The U.S. seems likely to soon pass a staggering 70,000 deaths from the Coronavirus, and the U.S. has already suffered well over 1.1 million confirmed cases of the disease. For the first weeks and months of 2020, President Donald Trump largely dismissed the possibility of a threat from the Coronavirus. Although he took the single, solitary step of restricting travel from China, where the virus originated, weeks later he insisted that lasting concern about the virus was a “hoax.” The anti-Trump Republican group The Lincoln Project has unveiled a harsh new ad outlining the devastating tolls of the Coronavirus crisis and laying responsibility right at Trump’s doorstep.
📺 NEW VIDEO @realdonaldtrump’s failed presidency has left the nation weaker, sicker, and teetering on the verge of a new Great Depression.
There’s mourning in America. pic.twitter.com/QoEWJVNEXc
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 4, 2020
Riffing off the “Morning in America” ads from Republican President Ronald Reagan, the new ad from The Lincoln Project is titled “Mourning in America.” As the piece begins, a narrator shares:
‘There is mourning in America. Today, more than 60,000 Americans have died from the deadly virus Donald Trump ignored. With the economy in shambles, more than 26 million Americans are out of work — the worst economy in decades. Trump bailed out Wall Street, but not Main Street. This afternoon, millions of Americans will apply for unemployment, and with their savings run out, many are giving up hope.’
It’s definitively unclear if Trump cares about any of these issues at all. This Monday morning, he proudly tweeted about supposed great reviews that his administration is getting for their response to the Coronavirus. It’s unclear who has issued these supposed reviews, but what is clear is that even as Americans die in large numbers from the Coronavirus, Trump continues to prioritize his public image.
The Lincoln Project’s new ad continues:
‘Millions worry that a loved one won’t survive COVID-19. There’s mourning in America — and under the leadership of Donald Trump, our country is weaker, sicker, and poorer. And now, Americans are asking, if we have another four years like this, will there even be an America?’
Watch below:
Ahead of the general election this November, many Americans seem to be gearing up to take that concern to the polls. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden consistently leads in head-to-head polling pitting him against Trump, and these leads pop up on both the national and individual state levels in a slew of swing states that Trump won in 2016.
I guess Trump never learned how Lincoln's presidency ended. https://t.co/Vp43RuMxhi
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) May 4, 2020
Amidst the crisis, Trump remains so focused on himself that during an interview that aired this week on Fox News, he insisted that he has been treated worse than Abraham Lincoln, who led the U.S. through a literal Civil War and was eventually assassinated. Trump whined, while sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial:
‘I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there. They always said Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse. They come at me with questions that are disgraceful, to be honest. Disgraceful… I mean, they come at you with the most horrible, horrendous, biased questions.’
In other words, Trump appears to be suffering from absolutely staggering self-delusions of grandeur.
At the Lincoln Memorial, Trump says he's being treated worse than Lincoln. pic.twitter.com/psZwWRE6WD
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 4, 2020
