The president’s words matter. In what appears to be the waning days of the Trump presidency, they seem to matter less and less but there are still millions of people who mistakenly take his words as gospel.
A poll from last month found that two-thirds of Americans don’t trust Trump when it comes to the pandemic. But that still means millions will follow his advice. The frightening thing is that during a pandemic, bad advice can mean the difference between life or death.
On Monday, after returning from Walter Reed Medical Center where he was being treated for COVID-19, President Trump sent out an irresponsible tweet urging Americans to be less concerned with the deadly virus.
A virus that is spreading like wildfire through his administration and their contacts.
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of C… https://t.co/fFk0atUvqI— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1601923041.0
“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” he tweeted. “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
The tweet was not only totally irresponsible, but it was downright disrespectful to the 212,000 (and counting) Americans who’ve died from the virus and the countless families affected.
The virus has also taken an unfathomable toll on the frontline healthcare workers who have put their lives on the line and witnessed the suffering caused by the virus.
Cristina Hops, a Seattle nurse who temporarily moved to Miami, Florida to help a hospital with an influx of cases, was astonished by the president’s comments, so she took to TikTok to hit him with a dose of reality.
“I have done compressions on intubated patients. I have seen hundreds of people suffocating to death and for him to say ‘do not be afraid of COVID’ is astounding,” Hops says in the video. “I cannot compute. I have never been so angry.”
“Actually, that’s not true. I’ve been angry so many times this year about so many things that he’s said and done. I just want you to know that COVID is still out there and it is very scary,” Hops said.
“I can’t make a coherent thought because of how angry I am. Maybe more on this later, right now I need to breathe,” she captioned the video.
Hops told CNN that she’s afraid if people take the president’s words seriously, it’ll lead to more cases and overwhelm the healthcare system.
“The hospital that I was working at was completely overrun,” she told CNN. “It’s not possible to give everybody the care that they need and deserve when the hospital is that full.”
Hops’ video has reached tens of thousands of people, let’s hope that all of them listen. Because it’s important that we elevate the voices of healthcare professionals who care about the public’s health over the president, who clearly only cares about himself.