This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated December 4, 2020
As we near the end of this difficult year, the twin pandemics that have made 2020 so challenging are spreading exponentially. I am speaking of the viral spread of both COVID-19 and of misinformation. The latter has made it increasingly difficult to control the former.
The past four years have brought a continuous onslaught of misinformation from President Trump and those in his circle, but that has spiked since his election loss. He and his campaign continue to make baseless claims of election fraud, asserting without any evidence that President-elect Biden’s clear, decisive victory is a sham.
As of this past week, the swing states with the closest margins of victory for Biden had certified their results and assigned their electoral college votes to Biden. Audits and recounts in several of these states have shown consistent results, even finding that Biden’s Wisconsin margin of victory was 87 votes greater than originally thought.
When Republican Governor Kemp of Georgia officially certified his state’s results after finding no signs of fraud, Trump referred to him as “hapless” and said he was “ashamed” he had endorsed him. When Republican Governor Ducey of Arizona signed the certification papers assigning his state’s electors to Biden, Trump lashed out at him, saying he had “betrayed the people of Arizona” and that “Republicans will long remember!” Both Governors have been longtime supporters of Trump’s, but as soon as they failed to spread ridiculous misinformation meant to personally help him, he did what he always does and turned on them.
“Denying reality is dangerous enough when it relates to our Democracy, but it is extremely costly when dealing with an actual viral pandemic.
According to Trump, these governors, who have been among his staunchest defenders for years, are part of a vast conspiracy to steal the election from him. He claims this coordinated plot also includes various Republican Secretaries of States and GOP election board managers from various states and counties, conservative judges, including some he appointed, who have dismissed his campaign’s lawsuits, the entire FBI and its Director, Chris Wray, whom he installed, as well as his own Justice Department and the Attorney General, Bill Barr, whom he appointed.
Besides being completely unfounded and unsubstantiated, it is utterly ludicrous. It is disturbing that the President of the United States is spreading misinformation that undermines our democratic institutions, but it is not just one man spouting absurd conspiracy theories. Many Republican elected officials have either amplified them or allowed them to spread unchecked by way of their silence on the matter, leading to tens of millions of Americans believing the unbelievable.
Denying reality is dangerous enough when it relates to our Democracy, but it is extremely costly when dealing with an actual viral pandemic. The coronavirus does not care whether people believe it is more deadly than the flu or if masks help prevent its transmission. The COVID-19 pandemic is getting worse and the misinformation pandemic is abetting its spread.
And just like the virus itself, the viral spread of misinformation is not completely relegated to people of one political persuasion. Given his months’-long barrage of false statements and lies about the coronavirus, it has been clear that many of those not taking COVID-19 seriously are Trump supporters, but as people become weary of pandemic life after nine months of restrictions, some Americans who are decidedly not Trump supporters, begin to conveniently accept some of the misinformation and take more risks.
The United States has now surpassed 14 million total coronavirus cases. It took us 100 days from our first case to reach our 1 millionth and 43 more days to get to 2 million. In late September, it took us 25 days to reach the next million case milestone. The past four times, it has taken us seven days, six days, six days, and four days to add another million cases. We added well over 1 million new cases each month from July through August, but nearly 4.5 million in November.
Vaccines are progressing, but the truth is, we do not know how much longer this will last. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though and focusing on truth is the only way to avoid this coming holiday season from becoming a very dark period.
