November 4, 2022Gronda Morin

Trump’s COVID Lies = Harm Done by His Election Lies / Florida’s High Rate of Covid Deaths

Note: Since June 2022, I’ve been flummoxed over why I had been permanently banned from Twitter as I truly believe that I did honor all its rules. I’m speculating that this penalty was imposed on me due to one of my tweets which pointed out the high number of COVID deaths in Florida under the leadership of the GOP MAGA FL Governor Ron Desantis based on data garnered from USAFacts.org. I did refer to him as being Castro-lite because of how he took it upon himself to challenge young folks who dared to wear masks. I’m betting that I’m not the only one who was axed by Twitter for daring to share facts regarding COVID.

Thus, I’m asking all Twitter users who read this blog to tweet it but beware that Twitter may permanently ban you.

COVID lies by the GOP MAGA ex-president:

Let’s start this conversation by referring to the November 4, 2022 MSNBC’s Morning Joe show where Bob Woodward has publicly shared tapes, which are a part of his most recent book The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump,  proving that the GOP MAGA ex-president had been fully informed about the pending COVID pandemic being equal in severity to the 1918 Spanish flu, months before he began lying to the American peoples where he downplayed its importance starting around 2020 and throughout his time in office.

Bob Woodward detailed that after reviewing the tapes, he personally called Matthew Pottinger, a former adviser to the defeated ex-president on worrisome crisis scenarios and who had contacts in China from when had spent time there as a reporter for Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Pottinger told Bob Woodward that after his China contacts confided in him regarding the seriousness of COVID, that he had fully shared this information with his boss, long before 2020.

It seems that the GOP MAGA defeated ex-president chose to lie to the American public out of a fear that by admitting to the COVID severity, he’d harm the US economy, which in turn would do damage to his chances for reelection in 2022. He got the political axiom, that it’s the economy stupid. Then GOP MAGA politicians and their supporters/ voters followed his lead by shunning the wearing of masks and by resisting COVID vaccinations.

The GOP MAGA voters who fully bought into the GOP COVID lies are now demanding that Dr. Anthony Fauci be brought to task over his handling of COVID in hearings led by GOP MAGA lawmakers if they become the House majority party in 2023. Dr. Fauci who has successfully and in a nonpartisan way, led the fight against infectious diseases under both republican and democratic presidential administrations during 54 years at the National Institutes of Health and 38 years as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, deserves better.

Meanwhile, data from CDC · WHO · ECDC · Wikipedia · The New York Times indicates that that the confirmed number of COVID cases in the USA is 97,611,400 and the confirmed number of COVID deaths at 1,071,578.

Question is, how many of these COVID deaths in the USA could have been prevented with leaders who trafficked in truth? Blaming China for the start of the COVID virus and the subsequent cover up, does little to justify GOP MAGAs dealing in COVID lies.

 

As per a 10/31/ 2020 CNN report, ““It’s going to disappear: A timeline of Trump’s claims that Covid-19 will vanish” by Daniel Wolfe and Daniel Dale:

“In his first speech after his hospitalization for Covid-19, President Donald Trump stood on a White House balcony on October 10 and made a grand declaration about the coronavirus: “It’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.”

“His words might have sounded more dramatic had he not been saying the same thing for 8 months.”

“Trump has stuck to the refrain no matter what has been happening with the pandemic. Since February, the President has declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing.”

“His proclamations have been wildly inaccurate. When Trump first started making the claim in February (2020), it was about the time the US had just suffered its very first known Covid-19 death. More than 220,000 deaths later, Trump continues to falsely claim that the virus will somehow just go away — even as the US experiences yet another surge in cases and hospitalizations.”

See: the Nov. 2020 report listing many of his COVID lies, All of Trump’s Lies About the Coronavirus – The Atlantic.

See the 11/4/2022 NYT report: Covid in the U.S.: Latest Maps, Case and Death Counts https://www.nytimes.com

For all the harm done by the GOP MAGA defeated ex-president’s COVID lies, it’s a wonder that FOX News TV and other right wing media outlets which amplified his lies, haven’t been subject to class action suits by all the victims of these lies.

Here’s COVID reality in Florida:

As per an October 22, 2022 report by USA.FACTS.org, Florida coronavirus cases and deaths, the data shows that Florida has incurred 81,907 COVID related deaths.

As per a September 6, 2022 Yahoo report based on a Palm Beach Post article by Chris Persaud, “Florida leads nation COVID deaths though cases keep declining:”

“For the third month in a row, Florida logged more COVID-19 deaths than anywhere else in America.”

“The state’s COVID death toll grew by 1,614 people in August, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. As coronavirus omicron subvariants swept the state this summer, Florida fatalities topped the nation from June – August.’

“It’s also the third summer in a row Florida has been No. 1 for COVID deaths.”

“The state became the national epicenter for the disease in August 2020, after Gov. Ron DeSantis began allowing businesses and public places to reopen. The state again became the COVID fatality capital of America last year in July and August, months after state officials suspended all remaining pandemic restrictions.”

‘The disease has killed at least 80,027 Floridians since the start of the pandemic, excluding more than 3,000 victims whom state auditors found by combing through records from 2020 in which physicians classified someone’s cause of death as COVID, but the state Health Department did not.”

GOP MAGAs argued that requring Floridians to wear masks impinged on their freedoms

“COVID is especially deadly to the elderly. Florida’s population is older than most states.”

“Florida added 454 people to its COVID death toll since the state last published its biweekly pandemic report Aug. 26. That’s less than the average weekly increase during the 2 weeks covered by that report. But it’s higher than the weekly sums logged in April and May.”

“Hospitals across Florida tended to 2,850 COVID-positive patients, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported Friday, down from a summertime peak of more than 4,000 in late July.”

“Health officials logged about 39,000 new COVID cases in the past week, CDC figures released Friday show. That’s the smallest amount since early May. An untold number of infections don’t make it into official statistics because of the rise of at-home tests, whose results aren’t recorded.”

‘Sewage from across the state also is turning up less of the virus, with results showing fewer coronavirus particles compared to four weeks ago. Readings from Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Orange, Seminole, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties all show declines.”

“Wastewater can reveal COVID trends faster than official case counts.”

As per the 11/1/2022 Palm Beach Post report, “Florida has also become No. 1 for COVID deaths among seniors 85 and older with 9,828 fatalities, followed by California, Texas and New York.”

See: Florida reports lower COVID case count while passing 82,000 deaths  …https://health.wusf.usf.edu

See: Florida’s COVID-19 death rate is still among the highest in the nation https://health.wusf.usf.edu

15 comments

    • Dear Rugby843,

      Thanks a million for the reblog. Your support is very much appreciated. I haven’t been hearing much discussion regarding the GOP MAGA elected officials’ handling of COVID on the campaign trail except for when right-wingers start haranging Dr. Fauci.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Like

  3. It’s disappointing that Crist isn’t using this tragedy in his bid to unseat DeSantis. I don’t know anyone in Florida who didn’t lose someone to COVID and now DeSantis brags about refusing to follow CDC guidelines and how he kept Florida “free”. Free to die.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I lost a good friend to COVID. I still get upset over this loss.

      I’m surprised that GOP MAGA FL Gov DeSantis isn’t losing more of the senior vote. After all, it’s mostly seniors who bore this COVID burden. Then there’s our former GOP MAGA Gov Rick Scott, now a US senator who’s pushing the plan, where every 5 years, the Congress will have to vote to reauthorize Social Security. Then there’s a lot of seniors who are continuing to suffer from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Dear Ned Hamson,

    Thanks a million for reblogging my work. I’m grateful for your support. I’ve been wondering how it is that the issue of the high number of COVID deaths in Florida has been absent by Florida’s Dem candidates.

    Hugs, Gronda

    Like

  6. Gronda, people forget that DeSantis’ track record for bullying and untruthfulness predates his being governor. If the Dems had run a better candidate, they could have kept their state from what it has become. DeSantis scares me more than Trump, as the latter is too egomaniacal and incompetent to get things done. And, the latter may find himself in prison or at least much poorer once some court cases are ruled upon. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Dear Keith,

    I only wish that Dems had backed a candidate who truly could take on GOP MAGA FL Governor DeSantis. I just don’t see Charlie Crist being the best candidate for the job. My one wish is for the GOP MAGA defeated ex-president and Gov DeSantis to eventually fatally wound each other (not to be taken literally).

    I refer to Gov DeSantis as being Castro-lite because of the way he penalizes companies which challenge his views, his telling schools what they can and can’t teach and what textbooks can be used in the classroom, his stunts like sending Venezuelan asylum seekers in Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, his castigating of high schoolers for wearing masks, his having police round up alleged vote fraudsters, all of whom a judge acquitted, his obstruction of medical care by transgender youths, etc.

    I only wish the national press would spend more investigative time in Florida. Gov DeSantis actions or failures to act deserve further review. He’s the poster image for an authoritarian leader, backed by GOP MAGA ALEC corporate dark money donors. He already has a sizeable war chest, thanks to these donors.

    Hugs, Gronda

    Like

  8. Dr Fauci was not consistent in his messaging about wearing masks. Initially he said mask are not necessary and ppl should not be wearing them. Then a year later he says masks are warranted, which is it?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear 1EarthUnited,

      There was a lot of learning on the job about an unknown pandemic. As data and new information overtime is collected, I would expect that the scientists would change their minds on how best manage it and how to mitigate its harm. This is not at all, unusual.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Like

  9. It’s the political optics, Fauci comes across as disingenuous, dishonest and pandering to big pharma. We’re talking about simple basic protection that’s been well researched since the Spanish flu in 1918!
    Wearing masks is always better than not wearing masks, the science is proven. I just don’t understand why he would recommend not wearing protection during the early phases of the pandemic? It would have prevented a whole lot of death and transmission. *smh*

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear 1 Earth United,

      People do have short memories. I recall that in late February and early March of 2020, when the increasing numbers of patients with COVID-19 infections started overwhelming the US hospitals and health facilities that there were severe shortages of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. To make sure that healthcare providers treating sick folks with COVID had enough masks with shortages being a big deal, experts like Dr. Fauci and the US Surgeon General Jerome Adams advised Americans against wearing masks. Dr. Fauci and others were dealing in reality, not science when they recommended that Americans not wear masks.

      The question should be, why was the US caught flat-footed regarding the severe supply shortage of PPEs and masks and not why did Dr. Fauci initially recommend that Americans not wear masks, especially when we know the answer.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

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