How Trump treats his supporters
On Tuesday night, just one week before Election Day, Donald Trump‘s campaign stranded hundreds of supporters in freezing temperatures after a rally in Omaha, Nebraska. The supporters, many of whom were elderly, were required to park approximately three miles away, and take buses to the rally. However, when Trump was finished speaking and took off on Air Force One at approximately 9 p.m., the buses to take the attendees back to their parking lots did not arrive. “By nearly 10:30 p.m.,” the freezing attendees were still waiting in lines for buses. Between the rally itself and the queuing for buses, at least 30 people required medical attention, and seven had to be taken to nearby hospitals.
Trump’s stranding of supporters in the cold is the perfect metaphor for what he and the Republicans have done to most Americans for many years: left us figuratively out in the cold to fend for ourselves, whether it’s COVID, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession or other crises, with the negative economic and healthcare consequences that flow from such Republican bungling. This week, for example, as Trump’s inaction on the Coronavirus has led to new record-setting increases in cases and deaths across the country, the stock market is tumbling as a result.
In addition to endangering his supporters’ lives by stranding them in the cold, Trump is holding numerous COVID “super spreader” rallies this week where, as usual, attendees are crowded together, most without masks, while Trump is protected from them by both distance and the height of the stage (another apt metaphor for how Trump regards his own voters). As we have indicated before, the Republican message to the American taxpayers is, “you’re on your own.”
In contrast, the Democratic philosophy is, “we’re in this together,” and that philosophy has been on display in recent days. For example, the Democratic speakers, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama, are taking many precautions against COVID at their campaign events and elsewhere. Biden is also touting his decisive plan to combat the Coronavirus. As Harris tweeted yesterday:
I’m looking forward to a future where the people know that—even in crisis—the president has their back.
How about you?
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 28, 2020
Photo by The Turducken, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/QICkYB
