Tuesday 6 October 2020

pyongyang on the potomac

Not to rest on his laurels in his escalating pursuit of photo-opportunities—not content with gassing a gathering of peaceful protesters to pose, uninvited in front of a church holding a Bible or turning a nomination ceremony into a superspreader event without remorse or going for a joy ride, skipping out of the hospital in an armoured, hermetically sealed vehicle with a retinue of Secret Service agents while highly contagious to wave at small crowd of well-wishers, an impeached, still contagious and steroid-addled Trump was discharged from Walter Reed Medical Centre and remanded to the White House, ascending, gasping for breath a few stairs and dramatically whipped off his mask in a gesture that’s to be interpreted as triumph and full recovery.

Audaciously insulting to the over two hundred thousand Americans who’ve died from COVID-19 complications, the untold millions of affected families and those who’ve lost their livelihoods due to the ensuing economic collapse, he released in a recorded message shortly after his appearance: “Don’t let it dominate you—don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines, all developed recently.” Medical insurance is tied to employment in the US and the situation is quite fraught on both fronts right now, and the level of tax-payer supported housing and healthcare is of course not available to the average citizen and most will experience very different outcomes.