The LuLac Edition #4,414, October 7th, 2020

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write On Wednesday” logo.

This editorial from the Times Tribune says it all about Donald Trump’s behavior regarding the virus. He has shown no regard for common sense or for the 210,000 that have died under his watch.

PROFILES IN IRRESPONSIBILITY

There is no cure as yet for COVID-19, but there is one for confusion during an emergency: Transparency — the dissemination of accurate information. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has chosen not to prescribe it.

President Donald Trump himself, of course, regularly has undermined the government’s own experts regarding the ongoing pandemic, regarding everything from the pathogen’s danger, to the prospects for vaccines and treatments, to discarding cautions against the use of quack treatments, to the efficacy of masks and social distancing in slowing the coronavirus’ spread.

Then, when Trump and several of his aides tested positive for COVID-19, the White House failed to provide accurate information regarding the seriousness of his condition and the time line of the diagnosis relative to his contacts with other people. The White House released information that sometimes contradicted itself, and contradicted Trump’s medical team, which also was less than candid.

All of that occurred even as the White House still has failed to come clean about Trump’s sudden trip last year to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which now likely is germane to underlying conditions that could affect Trump’s condition due to the coronavirus.

The lack of transparency is irresponsible amid a national emergency, yet another example of trying to diminish facts that contradict Trump’s political posture.

Trump himself compounded that irresponsibility Sunday when he exposed his security detail to his own contagion by taking a ride around the Walter Reed campus to wave at supporters, rather than using his own illness to warn the nation of the pandemic’s continuing danger.

Trump’s recklessness creates the prospect of a leadership crisis even worse than the one he already has created.