Republicans complain that Democrats are "blaming the victim."
"The insinuation that anyone would deserve to contract COVID-19 is offensive and shameful."
Rep. Jim Banks (R. Indiana)
 |
| Rose Garden Event |
He was referring to comments by Nancy Pelosi. So was top GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy when he called her comments "unbecoming," "insensitive," and "rather disgusting."
Here is what she said:
"We all received that news [of Trump's diagnosis] with great sadness. I always pray for the president and his family that they're safe. This is tragic. It's very sad. But it's also something that, again, going into crowds, unmasked, and all the rest, was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen."
That wasn't good enough. She said "brazen invitation," and those were fighting words.
The GOP has a message: Those mean Democrats. Poor Trump. They are laughing at him. They are hitting him while he is down. Trump's go-to emotion is one of indignation at attacks by the left. Republicans are clear about what they don't like--Democrats. Expression of sadness, tragedy, and prayers aren't enough.
Trump got COVID, and the message war taking place over whether to feel sorry for Trump, or whether to see this as his well-deserved comeuppance. Trump positions himself as the innocent victim of circumstance. Trump and America were doing just great until COVID, that sneak attack from China, and now-stricken Trump is attacked by Democrats who suggest that he was somehow responsible for any of it.
Tom Cotton, Senator from Arkansas, addressed this firmly on Fox on Sunday. How dare Democrats blame Trump for getting sick. The blame is China's, no-one but China's.
The Trump campaign complained that Biden had not successfully pulled all negative ads about Trump, hitting him when he is down, "while the president is at Walter Reed."
And how dare Saturday Night Live suggest Trump invited the disease by having mocked Biden for wearing a mask. SNL called it irony. It's no laughing matter, says Fox.
Trump's diagnosis of COVID puts Democrats in a difficult position. Some Americans do indeed see Trump as a victim, pure and simple. Republican behavior around masks and social distancing has taken leadership by Trump. The thinking is that the disease is out there, it's China's fault, and there is nothing much anyone can do about it that isn't worse than the disease itself, so a lot of people are scofflaws and token observers of masks and social distancing.
Masks are political signaling, and many Republicans, especially in company of other Republicans, go mask less. It was policy at the White House. Masks are a Democratic hoax, and the nanny state gone wild. Therefore, Trump's behavior wasn't risky. It was realistic. It demonstrated Trump refuses to be played for a fool by the Democratic tyrants.
From the Democratic perspective, Trump and his White House courted getting COVID and got what he should have expected.
Democrats have a dilemma. Democrats brand themselves as the party of compassion. They want to help everyone. It contradicts the Democratic message of universal coverage to say that some people "deserve" to get sick, for any reason. Democrats don't like to blame, but they need to blame Trump because it devalues mask-wearing and social distancing if Democrats say Trump is blameless. His getting COVID isn't random bad luck. He took big risks personally and set a White House policy that put hundreds of others at risk, and the consequences are showing up. Trump's COVID proves their point.
Nancy Pelosi handled an impossible job as well as a Democratic leader could do it. She expressed compassion with thoughts and prayers. She then stood firm with the Democratic position that masks and social distancing are important and identified Trump's behavior as risky.
Humans have a moral instinct for fairness. They enjoy seeing people getting what they deserve. That moral sense hurts Democrats when they defend public benefits for the improvident. They look soft and over generous when they help people that others consider undeserving. Republicans get support by pointing out that Democrats end up giving benefits to "Welfare Queens" and people gaming the system.
This is the opposite situation. Trump took chances and acted like a know-it-all. He made his bed.
6 comments:
In the early 80s HIV/AIDS was infecting gay men and the Right raged against them as did the Christian conservative churches. Their disease was the wrath of God. Little was done in the Reagan Administration to bring the AIDS epidemic under control. Spread by both sex and blood many people became infected with HIV. The conservative view was all who became ill deserved it. Some how the sick were sinners.
Fast forward to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican Trump administration blames China for the 209,000+ deaths and the economic slowdown. As with HIV/AIDS and Reagan, again Trump takes no responsibility for allowing the virus to spread throughout our population. No moon shoot effort was made to combat the spread of the virus with masks and other PPEs in either case. The comparison of the public response to COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS is clear - barriers worked to slow the spread of the virus. For a variety of reasons given by Reagan the use of condoms and rubber barriers went against the conservative message and now the use of masks and social (safe) distancing goes against the Trump brand of Freedom and his attack on the nanny state.
From the distance of 40 years looking back at HIV/AIDS Reagan failed the nation with silence, ignoring the medical professionals. We need a loud and focused call to the nation that that tactic of ignoring the virus did not work with HIV/AIDS and it will not work to reduce or stop the spread of COVID-19 disease. President Trump and his administration has failed the nation in his cavalier behavior towards the virus has lead to a cross-section to Republicans becoming infected, him included.
The message is clear - until their is an effective vaccine and/or treatment - WEAR A MASK! AVOID LARGE CROWDS!
VOTE BIDEN/HARRIS
My thoughts and prayers also go out to the president. I just won't reveal what they are.
"Humans have a moral instinct for fairness."
Good points...however, morality isn't instinctive. It's one of the inventions that humans created as part of civilization. Whether one is fair or compassionate is a choice.
Some choose not...the Jungle is the epitome of unfairness.
R hubris + D schadenfreude = a plague on both your houses. Literally.
Ignore the Trump section, they've got the infection. If they lose the election, that's Darwinian selection.
Gotta make that into Haiku....
Trump as John Wayne, emerging from the hospital after being treated for cancer; Wayne boasted "I licked the Big C." And then he died of cancer....
Post a Comment