On Oct. 21, Donald Trump brought his antibodies and steroids and snake-oil farewell tour to Gastonia, North Carolina. It was a big rally, with reportedly 15,000 people in attendance. Masks were, like all Trump and Republican-led events these days, optional. Social distancing was not observed, and Donald Trump lied his face off for a whole hour.
On Thursday, the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services announced that at least two people who attended the rally on Tuesday, had tested positive for COVID-19. “These cases are not thought to be an indication of spread from the rally at this time, but rather two independent cases among individuals who were in attendance.” The reason the Gaston County HHS made this announcement public is, “Because of the large number of potential contacts from the rally, and the inability to alert them directly, the community is being notified so they can assess their own risk and take appropriate actions.”
As the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has already shown us, collecting a bunch of people, packing them in, and then not even making them wear the basic protections is a recipe for disaster. Trump’s campaign has been trying to stem some of the electoral bleeding they have done since the economy and public life have taken a nose-dive under his administration. The best way to do this is to do what the Trump administration has been doing since its inception: throw MAGA-supporters into the wood chipper and hope they have just enough life left in them to get him 4 more years.
On Tuesday, feeling that North Carolina love, Trump announced that he would be returning to bring COVID-19 to the Tar Heel state on Thursday! WTF!!!! And then, like magic:
A quarter of a million North Carolinians having contracted the virus already, and 4,000 dead because of it, the Trump administration’s insistence on spreading its pestilence is mind-blowing.
The event has been rescheduled for Monday.
