Trump backers undone by US Covid crisis, election fail

Falling on ones sword isn’t how the hard right functions. They take a never relent never surrender approach to life. Refusing to admit errors or back down. Picture: AFP

At the time of writing 299,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. The next update will push that figure past the 300,000 mark, after which its only a matter of time before it cracks 350,000, then 400,000.

Where will it stop?

Soon more than one in every 1,000 American’s will have died from COVID-19 in the space of one calendar year. Extraordinary. Reflect on that as you replay Donald Trump’s regular droning on about how well he’s managed this crisis. Fake news.

Yet Trump continues to hold rallies without social distancing. He continues to encourage others not to wear masks, mocking Joe Biden for both doing so himself and wanting to impose mask wearing on others to help bring the virus under control.

Not a mask in sight, as supporters of US President Donald Trump participate in the Million MAGA March to protest the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Picture: AFP

Some commentators continue to compare COVID to the flu, ridiculous stuff. Reckless and dangerous in fact. Apart from the reality that the mortality rate from the flu doesn’t compare with that of COVID, the infection rates of COVID are also greater. More than 16m Americans have caught the virus, and that number is going up at an alarming rate.

People wear face masks as they walk in Times Square in New York. Soon more than one in every 1,000 American’s will have died from COVID-19 in the space of one calendar year. Picture: AFP

Yes, a vaccine is on the way. That of course is a good thing. But it will take time to roll it out, and unless Americans are encouraged to curb their enthusiasm for getting in each other’s personal space, many more citizens will die before the benefits of the vaccine are fully felt.

Yet Trump continues to impede a smooth transfer to a new President who wants to do all he can to get the virus under control. One who wants to listen to the experts. Belatedly, after hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

It has been fascinating watching Trump supporters in the commentariat contort their way to justification. Finding ways to explain away their backing of this dangerous President. Conservatives justifying supporting a President who undermines institutions and political culture, in direct violation of how conservatives are supposed to act. Undermines democratic principles, again something conservatives are supposed to staunchly defend.

Bodies are moved to a refrigeration truck serving as a temporary morgue at Wyckoff Hospital in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York. Picture: AFP

What an embarrassing lot they have become.

Their embarrassment is only exacerbated when they turn more specifically to the issue of the pandemic. These collective geniuses once spruiked how well Sweden has done managing COVID-19. That is, before it overran the country, forced a complete policy rethink by Sweden’s leadership and left the Nordic nation on its knees.

You don’t hear quite so much extolling the virtues of the Swedish experiment these days do you? Cockpit silence is all that’s left.

Throw in that the consequences of not taking the virus seriously enough has now also left the Swedish economy on its knees and the humiliation of those who advocated for it even just on economic grounds is complete.

2020 has been a hard year for many. But falling on ones sword isn’t how the hard right functions. They take a never relent never surrender approach to life. Refusing to admit errors or back down. Instead they find new and inventive ways and means to defend the indefensible.

I’ve written columns before going through their techniques when doing so.

Whether it is support for Trump or opposition to tough measures to control the virus, the hard right has been brought down to earth in 2020. Is climate change next? Sadly, probably not. Because its effects as devastating as they are and will be into the future, will only truly reveal themselves over a longer time frame.

In the meantime the same geniuses who backed Trump and downplayed the seriousness of COVID will keep telling us climate change isn’t real and even if it was it isn’t a problem. Or it isn’t a problem we can do anything about anyway, because Australia is just Australia.

That’s what happens when non-experts have high profile platforms to mount arguments. Their opinions distort the facts. I’ll keep calling them out, as long as I keep getting published.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.