100,000 Dead Americans and The Economy In Shambles. So What Is Trump Focused On? Fighting Twitter

On Wednesday evening, our nation reached the horrific tally of at least 100,000 dead from the coronavirus. On Thursday morning, we learned that over the past week 2.1 million more Americans filed for unemployment, bringing the total number who have filed for unemployment since March to an astounding 40 million. Add to that as the NY Times reported Wednesday that an “avalanche of evictions” are bearing down on renters due to this economic devastation.

So with all that what is Trump focused on today? The answer, as always, is one person: Donald J. Trump.

That is what Trump’s fight with Twitter is about, and the executive order he will reportedly sign Thursday to punish them for subtly ”fact checking” a few of his tweets.  Based on reporting, the order will be broader than just Twitter and seek to roll back immunity that social media tech giants currently are provided by federal law. But make no mistake, the real reason for this is that Twitter dared to put a link to more information on Trump’s tweets spewing lies about mail in voting in case people wanted to learn the truth.

Distraction is Trump’s number–and to be blunt, only game at this point.  Trump simply has no answers for either the health or economic catastrophe our nation is facing.

Regarding the massive loss of life caused by Trump’s incompetent handling of the coronavirus, the less he says the better at this point. This is the same Trump who boasted on February 26, 2020 when there were only 15 known cases of COVID-19 on U.S. soil that “when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” As of today, the United States has approximately 1.7 million confirmed cases and over 100,000 dead. That’s a long way from the “zero” Trump promised.

On the economic front, nothing in Trump’s past tells us he has the skills or knowledge to help us. In fact, based on Trump’s track record, when things were going this badly for Trump in the past, he simply filed for bankruptcy—which he had done six times before ascending to the Oval Office.  If Trump did have answers, we would be hearing a detailed economic plan to help revive the economy as oppose to his tweets screaming, “Liberate” states!

Where is Trump’s executive order to address the expected 100,000 small businesses that are going under for good given the economic turmoil, including a jaw dropping three percent of all restaurants in America that will likely be shuttered forever?!  Worse, a recent survey of small business conducted by Facebook  found that only 45% indicated they would be re-hiring all the workers they had laid off due to the shutdown.  That means unemployment will remain at levels well over the worst of the Great Recession for the remainder of 2020 and well into 2021.

Where’s Trump’s executive order to help the 40 percent of mothers with children ages 12 and under in America who in a recent survey expressed concerns that they can’t put food on the table?! Nowhere to be found.

But if you go to Trump’s Twitter feed today –or any day for that matter-you will see countless tweets about “Obamagate,” Trump slamming media figures and whining about how badly he has been treated. That strategy could’ve actually worked for Trump in 2020 if not for the coronavirus pandemic and our economic collapse.

In this case, Trump’s incompetence and callous disregard for anyone but himself is pissing people off. Just look at Trump’s beloved Rasmussen poll which he loves to cite since it oversamples Republicans. In mid-February, before the virus outbreak ravaged our nation, Trump had a 52 percent approval rating. Where is he now? He has a 57 percent disapproval rating, far worse than the 49 percent disapproval number he had in the days before the 2018 midterm election where Democrats won the House back by largest raw vote margin in the history of midterms.

And what should concern Trump even more is that the latest Rasmussen poll finds that only 30 percent of voter strongly approve of Trump’s job as president.  How many strongly disapprove of Trump? 47 percent. Strongly disapprove means he has pissed off voters. And as history has shown us, angry voters are the ones who vote in big numbers. That’s why on my SiriusXM radio show I urge listeners nightly to “Stay Angry” in order to beat Trump. Given who Trump is, that really shouldn’t be a problem.

Dean Obeidallah, a lawyer, hosts SiriusXM radio’s The Dean Obeidallah show and is a columnist for the Daily Beast and a CNN.com Opinion Contributor.

 

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.