Trump’s Coronavirus Crisis in Pennsylvania: It’s About Him, Not You

Every day, reporting sheds new light on President Trump’s disastrous mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequent economic crisis, and the impact on the everyday lives of Pennsylvanians. These failures, born of Trump’s incompetence and bottomless narcissism, are no longer surprising to anyone. What is less obvious for many voters, however, is the direct harm that his selfish mismanagement has caused to them.

If you follow politics closely, this inability by voters to connect the dots may strike you as surprising. But Third Way’s research shows that while Trump’s selfishness is obvious to everyone, the impact on voters’ lives is not.

Pennsylvanians know that Trump cares only about himself. What many don’t know is why they should care. Democrats must tell them, with clear and simple examples like these:

The Pandemic

HIM: Trump is selling the fantasy that COVID-19 will ‘magically disappear’ because he thinks it will boost his poll numbers and the stock market.
Pennsylvania’s seven-day average of new cases has more than doubled what it was in June. Despite these alarming trends, Trump continues to insist that the virus is a “Democratic hoax” that will just go away on its own. He thinks that by disregarding safety measures, he has a better story to tell voters and that it will reassure investors.

YOU: The virus is out of control everywhere, including in Pennsylvania. Because of Trump’s self-serving fiction about it going away on its own, his Administration has no plan to stop it, putting every American in physical danger.

Trump’s response has been the worst in the world, with the US seeing the most cases and most deaths overall of any nation on earth. Pennsylvania saw its largest single-day case count (1,222) since May on July 27. As of early August, COVID-19 had killed more than 170,000 Americans across the country and sickened 5.4 million.

Testing

HIM: Trump wants to slow down testing to make it seem as if case numbers are lower.

President Trump has ordered coronavirus testing be slowed down because he thinks this will result in lower case numbers. He has even gone as far as shutting down federally run coronavirus testing sites in Pennsylvania to ensure his own political success. He believes (bizarrely) that more testing means more cases, and more cases are bad for him politically.

YOU: Instead of providing desperately needed leadership and testing, he publicly criticized Gov. Wolf’s reopening plan and has closed federally run coronavirus testing sites in Pennsylvania.

While Trump attacked Wolf’s measured handling of the state’s reopening on Twitter, his administration was closing federally run testing sites in Pennsylvania, a state which already does less coronavirus testing than almost every other state. His callous response and efforts to decrease testing are a major indication that Trump is prioritizing his own ego over the lives of millions of Americans.

Masks

HIM: Until he realized it was politically damaging for him, Trump supported those who refused to wear masks, and refused to wear one himself in public, even when he came to Pennsylvania.

Trump has politicized mask-wearing. He has refused to wear a mask while visiting a mask factory in Allentown and when he hosted a group of Pennsylvania Little Leaguers at the White House. And most recently, he made mask-less campaign stops in Old Forge, where 200 peoplegathered for his speech.

YOU: The politicization of masks is making the pandemic more dangerous and putting Pennsylvanians at risk.

For roughly five months, the president rejected science and ignored pleas from the CDC Director who said that the virus would be under control in 4-8 weeks if everyone wore a mask. It has emboldened his mask-less supporters and given Americans a false sense of security. This has forced governors like Tom Wolf to issue state-wide mask mandates, where there needs to be coordinated federal strategy, and further polarized Pennsylvanians.

Schools

HIM: Trump is demanding that Pennsylvania schools reopen with few safety protocols, because he believes that will help him politically.

Trump has threatened to withhold federal aid from schools that do not reopen, and he pressured the CDC to loosen guidelines for school reopening. Now, Trump and congressional Republicans are conditioning aid to desperate state and local governments on their agreement to open schools, regardless of the risk to children, staff, and their communities.

YOU: While Trump plays political games with your health, Pennsylvanians are concerned about the health of their children, parents and caregivers, school employees, and entire communities.

As Trump argues with the CDC and ignores the objections of public health professionals to give himself a political boost, local school boards are struggling to manage school reopening in a safe and measured way.

Voting

HIM: Trump thinks that discrediting mail-in-voting and withholding funding for the Postal Service will help his election prospects.

In June, the president was so desperate to ensure his reelection that his campaign sued Pennsylvania state and county elections to stop their efforts to make voting more safe. Now, the US Postal Service has warned Pennsylvania officials that it can’t deliver the mail quickly enough for the current vote by mail plan. This comes as Trump openly admitted that he is withholding funding for USPS to make it harder for them to handle the increased mail-in-voting in November, and USPS officials have confirmed the White House was directly involved with slowing the mail. He has also threatened to withhold federal funds from states if they moved forward with their mail-in voting plans. Trump doesn’t want Americans to vote by mail even though he and the first lady just requested absentee ballots for Florida’s primary, and many of his staffers vote by mail.

YOU: In reality, making it harder to vote-by-mail and creating distrust for mail-in-voting will harm the demographic that is simultaneously the most at-risk for COVID-19 and the most present at polls: seniors.

Trump’s claims of fraud and efforts to stop USPS will discourage many from voting absentee, causing more in-person voting, where 60% of poll workers are seniors, including in Pennsylvania. Not only will Trump’s initiative to withhold funding from USPS make it harder to receive ballots, many Pennsylvania seniors will struggle with timely delivery of their prescriptions and social security checks. Trump is putting his own ego and reelection ahead of the health and safety of the American people. His selfishness will put thousands of Pennsylvanians in danger.

Conclusion

It is incumbent upon everyone working to defeat Trump, especially in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, that we make clear the connection between Trump’s selfishness and their own lives. As we discovered in 2016, voters can conclude that his conduct (like on the “Access Hollywood” tape) might be abhorrent, but it remains irrelevant to their everyday lives. This time, they must understand that his selfishness in the face of a pandemic matters enormously: it is dangerous to them, their families, and their communities.