“In its 97-year history, TIME magazine had only once before — for its 9/11 issue — replaced their signature red border on the cover with a black one. But with the U.S. coronavirus death toll nearing 200,000, the magazine has published a stunning black-bordered cover to mark the grim milestone.” ‘An American Failure’: TIME Mag Marks 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths With Stunning Cover Featuring a Black Border for First Time Since 9/11:
For its lead image, which hits newsstands Friday, artist John Mavroudishandwrote the U.S. death count for each of the days between Feb. 29, when the first American died from Covid-19, and Sept. 8. The figure of 200,000 appears in the center, while beneath it, the cover reads, “An American Failure.”
In a piece by TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal explaining the story behind the cover, Mavroudis discussed his aim for the provocative image.
“I really hope this cover is a wake-up call for those who are numbed to this catastrophe,” says Mavroudis. “Science and common sense are the answers to this crisis.”
The accompanying cover story, authored by Alex Fitzpatrick and Elijah Wolfson, is unsparing in its assessment of America’s handling of the pandemic.
“At this point, we can start to see why the U.S. foundered: a failure of leadership at many levels and across parties; a distrust of scientists, the media and expertise in general; and deeply ingrained cultural attitudes about individuality and how we value human lives have all combined to result in a horrifically inadequate pandemic response,” Fitzpatrick and Wolfson wrote. “COVID-19 has weakened the U.S. and exposed the systemic fractures in the country, and the gulf between what this nation promises its citizens and what it actually delivers.”
This follows the damning revelations in tape recordings of President Donald Trump confessing to Bob Woodward that he knowingly and intentionally lied to the American people about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, and failed to take the reasonable and necessary steps to protect the American people – a failure of the first duty of a president of the United States.
The Washington Post reports, Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly’ and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans (excerpt):
President Trump called Bob Woodward and revealed that he thought the situation was far more dire than what he had been saying publicly.
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
“This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis.
At that time, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu, predicting it would soon disappear and insisting that the U.S. government had it totally under control. It would be several weeks before he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.
Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
The Post chronicles a Timeline: The 108 times Trump has downplayed the coronavirus threat. Trump is still doing it. Just this week, A GOP county chair asked Trump to wear a mask to his rally. Instead, Trump mocked pandemic restrictions. Trump rallies are “super spreader” events because Trump is encouraging behavior that spreads the coronavirus among his cult followers.
And as The Post’s fact checker Glenn Kessler notes, Trump says he didn’t want to spark panic. But he’s running on fear (excerpt):
A cynic might suggest that Trump wanted to keep things calm because he was concerned that a plunging stock market would harm his chances for reelection. But let’s lay that aside for the moment and consider Trump’s explanation that he does not want to create panic.
That might be news to the President Trump running for reelection. His YouTube video channel is filled with apocalyptic images of violence, economic despair and disaster. So are the president’s speeches and news availabilities, including at the same venue where he said he did not want to create panic.
Here’s a sampling, drawn mainly from our database of Trump’s false and misleading claims.
Fear mongering on “white fright” is Donald Trump’s brand. Here is a screen shot compilation (to remove the recipient’s name) from a recent Arizona Republican Party fundraising email that best exemplifies Donald Trump’s racist brand of “white fright” fear mongering.
Jennifer Rubin of The Post writes, Trump’s unforgivable sin: His covid-19 lies killed Americans (excerpt):
When the president deliberately lies to the American people — as multiple presidents during the Vietnam War did (as we learned from the Pentagon Papers) — and many Americans die as a result, even loyal members of his own party must condemn him and demand he step away. His actions cost critical time, prevented earlier lockdowns and provided a false sense of security to vulnerable people. In all likelihood, tens of thousands of dead Americans would be alive today if he had acted with minimal competence and honesty.
This situation is not unlike Trump’s impeachment hearings. Overwhelming evidence, including the president’s own words documented in the rough transcript of the July 25, 2019, call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, demonstrated that Trump had betrayed the United States by extorting an ally at war with Russia for his own electoral benefit. Senate Republicans are not stupid; they merely refused to acknowledge what was before their eyes.
Now, we have similar malfeasance — precisely the sort of noncriminal but impeachable behavior that the impeachment clause is designed to uncover. Once again, Republicans will claim up is down and night is day. They will refuse to accept Trump’s own words confessing to a deception that cost thousands of American lives. They will not call for his resignation or call for him to withdraw from the election. They would rather continue to support a president demonstrably unfit than risk the wrath of Trump and his cult, just as they overlooked the threat to the lives of Ukrainians.
This remains true, even though in this case the victims have been Americans, and that thousands — multiples of the death count from 9/11 — have died even though simple precautions could have spared them. Imagine a president fully aware of a Category 5 hurricane near certain to hit a seaside community but who tells the residents, “No big deal. Don’t listen to the experts telling you to evacuate.” Surely, one would find him morally if not legally culpable for the deaths of anyone who made the mistake of listening to him. Covid-19 should be no different.
* * *
In his memorable summation at the impeachment trial, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) declared, “History will not be kind to Donald Trump. If you find that the House has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.” Republicans did not care. Now that Americans’ lives have been sacrificed at the altar of Trump’s ego, Republicans face another hinge moment: say nothing and join Trump in the dumpster of history, or speak up, call for his resignation and recapture a modicum of respect. Sadly, there is little doubt they will choose the former.
Vice President Joe Biden on Trump concealing coronavirus threat: ‘It’s almost criminal’:
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said it is “disgusting” and “almost criminal” that President Donald Trump knew of the serious risk posed by the coronavirus in February and then downplayed its threat in March.
“This caused people to die. And what did he do the whole time?” Biden said. “He acknowledged this — you breathe it, it’s in the air — and he won’t put on a mask. He’s talking about, ‘It’s ridiculous to put on a mask, what do you need social distancing for? Why have any of these rules?'”
“It was all about making sure the stock market didn’t come down, that his wealthy friends didn’t lose any money, and that he could say anything, that in fact anything that happened had nothing to do with him,” Biden said Wednesday, speculating about Trump’s motives for downplaying the virus in the early weeks of its spread.
“He waved a white flag. He walked away. He didn’t do a damn thing,” Biden said. “Think about it. Think about what he did not do — it’s almost criminal.”
“The virus is not his fault, but the deaths are his fault. Because he could’ve done something about it,” Biden said.
“He said there’s no need for social distancing, don’t bother wearing a mask. He actually went so far as to suggest it was a violation of American freedom to maintain you had to wear a mask. And look what’s happened. Again, 190,000 dead and climbing. And what’s he doing now? He still has not moved. Look at the schools that are not opening,” Biden said.
He added: “Think of the choice the single mom has to make, ‘am I gonna go to my $7 an hour job … or stay home with my kid? I can’t afford anybody. I can’t afford to bring anybody in.’ I mean he’s doing nothing to help. Nothing to help.”
Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward’s partner investigating Watergate for The Post, Calls Trump COVID Tapes The Greatest Presidential Felony Of All Time:
Bernstein said on CNN:
It’s stunning, and I think we all need to take a deep breath and understand exactly what it is we have learned. We are listening to the president of the United States on tape deliberately undermining the security — national security of the United States, the health and well being of the people of the United States, and he’s doing this knowingly, in realtime.
It is the smoking gun of his negligence. And as those quotes you were talking about from Mattis and others, demonstrate his unfitness to the president and more than anything, instead of leveling with the country, he covers up. We listen to him cover up this grave national emergency. This is one of the great presidential felonies of all time, maybe the greatest presidential felony. And we have the smoking gun tape of the president committing the felony.
Bernstein suggested it is “criminal negligence,” conduct in which a person ignores a known or obvious risk, or disregards the life and safety of others. It is certainly that. But it does not rise to a provable case of negligent homicide of tens of thousands of Americans.
It is, however, yet another impeachable offense that should result in Trump’s immediate removal from office. (It won’t). Lawyers: Watergate Reporter Got Trump on Tape Admitting ‘Clearly Impeachable Offense’ (excerpt):
Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist and UCLA law professor Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, said Trump’s conduct was “clearly an impeachable offense.”
“Remember the high crimes and misdemeanors debate?” Litman wrote. “This is clearly an impeachable offense, albeit not a crime. The POTUS lied to the American people for political purposes & easily tens of thousands deaths ensued. How more stark and harmful a dereliction of public duty can you get?”
Remember the high crimes and misdemeanors debate?This is clearly an impeachable offense, albeit not a crime. The POTUS lied to the American people for political purposes & easily tens of thousand deaths ensued. How more stark and harmful a dereliction of public duty can you get? https://t.co/riuM9xKJt9
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) September 9, 2020
Litman later added that the president’s conduct amounted to a “clearly impeachable offense/violation of public trust with horrendous deadly consequences.”
Washington, D.C.-based national security attorney Brad Mosssimilarly said the tapes “should end [Trump’s] presidency,” adding, “If it doesn’t, god help us.”
This should end his presidency. If it doesn’t, god help us. https://t.co/YvbC4gtpQq
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) September 9, 2020
Can anything break through the mind control of the personality cult of Donald Trump? It does not appear so. Fox News is already defending his comments, and there is a collective “no response” from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The only way to rid ourselves of this Trump death cult is to vote every one of these Republicans out of office.