The Republican Death Train Leaves the Station

The signals have been clear for a long time now.

Seeing the economy as the key to his re-election, there is little doubt that Trump is determined to loosen pandemic protocols prematurely and “open America for business,” as soon as the end of April.

There are two – and only two directions – where we can go from here:

Scenario 1: Trump takes the advice of health care professionals, who state without exception that the only safe way forward is to keep stay-at-home directives in place on a national basis, loosening restrictions only when infection levels have abated and there’s an adequate testing mechanism in place. Anything less just makes things worse – much worse.

The Result: At some point – perhaps by the end of June – businesses may be able to reopen and stay open, but with rigorous testing and pandemic-prevention measures in place. There are no shortcuts here. America survives, although Trump’s hopes to run on a great economy are dashed.

Or…

Scenario 2: Trump listens to his right-wing sycophants and Fortune 500 buddies, who are chomping at the bit to have Trump declare America “open for business” as soon as the end of April.

The Result: Things seem to go well for the first few weeks, until the virus returns with a vengeance. This either forces another shutdown, hundreds of thousands of additional deaths… or both. (Trump’s own Departments of Homeland Security and Human Services estimate a death toll of 200,000 if Trump ends shelter-in-place orders after 30 days.)

For an excellent, concise summation of the two possible paths, watch the below:

If Trump takes the second path and it results in the expected hundreds of thousands of additional deaths and yet another – even longer – economic shutdown, Trump’s chances of winning a legitimate election are slim. Whether or not he will surrender power willingly and what steps he might take to remain in power are open to speculation, but Paul Krugman’s warning about what is, terrifyingly, an all-too-likely scenario should be required reading for all Americans.

Are there limits to the powers that Trump can invoke as executive? The fact of the matter is: we don’t know. You’re not allowed to know. And neither is Congress. If this doesn’t worry you, read this article, and think again.

There’s one path or the other – there’s no middle ground here. We leave it to you to decide what path you think Trump will take, but there are several important factors to take into consideration when trying to guess:

1. To begin the process of “opening” the country safely, extensive testing is essential.
2. There is no physical way that sufficient virus testing will be in place for months.
3. From the very beginning, Trump has resisted taking federal action, instead taking every opportunity to minimize the threat with a torrent of misleading statements and outright lies. And,
4. In the recent Wisconsin election, Republicans have shown their willingness to kill voters – if that’s what it takes to win.

Keep in mind who we’re talking about here. While Governor Cuomo of New York mourns daily about the tragic loss of life, Trump brags about his TV ratings and his likes on Facebook.

We all hope that the “light at the end of the tunnel” is an end of the crisis, where we can get back to what will surely be a “new normal.”

But Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t support the idea that he’ll end up listening to the experts. Rather, the recent reports of his asking Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly about what would happen if he just let the infection “wash over” America seems to indicate a very different scenario:

If this is what, indeed, comes to pass, the light at the end of the tunnel is, in fact, the Republican Death Train, coming straight at you – and at democracy – on track to run over over America as we know it.

Without Extensive Testing, We Are “Flying Blind.”

Experts say that the only way to safely lift restrictions is with extensive testing. But currently, fewer than 1% of Americans have been tested and experts say there’s no chance that testing capability will ramp up to anywhere near sufficient levels within the next few weeks. (See chart, below.)

In fact, the Trump administration is ending federal funding for drive-through testing on April 10th.  This is just as experts predict that the US may be heading into the peak of the emergency.

[Note: most likely as a result of negative publicity about the NPR article cited, Trump has now reversed the policy. But we are leaving the rest of the article intact because the impulse behind the cutoff of funds is arguably more important than the actual act, or its reversal. – Ed.]

Drive-through sites have been very successful, and there’s no indication that the HHS will be “transitioning to state-managed sites,” which is the reason given for ending federal funding.

Rather, this seems to be fulfillment of Trump’s recent declaration that the federal government will no longer be involved in testing:

“We’re the federal government,” said Trump at Tuesday’s news conference.  “We’re not supposed to stand on street corners doing testing.”

The real reason for the move may be something much more sinister:

Trump is determined to keep the number of verified COVID-19 cases artificially low, to better justify declaring America “safe.”

Drive-through testing facilities have been very popular, with drivers sometimes lining up for hours. But Trump’s obsession with “keeping the numbers down” has been apparent since the Grand Princess incident. With 21 passengers and crew testing positive for COVID-19 on March 5th,  Trump initially refused permission for the cruise ship to dock, his main concern being that he didn’t want US coronavirus numbers to “double.”

Since then, over 100 passengers have tested positive and one crew member has died.

There’s virtually no chance that the US can ramp up testing fast enough to safely loosen pandemic restrictions by the end of the month. So, just as Trump has consistently downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 threat from the very beginning, the active disengagement of the federal government from testing can have only one real purpose: to keep infection numbers artificially low, making it easier for Trump to justify abandoning stay-at-home directives in parts of the US.

Lifting restrictions – even partially – is likely to have grave consequences, as has been demonstrated in other countries where premature loosening of stay-at-home policy has resulted in new rounds of infection and death. Areas that don’t follow social distancing guidelines will act as reservoirs of infection that can reinfect areas where the spread of the virus has been curbed, resulting in a “second wave” of COVID-19 that will spread throughout the US. Thousands more Americans will die – in numbers ranging from tens of thousands to possibly even millions.

Republicans Cross a Line

The April 7 Wisconsin primary was a shameless fiasco that did not have to happen. Voters standing in line to cast their ballots in the midst of a pandemic is a recipe for disaster and everybody knew it – especially Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature, who instead, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to seize power for themselves, and, at the same time, perhaps even be the deciding factor in the re-election of Donald Trump.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through the country, Democratic Governor Tony Evers tried to postpone the election and extend absentee voting, just as states throughout the US have done in the interest of voter safety.

But Republicans in the legislature would have none of it. Their objective was force a low-turnout election in the hopes that they could re-elect Dan Kelly, a conservative Supreme Court judge. As the deciding vote on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Kelly is likely to uphold Republican bills limiting the power of the (currently Democratic) governor and, even more importantly, overturn a lower court ruling that rejected Republicans’ efforts to purge almost 300,000 likely Democratic voters from the rolls.

Wisconsin is a critical battleground state, a state that Trump won in 2016 by a mere 22,748 votes, less than 1% of votes cast. Whoever wins Wisconsin in November will almost certainly win the White House. So Tuesday’s tainted election in Wisconsin may well be the deciding factor that hands Trump the White House for a second term.

Democrats brought their case to the Republican-controlled State Supreme Court,  who rejected Democrats’ appeals to postpone the election. Democrats then appealed to the US Supreme Court, who, in a shameful partisan ruling, voted 5-4 to, in effect, tell voters that in order to vote, they had to risk exposing themselves to potentially fatal infection.

Voters waiting in line for hours – in the midst of a pandemic – the vote tally of Wisconsin’s primary election on April 7th will not be known for weeks, but there are two things we know for sure:

1. In the Wisconsin election fiasco, it’s a virtual certainty that some voters contracted COVID-19.
2. There’s a very good chance that one or more of those affected voters will die.

Everybody knew what would happen. In fact, Republicans were counting on it. This is a premeditated act – there is no question about it. So now, for the first time, it is officially clear: Republicans – all the way up to the US Supreme Court – are willing to kill if that’s what it takes to retain power.

Churches as Disease Vector

When it comes to spreading a disease like COVID-19, you could hardly imagine a better way to do it than to get large groups of people to assemble in an enclosed space – like church. Yet, of the 15 states with the highest percentage of at-risk individuals, 11 of them are not barring religious gatherings.¹

Even though most churches are making an effort to control crowding, they still remain potent vectors for the spread of COVID-19. See Rachel Maddow’s interview below with Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, about the Kansas governor’s order limiting large gatherings including at churches. Dr. Norman takes the position that this is a matter of public health, not religious freedom, and that the Republican legislature is foolhardy for forcing the limitation’s reversal.

While most churches are doing their best to follow social distancing guidelines, there are some who are actively defying government orders, telling parishioners that God will protect them from infection. These right-wing so-called evangelicals traffic in wild conspiracy theories, see Donald Trump as their “savior” and interpret COVID-19 as a sign from God. These are real doomsday cults, and they pose a real threat to the rest of us.

It’s taken us 244 years, but between Trump’s sociopathy, Republicans’ cowardice, the acquiescence of the religious right and COVID-19, America as we know it may have met its match.

Only you can help stop it. Lots of us. Now. Click here to take action – and let us all hope it’s not already too late.