Blaming Joe Biden for the coronavirus spread is like blaming the surgeon for not saving the victim of a gunshot wound to the head. American conservatives, and a willing press, have conveniently forgotten the former president told the country the virus would simply disappear. He said lights, bacterial spray, and laundry additives would protect them. He told us that only fifteen people have it, and by late 2020, it will go away. It is not a [political] “hoax as he said in February of 2020; we were not “magnificently organized.” Nor was it true[his] “administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States. We are ready. We are ready. Totally ready,” he said.
From the beginning, the rampant spread of the virus has been facilitated by xenophobia, ego, and willful ignorance. The moment Dr. Deborah Birx swallowed her ethical pride and allowed Mr. Trump to use her as a pawn for his twisted game of chess, where we ended up was predictable—shrouded in colorful scarfs and confused fear. With her silence, Dr. Birx red-lighted Mr. Trump’s ridiculous assertions of UV lights, bleach, and disinfectant as a possible cure. Yes, it is understandable that the stunning ignorance of the then-president was bracing at that moment. Still, her answer, “Not as a treatment,” should have been followed up with an equally embarrassing condemnation later.
Instead and throughout, we got a constant barrage of carefully crafted language to hide the former president’s lack of knowledge. “He’s been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data,”Birx said. “I think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during these discussions about medical issues.” Statements like the above from Birx and other former coronavirus task force members fed the public’s misinformation on masks mandates, hydroxychloroquine, and other specious cures.
I woke up this morning to the latest medical-fevered-dream, urine therapy. Yes, as reported in a Newsweek article, a Facebook group called Urine Magic talked about lacing lemonade with urine to make popsicles for consumption by mainly unsuspecting children. Using the excuse of improving “cognitive abilities,” one member is so convinced that clandestinely adding urine to her friend’s daughter’s frozen confection would be viewed as something to be grateful for, ‘when the “improvement” in their child’s cognitive abilities becomes “undeniable.”’
As funny or as inconsequential, a small group of alternative therapy advocates may appear we are living with a hefty dose of what it is like to have a president persuaded by unproven, unwarranted quackery. How long will it be before podcaster Joe Rogan, football player Aaron Rogers, or Senator(s) Ron Johnson and Rand Paul are slurping on Instant Urine Pops. Testing again has come under scrutiny by Governors like Ron DeSantis (Republican of Florida) and Greg Abbot (Republican of Texas).
So, to all the women, girls, men, and boys who get tested or screened for prostate cancer, pap smears, mammograms, colorectal cancers, high blood pressure, and diabetes, “[Now] ‘think about it,”DeSantis said on Friday. “Before COVID, did anyone go out and seek testing to determine if they were sick? It’s usually you feel like you’re sick, and you get tested to determine what you maybe have come down with.” Either Gov. DeSantis believes what he says or believes his constituency is stupid.
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