Let Us Prey 2: Betrayal

Sen. Ron Johnson has called on people to have some “perspective” while the nation deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that “no more than 3.4 percent of our population” is in danger of dying from the virus https://t.co/alToDF3xtH

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 19, 2020

The above comments of Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that, welp! only 3 or 4 out of every 100 Americans will die, so, whevs, reminds me an awful lot of Rick Santelli's awful determination that we should just get the whole corona thing over with, at what he then supposed was 2% lethality, over with. It's sick. It's partially sick because the needless deaths of so many from mayhem that could have been averted by better policy is a failure of government to do job one: protect the welfare of our citizens. But it's also appalling to imagine that enormous a loss without knock-on effects to, for example, the economy, or on mortality by other means of people due to the overwhelming of our health infrastructure.

But it gets sicker--he was one of the several Senators who have been caught out having sold off a significant amount of stock in anticipation of the coronavirus' spread fuxxoring the market.

He sat in intelligence briefings that advised him of the potential harms of a pandemic, spread insane talk about how okay it is to only lose 3-4 out of 100 people, and instead of doing anything to affirmatively address stopping the spread of the virus, made sure he protected his own substantial personal wealth.

Senator Richard Burr, back in February, knew very well what was coming, and said as much at a fundraiser. He anticipated, at least while he was amongst high-dollar donors, that there would be school shutdowns and business shutdowns, and cast gloom he never did publicly. And he also dumped stocks ahead of the market starting to crash with bad coronavirus news.

Senator Kelly Loeffler also had put a positive outward face regarding the Trump Administration treatment of the pandemic situation, but made sure she protected herself against the gathering economic storm. Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma also looked out for Number One while treating his constituents like number two.

This is a betrayal of the public trust. They took care of themselves and did not raise a finger for their constituents, as if they never considered they had any responsibility to do so. It is somehow both shocking and not. After all, weren't these same folks not that long ago acquitting the corona-denier in chief? And somehow, I think this is just the surface of a deeper rot.