Yesterday, President Donald Trump shocked the conscience of America when he mused about the possibility of treating the Coronavirus with injections of disinfectant and ultraviolet light.
When challenged by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Phillip Rucker of the Washington Post, Trump reacted by shouting at Rucker, “I’m the President, and you’re fake news.” Trump ‘s unhinged reaction was reminiscent of the following scene of Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, having a breakdown on the witness stand:
The problem is that millions of Americans, albeit a diminishing minority, listen to Trump and take seriously his suggestions. Remember when Trump touted chloroquine as a treatment for the Coronavirus, despite the fact that the drug, a malaria treatment, has been found to be unproven and potentially dangerous as a Coronavirus treatment? A man in Arizona listened to him, drank a small amount of a chloroquine phosphate product in hopes of preventing a coronavirus infection, and died.
If you serve in the Trump administration and try to call out Trump on his fraudulent claims, you are gone. From Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times:
Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and removed as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. He was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.
In a scorching statement, Dr. Bright, who received a Ph.D. in immunology and molecular pathogenesis from Emory University, assailed the leadership at the health department, saying he was pressured to direct money toward hydroxychloroquine, one of several “potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and repeatedly described by the president as a potential “game changer” in the fight against the virus.
“I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” he said in his statement. “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.”
My suspicion: When Bright spoke about the role cronyism and politics have played in the promotion by Trump of hydroxychloroquine, he was referring to Rudy Giuliani.
Remember when Trump asked, “What do you have to lose by using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the Coronavirus,” the answer turns out to be, “Your life.”
https://apnews.com/a5077c7227b8eb8b0dc23423c0bbe2b2
Read the statement just issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding hydroxychloroquine:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1191266
All these dangerous musings of a deranged president were factors in the following warning statement issued by the maker of Lysol to Americans who heard Trump muse about the possibility of injecting disinfectants to eliminate the Coronavirus:
“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1191586
Trump continues to disregard science. When Dr. Anthony Fauci warned last night that we need to significantly ramp up testing, Trump responded, ““I don’t agree with him on that, no, I think we’re doing a great job on testing,”
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/04/23/politics/fauci-testing-capacity-not-overly-confident/index.html
The Fox News Network has been a propaganda organ of Donald Trump. Fox has all the credibility of Pravda during the years of the former Soviet Union. They lost all credibility when their leading opinion makers engaged in Coronavirus denial until virtually the end of March.
My forecast that Trump will lose the election this November is no longer a prediction with me – it is a virtual certainty. Trump is even now losing Florida in the Fox poll. Without Florida, Trump’s chances for reelection are gone.
But we cannot wait until November for Trump to leave office. Every day that the deranged, science-denying Donald Trump continues in office, our Republic is in danger. We need a 25th Amendment proceeding to remove Trump from office NOW.
A 25th Amendment proceeding can only be successful if the following two contingencies occur:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci resigns from office, citing the President’s opposition to all sound science.
- Mike Pence leads from within the 25th Amendment proceeding to remove Trump from office.
I know that it is not likely that Pence will lead a removal proceeding against Trump. He does not appear to have sufficient patriotism to so dramatically place country over party.
But maybe Karen Pence, wife of the Vice President, can persuade him, in the words of Spike Lee, to “do the right thing.”
Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
Thanks to Alan and our friends at InsiderNJ.COM for sharing the column.
