Knowledge, Not Personal Politics, Is Our Only Effective Weapon Against Coronavirus

Your politicians are not doctors, regardless of your allegiance.

Image courtesy of https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/

I have something on my mind.

Four more Americans were announced as having died of the Coronavirus in Washington State yesterday, March 2, 2020, marking President Trump’s words from his February 28, 2020 South Carolina rally — equating the virus with a “Democratic hoax” — as something more than simply irresponsible.

The words were politically-expedient, and potentially dangerous for those who downplay the coronavirus as a result.

Specifically, Trump said the following: “We have exposed the far left’s corruption and defeated their sinister schemes and let’s see what happens in the coming months. Let’s watch. Let’s just watch. Very dishonest people. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it.”

Following a minute of comparing the Democrats’ response regarding his handling of the coronavirus to their impeachment efforts and the Russian collusion charges, he continued with this: “They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’d been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.”

His words echoed Trump Jr.’s earlier diatribe, blaming Democrats for wanting the virus to kill millions of Americans as a strike against his father’s office.

For his part, Mike Pence defended Jr.’s inflammatory comments as “understandable.”

To be clear, though his comments frequently require translation, the President did not appear to call the virus itself a “hoax.” He appeared to refer to the Democratic response to his perceived inaction when the virus became public.

He defended his words the following day: “I was referring to the action that they take to try and pin this on somebody because we’ve done such a good job,” he said.

That clarification aside, did the leader of the free world make the matter any more reassuring to either his followers or his detractors?

For that matter, have the Democrats’ declaratives to his response served a better purpose? After all, candidates appearing on television and slamming Trump over coronavirus has become business as usual, as opposed to an effective reassurance.

Are both entities at fault for politicizing our latest calamity?