Sweet, honeyed words poured from my lips: “Trump has coronavirus.”
In the wee morning hours of Friday, October 2, I rustled my partner awake, eager to deliver some good news for once.
Go ahead and chastise me for taking this stance. You are wondering how anyone could wish this sort of thing on any person. But hold up! Hear me out. Donald Trump is not a normal person. His cacophonous presidency is a blight on the earth and a risk to the continued survival of our species. So really, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I will take any allies I can get to take down this monster, even if that ally is COVID-19.
At the very least, I hoped that if he had died a beautifully timed death, it would finally make some of his anti-mask, moronic supporters learn a lesson in empathy and the importance of taking health precautions. For god-sakes, the syphilitic leper spread it to his entire cabal! That includes Melania, Stephen Miller, Kayleigh McEnany, and many more. Could Trump supporters recognize that social distancing and mask-wearing can prevent the spread of the coronavirus?
The week following his diagnosis, I waited with bated breath. I basked in the glorious thought that maybe, just maybe, 2020 could bring us something good. It wasn’t long until optimism was null as Trump took to Twitter to tell the world he had healed marvellously and felt better than ever. Part of me is hoping that maybe he really is dead and that they’re just using Big Brother 1984 tactics to convince people he’s still kicking, but oh well.
Despite the outcome, don’t feel guilty if you took some pleasure at the possibility of Trump dying from COVID-19. That feeling doesn’t make you a bad person. It means you have a conscience and a moral compass. It means you recognize evil in the world, that it exhausts you, and that you wish for it to just be over with.
It may be cliché to draw parallels between Trump and Hitler, but the comparison is apt regarding their populist rhetoric and far-right xenophobia. Considering the atrocities Trump has committed in his four years, under the guise of “protecting Americans,” imagine what another four years of the bastard could bring upon us.
Trump’s crimes against humanity include but are not limited to the detention of immigrant adults and children in ICE concentration camps, encouraging police violence against minority groups, using authoritarian paramilitary squads on American citizens, and abetting the rampant spread of COVID-19.
But alas, while hoping for the best, we were blinded from the worst. Trump, hiding the worst of his symptoms, has used the opportunity to play his recovery from COVID-19 as evidence supporting his propaganda about the COVID-19 pandemic. It plays into his polarizing agenda of misinformation and riles up his supporters into an even more dangerous fervour.
Trump tweeted, “A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!”
Shortly after the post went up, Twitter flagged the statement as false. I give it a couple of weeks before Trump supporters are throwing COVID parties in an attempt to catch the disease and gain a mythical immunity to the virus. I had high hopes in the past after the injecting disinfectant comments.
By now, I hope most Canadians realize this man is dangerous. But we must also be reminded that even if Americans elect Joe Biden in 2020, the far-right wave that culminated in Donald Trump is still alive. The people on the ground in the United States who are “standing by” will still be there, because Trump gave them a voice, and an opportunity to emerge from their caves. Everything that has happened in the last four years in America, from the over 200 000 COVID deaths, to the border camps, is Trump’s fault. All that blood? It’s on his hands.
So yes, it’s okay to be happy when someone as horrible as Donald Trump suffers. There is far too much at stake. I just hope Americans remember that come election day.