Donald Trump has a whole new scandal
Since Donald Trump left office, new details keep emerging about numerous aspects of his failed presidency. Whether the source is an insider exposing shocking utterances from the narcissist’s foul, racist mouth, or official government documents spotlighting yet another administration fiasco, each new revelation cements Trump’s place as the most incompetent, cruel, divisive, and corrupt leader in American history.
A new report published on Tuesday uncovers the extent to which Trump’s self-worship and insatiable appetite for adulation translated to a brazen disregard for the health and safety of others around him as the pandemic raged. In roughly a year beginning March 1, 2020, 881 Secret Service employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data collected and reviewed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)—a number “far greater than had previously been known.”
The fact that the coronavirus infiltrated the Secret Service may not be surprising. But the extent to which these government employees were infected along with the causation (hint: Trump’s tiny fingerprints appear to be all over this) is disturbing. Of the 881 employees, 477 were special agents responsible for protecting the President and Vice President. According to the report, it is not clear whom the positive agents were assigned to protect or when they tested positive.
However, based on an analysis of the data, CREW blames Trump’s reckless behavior for the avoidable outbreaks. Trump, as well as his then-trusted apologist Mike Pence, held “large-scale rallies against public health guidelines.” Trump and his family also traveled regularly during the pandemic, routinely putting agents at risk. Finally, there was the infamous photo op outside Walter Reed, in which the contagious man-child enjoyed a chest-thumping joy ride in a car filled with dutiful agents.
CREW summed it up perfectly: “It’s impossible to overstate the risk the Trump administration put on Secret Service agents.” As early as last August, national security expert Ned Price offered this insightful remark to the Washington Post: “Never before has the Secret Service run up against a president so intent on putting himself first regardless of the costs, including to those around him.”
Substitute “America” for Secret Service in these quotations, and that’s Donald Trump in a nutshell. As more details continue to surface about the breadth and depth of Trump’s America Last presidency, it becomes even clearer why we urgently need to pass voter protection laws. I don’t want to write, and none of us wants to read, articles about the next Trumpian demagogue defiling the highest office in the land.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month