Their president is hospitalized, but that hasn’t changed their view of the coronavirusOn a weekend when it felt like so much had changed, Trump’s most fervid supporters across the country reacted to his illness with a fatalistic shrug about what that meant for him and for them.
“If the leader of the free world can get this, I think it’s kind of silly for the rest of us to pretend a $3 handkerchief from Walmart is going to protect us,” said Brian Westrate, the Wisconsin Republican Party treasurer who believes the coronavirus is a real threat and complies with a statewide mask mandate but is a “skeptic of the societal response.”
“To some extent, our society is going to have to acknowledge that covid isn’t going to go away and be solved,” he said.
The president’s diagnosis, announced early Friday morning, prompted some changes, like White House staffers suddenly wearing masks and the Trump campaign turning some events into virtual ones. As a rush of senators tested positive, the Republican-led Senate canceled its votes for the next two weeks.
But there was no sweeping transformation in the way many of the president’s most devoted supporters view the virus — and no sense of urgency to alter their behavior to better protect themselves. The president’s many arguments about the coronavirus — that it was mild for all but those with preexisting conditions, that it was overblown by Democrats, that it would fade away on its own — seemed to inoculate many in the Trump camp against rethinking their approach to the virus.
On Saturday, several Republican lawmakers continued to question the effectiveness of masks — which even Trump administration health officials view as essential — and need for mask mandates, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who tested positive for the virus. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), whose state has faced an explosion of cases in recent weeks, appeared maskless at an indoor Sioux City event on the Trump bus tour.
Meanwhile, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) opted to not get tested despite attending a meeting with an infected person, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) pointed to Trump’s illness as reason for the country to continue to reopen schools and businesses.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, launched “Operation MAGA” on Saturday with plans to send Vice President Pence, Trump’s children and other top surrogates out across the country to campaign for the president.
“If this virus can get into the Oval, into the body of the president, there’s no place where it could not possibly infect one of our fellow Americans,” Gaetz said Friday night on Fox News, calling on the country to fully open as it protects those most vulnerable. “There is no lockdown that can be a panacea to save everyone from everything, and this is proof positive that’s the case.” [EDIT: *BLOODCURDLING SCREAM of an ilxor HEARD IN THE DISTANCE]
Among the president’s base of support, there was a widespread sense of optimism that Trump will quickly recover from a virus many of them view as not nearly as deadly as scientists warn. The person they trust most, Trump, has yet to have a public change of heart about safety measures, so many of his supporters see little reason to do so themselves.
Just before checking into Walter Reed on Friday evening, Trump posted a short video thanking Americans for their support and assuring them that he thinks he is doing well. He did not wear a mask, mention the pandemic that has killed more than 208,000 Americans or share any tips for avoiding infection.
“I think it’s just kind of in the air, you know — you’re going to get it or you ain’t,” said Dwayne Hartwell, 57, a former grocery store worker who is on disability benefits and lives in Charleston, W.Va.
Hartwell said there was nothing Trump could have done to avoid catching the coronavirus and thus nothing anyone else could do either. He wears a mask when he goes to the store but only because it’s mandated in West Virginia. Other than that, the pandemic has not changed much about his daily life — and Trump’s diagnosis doesn’t change much about his thinking.
“He’s pretty strong and . . . he’s got the best doctors you can get in the world, so I think he should be all right,” he said.
He still plans to vote for Trump on Nov. 3 — “if he’s still living,” he said jokingly, in a way that made clear he did not think the president could die of the coronavirus.
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and so on. i think it's interesting to observe what happens to magical thinkers when they're forced to confront evidence that they're wrong. the thing that was impossible quickly shifts to being inevitable. this happens with climate change "skeptics", too. it goes from not existing to always existing and useless to resist.
― idkwtf (Karl Malone), Sunday, 4 October 2020 17:56 (five years ago)