Rick Wilson is correct that “Everything Trump touches dies,” but Trump has little helpers — call them Trump Mini-Mees — who assist him in dealing out death to Americans with COVID-19. And those Trump Mini-Mees are commonly referred to as “Republican Governors.” They really are a rouges gallery, and it is truly difficult to say, “This Republican governor is the WORST!” They keep outdoing one another when it comes to failing at fighting the coronavirus pandemic. And it is why I think that even if we defeat Trump this fall, we will still have to deal with the Trump Mini-Mes redoubt for years to come.
Let’s look at some of the winners for this week:
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has turned his state into a coronavirus hotspot, but he is insisting on “not going backwards” and opening the public schools in August. When it comes to sending kids to school:
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis says it’s perfectly safe to send kids back to school this fall despite rapidly rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the Sunshine State — arguing that if Walmart was open, schools should be too.
“I’m confident if you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools,” he said Thursday during an appearance in Jacksonville with US Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia.
“I want our kids to be able to minimize this education gap that I think has developed.”
But he also noted that not all parents may agree with him.
“Different parents have different calculations. If a parent wants to opt for virtual education, they should absolutely be able to do that. We shouldn’t be forcing them to do any types of decisions,” he added.
DeSantis claimed that data showed the risk of the virus in children was low, and that the risk of hospitalization from the virus for those under 18 was “substantially less” than for the flu.
Dr. Deborah Birx of the Coronavirus Task Force said earlier this week that cases appeared low among children because so few had been tested.
The stupidity and callousness burns.
- Texas Governor Greg Abbot has turned his state into a coronavirus hotspot, and Abbot is now pleading with Texans to not fight his mask mandate because he may have to order another lockdown.
With Texas continuing to break records for new coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations this week, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated Friday afternoon that things will continue to get worse. And if people keep flouting his new statewide mask mandate, he said, the next step could be another economic lockdown.
“Things will get worse, and let me explain why,” he told KLBK TV in Lubbock. “The deaths that we’re seeing announced today and yesterday — which are now over 100 — those are people who likely contracted COVID-19 in late May.
“The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”
Texans will also likely see an increase in cases next week, Abbott said, and people abiding by his face mask requirement might be the only thing standing between businesses remaining open and another shutdown.
“The public needs to understand this was a very tough decision for me to make,” Abbott told KLBK of his face mask mandate. “I made clear that I made this tough decision for one reason: It was our last best effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. If we do not slow the spread of COVID-19 … the next step would have to be a lockdown.”
Emboldened is mine. Making people wear a mask was “a very tough decision.” It should not be a tough decision. It’s a public health matter. But Trump made it a political issue, and Abbot doesn’t have the balls to defy Trump or as Beto O’Rourke says, “The Dan Patrick Death Cult in Texas.”
