President Donald Trump is getting what he wants: The country is opening up come what may, despite alarming indications that the coronavirus pandemic is intensifying its assault.
Trump says the virus is now reduced to just the "embers" and "ashes" of a spent pandemic as patience for nationwide lock downs fades and states aggressively open up.
The facts say the opposite. Another 1,299 Americans died on Tuesday and more than 112,000 people in the US have died from the disease.
Trump is not marking these deaths, just as he was reluctant to immediately honor the first 100,000 Americans who passed away before that terrible milestone was reached -- barely two weeks ago. And this is well before the feared fall resurgence of Covid-19, in the absence of reliable treatments and with a vaccine still months away.
The President has cajoling for reopenings for weeks, banking on the ebbing patience of a gregarious and industrious people who don't take well to being told to stay home. He's been ostentatiously moving around the country without a mask -- even if such behavior by the head of the government sets a poor example and shuns precautions that could keep Americans alive. Trump is not just defying the virus -- he's poking a stick at officials' warnings to avoid large gatherings, planning a rally in Oklahoma next week and others in four states where infections are heading up after that. Vice President Mike Pence -- who heads the White House coronavirus task force -- on Wednesday tweeted a photo of his visit to crammed-together campaign workers, none of whom were wearing masks or social distancing. He later deleted the tweet.
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