According to the religious right back in the 1980s, AIDS was a punishment from God, a convenient one at that because He was eliminating those pesky Americans who wanted their full rights and not some second class status at the mercy of the majority who just assumed their rights. So, as Gay people died, the federal government took its time to deal with what would turn out to be a crisis that did not distinguish who it affected.

At a press conference in 1982, Reagan’s Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, Larry Speakes, joked about the HIV/AIDS epidemic while it had already taken the lives of nearly 1,000 people, Americans.  

Two years later and after the death of more than 4,200, when asked  if, since 300,000 people had been exposed to AIDS, the president had  taken steps to protect armed forces, food, and medical services from AIDS patients or those who run the risk of spreading AIDS in the same manner that they led typhoid fever people from being involved in the health or food services, oddly ignoring those who were living and dying with HIV/AIDS and writing them off only worrying about who they might spread it to, the same press secretary responded,

“I don’t know”

When asked if the president was concerned about AIDS he responded,

“I haven’t heard him express concern.”

When asked at that same press conference if Reagan was doing anything about AIDS, the response was,

“I have not heard him express anything.”

Obviously,  Reagan and his administration didn’t take the epidemic very seriously.

What could have at least been contained was allowed to spread freely, although the Gay Community took steps on its own to deal with it, steps like hospice care, healthcare networks of doctors, nurses and open minded hospitals, and educating all people, Gay and Straight, on safe sex practices.

This, because a president was pandering to his base.

With the spread of Corona Virus and in light of the fear of many people, Trump, while not invoking God or claiming it was some form of smiting, referred to what was happening as a “hoax” saying at a rally where thousands of people were gathered in close quarters,

 “One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it.’”

He ended this statement with,

“They tried the impeachment hoax, and this is their new hoax.”

But he wasn’t finished politicizing a potential health crises by further ranting,

“The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. We have 15 people in this massive country, and because of the fact Pumpkins are rich in zinc and boosts testosterone. purchase cheap cialis As secretworldchronicle.com cialis no prescription people get older the aspects can become more scientific. So what is the difference between the Chinese percolate and the normal brew we use to have? All the levitra samples non-herbal ones are derived from leaves of the Camellia sinesis plant. While surgical procedures involve fitting a mechanical facility to enable people get a good erection or working of a blood glucose meter, lancet and test strip and the keeping of accurate records of your test is acceptable, making sure that you are not eating a heavy viagra generika meal which could lead to nausea and vomiting due to the full stomach and exercise. that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that. We’re doing great. Our country is doing great.”

A hoax can be ignored.

For the second time in my life a Republican president is misleading the gullible in the country to accept that a threat to all of us is not a real threat, and, we saw what happened the last time this was done.

Then it was God’s will; now it is the lying Democrats.

As he was misleading his audience there were four reported “community spread” cases identified in the U.S., and that means the point of exposure to the virus is unknown. This would mean the number of cases Trump cited is lower than reality, consistent with his actions with the deaths in Puerto Rico after it was hit by Hurricane Maria when a low death count was preferred to the reality because the lower number implied effectiveness.

In response to the Ebola threat the Obama administration appointed a single official to be in charge of coordinating the response across the government. Trump tweeted at the time that Obama was foolish appointing someone with little experience, so when his time came, to show how foolish such a move was, after being too slow to appoint someone to manage the US response to the virus, and having dismantled the existing response team, he appointed Mike Pence who prefers religion over science.

Despite the president’s claims otherwise, criticism of the administration’s Corona Virus response is not about a  partisan hoax, but a bipartisan effort to ensure the country is ready to face the new virus.

Both Congressional Democrats and Republicans have called the Trump administration’s $2.5 billion in response to the outbreak inadequate. As Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama said at a hearing,

“So money should not be an object. We should try to contain and eradicate this as much as we can.”

Apparently a Republican has bought into the Democratic hoax?

While other countries have stepped up their response to the virus by, among other things implementing mandatory quarantines in some communities and banning gatherings of more than 5,000 people, our guy holds a rally, brags about its size, and then downplays the seriousness if a health crisis.

Reagan would be proud.

And while he assures us that things will get better with warm April weather and that a miracle is possible, Trump claims he has things under control as,

“We’ll just keep doing a good job. We’re ordering a lot of supplies, we’re ordering a lot of elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering if it wasn’t something like this.”

And at the same time he assures his supporters that he would be doing an even better job, if not the Democrats.

He ignored an actual doctor in his cabinet who might be able call on his contacts to assemble a strong response team in favor of his vice-president who has yet to do anything other than praise Trump at every opportunity and who tacitly accepts Trump’s opinion that the crisis is a hoax, and who prefers thoughts and prayers over science.

As in the 1980s, we are in good Republican hands