Four score and seven years ago, on March 4, 1933 to be exact, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said the following in his first inaugural address: “[T]he only thing we have to fear is fear itself . . ..”
responded by introducing 15 major pieces of legislation during the first 100 days of his administration. Those legislative proposals were designed to calm the nation’s financial panic and begin the process of economic recovery.
On September 10, 2020, Donald J. Trump invoked FDR’s
words to justify lying to the American public about the severity of the novel
corona virus. (Business
Insider, September 11, 2020.) In a recorded interview with investigative
reporter and author, Bob Woodward, Trump acknowledged on February 7, 2020 that
this virus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flus.” Then, three days later, according to a timeline
published by ABC News, Trump spoke at a political rally in New
Hampshire insisting that the virus would “miraculously go away” in April, “when
it gets a little warmer.”
As the virus spread and the death count increased,
Trump continued to downplay the nature and severity of the virus, bullying
governors to ease lifesaving restrictions. As early as mid-April, when lockdown
measures were starting to show progress against the spread of the virus, Trump
was sending tweets of “Liberate” to pressure states to open their economies.
Just a few months later, on August 5th when
the COVID death toll was nearly 157,000, the President was pressuring states to
open the schools while formulating another outright lie so Americans would “Keep
Calm and Carry On.”* He
falsely assured America that “[C]hildren are almost – and I would say almost
definitely – but almost immune from this disease . . ..”
Many states and school districts succumbed to this
additional pressure from President Trump and opened schools for in-person
instruction only to see another surge in cases from this highly contagious
disease.
Now Trump would have us believe that the reason he has
downplayed the severity of the virus time and time again is because he does not
want Americans to be afraid – to panic.
Yet, ever since he first became involved in politics, Trump has used
fear as a tool convince Americans to support him. Examples include:
- · Fear Mexican immigrants, about whom Trump said: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” (Time Magazine, August 31, 2016.)
- · Fear Muslims, about whom Trump said: “You have people coming out of mosques with hatred and death in their eyes.” (Medium, April 19, 2018.)
- · Fear African Americans, especially those in the Black Lives Matter movement, about whom Trump has said: Black Lives Matter is “a symbol of hate.” (Politico, July 1, 2020.)
- · Fear Low Income Housing: Trump tweeted that suburban voters will “no longer be bothered or financially hurt” by having low-income housing in their neighborhood after his administration revoked a fair housing rule adopted by the Obama Administration. (Fox News, July 29, 2020.)
- · Fear the Democrats and Joe Biden: A Trump campaign ad incorrectly stated, “Joe Biden’s supporters are fighting to defund police departments. Violent crime has exploded. You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.” (Washington Post, July 14, 2020.)
Four score and seven years ago, FDR described the fear
that we should be afraid of – “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” This is exactly the
kind of fear that Trump has used his entire political career to get where he is
today. Americans should heed FDR’s
warning and reject the fearmongering that Donald Trump is using to garner
support for another term. The only thing
we have to fear is four more years of Donald Trump.
*Trump quoted this British WWII slogan, during his
September 10th rally to attempt to justify his downplaying of the
corona virus threat.
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