In dark times we need to find the laughter wherever we can. Case in point: Mitch McConnell’s sickeningly hilarious attempt to explain why Trump failed to act swiftly on the virus crisis – a fatal non-decision that has cost American lives.
Speaking yesterday to right-wing talk show host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell said the coronavirus “came up while we were, you know, tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything ever day was all about impeachment.”
Oh. So the needlessly high death toll is the Democrats’ fault. Never saw that one coming.
Granted, it’s McConnell’s job to help Trump evade responsibility for his deadly failures. He lives to serve dear leader. But he should try to concoct a better excuse, because this one has more holes than Swiss cheese.
The Senate impeachment trial ran from Jan. 16 to Feb. 5. The Centers for Disease Control had begun issuing warnings on Jan. 8, ratcheting up on Jan. 17. On Jan. 24, U.S. public health officials briefed senators about the pandemic threat. On Jan. 27, Joe Biden publicly warned: “The possibility of a pandemic is a challenge that Donald Trump is unqualified to handle as president.” On Feb. 4, senators received another urgent coronavirus briefing. All that – and more – was going on during and preceding the impeachment trial.
Care to guess what Trump was doing during the trial window? Wait, I’ll rephrase the question: Did the trial divert his attention from the burgeoning coronavirus threat?
Here’s what he did during that trial window:
On Jan. 18, he played golf.
On Jan. 19, he played golf.
On Jan. 28, he held a rally.
On Jan. 30, he held a rally.
On Feb. 1, he golfed.
On Feb. 2, he golfed.
And after the no-witness sham trial concluded on Feb. 5, and dear leader was no longer supposedly distracted, and was supposedly focused on the dire business at hand, he was still shooting triple-bogeys.
Feb. 10: “A lot of people think that (virus) goes away in April with the heat as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though. We have 12 cases -11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.”
Feb. 26: “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets…USA in great shape!”
March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
March 10: “We’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
There’s a report today that Trump’s approval rating is up, thanks mostly to some independents who seem to like his coronavirus performance. I’ll merely suggest, as charitably as I possibly can, that it would be helpful if these people paid more attention. Amnesia and ignorance are Trump’s best friends. He doesn’t deserve to be enabled.