Thanks to Donald Trump’s sweeping “America Worst” policy, we’ve become a world pariah in many ways. And now Americans may be barred from traveling to Europe as it reopens its borders in the wake of COVID-19.
The New York Times:
European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times.
That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country.
European nations are currently haggling over two potential lists of acceptable visitors based on how countries are faring with the coronavirus pandemic. Both include China, as well as developing nations like Uganda, Cuba and Vietnam.
Naturally, Trump will respond to this with bluster. Maybe he’ll insult Angela Merkel on Twitter. Maybe he’ll announce punishing tariffs on Swiss Miss cocoa and French’s mustard. He’ll almost certainly say we’re No. 1 in the world in testing — even though we got started far too late and are actually 26th on a per capita basis (i.e., in the only category that remotely means anything).
But the fact remains that we’ve been an outlier — and not in a good way.
Interesting that Trump continues to hype our sheer number of tests while neglecting to mention that we’re No. 1 in the world in both COVID-19 cases and deaths — by a wide margin.
Another likely Trump reaction? “I know you are but what am I?”
A prohibition of Americans by Brussels partly reflects the shifting pattern of the pandemic. In March, when Europe was the epicenter, Mr. Trump infuriated European leaders when he banned citizens from most European Union countries from traveling to America. Mr. Trump justified the move as necessary to protect the United States, which at the time had roughly 1,100 coronavirus cases and 38 deaths.
I guess America is now so great that other countries can’t even stand to look at us.
Yes, we have a fluorescent, flat-headed pr*sident who conducts policy based on petulant whims, conspiracy theories, cynical political calculus, stock market performance, pseudoscience, wishful thinking, and the collective prayers of people who think Adam and Eve flew out of the Garden of Eden on pterodactyls. On the other hand, MAGA!
Jealous much?
“This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry." — Bette Midler on Aldous J. Pennyfarthing, via Twitter. Find out what made dear Bette break up. Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump and its boffo sequels Dear Pr*sident A**clown: 101 More Rude Letters to Donald Trump and Dear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trump by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing are now available for a song! Click those links, yo!