A Guest Posting by Mark G Bocchetti
At a news conference on May 26th, a reporter asked Trump a question. Trump claimed that he could not understand what the reporter was saying because of the mask that the reporter was wearing, and asked the reporter to remove the mask. The reporter declined and responded that he would just speak louder. Trump replied, “Okay, so you just want to be politically correct.”
Before and during his presidency Donald Trump has made a myriad of questionable statements that indicate an intellectual deficiency and absolutely no ability for critical thinking. Just in recent weeks with respect to COVID-19 he has suggested injecting or ingesting a disinfectant as a way to cure someone of COVID-19. He has suggested that the virus could be cured by somehow using ultraviolet light inside the human body. He has encouraged people to take hydroxychloroquine to either fight the virus or use it as a prophylactic to prevent the virus despite the fact that the there is no evidence that this drug should be used for either purpose, and despite medical evidence showing that use of this drug may be detrimental to your health of your heart.
As brainless as these statements are, his interaction with the reporter mentioned above attains yet a new level of irrationality. How can anyone, even Donald Trump, conflate public health and safety with political correctness? And why would he do it? His 2016 campaign was filled with anti-political correctness rhetoric. Does he believe that his base is so uninformed that they cannot differentiate between “political correctness” and public health?
The purpose of wearing a mask is to protect not only yourself but others around you. Be clear on one thing: wearing or not wearing a mask does not make a political statement. It makes a very human statement. It says that you either care or do not care about others. The guidelines put forth by his own administration say that everyone should be wearing a mask in public settings when others are around. By not wearing a mask himself and by encouraging others to dispense with wearing masks, Trump is saying that he does not care about anyone but himself, something that should come as a surprise to no one.
But there is a commonality in Trump’s four COVID-19 related absurd statements. In each one, Trump is asking the public, or at least his cult of supporters, to drink his version of the kool-aid. Anyone following his advice would put their own health and possibly their own life at risk, as well as the health and lives of those around them. And that is fine with Donald Trump if he sees it as an advantage in getting re-elected. By recklessly insisting that the economy reopen he is saying that his re-election is all that matters, and that his supporters should be willing to risk their lives for him, not for the US, but for him. He is Jim Jones and the kool-aid is being served.
Mark Bocchetti is a retired patent attorney residing in upstate NY, and formerly VP, Assistant General Counsel and Director of the Patent Legal Staff of Eastman Kodak Company. He has practiced law in both private and corporate settings.
