They didn’t make this decision recently, of course. We knew from this summer’s massive BLM demonstrations that liberals, especially younger liberals, don’t mean what they say when they call Trump’s rallies irresponsible amid a pandemic. They’re right to single him out for criticism since he’s the president and should set an example, but at the end of the day they have no problem with throwing caution to the wind on COVID in the name of politics.
It’s purely a question of whether the cause is righteous enough. Trump holding a rally? No way. Protesting racism? Most definitely. Getting drunk in a crowded park to celebrate your guy winning the election?
Sure, why not. Why not.
There’s an important difference, though, between the mass gatherings last night to cheer on Biden and the mass gatherings this summer to protest George Floyd’s death. The outlook on the pandemic is much worse right now than it was when the BLM rallies were held. The only way I’d mingle in a crowd of people at the moment, even outdoors, even masked up, is if I were starving and needed food. These lunatics did it for no better reason than to high-five each other over Trump being embarrassed.
The crowd outside the White House celebrating Joe Biden’s projected victory is blaring YMCA — the song President Trump closed out his latest rallies with. pic.twitter.com/UkrsBq8l5M
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 7, 2020
The north end of Prospect Park has turned into a dance party, and every few minutes screams of joy just roll across the park, like a wave at a baseball game pic.twitter.com/ATifpgfuMg
— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) November 7, 2020
New York City is one big dance party as people celebrate our next president Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/HMgcHCJXLa
— Nicholas Isabella (@NycStormChaser) November 7, 2020
Washington Square Park minutes after news broke pic.twitter.com/pA51wNAWVF
— Abby (@ACrazybear) November 8, 2020
Washington Square Park not waiting for the AP call pic.twitter.com/hB9nbhvhi6
— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) November 7, 2020
Special shout-out to Aaron Rupar of Vox, who somehow managed these two tweets on the same day, hours apart:
it's party time outside the White House pic.twitter.com/vueAYPfYxp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 7, 2020
Not ideal during a worsening pandemic pic.twitter.com/jF32enj2Z3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 8, 2020
Storming the field after Notre Dame’s big win was a shocking lapse of judgment in which excited fans let their joy override urgent concerns of public safety.
But crowding around the White House to taunt-sing “YMCA” at Trump? No human could be expected to contain that amount of jubilation, I guess.
Trumpers and their fellow travelers are dunking on liberal hypocrites this morning, and rightly so:
Where is @JoeBiden calling on the massive Super Spreader events held in his name to end❓ ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8JaofpgMge
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) November 7, 2020
And suddenly people gathering in large crowds and not social distancing is no longer considered irresponsible by the media https://t.co/JisiiJJr78
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 7, 2020
How the media shifted so abruptly from "anyone going to a spacious beach is a super-spreading monster killing Grandma" to "these mass, densely populated protests with people screaming on top of each other are so inspiring" was one of 2020's most credibility-destroying media acts: https://t.co/8f0ZGe00iq
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 7, 2020
The United States had more than 128,000 new cases of COVID yesterday, the fourth straight day in which it set a record. Deaths topped 1,000 again. There’s chatter among scientists today that we could be seeing 200,000 cases a day by Thanksgiving, before we’re even into the thick of winter. As case counts rise, deaths will rise too, even with major improvements in treating the disease since March. How American hospitals will cope as the number of serious cases rises relentlessly, I have no idea. Clearly we’re on track for a crisis where the proverbial curve will need to be flattened again so that care doesn’t need to be rationed.
No one seems to have any plan for how to handle it. To the contrary, this week’s spike was probably seeded by morons insisting on partying on Halloween despite the rampant community spread that the country’s facing. Yesterday’s gatherings will only make it worse. The train is starting to come off its tracks…
New Covid cases are accelerating faster than testing, and the national positivity rate is rising quickly, now at 9.5%. A surge of infection in most places risks becoming a torrent of infection in every place. pic.twitter.com/5AFYx7EMLR
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) November 8, 2020
…and no matter what Scott Atlas might tell us, the infections won’t be limited to healthy young people:
Covid cases and deaths are rising in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, despite a national policy goal to focus resources on protecting elderly in these locations; probably reflecting a worsening epidemic that is impacting these settings (graph: weekly totals). pic.twitter.com/qR5lScql6O
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) November 8, 2020
Speaking of irresponsible disease-spreaders, the young and stupid can always plead that they’re immature and that no one’s looking to them for cues on how to behave. What’s this idiot’s excuse, though?
Mark Meadows, who has tested positive for COVID-19, was in the White House Residence on election night huddled around Donald Trump alongside Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr., and other family members and senior staffers.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) November 7, 2020
NEW: I’m told that Mark Meadows and the White House went to great lengths to keep his diagnosis a secret. This is despite alleged contact tracing efforts. My source says: “It’s fucked up.”
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) November 7, 2020
NEW: I’m told that even senior White House staffers who had direct contact with Mark Meadows this week learned about his coronavirus diagnosis when the media reported it.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) November 7, 2020
.@MarkMeadows tested positive for Covid-19. On election night he was at the White House party with the president and his family and hundreds of unmasked people. pic.twitter.com/XyRliYIFdw
— Raquel Krähenbühl (@Rkrahenbuhl) November 7, 2020
Here's a maskless Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff now confirmed to have tested positive for COVID, at Trump Campaign HQ on Election Night. pic.twitter.com/ECADDxWWnX
— The Recount (@therecount) November 7, 2020
At last count six people at the White House have COVID, including Meadows, making this the third separate outbreak inside the building. Gotta hand it to Team Trump: They’re as reckless and callous towards their own co-workers as they are to the general population in their approach to COVID, not just refusing to take basic precautions but knowingly putting people at risk by trying to cover up their infections. It’s a real mystery why Trump’s a one-term president.
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