President Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Hell yeah, says Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
“As someone who lost my own father to this virus and seen the pain it causes, I do not wish it on anyone,” the congresswoman said Friday in a statement.
That sentence is the closest that Omar comes to expressing any sort of sympathy or wish for good health for the president and other Republicans who have contracted the virus recently. After her opening statement, the congresswoman went on to ridicule the president, his allies, and his supporters, calling them anti-science and menaces to Minnesota and the country.
“Over 200,000 people have now died while this Administration actively ignores public health guidance and suppresses science. For months, we have been hoping for a simple acknowledgment from the President — to hear the words, ‘We will get through this together,’” Omar said. “And now we only hear those words when it is about him — not hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their lives, and the millions whose families have been touched by it because of his malfeasance.”
“Their cruelty is a direct threat to my constituents,” Omar continued. “This week, the President held a rally and a fundraiser in Minnesota, flouting the guidance of his own health agencies by failing to wear a mask. In doing so, he exposed hundreds in a state that is already suffering from an uptick in cases. Republican members of our Congressional delegation traveled with him on Air Force One and have not quarantined. In fact, they came to the Capitol today, risking the lives of additional elected leaders and staff.”
Most decent people would not use the occasion of a president contracting a deadly and highly aggressive virus as an opportunity to score-settle and spike the football. Then again, no one ever accused Omar of being “decent.”
“The President of the United States and Republicans in Minnesota are actively spreading a deadly virus,” Omar’s statement concluded. “They are a risk to the public health of my constituents and our country.”
Early Friday morning, just after news broke that Trump and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow wished the commander in chief and his wife a full and speedy recovery.
“God bless the president and the first lady,” Maddow said. “If you pray, please pray for their speedy and complete recovery — and for everyone infected, everywhere. This virus is horrific and merciless. No one would wish its wrath on anyone. We must get its spread under control. Enough.”
We live in an upside-down world when it is Maddow, the professional paid partisan, who shows grace and class while so many politicos who speak of decency, inclusivity, and norms show themselves to be depraved jackals.
Trump himself sets the bar for basic decency so low, it would take practically nothing to hurdle it. But people like Omar just cannot help themselves. They don’t see a hurdle. They see a limbo stick.
