FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jun 6

Believe it or not, Donald Trump is still around!

by bcurry

Based on findings by Facebook’s Oversight Board, Facebook said it will suspend former U.S. president Donald Trump’s accounts — including Instagram — for two years.  The finding is that he stoked violence ahead of the deadly Jan. 6th insurrection.  On Facebook, Trump’s suspension has meant that his account is essentially in “Facebook jail,” which is a term that users use to describe when the social network bans people from posting or accessing their accounts.  Others can still read and comment on Trump’s past posts, but he and other account handlers are unable to post new material.  In a press release, Trump called Facebook’s decision “an insult.” “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”  The two-year ban brings Trump back just in time for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, although too late to be of any real import.  In its decision last month, the board agreed with Facebook that two of Trump’s Jan. 6th posts “severely violated” the content standards of both Facebook and Instagram.

Trump in turn gave his first public address since leaving office at the North Carolina Republican Party convention on June 5th.  Of course, he came out blasting the current Biden administration for everything from immigration policies to foreign policy.  Attacks so soon after a change in administration are somewhat uncommon and unusual among former presidents.  However, Trump is anything but normal.  Trump reserved his early remarks on President Joe Biden, which he called “the most radical left-wing administration in history”.  The fact is that his administration provided little assistance to the incoming Biden administration during the transition period, thus hindering a smooth transition.  Trump further believes that the Republicans will take back the Senate, the House, and the White House sooner than most people think.  The former president waited more than an hour to once again advance falsehoods about the 2020 election, which he described as “the crime of the century”.  Of interest, both CNN and Fox News declined to carry the speech on their channels.

The former president has also claimed that vaccines would not yet have arrived in US without him, ignoring the fact that over 400,000 Americans had died from COVID-19 during his administration, and claiming initially that the pandemic was a “hoax”.  On top of which, he unrealistically called on China to pay $10 trillion in reparations to the United States and the world for China’s handling of the virus.  Good luck on that one!

Trump has pushed Republicans to support candidates who are loyal to him in next year’s midterm elections.  In next year’s fight for control of Congress, he further vowed to be an active presence on the campaign trail for those remaining Republicans who share his values.  In any potential run for the White House in 2024, he may yet have to go up against former vice-president Mike Pence who has publicly asserted that he does not see eye to eye with Donald Trump on the horrific events of January 6th on the Hill.  Don’t forget that Pence and his family had to flee for their lives from the pro-Trump mob.

While Trump remains a dominant force within his party, he however remains deeply unpopular among key segments of the broader electorate and elements of the Republican Party.  Remember that he lost the last election by 7 million votes, primarily as a result of alienating Republican-leaning suburban voters across the country.  Trump supporters still haven’t yet come to grips with this fact. 

President Trump Is Playing The Victim Role Once Again | FROLITICKS (wordpress.com)

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Mar 23

Something Dangerous Is Happening In American Politics

by bcurry

Recently, I read an interesting book written by two professors of government at Harvard U., Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.  The 2018 book entitled “How Democracies Die” takes a historical look at numerous democracies in various countries, including the U.S., which have at some point in time become more authoritarian, despite having strongly written constitutions.  What’s frightening is their conclusion that the actions of elected leaders have often paved the road to democratic failure, and why the U.S. in now vulnerable to the same downward spiral.  Shared beliefs and practices, beyond our formal constitutions, need to be restored.  The attack by some factions on these values has been slowly evolving over several years in U.S. politics.  One can go as far back to McCarthyism in the 1950s, ending in a witch hunt for communists in and out of government, ruining lives and bitterly dividing the country.  Then there was the selection of Sarah Palin who, as John McCain’s running mate in 2007, became his attack dog against the Democrat’s Barack Obama.  Politics has become increasingly personal, with attacks on the character and patriotism of opponents through mainstream media and more recently through social media.  The arrival of Donald Trump on the scene and his subsequent Presidential stint firmly installed the current polarization of American politics and continuing campaigns of intolerance and misinformation. 

Now, we have politicians like Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson who continues to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation, particularly now that Donald Trump is banned from social media and largely avoiding appearances on cable television.  He reportedly spreads doubts about President Joe Biden’s victory, argues that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was not an armed insurrection, promotes discredited COVID-19 treatments, sees no need to get the coronavirus vaccine and declares that climate change was not man-made but instead was caused by “sun spots”.  He is also one of those politicians who loves to spread his message through such outlets as Fox News and right-wing talk radio, especially in Wisconsin’s wide network of conservative talk-radio shows.  The use of the media to disperse misinformation and fervently attack their opponents is a common practice among politicians today in several democratic countries.

Back when Spiro Agnew served as Richard Nixon’s vice-president, from 1969 until his resignation in 1973, he began a predilection for “anti-intellectualism” aimed at appeasing a certain faction of the American population.  This attitude culminated in attacks on what Agnew referred to as the “elites” and on the “left-wing or liberal media”.  Of course, Donald Trump’s rantings about the media’s unfair reporting of his administration’s policies (fake news) just continued the attacks on democratic institutions.  The inability to establish respect and civility within our governing institutions is probably one of the primary challenges in the next few years.  We need to have political entities promoting more partisanship in order to help make governing institutions work effectively and democratically. 

As the above book points out, no democracy is immune to authoritarian actions which can help to diminish confidence in our democratic institutions at a perilous moment.  This danger comes at a time when the health and economic well-being of nations relies heavily on mass vaccinations, the spread of misinformation and when one’s faith in democracy is being shaken by right-wing falsehoods about voting. 

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Feb 11

Split in Republican Party Worsens As Impeachment Trial Drags On

by bcurry

As it stands now, the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is for all intent and purpose over.  According to recent polls, the Democrats and those few Republican senators supporting a conviction have already won in the court of public opinion with a majority of those polled supporting Trump’s conviction higher than during the first impeachment.  While there are obviously not enough Republican senators to convict Trump, the damage from the January 6th riot at the Capitol continues increasingly to split the ranks of the GOP.  Those Republicans in Congress supporting Trump’s impeachment and the election of Joe Biden are now the target of several state and local Republican officials.  Since Trump left office, grassroots Republican activists and state parties have become his most vociferous defenders, often condemning and censuring elected Republicans who dare to deviate in any way from full support of the former president.  Whether or not one likes it, Trump remains the most popular national figure associated with the Republican Party.  State and local party organizations elect their own members and operate with considerable autonomy under the GOP system.  Many continue to believe that Trump was the voice for their agenda in D.C.  However, the reality is that Trump’s gang created his image and platform more than the GOP rank and file did.  Narcissist Trump simply used them and continues to do so after the election to support his nonsensical claim that the election had been stolen.

Now, you have dozens of former and current Republican officials who view the party as unwilling to stand up to Trump and his attempts to undermine U.S. democracy.  Apparently, some senior Republicans are even contemplating the formation of a center-right breakaway party.  As argued by certain party strategists, the problem is that the growing GOP split will undercut the party’s chances in the 2022 midterm elections to win House and Senate majorities.  As it stands right now, the possibility of quickly regaining party unity appears to be a long shot as long as Trump’s influence on the local and state GOP continues.  Many Republicans remain fiercely loyal to the former president, while exasperated others seek a new more centralized direction for the party back to its conservative roots.  Instead, they would run on a platform of “principled conservatism,” including adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law.  They feel that the party’s integrity is at stake and Republicans need to distance themselves from Trump’s influence.

Emotions are running high among both pro-Trump supporters and the anti-Trump faction of the party.  Trump not only inspired a mob to storm the Capitol, he also brought the Republican Party close to a breaking point.  Whether or not Trump is convicted and thereby unable to ever run again for the position of president, the damage is already done within the GOP.  There is no other way to describe the GOP’s internal squabbles but that of continued ‘fanaticism’ and ‘disfunctionalism’.  Moreover, millions of Republican voters are seeking no such separation from Mr. Trump.  The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, many of his House colleagues and state lawmakers around the country continue to express support for Trump.  For the moment at least, they are far more loyal to their lame-duck president than to the traditional party leaders who preceded him.

As part of the impeachment process, the House is currently laying out a very convincing case against Trump, branding him the ‘Inciter in Chief’.  Interestingly, in the unlikely case that the Senate were to convict Mr. Trump — finding him guilty of “inciting violence against the government of the United States” — senators apparently could still vote on whether to bar him from holding future office. That vote would only require a simple majority.  If it came down to party lines, Democrats would prevail with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie breaking vote.  This could help the GOP to begin to renew its fractured party, but don’t count on it.  It may also cause more backlash among Trump’s supporters, while further widening the existing spit within the party.  All of this makes for great political debate in the coming months, much to the growing embarrassment and consternation of the Republican establishment. 

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Jan 15

Donald Trump: To Convict or Not to Convict?

by bcurry

Now that the House of Representatives has voted to impeach the president, the question on everyone’s mind is whether the Senate will hold a trial which could lead to Trump’s conviction for his role in inciting the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6th.  It has been reported that although Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has privately told advisers that he approves of the impeachment drive and believes it could help his party purge itself of Mr. Trump, he refused to begin the proceedings this week while he is still in charge.  Despite having some support to convict among several Republican senators, the fact is that the Senate needs a two-third majority to convict.  Doing so would open the door to disqualifying Trump from holding office in the future.  The chances of this happening are very improbable.

The fact is that the Republican Party is still split over its support for Donald Trump and his populist movement.  Indeed, Trump has installed loyal supporters in all of the G.O.P.’s establishment bodies.  For example, since Trump’s 2016 victory, 91 of the 168 positions on the Republican Nationwide Committee have turned over, with nearly all the newcomers elected by Trump-aligned state events.  Several news headlines read: “Deep In the G.O.P. Ranks, the MAGA Mind-Set Prevails.”  It also appears that a vocal wing of the party maintains an almost-religious devotion to the president, and these supporters, especially at the state and local levels, don’t hold him responsible for the mob violence last week.

Unfortunately for the Republican Party, the schism between Trump supporters and the G.O.P. establishment will exist for some time to come.  Without a conviction by the Senate, Donald Trump will continue to hang around, along with his conspiracy theories.  A very recent Axios-Ipsos ballot following the Capitol riot confirmed that a majority of Republicans help the president’s latest habits and say he still ought to be the Republican nominee in 2024. In addition, many Trump supporters are clamoring to go after any of the Republican members of Congress who voted for impeachment or against the motion to investigate the voting results of the presidential election.  Some of those Republican members now even fear for their lives.

Various Republicans in Congress believe that proceeding with an impeachment trial in the Senate will only pour gasoline on the already raging fire among Trump supporters.  They believe that such a move will further divide the nation at a time when a new administration is being sworn in.  Given the volatility of the current situation, they may have a legitimate argument.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has discretion over when to transmit the article of impeachment sometime next week, formally initiating the Senate proceeding.  While this may be the right thing to do in light of the serious charges against Trump, the timing may not be good for the country.  The House members, including ten Republicans, have made their point and expression of justifiable outrage over the president’s actions leading up to and following the Capitol riot.  After all, his legacy now includes being the only American president to be impeached twice.  Proceeding to convict represents a greater threat to the G.O.P. than anyone else, and may only provide more ammunition to Trump loyalists to continue their fight within the party.  Hopefully, not literally!

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Jan 11

Following Capitol Hill Riot, Republican Party Is In Disarray

by bcurry

Despite what the Republican National Committee may say about its continuing support for Donald Trump, there is increasing evidence that the GOP is a very much more splintered group following the attempted coup at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.  This disarray extends to GOP members of Congress.  It is reported that the 127 who voted to overthrow president-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory are facing fierce backlash from donors, constituents, and even some GOP colleagues. 

The party also faces a threat to its financial base.  Several of the most powerful and normally non-political business federations in Washington denounced the chaos this week in stinging language, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.  Several major business leaders voiced alarm at the threat it posed to a democracy which most Americans had taken for granted and at the role of these rogue Republican lawmakers. 

Then there are the evangelicals who represent roughly one quarter of Americans and who supported Trump and the GOP for their pro-religion views.  White evangelicals embraced the president, some begrudgingly and some enthusiastically, because he addressed many of their concerns.  Now, they are talking about finally witnessing an evangelical reckoning and the about the dangers of Trumpism.  A lot of introspection is happening among evangelicals.

There is clearly a conundrum wherein the GOP finds itself beholden to voters who’ve internalized the president’s falsehoods and were emboldened by Trump’s divisive speak.  There is little doubt that a schism exists among Trump’s supporters which may be hard to quickly mend.  In one report shortly after the Capitol assault, a veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz carried out a spotlight group composed of a few Trump voters from different states.  In it, he stated that they fell into three camps:

  • those who consider the truth that President-elect Joe Biden won the election and believe that it’s time for Trump move on;
  • those who believe that the election was stolen from Trump, but he nonetheless ought to move on; and
  • those who insist it was stolen and Trump ought to continue to struggle in some way.

Rep. Nancy Mace, a newly elected Republican freshman from South Carolina and a strong past supporter of Trump, openly declared in the media: “That legacy has now been wiped out,” Mace stated. “It is gone, and we have to start over from scratch.”  Whether the president is impeached or censured, the fact is that significant damage has been done to the Republican Party.  It would appear that Trump supporters and GOP members of Congress are ready to declare war with each other.  The best thing for the future of the GOP is for Trump and his legacy to quietly fade away into the abyss.  As long as Trump has any future involvement with the party, there will continue to be even more destructive disarray.  His ties to the party need to be cut ASAP.  Otherwise, the internal healing can’t start soon enough for most Republican supporters!

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Jan 9

Trump set up Vice President Mike Pence’s down-fall among his supporters

by bcurry

VP Mike Pence came under intense pressure from Donald Trump to toss out the election results during the confirmation within Congress of the Electoral College votes validating the win by President-elect Joe Biden and VP-elect Pamela Harris.  However, Pence had no constitutional authority to do any such thing, and he correctly refused to buckle to the President’s demands to engineer a procedural coup that would keep him in power.  It has been reported by sources close to the vice president that he clearly was being set up as a “scapegoat” to shoulder the blame by angry Trump supporters.

What is further egregious is that during the Capital Hill riot by Trump supporters, the President and top White House officials did not even contact the vice president to ensure that he and his family, who were inside the U.S. Capitol at the time, were unharmed.  Several rioters were reported to have shouted that they were looking to find the vice president in order to capture and execute him as a traitor.  In spite of this, full credit must be given to the vice president for his return following the riot to continue the debate and the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes in Congress.

However, where does this moment leave Mike Pence’s status as a potential Republican candidate for the Presidency in 2024?  Here was a man who had been extremely loyal to Donald Trump throughout his presidency.  Now he obviously has been thrown under the bus by Trump who just can’t admit defeat and wants another scapegoat.  As witnessed in reports from the Republican National Committee following the Capitol rioting, there nevertheless remains continuing support for Trump’s leading role in the GOP.  Moreover, despite evidence to the contrary, party members, one after another, said in interviews that the president did not bear any blame for the violence at the Capitol.  However, privately, a group of Republican officials, mostly those from the pre-Trump establishment wing of the party, said that they were appalled by the president’s conduct.  Alas, there is a clear division within the GOP as to how to proceed without angering Trump’s base which they continue to perceive as crucial to win future elections.

Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz obviously tried to position themselves as heirs to Trump’s base and they remained largely unrepentant for their actions after this week’s deadly riot.  However, a group of Republican officials, mostly those from the pre-Trump establishment wing of the party, said that they were appalled by the each senator’s conduct during the certification of election results.  The GOP for now is a very divided party.  After all, a lot of introspection needs to occur among Republicans as to where the party is going and what will be its future electoral platforms.  One needs to remember that Trump is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over the loss of the White House, the House and the Senate in a single term.  Despite the election results, the Republican rank and file don’t yet appear to be all that fazed!

At this time, Mike Pence appears to be the odd man out.  Will Trump ever forgive him for failing to attempt to toss out the election results?  Trump has never appeared to be a very forgiving person when it comes to anyone appearing to be disloyal to him.  One only has to look at his past erratic history with those supposedly close to him.  When it comes to future political aspirations within the GOP, good luck Mr. Pence for you’ll need it.

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Jan 4

Americans in 2021 will be even more divided than ever

by bcurry

While one may welcome in the New Year, there is little doubt that Americans will be even more divided than ever.  Even a pandemic could not bring Americans together after the recent presidential election.  Spurred on by outgoing President Trump, numerous Republicans and conspirators such as QAnon, many Americans believe that his re-election was stolen by a corrupt voting system.  They have managed to put the very essence of democracy under a microscope for all the wrong reasons.

Many Americans look at Democrats and see a party made up primarily of radical lefties, blacks, LGBtQ+, and belonging to an apparatus run by political elites, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities who are also pedophiles and actively working against Trump.  Democrats see Republicans as white, right-wing, evangelical and gun-toting folk.  While these perceptions are far from the truth, polls nevertheless have shown that they are basically how both sides like politically to characterize the other party’s membership.  Even concerted efforts to deal with the pandemic have not brought the two sides any closer together.

Following the U.S. election outcome, several Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have unfortunately continued to cater to Trump’s base by promoting false and misleading accusations about the voting process.  With so much anger in the air and a President who refuses to concede his loss, the political and social atmosphere is more toxic than ever.  The right-wing extremist Proud Boys will march on Washington as Senator Ted Cruz leads 12 GOP senators who are still trying futilely to overturn the results of the presidential election only to appease Trump’s base.

What all this means is that President-elect Joe Biden’s first major challenge will be to convince many Americans that his administration is legitimate, something rarely heard of in U.S. history.  Protests will follow with both pro-Biden and pro-Trump supporters attempting to out shout the other side in front of far from neutral media.   Depending on what happens in the two Georgia runoffs for the U.S. Senate, Congress may or may not become a continuing stalemate of ideological differences.  President-elect Biden’s administration will have their work cut out for them to get anything significant accomplished in the next four years.  With the divisions running so deep and Donald Trump screaming in the Twitter background, one cannot envy the challenges that his administration will face in the coming months.

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Dec 20

When Sedition Enters In To The Lexicon of Trump’s Administration

by bcurry

According to the New York Times, Donald Trump recently discussed with Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, the possibility of imposing martial law to overturn the election.  Having lost all of his court cases alleging fraud during the presidential election and with the Electoral College having given Joe Biden the majority of electors needed to make him officially President-elect, Trump is at the end of his rope.  Or maybe not?

Apparently, in his meeting with Trump and his advisors, Flynn suggested that the President send troops into the swing states which he lost to Biden in November and have the military basically rerun an election in each of those states.  If true, the proposal would represent the or speech inciting rebellion against the legitimate authority of a state.  Insurrection is a violent uprising against authority and coup is a sudden violent seizure of power from a government.  Even the mere contemplation of such an act by the Commander-in-Chief is alien to Americans, particularly as one of the military’s principal responsibilities is to defend the constitution of the United most drastic and unconscionable move by Trump up until now.  All kinds of thoughts come to mind, comprised of concepts such as sedition, insurrection and coup.  Sedition is defined as conduct States.

The next stage in the election timetable is when the House and Senate hold a joint session to count the electoral votes, with the hearing presided over by Vice-President Mike Pence.  This is normally a formality, although some Republicans may like to challenge the result through a debate in both chambers.  Such a challenge has no chance of succeeding.  To all intents and purposes, President-elect Biden now represents the new head of government, only to be inaugurated.  The inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021 as the 46th president of the United States will mark the commencement of his four-year term president and Kamala Harris as the vice-president.  Democracy will live on in the U.S. despite Trump’s desire to undermine it.

According to the New York Times, Trump also weighed appointing Sidney Powell as special counsel within the White House to investigate voter fraud.  Ms. Powell promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines.  Several lawsuits related to election fraud filed by Ms. Powell have been tossed out of court.  In addition, legal action has been launched by Dominion Voting Systems against Ms. Powell over her baseless claims about its voting machines.  In both of the above irrational proposals, the President was advised that he had no constitutional authority for what was being discussed and any subsequent appointment could not be affiliated with the Justice Department.  Thus, such an appointment would be meaningless. 

All this to say that Donald Trump is now treading on thin ice!  Any proposal for military action by Trump should be considered as an act of sedition.  What Trump should be doing is simply offering his concession and helping to plan the transition to a new administration, like his modern predecessors before him.  American democracy demands it!

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Nov 12

President Trump Is Playing The Victim Role Once Again

by bcurry

All through his presidency, Donald Trump has appealed to his supporters that, like them, he is the victim of a corrupt system, whether it be the courts, the media or congress.  He blamed mainstream media for putting out “fake news” about the daily events.  He blamed the House of Representatives and the Special Prosecutor for the impeachment hearings.  He blamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation for failing to investigate the actions of his “political enemies” and Hunter Biden’s business activities in the Ukraine.  He accused top public health officials of overstating the crisis surrounding the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., including the use of testing so as to inflate the numbers of cases.  Now, he is blaming the electoral system for the outcome of the presidential election, without presenting any proof of voting fraud or mishandling of votes by the states.  There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a victim, but a victim of his own arrogance, hypocrisy and self-importance.

Unfortunately, Trump’s refusal to concede to Joe Biden is designed to promote one more conspiracy theory among his supporters that the election was stolen and he did not “loose”.  Simply launching dozens of lawsuits without any legal grounds is a waste of precious time and resources.  The hypocrisy of it is highlighted by his daughter Ivanka Trump.  In recent statements, Ms. Trump celebrated the fact that the Associated Press projected the state of Alaska for the Republicans and for her father.  At the same time she rejected the same organisation declaring Joe Biden the president-elect, despite Mr. Biden clearly winning the 270 electoral college votes he needs for the White House.

On top of which, you now have key Republicans and administration officials encouraging the President should keep fighting until every “legal” vote is counted.  They include Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr, and Senators David Perdue, Susan Collins, Kelly Loeffler, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to name a few.  On the other hand, one has Republicans who have congratulated Joe Biden on his victory such as former President George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney and Governors Charlie Baker, Larry Hogan and Phil Scott.

Meanwhile, to date, GOP operatives have filed a string of lawsuits over alleged ballot tampering in battleground states but have had zero legal victories or produced any substantive evidence for their claims.  Sorry, Mr. President, you’re no victim in all of this!  While the nation waits to proceed with the normal political transition and there are record numbers of Americans who continue to die or become hospitalized because of COVID-19, you obliviously keep on playing golf.  This nonsensical situation will only add to what is already a terrible legacy, and is just another symptom of Trumpism.

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Oct 8

Politics and the Tragic Story of U.S. CDC in Tackling COVID-19

by bcurry

On October 7th, it was reported that U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 7.5 million with most states seeing a rise in cases and a startling nine states setting ominous, seven-day records for infections.  Even these numbers may not reflect the reality given that the nation’s patchwork pandemic response has led to wide disparities in data reporting.  There are apparently even differences in definitions for basic medical concepts.  In the absence of federal standards, states have also adopted divergent and sometimes scientifically questionable approaches to disease control.

Where has the leadership role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) been in all of this during the past nine months?  William Foege, a renowned epidemiologist who served under Democratic and Republican presidents, detailed in a recent private letter to CDC Director Robert Redfield (obtained by USA TODAY) what he considered as the White House’s meddling in the agency’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 crisis.  He reflected what a number of Director Redfield’s predecessors at the CDC strongly believe have been serious failures in the administration’s coronavirus response. Dr. Foege expressed how many scientists and experts feel about the CDC’s failure.  Moreover, Dr. Foege’s letter lamented that “the CDC’s scientific experts have been rendered impotent during the most significant health crisis in a century while decades of experience have been ignored.” He concluded: “This will go down as a colossal failure of the public health system of this country.”

Here in Canada, the CDC has had an excellent reputation for its work in the past and government bodies such as the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada have interacted on health issues with the CDC on numerous occasions.  Now, the CDC’s scientific reputation has unfortunately been tainted because of the administration’s actions and its failure to provide national science-based standards in addressing COVID-19 issues and to help develop applicable national policies. 

In a virtual event held by American University, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, recently said that as many as 400,000 Americans could die from COVID-19 if action isn’t taken in the fall and winter.  Dr. Fauci acknowledged that there was the decreasing trust in him as a public official, especially in light of mixed coronavirus messages coming out of the CDC.  President Trump’s frequent attacks on the CDC’s integrity and several renown scientists have done nothing to help matters.  In direct contradiction of the experts and the CDC, Trump persists in stating that a vaccine will be available in the very near.  However, experts and researchers have asserted that a vaccine will probably not be available to most Americans until next summer or the fall at the earliest.  Once again, Trump is attempting to undermine the expert advice of the CDC and others for political reasons to the detriment of all Americans.  What a shame!

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