Trump’s advisers … are seeking ways to reframe his response to the coronavirus — even as the president himself largely seeks to avoid the topic because he views it as a political loser. They are sending health officials to swing states, putting doctors on TV in regional markets where the virus is surging, crafting messages on an economic recovery and writing talking points for allies to deliver to potential voters.
The goal is to convince Americans that they can live with the virus — that schools should reopen, professional sports should return, a vaccine is likely to arrive by the end of the year and the economy will continue to improve.
White House officials also hope Americans will grow numb to the escalating death toll and learn to accept tens of thousands of new cases a day, according to three people familiar with the White House’s thinking, who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. Americans will “live with the virus being a threat,” in the words of one of those people, a senior administration official.
“They’re of the belief that people will get over it or if we stop highlighting it, the base will move on and the public will learn to accept 50,000 to 100,000 new cases a day,” said a former administration official in touch with the campaign.
I guess that’s possible. Will we all just play Russian Roulette with our own lives and the lives of every vulnerable citizen we could be giving it to because our government has been unable to do what all the other developed countries in the world have done which is suppress the vrius so their economies can open up?
If Trump had the capability of doing the job properly we wouldn’t be in this position. But he didn’t and so he’s now going to try to persuade a majority of the people that tens of thousands of preventable deaths and massive sickness and economic devastation is just fine.
I honestly don’t know what to say to this. It is the most irresponsible, nihilistic political gambit ever.