trump is tested regularly, so he knew at the earliest possible moment that he was infected (even if he didn鈥檛 wear a mask or cancel public events afterward). He has doctors at his side, with their sole focus on him and his wife. He has access to all available treatments and . 

Unlike millions of Americans, Trump didn鈥檛 have to to qualify for a test. He didn鈥檛 have to before being hospitalized to get care. He doesn鈥檛 have to choose between taking care of his family or taking care of his disease. 

He isn鈥檛 poor (although he owes more than he鈥檚 worth). He isn鈥檛 undocumented, so he isn鈥檛 barred by from accessing services. He isn鈥檛 Black or Brown, so systems of White privilege increase his chances of survival. He isn鈥檛 in the who are now food and/or housing insecure in the U.S. because of the pandemic and recession.

He isn鈥檛 one of the who lost their health coverage because they lost their job during the pandemic. Indeed, Trump鈥檚 taxpayer-funded care won鈥檛 cost him a dime, especially because he paid at all for more than a decade.

And, he hasn鈥檛 lost his job鈥攜et. 

All things considered, Trump鈥檚 prognosis is statistically brighter than nearly any other American diagnosed with COVID-19 in his age group鈥攖o say nothing of the more than 200,000 who have already died from it on his watch. 

So if he has been cavalier about not only catching the virus but also about spreading it to others, can we really blame him? Yes, we can. 

Though we can feel sympathy for anyone who contracts a dangerous virus, we must also recognize Trump鈥檚 callous disregard of the science of the disease, the safety measures necessary to reduce the risk for oneself and for others, and the bare minimum measures that would have made the pandemic much easier for ordinary people to endure.

Trump鈥檚 mockery of masks is well-known鈥攈is campaign even mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask 鈥攁nd the president has admitted downplaying the seriousness of the virus for months. He has even stoked a culture among his base where the idea that the coronavirus is merely a 鈥溾�� is prevalent.

Perhaps worst of all is the administration鈥檚 utter lack of regard for the health, safety, and economic well-being of the who have reported suffering significant financial pain during this recession. 

Not only has the White House refused to agree on a robust and critical second relief package, but it has also not pressured its lapdog GOP-controlled Senate to negotiate a package with Democrats. And even as we speak, Trump鈥檚 lawyers are pushing the Supreme Court to throw out the Affordable Care Act鈥攁nd with it protections for pre-existing conditions (of which Trump himself now has several) as well as coverage . During a pandemic.

Even during the worst personal health crisis of a sitting U.S. president since Ronald Reagan was shot, we need to center our concern for the millions of people who鈥檝e suffered this horrible virus, none of them with the privileges Trump has enjoyed, as well as the 210,000 who have died as a result of his failure to keep the public safe. 

We need to pass legislation to put food on the tables of the tens of millions of hungry families, who have doubled in number since before the pandemic. We need to extend the pandemic unemployment insurance payments that helped people stay off the ledge of the abyss of poverty. We need to pass rental assistance for all those tenants on track to owe $2 billion in back rent by the end of this year. 

And we need to pass a single-payer health care plan that will ensure we can all access the gold star health care available to Trump, members of Congress, and the wealthy. 

If we鈥檙e going to recover from this pandemic, we need policymakers to respect human life and well-being more than the president has.