They ignored public health recommendations. They politicized masks. They gathered in large numbers and refused to physically distance.
Now, one by one, they are all testing positive for COVID-19.
Just days after Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden during the presidential debate for his habitual mask-wearing habit, he and several of his Republican acolytes have fallen ill. After flirting with catastrophe for months, it appears the chickens have finally come home to roost following last weekend’s White House Rose Garden ceremony for ultra-conservative Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
The list of coronavirus-infected Republicans continues to grow. Beside Trump, his wife Melania and close confidante Hope Hicks, others include Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, senior advisor Stephen Miller, former senior aide Kellyanne Conway, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. Trump and Christie, both of whom are overweight, have been hospitalized.
It is difficult to understand why Republicans have behaved with such shocking hubris over the last several months. They have shown a total disregard for their own health through their day-to-day actions, while promoting policies that have endangered millions of Americans.
The extreme level of recklessness, negligence and irresponsibility has been astounding. Quite frankly, it is somewhat miraculous that it has taken this long for them to catch the virus. These people have been behaving like a group of teenagers who think they are invincible and impervious to germs.
Donald Trump and members of his administration have been staging super-spreader events since June, starting with his ill-fated rally in Tulsa that likely led to the demise of former presidential candidate Herman Cain. Since then, the president amassed large gatherings at Mount Rushmore and on the White House grounds over the July 4th weekend, followed by back-to-back nights during the Republican National Convention in August at Fort McHenry and the White House South Lawn.
If we didn’t know any better, one might actually think these people have been trying to get infected. Trump has continued jet-setting across the country, staging rallies and holding fundraisers in several states, without a care in the world. Republicans in Congress have flouted mask rules, while GOP Governors continue to ignore science and throw their states wide open.
Now, Americans are being told to show empathy to the stricken president and his colleagues after they have demonstrated precious little for us over the past seven months. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has gracefully pulled his attack ads off the air, much to the chagrin of many, even though had he been infected everyone knows that Trump would be mercilessly mocking the former vice president.
Donald Trump and his friends infected each other through their breathtaking stupidity. Had the president listened to Dr. Anthony Fauci, instead of smearing and sidelining him, had he managed the crisis responsibly, he and his buddies would likely not be sick right now. Not to mention, the number of dead Americans would be far less than 210,000.
But here we are.
And even with the virus having reached the Senate’s chambers, Mitch McConnell is still gung-ho about confirming Barrett before next month’s election, putting everyone’s health in jeopardy. How can we trust these people to protect us, when they refuse to protect themselves?
Do not feel any sympathy for Donald Trump, and do not feel any sympathy for other Republicans who are sick by their own doing. They would not feel, and have not felt, any sympathy for us.
All these individuals will now experience the very same hell that they have delivered to the rest of the country through their remarkably irresponsible governance. They only have themselves to blame.