Sending prayers, well wishes and sympathy is what you would expect to be the reaction to the news that our President and our First Lady had contracted COVID-19. Whether or not you voted for President Trump, or if you even like President Trump – he is the President for everyone in the United States and his entire family is now going through a difficult health period that they will no doubt make it through. Unfortunately, the reaction of so many who disagree with the policies of our President has been downright shameful. Mockery, blame, and hate was the immediate knee jerk response of way too many who have public platforms. From elected officials who I serve with to media personalities, the treatment of the news has been disgraceful. When foreign leaders are wishing our President a quick, full and healthy recovery, but media outlets can’t bring themselves to say anything positive, nice or sympathetic about the President of the United States, you know they have lost all moral compass. Mask shaming, questioning whether or not he will be on the ballot or saying things like “he got what he deserved” has no place when talking about fellow Americans let alone the President of our country, regardless of political party.
It would be surprising if this hadn’t already become the norm on the Left. Just look at what happened to our Governor a few weeks ago. Instead of sending wishes of a speedy recovery and prayers for him and his wife, he was met with the finger pointing of the righteous ‘shut-it down’ police who tried to shame him and say it was his fault for reopening our state or not always wearing a face covering and how he got what ‘he deserved’. That’s a disgusting response. And how our President and First Lady has been treated is no different.
We already know there is half of this country who think the President’s plan for the COVID-19 Pandemic should be to shut everything down in perpetuity, devastate our economy and millions of families while remaining down in his basement. But to use scary health news to wish someone anything but to gain that health back and to offer support and condolences is reprehensible. I guess we should have expected this. We saw this same disparaging treatment of our President by the media on a different topic just this last week. Since the issue was first asked of him in 2017, President Trump has time and time and time again renounced white supremacist groups, going so far as to say he doesn’t want them to vote for him. The accusations that President Trump has not renounced these groups has been labeled false by even the Washington Post. Doesn’t matter, that’s not good enough for the media on the left. Why not ask Joe Biden to renounce these same groups? As someone who has served in public office since the early 1970’s, his track record on the issue is mixed, at best – something his own running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, has previously highlighted.
Right now we should be praying for millions of Americans, including our leaders. We should be lauding the President’s response to this global health crisis and his efforts to keep Americans safe while allowing them to continue to provide for their families. He helped secure massive amounts of Personal Protective Equipment to keep front line workers safe while invoking things like the Defense Production Act to require U.S. manufacturers produce needed ventilators. In the face of criticism, he immediately closed down travel with highly infected regions of the world, slowing the spread of this disease – saving thousands of lives. He authorized billions in federal funding for more and better testing, tracing, therapeutics and the development of an effective vaccine for a disease we had never heard of at the start of 2020. All of this while working to safely re-open our economy and allowing millions of Americans to get back to work and school. The President also led the effort to provide billions in assistance to states, small business, workers and directly to American citizens to help carry them through this difficult period.
But all of that isn’t good enough, the blue check mark brigade of the left wants to seize this moment to call our President words like “careless”, “irresponsible” or much worse. They never take a rest. I pray for our President every day, I pray for our country every day, and I know that if I follow the path God has put in front of me, I will continue to become a better person and a better Representative for you. Now more than ever we all need to take a pause and pray - especially over the next month, and especially before wishing misfortune on any of our brothers or sisters, let alone the President of the United States of America.
