It’s Getting More and More Difficult to Hold a Decent Thought

It’s Getting More and More Difficult to Hold a Decent Thought

By Ed Kociela

Only Donald Trump would turn his COVID-19 hospitalization into a campaign event.

I tried, I really tried to hold a decent thought in my heart for the president as he battles the virus.

On Sunday, I worked on my weekly column, writing a piece that expressed how angry I was that so many people had expressed such ugly, horrid things about the president after his diagnosis.

I was flabbergasted, to be honest, that so much ill will was coming from my fellow liberals who wished all sorts of terrible things on the president. I thought that it was a horrid thing to do, that regardless of your dislike for the man, decency called for wishing him a rapid and full recovery from the disease.

I still wish that, for the man. I truly hope the president makes a full and rapid recovery from COVID-19.

But, I also understand the degree to which he raises the level of contempt.

Believe it or not, it takes a bit of time to fill this little corner of the world I call home each week. Finding the right words to express sometimes complex ideas can take a lot of effort. Finding the right words at this very moment is quite difficult, as a matter of fact, as I ponder again – particularly the most recent events – what has gone down the past week.

Opening one’s heart to benevolence and compassion is always the best course. It is a reflection of decency. But, even decency has its limits.

So, I spiked that original column in favor of something a little less altruistic.

From the careless disregard for others by hosting events from introducing a Supreme Court nominee in an unprotected environment to uncovered debate prep to attending a fundraiser, the president has conducted an egregious exercise in snubbing his nose at science and exercising no restraint in pursuit of reelection.

I get it. Running for president is as big as it gets in the United States. That doesn’t mean that lives should be placed in danger by doing so, which is what happens every time the candidates hold a campaign event. Remember what happened to Herman Cain after he attended the president’s rally in Tulsa? There was the aforementioned ceremony for the Supreme Court nominee, the debate, the fundraiser just before the president’s diagnosis was made public, the traveling on Air Force one with White House staffers and the press corps.

Then, Sunday afternoon, the president had a couple of Secret Service agents take him for a joyride outside of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to greet supporters. That limo he was riding in is hermetically sealed, meaning nothing can get in and nothing can get out, which also means that the Secret Service agents riding with the president were placed in jeopardy.

What the hell is going on here?

Then, there are the lies, distortions that have reduced the credibility of this outfit to zero.

On Sunday, the president’s physician Dr. Sean Conley admitted that he tried to conceal the fact that the president had received oxygen at the White House on Friday.

“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude of the team and the president over the course of his illness,” he said at a propaganda briefing on the grounds of the Walter Reed hospital. “I didn’t want to give any info that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.”

Oh, but it was true, which leads us back to Conley’s earliest statement on Saturday that the president was diagnosed 72 hours earlier.

That would have placed his diagnosis being given the morning after the debate, which means there is a great likelihood he could have infected everybody who was part of the event. It means that, knowingly, he went forward with a fundraising event on Thursday, jeopardizing even more people.

Conley walked that statement back, claiming he was confused. Excuse me, but I would become highly suspicious of any doctor treating me who would be confused about something as important as when a diagnosis was given. In fact, I would fire that doctor.

The public has a right to know the physical condition of its president. There are no privacy issues here. The president lost that the moment he started pandering to the media decades ago to get “The Donald” into the press as often as possible.

Whether he is passing legislation or passing gas, everything the president does is newsworthy and we have a right to demand the truth, which we clearly are not getting. In fact, I can understand the thought process of conspiracy theorists who are putting forth the idea that the president is not really sick, that this is a hoax to overcome his nosediving polling and postpone the election.

Of course, one thing we do know is that the West Wing has become a breeding ground for COVID-19.

The administration, from the president on down, has ignored the dangers of this disease, jeopardizing the lives of God knows how many people.

I can understand why people are so angry.

Still, I cannot condone the vicious comments being leveled at him, so I continue to wish him well, that he heals quickly and completely, the same as I do for anybody struggling with COVID-19 or any other life-threatening, quality of life-altering affliction.

His life matters, but it does not matter more than your life, or my life. If you beg to disagree, I humbly ask you to talk to any one of the 200,000-plus families in the United States who have lost loved ones to this disease.

The most distressing scene of all is the sight of a team of medical experts lining up to give us so-called updates regarding the president’s condition. I cannot help but wonder each time I see that what it must feel like to the working man and woman who puts off treatment because they have no insurance, have no job, have no funds to see them through.

I was hoping that this experience would result in a kinder, gentler president, one who gains a new perspective on selflessness and compassion.

Look, we can put up with his lies about hooking up with a porn star.

We can put up with his self-aggrandizing claims of acuity.

We can put up with his lewd and crude juvenile words and behavior.

But, we cannot put up with his behavior regarding COVID-19 because there are lives at stake here, real, honest-to-God human lives he is endangering.

He claims that all lives matter.

Then wear a damn mask. Follow the protocols. Respect science, respect your country, respect your fellow man.

So, I fervently hope and pray that the president recovers completely and quickly.

And, I fervently hope and pray that Joe Biden kicks his ass in the upcoming election by the widest margin in U.S. electoral history.

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