Some of President Donald Trump’s most avid media supporters are counterintuitively claiming that his diagnosis and hospitalization for COVID-19 proves they were right to downplay the effectiveness of public health recommendations to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. It’s a recipe for more carnage from a pandemic that has already killed more than 213,000 Americans, so of course the president seems to be adopting their view.
Trump recklessly ignored the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for reducing the risk of getting the virus, instead relying on a flawed rapid testing regime that did not prevent him from contracting it. Where the CDC calls for people to stay at least six feet apart from others, he has continued to hold rallies and other well-attended public events, as well as indoor receptions, where social distancing is scarce. The CDC urges people to wear a face mask in public settings and around people from outside your household, but the president both scorns donning one himself and discourages his staff and supporters from putting them on. While the CDC suggests quarantining if you learn you have been exposed to COVID-19, Trump instead held a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club.
Trump’s diagnosis could have finally triggered some soul-searching among his media supporters. For months, they have sought to bolster the president’s political standing by minimizing the danger posed by the virus, denouncing public health recommendations, and calling for the swift return to economic normalcy. Their propaganda put their audiences at risk — including the president — whose worldview they shape. But rather than acknowledging this and behaving more responsibly in light of Trump’s hospitalization, several are using it as evidence they were right all along. Continue reading.