Time to Bring Back Trump*
*But only for a moment
It’s time to bring back Donald Trump.
Just for one moment, and just for one purpose: Joe Biden should ask the 45th President to come to the White House and broadcast a joint public service message.
“We, the 45th and 46th Presidents of the United States, are happy to put aside politics and ask you, all Americans, to get the vaccine against Covid-19.”
I know: it’s been wonderful not seeing Trump on the front page or on twitter. Life is more pleasant without his mean-spirited narcissistic presence.
But the renewed health emergency is more important.
We were this close (thumb and forefinger ) to beating the virus. Now, it is roaring back. Get ready for event closings, business slowdowns, mask mandates, swelling hospitalizations. Death rates are already in mid-triple digits.
The resurgence is preventable. The vaccine, the genius of American Pharma, has proved remarkably effective against serious illness.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, deaths among vaccinated Americans account for less than 1% of the total. Covid hospitalizations among the vaccinated are no more than 3% of the total.
Even if one uses the slightly higher figures observed in some states by the New York Times, Covid is far less lethal than the ordinary flu among vaccinated Americans.
Although data on the new Delta variant is less robust, the CDC says the vaccines are “highly effective” against it. Of 164 million Americans who were vaccinated so far, 1,500 have died, a rate of .0009 percent (and more than 300 of those were asymptomatic and probably not Covid-related).
What we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Inevitably, it is spreading fear among the general population.
The unvaccinated pose a risk of infection to all and a risk of serious illness, or worse, to themselves. The CDC says almost 30% of American adults — about 75 million — have not gotten a single dose.
Trump could reach many of them better than anyone else.
I know: He’s a liar. He lied about the election, repeatedly. He intentionally damaged the public’s faith in American democracy. He not only lied, he tried to overturn the result of an honest election.
Bring him back. The election is over.
The pandemic is not over. Tuesday, the U.S. death toll climbed back over 600 — a rate equivalent to 220,000 per year. And the number is rising — again.
Overwhelmingly, the most effective way to stop the surge is to the finish the job of vaccinations.
Many people will object to Biden’s enlisting Trump because Trump might gain a political advantage. Perhaps. But the moment Trump visits the White House as a guest, he implicitly recognizes Biden as President.
And by reaching out to the predecessor who so soured his greatest moment in politics, Biden will be making a Lincolnesque gesture of humility — a nonpartisan act of public service that will redound to the President’s credit.
Let’s not belabor this. The point is not who will reap a political advantage. The point is that beating the virus is larger than politics.
Trump will surely take credit for ordering the vaccines — and so he should. We want him to take credit. It will remind his disciples that the vaccine is not a socialist plot. It was commissioned by Trump, and Trump himself got it.
Trump will brag that Biden needs him — can’t do it alone. Biden can smile and say, “I do need you, Donald. The country needs you. I’ve learned in this job I need all the help I can get.”
Let this be broadcast as a public service in every state. Let it be shown in sports stadiums and schools. Let it be run and rerun on Fox and CNBC.
Some will object that by appearing with forty-five, Biden will normalize him. To which: when a bad person does a good thing, it’s a good thing. A little dose of healing, a small example of cooperation from He who is beyond redemption, would be a good thing.
It’s possible Trump will refuse a Biden invitation. That’s on him. Biden won’t know until he tries.
And the public service messages should not stop there. Country music stars should make these announcements. Big-name and local preachers should get on their soapbox. LeBron James should risk his brand — as he has been unwilling to do — and urge his fans to get the vaccine. Ditto, the clamp-jawed New England football coach, Bill Belichick, who unbravely said in response to a question about his vaccine status, “Yeah, we’re not going to get into that.”
But nothing would have the immediate impact of a Trump-Biden pitch from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And don’t worry, you can get back to hating Trump the next day.
Let’s just beat the virus first.
You will have to explain to me what benefit the covid vaccine offers to a young healthy person. It obviously does not stop you from getting covid or variants, so the argument that the vaccine is for others seems to hold no water. Covid is not deadly to a young healthy person, so getting the vaccine for yourself, as a young person, also doesnt seem to hold water. In fact the vaccine appears to harm young males at a higher rate than the virus does; the mRNA vaccines are outright banned in several countries and advised against in many others for young people.
In my view the mass hysteria around covid needs to end. We need to acknowledge that it is endemic and we need to accept that we will have to live with the virus.