COVID-19 no longer a MAGA joke

Hindsight is always 20/20. The seminal moment of the first presidential debate proved not to be Donald Trump’s bloviated pronouncements or angry interruptions, nor Joe Biden’s somewhat lackluster defenses of his health care and Green New Deal policies — all be it with a calmer, more dignified demeanor.

Instead, the key juncture of the back-and-forth was the little remarked upon comment when Biden noted, if nothing changed that 1 in 500 African Americans would die of COVID-19. The former VP’s point—that infections amongst vulnerable groups would spiral if real precautions were not advocated from the White House—was glossed over.

Then Donald and Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. The vigorous President‘s sickness suddenly reminded the electorate that he was a septuagenarian. He belonged to a vulnerable group as well, the near-elderly, and COVID-19 could no longer be dismissed by the alt-Right as a joke or a conspiracy.

Suddenly, the danger of death could not be relegated to “minority groups.” It’s amazing how testing positive for this virus equalizes all humanity. Markets reacted. The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 500 points. MAGA rallies where Trump received screaming adoration, whilst dismissing COVID-19 concerns, appeared in retrospect as incubators of infection among the indifferent.

This article originally published in the October 5, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.