Most people who die from COVID-19 are over 75 years old. Rudy Giuliani, who rarely wears a mask in public and doesn't understand what social distancing is, hasn't died yet but he is 76 and being treated at Georgetown University's hospital in DC. At least we can be sure that if he survives and is afflicted with the neurological ailments that follow at least a third of patients out of the hospital, he won't be getting more unhinged from reality than he already is.
While Trump frets about the dozens of associates of his who have been struck down by a deadly pandemic that he called a hoax and refused to address seriously (while lying about a vaccine), the U.S. caseload is skyrocketing as we head into the holidays. European nations seem to have bent the curve and their numbers are going in the other direction.
"As some states in the U.S. crack down to head off the worst," wrote Dave Lawler, "the debate in countries like the U.K. and France has shifted to whether and how to lighten their own restrictions before the holidays. America's surge lagged two to three weeks behind Europe's, with a similarly worrying trajectory. However, responses in U.S. states have been uneven and generally less severe than in most European countries. Daily case counts are already rising significantly in most U.S. states, and they're likely to tick up further following Thanksgiving gatherings around the country."
North Dakota- 108,890 cases per million residents
South Dakota- 97,202 cases per million residents
Iowa- 77,440 cases per million residents
Nebraska- 71,633 cases per million residents
Wisconsin- 70,791 cases per million residents
Utah- 67,190 cases per million residents
Montana- 63,507 cases per million residents
Wyoming- 62,750 cases per million residents
Minnesota- 62,214 cases per million residents
Illinois- 62,152 cases per million residents
Idaho- 61,839 cases per million residents
Tennessee- 58,659 cases per million residents
Rhode Island- 58,655 cases per million residents
Kansas- 58,627 cases per million residents
Indiana- 56,685 cases per million residents
Arkansas- 56,639 cases per million residents
Mississippi- 55,418 cases per million residents
Alabama- 55,041 cases per million residents
Missouri- 55,398 cases per million residents
Oklahoma- 54,710 cases per million residents
Nevada- 54,588 cases per million residents
Louisiana- 54,019 cases per million residents
New Mexico- 51,548 cases per million residents
Czechia- 50,969 cases per million residents
Belgium- 50,807 cases per million residents
USA- 45,799 cases per million residents
Switzerland- 39,680cases per million residents
Spain- 36,336 cases per million residents
France- 35,088 cases per million residents
Austria- 33,608 cases per million residents
Netherlands- 32,489 cases per million residents
Portugal- 31,665 cases per million residents
Italy- 28,813 cases per million residents
Poland- 28,112 cases per million residents
Sweden- 27,543 cases per million residents
Romania- 26,774 cases per million residents
Hungary- 25,936 cases per million residents
U.K.- 25,327 cases per million residents
Ukraine- 18,645 cases per million residents
Russia- 16,859 cases per million residents
Denmark- 15,619 cases per million residents
Ireland- 14,965 cases per million residents
Albania- 14,945 cases per million residents
Germany- 14,122 cases per million residents
Yesterday, Wall Street Journal reporters Alex Leary and Catherine Lucey noted that by playing around with a supposed 2024 bid-- which will never happen-- Trump is leaving potential candidates blowing in the wind, unable to lay the groundwork for campaigns without alienating him and his supporters. Do you think Rubio or Cotton or Haley, let alone Pence, want to accuse him of dereliction of duty in regards his handling of the pandemic? Leary and Lucey called it "scrambling the calculus."
They problem comes down to the prospective candidates showing deference for Trump and not wanting to risk alienating his rabid base by appearing to push him aside-- while not wanting to be left unprepared when he decides not to run, likely very late in the game, since pretending to run keeps the fundraising spigots gushing with the millions of dollars he can pocket or use to push one of his children.
Former Romney advisor Kevin Madden: "Trump blocks out the sun on all of the other prospective candidates. You show up in New Hampshire and talk about the future of the GOP, you immediately put a target on your back with Trump and his followers. Are you willing to take that fight on?"
What the wanna-be candidates can do is travel to early voting states to help down-ballot Republicans up for election in 2022 or challenging Democratic incumbents. Iowans Marianette Miller-Meeks, who may have won by 6 votes, and Ashley Hinson are likely to have campaign visits from Pence, Rubio, Cruz, Josh Hawley, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Larry Hogan, Don, Jr. and God knows who else.
At one of the dozen or so super-spreader events Trump is hosting at the White House-- this one last Tuesday, the chairman of the South Carolina GOP reported that Trump said he was fighting to win the current election but added to raucous cheers, "Otherwise I’ll see you in four years."
There are several scenarios that could keep Trump out of the race-- defending himself in court from criminal charges and his business and family interests and God knows what scandals that will start coming out once he's dislodged from the Oval Office. He's also 78, obese and unhealthy.
And then there's the pandemic? Is it going to just disappear, as he's predicted since there was just one case in the U.S.? Or will it kill a million people first, with millions of people knowing exactly whose fault it is that their loved one is gone?