What We Are Forgetting in the Midst of Trump’s Diagnosis
by Isabella Zollner
On October 2, Trump tweeted that he and Melania have been diagnosed with COVID-19:
“Tonight, @FLOTUS [First Lady Melania Trump] and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”
As per usual Trump behavior, this was tweeted in the middle of night. Millions of Americans woke up to the news that the President of the United States had been diagnosed with coronavirus. The news blew up over night and this tweet was retweeted almost 300,000 times over the course of the next four and a half hours. In the morning, we were greeted with endless articles about Trump’s diagnosis and what it means for the country. Notably, coverage on Melania and her and Trump’s son Barron has been sparse. But Melania and Barron are not all that we have forgotten.
It’s understandable that when the President is diagnosed with a virus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans during his Presidency, we would immediately jump to that news coverage. But because of that fear we have forgotten to report on the terrible and unpresidential things Trump has been doing, some of them during his quarantine. Over the past month, Trump has acted in ways that could have caused an impeachment in past presidents, and these proceedings are being reported on less and less. In fact, as everyone should know, it isn’t only the past month that we’ve let slide. It’s the past four years. It’s time to start reminding people what Trump’s run as president has actually been like. Times like now, when people are actively voting, are when it’s most important to be actively reminding undecided voters of all Trump has done to prove he should never have been elected, let alone reelected.
Trump has had 5 sexual misconduct allegations filed in court against him and almost 30 public sexual misconduct allegations since 2016. Trump has denied every one of the allegations and each court case seems to have been quietly ended with large payoffs or legal intervention. But consider his more than 30 sexual misconduct allegations and his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein,
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life” (Trump in a 2002 New York Times article)
It is hard, I think impossible, to believe that he is innocent of all of these claims.
Despite the constant sexual misconduct allegations, Trump still managed to win the election — without winning the popular vote. Trump losing the popular vote by around three million votes is another treacherous truth we forgot. Even Trump’s obsessive refusal to admit he lost the popular vote was forgotten. Some people may, however, remember reading articles like this one about Trump’s inappropriate and compulsive need to lie about voter fraud. He even claimed that,
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally!”
That claim of illegal voting still rings true even if it has shifted somewhat from his original narrative. Back in 2017, if you remember, there was a constant chant of, “Build the Wall.” This has died down somewhat but the effects, especially in school systems, are still prominent. The hatred that Trump has sewed in by encouraging his supporters to actively support racism has caused years of children to grow up in a dangerous school environment. Even if you no longer hear his malicious chants of “Build the Wall” and “Lock her Up” they are still affecting us.
And don’t forget about Trump’s first investigation from the FBI as a sitting president, which came to a head in May of 2017. James Comey (Former head of the FBI), was holding an investigation into Trump’s relations with Russia and Putin. Then on May 9 Trump fired him and said to NBC,
“When I decided to [fire James Comey], I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story.”
Firing James Comey was not technically a criminal offense, but it reeks of a corrupt leader. We may have left that in the past, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t affect us today. Perhaps if James Comey had been allowed to continue his investigation, Trump would not be in office today and more than 200,000 Americans would not have died from Coronavirus.
As it is, Trump’s involvement did eventually catch up to him. In 2019, articles of impeachment were initiated against President Trump for his illegal interactions with Ukraine and the interference with the 2020 primary election. However, the senate did not follow the congressional opinion. If he is re-elected he will be the only president to have impeachment hearings and then be re-elected.
More recently, Trump’s taxes have finally been released. These reports show that Trump paid only $750 in taxes for 2 of 15 years that were released. The other 13 years he paid no taxes. This is an outrage to the millions of Americans who actually pay taxes. However, some investigations into Trump’s taxes show that he made no strictly illegal actions. They say that Trump paid away his taxes on business expenses and other deductibles like $70,000 on hair care (yes, really). Still, some other investigations conflict with those and say that once Trump is no longer president (Hopefully in January) he can be given jail time for the way he avoided taxes.
All of these unpresidential and oftentimes illegal actions have been forgotten or swept under the rug for the most part. In fact, there are plenty more things I haven’t got the space or time to explain. For example, his terrible behavior at the first presidential debate, his refusal to do a virtual debate ‘because they could just mute him’, and his banning transgender people from the military to name a few. But it is necessary to our country’s integrity that we remember Trump’s scandals and that we report on them. Do not let Trump’s diagnosis excuse his past offenses towards the American people.
About the Author:
After being subjected to homophobic harassment in the classroom, Isabella decided to try and use her writing to encourage others to stand up for each other and themselves. Isabella is a high school student in Lafayette, IN.
