What Was Trump Doing While 82,986 People Were Dying?
As of August 30, 2020, 182,896 Americans had died of COVID-19. A day later, that number rose to 183,474. President Trump is not responsible for the pandemic. But he is responsible for the lackadaisical and disorganized response to COVID-19. It took him 70 days to take it seriously. However, as with all things Trump, concern for Americans’ lives took a back seat to his own needs. He worried as the stock market reacted to the deaths and millions unemployed. The economy was supposed to be his ticket to re-election. That’s what mattered most to him. That and golf.
In his continued effort to minimize the pandemic, he peddled questionable and even laughable cures. First it was hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. The FDA has issued warnings that use of this drug could cause heart problems. Then there was his suggestion that UV light and ingesting household disinfectants might cure the disease. How could we take the president seriously? Amazingly, some did and lost their lives.
Today, he and the Republican Party virtually ignore the pandemic. They barely mentioned it during their national convention. In fact, Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor, referred to it in the past tense, as if it was over and done with: “It was awful. Health and economic impacts were tragic. Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere. But presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the COVID virus.”
Instead, in the weeks before the election, Trump wants to focus on the protests to racial inequities taking place all over the country. As the self-described “law and order president,” he takes a hard line on peaceful protesters and labels them radicals and Antifa. He’s trying to attach that same label to Democrat Joe Biden, as if he is the cause of this unrest. But both the pandemic and the racial unrest are happening on Trump’s watch — during his administration. Instead of trying to calm the situation, he incites by supporting 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse’s self-defense explanation for killing two people with an AR-15 rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As Ed Kilgore wrote in New York magazine: “Trump’s leap to the defense of Kyle Rittenhouse is either pathological or a deadly message he wants to sent [sic] to future would-be racial-justice protesters.”
Not only is Donald Trump ignoring the pandemic, he is trying to instill fear into his base and those independent voters on the fence. He’s trying to divide us in order to win the election. And, all the while, he continues to play golf as the country protests and the number of people dying is increasing every day.
This poster is part of a series of posters Jeff Gates does under the guise of the Chamomile Tea Party. Often taking World War II-era propaganda, he remixes them with new text and imagery about the rancor so prevalent in American political discourse. Download a high resolution copy of this poster for free. In fact, all Chamomile Tea Party posters are free to download under a Creative Commons license.
Follow the history of our country’s political intransigence from 2010–2018 through a six-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.