motherjones--2020-10-02--“It Affects Virtually Nobody”: The 3 Weeks of Denial Leading Up to Trump’s Diagnosis

Even by the warped standards of the Trump era , the past few weeks have been an unusually exhausting blur , culminating in the shocking yet not entirely surprising news that the president has COVID-19 .
In case you ’ re trying to recall ( or managed to forget ) , here ’ s how those three weeks of ongoing denial and dark hints of political chaos unfolded : September 13 : President Donald Trump holds an indoor campaign rally near Las Vegas , ignoring a state order limiting gatherings to 50 people .
• Asked if he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an indoor rally , Trump says , “ I ’ m on a stage and it ’ s very far away .
And so I ’ m not at all concerned.
” September 15 : Trump tells Fox & Friends that a vaccine will be approved “ in a matter of weeks.
” • At an ABC News town hall , asked why he ’ d downplayed the pandemic , Trump replies , “ In many ways I up-played it in terms of action.
” He says again that , even without a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You ’ ll develop herd—like a herd mentality , ” he says .
September 16 : Attorney General William Barr says pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders are the “ greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history ” since slavery .
• Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Michael Caputo goes on medical leave after he claims that a “ resistance unit ” inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to undermine the president .
• Trump claims that Democratic states are to blame for coronavirus death @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blue states out , we ’ re at a level that I don ’ t think anybody in the world would be at.
” • Asked about CDC Director Robert Redfield ’ s comments that a vaccine wouldn ’ t be widely available before 2021 , Trump insists 100 million doses will be available by the end of the year and says the CDC head “ made a mistake.
” • Joe Biden asks the president to prove that vaccine development is not being politicized .
“ I trust vaccines , I trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trust Donald Trump , ” he says .
September 17 : The New York Times reports that HHS staff , not CDC scientists , wrote the agency ’ s recent recommendation that asymptomatic people with possible coronavirus exposure do not need to be tested .
• Just over half of Americans surveyed say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if it were available .
• Olivia Troye , a former homeland security adviser to Pence who worked on the COVID task force , calls out Trump ’ s “ flat-out disregard for human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says the president saw the coronavirus as positive because he would no longer have to shake hands with “ disgusting people.
” September 18 : The CDC backtracks , again recommending testing for asymptomatic people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus .
• For the first time , the agency posts information about the transmission of the coronavirus via droplets that can travel more than 6 feet .
• Due to the coronavirus , the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says it ’ s cutting the number of monitors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election from 500 to 30 .
September 21 : The CDC removes the new information about airborne transmission from its site , saying it had been “ posted in error.
” • Johnson & Johnson begins Phase 3 trials of a vaccine .
• Trump tells Fox and Friends , “ We ’ ve done a phenomenal job…On public relations , I give myself a D. On the job itself , we take an A+.
” • At a rally in Ohio , Trump downplays the risks of COVID-19 : “ Now we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems and other problems .
If they have other problems , that ’ s what it really affects .
That ’ s it…Take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system , but it affects virtually nobody .
It ’ s an amazing thing.
” September 22 : The Washington Post reports that $ 1 billion in funding directed to the Pentagon to buy medical equipment was mostly spent on military gear .
• The US death toll passes 200,000 , which represents more Americans dying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Civil War , World War II , and the 1918 flu pandemic .
• Outside the White House , a reporter asks Trump , “ Why haven ’ t you said anything about the US hitting 200,000 deaths from COVID ?
” Trump ignores the question , but when he ’ s asked again about the milestone , he says , “ Well , I think it ’ s a shame .
I think if we didn ’ t do it properly and do it right , you ’ d have two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 23 : At a Senate hearing , Sen. Rand Paul ( R-Ky. ) suggests New York ’ s cases have dropped because it has achieved herd immunity .
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci replies , “ If you believe that 22 percent [ infection rate ] is herd immunity , I believe you are alone in that.
” • The CDC reports that one-fifth of people with COVID in the US in August were in their 20s .
• Trump says that any attempt by the Food and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emergency authorization of a vaccine “ has to be approved by the White House.
” • Asked if he ’ ll commit to a peaceful transition of power after the election , he answers , “ We ’ re going to have to see what happens…Get rid of the ballots… and we ’ ll have a very peaceful—there won ’ t be a transfer , frankly .
There will be a continuation.
” September 24 : Trump , wearing a mask as he visits Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s coffin on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jeered by people chanting “ Vote him out !
” • The US has had more than 7 million confirmed coronavirus cases .
September 25 : A study finds that less than 10 percent of Americans have coronavirus antibodies , suggesting “ herd immunity remains out of reach.
” • Florida Gov .
Ron DeSantis says all restaurants may reopen and suspends penalties for refusing to wear a mask .
September 27 : Trump tweets that the Supreme Court striking down the Affordable Care Act “ Would be a big win for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the effort to confirm Amy Coney Barrett before the election “ is designed to take away the ACA and your health care in midst of a pandemic.
” • Trump golfs at Trump National in Virginia .
September 28 : Redfield is reported criticizing Trump ’ s coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas , saying “ Everything he says is false.
” Fauci tells CNN he worries a member of the coronavirus task force is giving Trump bad information .
“ I think you know who the outlier is , ” he says .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
September 29 : Airlines brace for mass layoffs unless a new stimulus bill passes .
Disney announces 28,000 layoffs .
• The White House blocks Redfield ’ s attempt to keep cruise ships docked until next February .
• At the first presidential debate , Biden slams Trump ’ s handling of the pandemic .
“ [ Trump ] said , ‘ It is what it is.
’ Well , it is what it is because you are who you are .
That ’ s why it is .
The president has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was.
” Trump again mocks Biden for wearing a mask in public .
October 1 : All New York City schools are open again .
• Trump plans campaign rallies in Wisconsin , where cases are surging .
• White House adviser Hope Hicks tests positive for the coronavirus .
After finding out , Trump mingles maskless at a fundraiser .
• At another event that evening , Trump declares , “ The end of the pandemic is in sight.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump tweets that he and Melania have tested positive for COVID-19 .

Even by the warped standards of the Trump era, the past few weeks have been an unusually exhausting blur, culminating in the shocking yet not entirely surprising news that the president has COVID-19. In case you’re trying to recall (or managed to forget), here’s how those three weeks of ongoing denial and dark hints of political chaos unfolded:
September 13: President Donald Trump holds an indoor campaign rally near Las Vegas, ignoring a state order limiting gatherings to 50 people. • Asked if he’s worried about exposure to the virus at an indoor rally, Trump says, “I’m on a stage and it’s very far away. And so I’m not at all concerned.”
September 15: Trump tells Fox & Friends that a vaccine will be approved “in a matter of weeks.” • At an ABC News town hall, asked why he’d downplayed the pandemic, Trump replies, “In many ways I up-played it in terms of action.” He says again that, even without a vaccine, the coronavirus will go away. “You’ll develop herd—like a herd mentality,” he says.
September 16: Attorney General William Barr says pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders are the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history” since slavery. • Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Michael Caputo goes on medical leave after he claims that a “resistance unit” inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to undermine the president. • Trump claims that Democratic states are to blame for coronavirus death rates: “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at.” • Asked about CDC Director Robert Redfield’s comments that a vaccine wouldn’t be widely available before 2021, Trump insists 100 million doses will be available by the end of the year and says the CDC head “made a mistake.” • Joe Biden asks the president to prove that vaccine development is not being politicized. “I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” he says.
September 17: The New York Times reports that HHS staff, not CDC scientists, wrote the agency’s recent recommendation that asymptomatic people with possible coronavirus exposure do not need to be tested. • Just over half of Americans surveyed say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if it were available. • Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to Pence who worked on the COVID task force, calls out Trump’s “flat-out disregard for human life” and endorses Biden. She says the president saw the coronavirus as positive because he would no longer have to shake hands with “disgusting people.”
September 18: The CDC backtracks, again recommending testing for asymptomatic people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. • For the first time, the agency posts information about the transmission of the coronavirus via droplets that can travel more than 6 feet. • Due to the coronavirus, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says it’s cutting the number of monitors it will send to observe the November election from 500 to 30.
September 21: The CDC removes the new information about airborne transmission from its site, saying it had been “posted in error.” • Johnson & Johnson begins Phase 3 trials of a vaccine. • Trump tells Fox and Friends, “We’ve done a phenomenal job…On public relations, I give myself a D. On the job itself, we take an A+.” • At a rally in Ohio, Trump downplays the risks of COVID-19: “Now we know it affects elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that’s what it really affects. That’s it…Take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system, but it affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing.”
September 22: The Washington Post reports that $1 billion in funding directed to the Pentagon to buy medical equipment was mostly spent on military gear. • The US death toll passes 200,000, which represents more Americans dying in any discrete mass casualty event besides the Civil War, World War II, and the 1918 flu pandemic. • Outside the White House, a reporter asks Trump, “Why haven’t you said anything about the US hitting 200,000 deaths from COVID?” Trump ignores the question, but when he’s asked again about the milestone, he says, “Well, I think it’s a shame. I think if we didn’t do it properly and do it right, you’d have two and a half million deaths.
September 23: At a Senate hearing, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggests New York’s cases have dropped because it has achieved herd immunity. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci replies, “If you believe that 22 percent [infection rate] is herd immunity, I believe you are alone in that.” • The CDC reports that one-fifth of people with COVID in the US in August were in their 20s. • Trump says that any attempt by the Food and Drug Administration to impose stricter guidelines on emergency authorization of a vaccine “has to be approved by the White House.” • Asked if he’ll commit to a peaceful transition of power after the election, he answers, “We’re going to have to see what happens…Get rid of the ballots… and we’ll have a very peaceful—there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.”
September 24: Trump, wearing a mask as he visits Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s coffin on the steps of the Supreme Court, is jeered by people chanting “Vote him out!” • The US has had more than 7 million confirmed coronavirus cases.
September 25: A study finds that less than 10 percent of Americans have coronavirus antibodies, suggesting “herd immunity remains out of reach.” • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says all restaurants may reopen and suspends penalties for refusing to wear a mask.
September 27: Trump tweets that the Supreme Court striking down the Affordable Care Act “Would be a big win for the USA!” • Biden says that the effort to confirm Amy Coney Barrett before the election “is designed to take away the ACA and your health care in midst of a pandemic.” • Trump golfs at Trump National in Virginia.
September 28: Redfield is reported criticizing Trump’s coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas, saying “Everything he says is false.” Fauci tells CNN he worries a member of the coronavirus task force is giving Trump bad information. “I think you know who the outlier is,” he says. • The worldwide death toll passes 1 million.
September 29: Airlines brace for mass layoffs unless a new stimulus bill passes. Disney announces 28,000 layoffs. • The White House blocks Redfield’s attempt to keep cruise ships docked until next February. • At the first presidential debate, Biden slams Trump’s handling of the pandemic. “[Trump] said, ‘It is what it is.’ Well, it is what it is because you are who you are. That’s why it is. The president has no plan,” he says. “He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was.” Trump again mocks Biden for wearing a mask in public.
October 1: All New York City schools are open again. • Trump plans campaign rallies in Wisconsin, where cases are surging. • White House adviser Hope Hicks tests positive for the coronavirus. After finding out, Trump mingles maskless at a fundraiser. • At another event that evening, Trump declares, “The end of the pandemic is in sight.”
October 2: At 12:54 am, Trump tweets that he and Melania have tested positive for COVID-19.


motherjones--2020-10-04--Trump’s Doctor Just Admitted He Lied to Stay “Upbeat.” He’s Still Leaving Big Questions Unanswered.

Donald Trump ’ s physician acknowledged Sunday that the president ’ s bout with COVID-19 was not going as well as he indicated yesterday .
After evading questions on Saturday about whether Trump had received oxygen treatment , Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged at a Sunday press briefing that Trump had “ two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation levels ” and had received supplemental oxygen at the White House .
It ’ s been clear for the last 24 hours that Trump ’ s medical team has not been forthright about his health .
Sunday ’ s briefing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Conley why he had waited to disclose that Trump had been administered oxygen .
“ I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team , the president , that his course of illness has had , ” he said .
“ I didn ’ t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.
” He also provided new details about the president ’ s care that suggested a more complicated—and possibly more severe—medical picture than previously known .
Along with suffering from two spells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump has been given the steroid dexamethasone , a drug that the World Health Organization recommends be used for patients with “ severe and critical COVID-19.
” Big questions remain .
When asked what adverse impacts of the disease maybe evident in the president ’ s chest scans , Conley said there are “ some expected findings ” , but did not elaborate .
Nevertheless , the doctors forecast a possible return to the White House for the president as early as tomorrow .
No new information was provided about the veiled series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s diagnosis .
Confusion was sown during a a press briefing on Saturday , when Conley said he was “ extremely happy with the progress the president has made , ” but evaded questions about whether Trump had received oxygen , simply acknowledging that Trump was “ not on oxygen right now.
” He also said Trump was “ 72 hours into the diagnosis now , ” which conflicted with Trump ’ s own declaration that he tested positive on Thursday night .
( Conley later claimed that he meant to say “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) After Conley stopped speaking , an anonymous White House staffer—later revealed to be Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—told a White House pool reporter that Trump ’ s “ vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning ” and he was “ still not on a clear path to a full recovery.
” These conflicting statements and the jumbled timeline of Trump ’ s original diagnosis make clear that the White House is lying to the American people .
Conley only admitted Sunday that Trump received oxygen after several news outlets had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seems to think wearing a mask makes him less of a man , seemed so concerned with the coverage of his health that he dictated a statement to Rudy Giuliani to give to the New York Post , in which Trump said , “ I feel I could get out of here right now.
” It ’ s one thing for Giuliani , who has turned lying for Trump into a second career , to be his PR stooge .
It ’ s a quite a different thing when it ’ s Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Donald Trump’s physician acknowledged Sunday that the president’s bout with COVID-19 was not going as well as he indicated yesterday. After evading questions on Saturday about whether Trump had received oxygen treatment, Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged at a Sunday press briefing that Trump had “two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation levels” and had received supplemental oxygen at the White House.
It’s been clear for the last 24 hours that Trump’s medical team has not been forthright about his health. Sunday’s briefing only confirmed it once a reporter asked Conley why he had waited to disclose that Trump had been administered oxygen.
“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had,” he said. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.”
Trump's doctor says he didn't admit yesterday that Trump was put on oxygen because he was trying to be publicly upbeat. "I didn't want to give any information that might steer the illness in another direction." pic.twitter.com/luMyDyacZH — David Mack (@davidmackau) October 4, 2020
He also provided new details about the president’s care that suggested a more complicated—and possibly more severe—medical picture than previously known. Along with suffering from two spells of low oxygen saturation, doctors said Trump has been given the steroid dexamethasone, a drug that the World Health Organization recommends be used for patients with “severe and critical COVID-19.”
Big questions remain. When asked what adverse impacts of the disease maybe evident in the president’s chest scans, Conley said there are “some expected findings”, but did not elaborate. Nevertheless, the doctors forecast a possible return to the White House for the president as early as tomorrow. No new information was provided about the veiled series of events that led to Trump’s diagnosis.
Confusion was sown during a a press briefing on Saturday, when Conley said he was “extremely happy with the progress the president has made,” but evaded questions about whether Trump had received oxygen, simply acknowledging that Trump was “not on oxygen right now.” He also said Trump was “72 hours into the diagnosis now,” which conflicted with Trump’s own declaration that he tested positive on Thursday night. (Conley later claimed that he meant to say “day three” of the diagnosis.)
After Conley stopped speaking, an anonymous White House staffer—later revealed to be Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—told a White House pool reporter that Trump’s “vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning” and he was “still not on a clear path to a full recovery.” These conflicting statements and the jumbled timeline of Trump’s original diagnosis make clear that the White House is lying to the American people. Conley only admitted Sunday that Trump received oxygen after several news outlets had already reported it. Trump, who seems to think wearing a mask makes him less of a man, seemed so concerned with the coverage of his health that he dictated a statement to Rudy Giuliani to give to the New York Post, in which Trump said, “I feel I could get out of here right now.”
It’s one thing for Giuliani, who has turned lying for Trump into a second career, to be his PR stooge. It’s a quite a different thing when it’s Trump’s doctor spinning on his behalf.


motherjones--2020-10-04--It’s Sunday and We Still Know Basically Nothing About the Lead Up to Trump’s Diagnosis

It ’ s been a little more than two days since President Donald Trump said that he had tested positive for COVID-19 .
We now know that a White House event last month celebrating the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett turned into a likely super-spreader event for Trump and his inner circle , many of whom did not properly distance or wear masks , but we know much less about the timing of the positive tests and how early they were known before being announced to the public .
On Saturday , after Trump was moved to Walter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ physician Sean Conley said the president was “ doing very well ” and “ just 72 hours into the diagnosis now , ” which suggested that he tested positive on Wednesday , despite Trump tweeting that he learned of his diagnosis on Thursday night .
Hours later , Conley released a statement saying he misspoke .
“ I incorrectly used the term ‘ seventy two hours ’ instead of ‘ day three ’ and ‘ forty-eight hours ’ instead of ‘ day two ’ with regards to his diagnosis , ” Conley said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the “ forty-eight hours ” comment was made by a different doctor at the press conference , not Conley .
That means two different physicians working for Trump managed to confuse the timing of his diagnosis by more than a full day .
To make things even more confusing , an anonymous White House official—later revealed to be Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—told reporters following Conley ’ s briefing that Trump was not actually doing as well as his doctors claimed .
“ The president ’ s vitals over the last 24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care , ” Meadows told a White House pool reporter .
“ We ’ re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.
” The only thing clear right now is how much is being kept secret about Trump ’ s health .
We still don ’ t know when he tested positive for the virus or when he had his most recent negative test .
We don ’ t know whether he was tested before the debate in Cleveland on Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday he tested negative for the virus and pledged to disclose the result from his future coronavirus tests .
If his doctors ’ original comments were true—that he tested positive as early as Wednesday—it makes for an absolute scandal that Trump attended a large outdoor rally in Minnesota on Wednesday night and went to a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday night .
At the event , where Trump took photos with guests , most people did not wear masks , CNN reported .
Before attending the fundraiser , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was aware he had been in close contact with someone who was infected .
Trump was informed earlier that day that one of his advisers , Hope Hicks , had tested positive .
Maggie Haberman , the New York Times White House correspondent , told the New Yorker that the “ White House had tried keeping secret ” news of Hicks ’ diagnosis , but eventually was forced to confirm it after Bloomberg broke the news after 8 p.m. on Thursday .
The timeline is key to any assessment of how reckless Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( and their own—not to mention the hundreds of people they likely encountered , and their families ) .
“ It is really important for voters to drill down on the question of the seventy-two hours , ” Haberman said .
“ It raises questions about what they would have told the public if we hadn ’ t found out about Hope Hicks .
”

It’s been a little more than two days since President Donald Trump said that he had tested positive for COVID-19. We now know that a White House event last month celebrating the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett turned into a likely super-spreader event for Trump and his inner circle, many of whom did not properly distance or wear masks, but we know much less about the timing of the positive tests and how early they were known before being announced to the public.
On Saturday, after Trump was moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, his physician Sean Conley said the president was “doing very well” and “just 72 hours into the diagnosis now,” which suggested that he tested positive on Wednesday, despite Trump tweeting that he learned of his diagnosis on Thursday night.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Hours later, Conley released a statement saying he misspoke. “I incorrectly used the term ‘seventy two hours’ instead of ‘day three’ and ‘forty-eight hours’ instead of ‘day two’ with regards to his diagnosis,” Conley said, even though, as Axios noted, the “forty-eight hours” comment was made by a different doctor at the press conference, not Conley. That means two different physicians working for Trump managed to confuse the timing of his diagnosis by more than a full day.
To make things even more confusing, an anonymous White House official—later revealed to be Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—told reporters following Conley’s briefing that Trump was not actually doing as well as his doctors claimed. “The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” Meadows told a White House pool reporter. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
The only thing clear right now is how much is being kept secret about Trump’s health. We still don’t know when he tested positive for the virus or when he had his most recent negative test. We don’t know whether he was tested before the debate in Cleveland on Tuesday night against Joe Biden, who said Friday he tested negative for the virus and pledged to disclose the result from his future coronavirus tests.
If his doctors’ original comments were true—that he tested positive as early as Wednesday—it makes for an absolute scandal that Trump attended a large outdoor rally in Minnesota on Wednesday night and went to a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday night. At the event, where Trump took photos with guests, most people did not wear masks, CNN reported. Before attending the fundraiser, Trump knew he either had the coronavirus or was aware he had been in close contact with someone who was infected. Trump was informed earlier that day that one of his advisers, Hope Hicks, had tested positive. Maggie Haberman, the New York Times White House correspondent, told the New Yorker that the “White House had tried keeping secret” news of Hicks’ diagnosis, but eventually was forced to confirm it after Bloomberg broke the news after 8 p.m. on Thursday.
The timeline is key to any assessment of how reckless Trump and his advisers were with his health (and their own—not to mention the hundreds of people they likely encountered, and their families). “It is really important for voters to drill down on the question of the seventy-two hours,” Haberman said. “It raises questions about what they would have told the public if we hadn’t found out about Hope Hicks.”


motherjones--2020-10-05--Kyle Rittenhouse’s Lawyers See His Case as a Battle in Their Own Culture War

As Kyle Rittenhouse , 17 , awaits trial for shooting three protesters with an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha , Wisconsin , in August , his supporters are pitching him as a war hero .
“ Kyle was a Minuteman protecting his community when the government would not , ” one of his attorneys , John Pierce , tweeted in late August a few days after the protest , which was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake .
In another tweet that has since been deleted , Pierce added that Rittenhouse , who went to the protest to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in American history alongside that brave unknown patriot at Lexington Green who fired ‘ The Shot Heard Round the World ’ on April 19 , 1775.
” “ A second American Revolution against Tyranny has begun , ” Pierce wrote .
It might be tempting to downplay Pierce ’ s declaration as bravado , perhaps part of a strategy to get his client off from criminal charges .
But the depiction of Rittenhouse as a heroic rebel may not be merely figurative : Some of the teen ’ s defenders appear to share @ @ @ @ @ @ @ battle that could very well turn physical .
One of Rittenhouse ’ s other attorneys , L. Lin Wood , has been pushing a conspiracy theory to his 191,000-plus Twitter followers that liberals are planning a violent coup against the White House , and that freedom-loving Americans will need to fight back .
Defending Rittenhouse seems to be just one front in the broader war .
Weeks before taking on his case , Wood and Pierce launched the # FightBack Foundation , which has been raising funds to defend the 17-year-old .
One @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect individual rights by supporting lawsuits and other actions that address discrimination against conservatives , ” according to the foundation ’ s website .
“ American cities burn , while state and local governments do not lift a hand to provide a basic degree of law and order , ” Wood said in a statement that was posted on an earlier version of the website and has since been deleted .
Pierce , who has resigned from the foundation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest related to legal disputes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rittenhouse : “ We the People must take back our freedom.
” Wood and Pierce are not fringe attorneys—they ’ ve both worked on legal cases that have garnered national attention .
Wood , a well-known defamation lawyer with more than four decades of experience , has worked for former presidential candidates like Rick Perry and Herman Cain , and met with President Trump in the Oval Office in March .
On Wednesday , he announced he would sue Joe Biden for libel against Rittenhouse , after Biden ’ s campaign shared a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a white supremacist and militia member .
Wood is currently representing Patricia and Mark McCloskey , the white couple in St. Louis who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their mansion , in defamation matters .
He ’ s also representing the stepmom of the Georgia police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks outside a Wendy ’ s .
And he ’ s provided counsel to Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann , who sued various media outlets for their news coverage of his interaction with a Native American man in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Mother Jones ’ Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery is named as a defendant in similar lawsuits filed by other attorneys . )
Pierce ’ s firm has represented Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ( D-HI ) and several Trump supporters , including Rudy Giuliani and former Trump campaign figures George Papadopoulos and Carter Page .
As they wage a public fight against the left , both attorneys are also fighting personal legal battles of their own .
Court documents associated with these cases suggest that the attorneys have a penchant for violent language .
And they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underlying belief that he ’ s being aided by a higher power .
Wood was sued in August by former colleagues who accuse him , among other things , of months of erratic and abusive behavior , including physical assault and strange late-night emails in which he claimed God was commanding his actions .
The complaint in the lawsuit is filled with transcripts that quote him as sending messages such as , “ Buckle up your damn seatbelts .
Unless I change my mind under the instructions of God , you are in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” ( In a lengthy affidavit , Wood has responded to the allegations of the complaint and called the suit “ frivolous ” and “ littered with false statements.
” ) Pierce , meanwhile , whose former colleague is suing him for alleged wrongful termination and breach of contract , was accused in a separate custody dispute of threatening to attack his ex-wife while suggesting that God is working in his favor .
Are violent undertones and a belief in God ’ s support filtering into the attorneys ’ work ?
“ In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that God is real & only He can save us .
His will SHALL be done on Earth as it is in Heaven , ” Wood tweeted on August 29 , a few days after Rittenhouse shot the protesters .
Pierce retweeted him .
Hours later , Wood added , and Pierce retweeted , that “ America is now engaged in its second civil war .
It will get worse before it gets better.
” Born in 1952 , Wood grew up in Macon , Georgia , with his sister and parents .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ came home one night to find that his father had killed his mother .
Wood took his mother ’ s pulse and then called the police .
Later , “ I…kind of had a little heart-to-heart with myself , ” he told Super Lawyers Magazine in 2006 .
“ I said , ‘ You ’ re in charge of your life now .
You ’ ve got to do something with it.
’ ” The teen raised money to hire a defense attorney so his dad would have adequate representation , and eventually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a student , Wood supported himself by working as a hospital orderly and a sports writer for the Macon News .
After graduating law school , he primarily focused on medical malpractice cases , but he eventually turned to suing journalists .
His first high-profile defamation case was representing Richard Jewell , a security guard who was suspected of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and later found to be innocent .
Wood ’ s reputation took off when he helped Jewell sue NBC and other news outlets for their coverage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ several other high-profile defamation cases , and represented the woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape .
Late last year , Wood started acting strangely , according to the lawsuit filed by his former colleagues .
Nicole Wade , Jonathan Grunberg , and Taylor Wilson—who say they were partners at Wood ’ s firm , a title that Wood contests—say they left his law firm , L. Lin Wood P.C.
, in February after months of enduring Wood ’ s “ erratic , abusive , and unprofessional behavior.
” In their suit , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for some of their work and has refused to pay .
For months before they stopped working with Wood , they allege , they received “ incoherent ” phone calls , text messages , and emails from him in the middle of the night .
In the fall of 2019 , the lawsuit says , he allegedly assaulted Grunberg in a hotel elevator during a work trip , and in January he allegedly assaulted Wilson when Wilson went to his home to check on him .
In February , Wood summoned the three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a.m .
The next day he fired them , then changed his mind and told them to keep working .
They say he hosted a 3.5-hour teleconference with the attorneys a couple of days later , during which “ he spoke almost non-stop , ” “ referred to himself as Almighty , ” and threatened to fight the attorneys “ to the death.
” He referred to one of them as a “ Chilean Jew ” and demanded that the man admit he did not look like the other lawyers in the firm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the attorneys “ were forced to terminate their employment.
” Afterward , Wood repeatedly emailed them at odd hours and reiterated that he was behaving according to God ’ s will and would not pay them .
“ God has given me permission to be profane in this email , ” he wrote early one morning around 3:45 a.m. “ You damn dumb motherfuckers…God Almighty told me to get you back to where you belong .
Broke and essentially homeless.
” He continued : In another message to them , he continued with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Best outcome for you in eternity Is Hell for repeatedly interfering with God ’ s commandment to children to honor their father , ” he wrote .
But days later , Wood changed his tune and sent another email recanting his prior , threatening messages .
He said he ’ d made “ accusatory statements with incomplete information and out of anger , coupled with a tried [ sic ] brain and body , ” according to the lawsuit .
He allegedly added that people he loved were worried about his mental health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while “ I am a little crazy…I ’ m also mainly sane.
” The next month , in March , Wood met with President Trump in the Oval Office , purportedly at the president ’ s request .
Wood says he was trying to urge Trump to posthumously award a presidential medal of freedom to his former client , Richard Jewell .
Wood has denounced the lawsuit against him .
“ [ T ] hese young lawyers have chosen to willingly engage in a disgraceful and unprofessional effort to publicly attack me by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sent to them in the midst of a difficult time in my personal life arising primarily from my family ’ s reaction to my faith in Jesus Christ , ” he said in a statement on Twitter , describing the litigation as a “ shakedown effort ” to coerce him to pay them in a way he believes is unethical .
“ I am ashamed of them.
” ( The three attorneys included the Twitter statement in court documents and described it as defamatory . )
Pierce has also allegedly invoked religious rhetoric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ records from a child custody case , he sent his ex-wife more than 60 texts laced with violent language and repeated references to Armageddon in a single day in 2019 after she told him she wouldn ’ t be able to drive their son to soccer camp because of a work conflict : “ I will bury u if I have to , ” he allegedly wrote .
“ I will find u at Armaggedon [ sic ] and fuck u up.
” Pierce did not respond to questions from Mother Jones .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote in one of the texts , copies of which were submitted to the court .
“ U are evil .
God is on my side.
” He positioned her as anti-American : “ People like u hate the USA .
Guess what bitch , we ain ’ t goin anywhere .
Go to hell where u belong .
America belongs to US and God.
” The next day he apologized and said he hadn ’ t meant what he texted her , but she remained afraid .
She requested and received a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the court that he expressed a desire to kill her in the past , something he later denied .
The court records contain plenty of violent threats from Pierce .
In the texts , he repeatedly called her a “ slut , ” “ cunt , ” and “ bitch , ” and threatened to “ hunt ” her down .
In one message , he mentioned a television character known for torturing terrorists : “ Watch Jack Bauer on 24 if ur curious what I ’ m capable of.
” As the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have taken to social media to warn of an impending battle .
On September 5 , Wood went on Twitter and shared an article published by a conservative think tank , the Claremont Institute , that posits that “ Democrats and their ruling class masters [ are ] openly talking about staging a coup.
” “ Don ’ t be fooled , ” Wood tweeted to his tens of thousands of followers .
“ It ’ s coming.
” The article , written by Claremont Institute fellow Michael Anton , a former national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cites several justifications for the conspiracy theory that liberals are planning to violently seize the White House .
For starters , Anton writes , Defense Secretary Mark Esper said earlier this year that he didn ’ t think Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act , a law that would allow the president to deploy active-duty troops to protests around the country .
To Anton , this was a sign that military leaders were ready and willing to flout presidential orders .
On top of that , Anton points to findings by a bipartisan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which convened a series of war-gaming exercises that asked former and current government officials , academics , and polling experts to imagine what might happen in a range of election scenarios , like if Trump lost but refused to concede his power .
The experts predicted that nearly every scenario would lead to street-level violence .
In one game that imagined what would happen if Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote , the organizers asked John Podesta , Hillary Clinton ’ s campaign chairman , to play the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Podesta , as Biden , refused to concede the election , arguing that he didn ’ t believe the Democratic Party would allow him to .
Podesta alleged voter suppression and convinced the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan to send pro-Biden electors to the Electoral College .
The Senate named Trump president , and the House named Biden president .
“ Stay strong .
Speak truth .
Be fearless .
Pray , ” Wood wrote in a tweet that linked to Anton ’ s article .
“ Every time you go into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some amount of people who think the president isn ’ t going to leave or there ’ s going to be some sort of coup , ” says Joseph Uscinski , a University of Miami professor who studies conspiracy theories .
While the number of people promoting these views is relatively small , says Uscinski , the theories may be fueled by real events , like violence at protests , or by the information bubbles that people create for themselves with social media and the news they read .
There may also be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these views .
“ There ’ s a correlation between conspiracy theories and people who engage in Manichean thinking , which is that politics is a battle between good and evil , ” says Uscinski .
His research has found that believers of certain theories , like QAnon followers , are more religious on average than others .
“ One of the biggest predictors of whether people believe in conspiracy theories is whether they think we ’ re living in end times as foretold by Biblical prophesies , ” says Eric Oliver , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who co-wrote a book , Enchanted America , about myths popular with conservatives , including one about an impending apocalypse .
Oliver has seen a recent increase in the number of people engaging in doomsday thinking about politics .
One reason could be that Trump himself has trafficked conspiracy theories , though with public figures it can be tough to know whether they sincerely believe the theories or are using them to manipulate public opinion .
Wood appears to have a history of promoting conspiracy theories .
According to the lawsuit by his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feared that if they blew the whistle on his unprofessional behavior toward them it would interfere with “ his imminent receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and appointment as Chief Justice of United States Supreme Court.
” In the lawsuit , they said he believed he was slated to join the high court because of “ ( 1 ) a decade-plus old ‘ prophecy ’ [ he ] heard in a YouTube video , and ( 2 ) a conspiracy theory that Chief Justice Roberts would be revealed to be part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and was being blackmailed by liberals to rule in their favor.
” On Twitter , Wood has also stated views about the coronavirus that run counter to science .
“ If God thought we needed masks , he would have included them in original design , ” he wrote in late August .
He has also said that if he became infected he would take hydroxychloroquine , an anti-malarial drug that Trump has touted despite a lack of evidence that it ’ s effective against the coronavirus .
Wood told Mother Jones he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Supreme Court , but did not deny the allegation that he suggested a link between Justice Roberts and Jeffrey Epstein .
“ It is my understanding and belief that the term conspiracy theorist was developed by the CIA in the 1950 ’ s to demean individuals who were reviewing facts and reaching logical conclusions , ” he wrote in an email to Mother Jones .
“ In my 43 years of law practice , I have always focused on discovering factual truth and then applying the rule of logic to those truthful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially apocalyptic when he talks about politics .
In another tweet , he wrote , “ Democrats are not trying to win election .
Biden has dementia & Harris is unqualified .
They seek to steal Presidency by cheating with mail-in ballots .
Under cover of planned violence , they intend to overthrow Constitution & seize power.
” Rittenhouse may not have planned to become a cause célèbre in this fight between the Left and Right , but his attorneys appear to be making him out as one .
“ Kyle Rittenhouse should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be dropped , ” Pierce tweeted .
“ He was protecting his community where his government failed , and defended himself .
God gave him that right , and no prosecutor will be allowed to take it away .
Ever.
” That ’ s not how some witnesses of the shooting see things .
Rittenhouse drove to the protest in Kenosha after a militia group called the Kenosha Guard put out a call for people with guns to protect property in the city .
Rittenhouse was not a member of the group , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police cadet program .
He ’ d also attended a Trump rally in January .
After he fatally shot two people and injured a third , some protesters described his victims as heroes who were struck while trying to disarm him .
In a press statement , Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul passed along his condolences : “ [ W ] e are thinking of their destroyed futures and their friends and families that must live with this overwhelming grief.
” Rittenhouse ’ s lawyers argue the teen was acting in self-defense .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ alongside the Covington Catholic student who sued media companies .
“ Nicholas Sandmann at age 16 warned us that mainstream & social media are liars .
Kyle Rittenhouse at age 17 warned us to defend ourselves , ” he wrote .
“ Two boys selected to convey Paul Revere-like warnings to all Freedom Loving Americans on what is coming .
”

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
As Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, awaits trial for shooting three protesters with an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August, his supporters are pitching him as a war hero. “Kyle was a Minuteman protecting his community when the government would not,” one of his attorneys, John Pierce, tweeted in late August a few days after the protest, which was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake. In another tweet that has since been deleted, Pierce added that Rittenhouse, who went to the protest to prevent looting, would “go down in American history alongside that brave unknown patriot at Lexington Green who fired ‘The Shot Heard Round the World’ on April 19, 1775.”
“A second American Revolution against Tyranny has begun,” Pierce wrote.
It might be tempting to downplay Pierce’s declaration as bravado, perhaps part of a strategy to get his client off from criminal charges. But the depiction of Rittenhouse as a heroic rebel may not be merely figurative: Some of the teen’s defenders appear to share the belief that conservatives face an impending battle that could very well turn physical. One of Rittenhouse’s other attorneys, L. Lin Wood, has been pushing a conspiracy theory to his 191,000-plus Twitter followers that liberals are planning a violent coup against the White House, and that freedom-loving Americans will need to fight back.
Defending Rittenhouse seems to be just one front in the broader war. Weeks before taking on his case, Wood and Pierce launched the #FightBack Foundation, which has been raising funds to defend the 17-year-old. One of its bigger goals is to “protect individual rights by supporting lawsuits and other actions that address discrimination against conservatives,” according to the foundation’s website. “American cities burn, while state and local governments do not lift a hand to provide a basic degree of law and order,” Wood said in a statement that was posted on an earlier version of the website and has since been deleted. Pierce, who has resigned from the foundation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest related to legal disputes, wrote in an August 29 tweet commending Rittenhouse: “We the People must take back our freedom.”
Wood and Pierce are not fringe attorneys—they’ve both worked on legal cases that have garnered national attention. Wood, a well-known defamation lawyer with more than four decades of experience, has worked for former presidential candidates like Rick Perry and Herman Cain, and met with President Trump in the Oval Office in March. On Wednesday, he announced he would sue Joe Biden for libel against Rittenhouse, after Biden’s campaign shared a video that Wood alleges falsely depicted Rittenhouse as a white supremacist and militia member.
Wood is currently representing Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the white couple in St. Louis who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their mansion, in defamation matters. He’s also representing the stepmom of the Georgia police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks outside a Wendy’s. And he’s provided counsel to Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, who sued various media outlets for their news coverage of his interaction with a Native American man in Washington, DC, in 2019. (Mother Jones’ Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery is named as a defendant in similar lawsuits filed by other attorneys.) Pierce’s firm has represented Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and several Trump supporters, including Rudy Giuliani and former Trump campaign figures George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.
As they wage a public fight against the left, both attorneys are also fighting personal legal battles of their own.
As they wage a public fight against the left, both attorneys are also fighting personal legal battles of their own. Court documents associated with these cases suggest that the attorneys have a penchant for violent language. And they indicate that Wood seems to have an underlying belief that he’s being aided by a higher power. Wood was sued in August by former colleagues who accuse him, among other things, of months of erratic and abusive behavior, including physical assault and strange late-night emails in which he claimed God was commanding his actions. The complaint in the lawsuit is filled with transcripts that quote him as sending messages such as, “Buckle up your damn seatbelts. Unless I change my mind under the instructions of God, you are in for the roughest ride of your lives.” (In a lengthy affidavit, Wood has responded to the allegations of the complaint and called the suit “frivolous” and “littered with false statements.”)
Pierce, meanwhile, whose former colleague is suing him for alleged wrongful termination and breach of contract, was accused in a separate custody dispute of threatening to attack his ex-wife while suggesting that God is working in his favor.
Are violent undertones and a belief in God’s support filtering into the attorneys’ work? “In next 3 months, people will realize that God is real & only He can save us. His will SHALL be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” Wood tweeted on August 29, a few days after Rittenhouse shot the protesters. Pierce retweeted him. Hours later, Wood added, and Pierce retweeted, that “America is now engaged in its second civil war. It will get worse before it gets better.”
Born in 1952, Wood grew up in Macon, Georgia, with his sister and parents. At the age of 16, Wood came home one night to find that his father had killed his mother. Wood took his mother’s pulse and then called the police. Later, “I…kind of had a little heart-to-heart with myself,” he told Super Lawyers Magazine in 2006. “I said, ‘You’re in charge of your life now. You’ve got to do something with it.’” The teen raised money to hire a defense attorney so his dad would have adequate representation, and eventually decided to go to Mercer Law School.
As a student, Wood supported himself by working as a hospital orderly and a sports writer for the Macon News. After graduating law school, he primarily focused on medical malpractice cases, but he eventually turned to suing journalists. His first high-profile defamation case was representing Richard Jewell, a security guard who was suspected of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and later found to be innocent. Wood’s reputation took off when he helped Jewell sue NBC and other news outlets for their coverage of him. He also worked on several other high-profile defamation cases, and represented the woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape.
Late last year, Wood started acting strangely, according to the lawsuit filed by his former colleagues. Nicole Wade, Jonathan Grunberg, and Taylor Wilson—who say they were partners at Wood’s firm, a title that Wood contests—say they left his law firm, L. Lin Wood P.C., in February after months of enduring Wood’s “erratic, abusive, and unprofessional behavior.” In their suit, they allege that Wood owes them money for some of their work and has refused to pay.
For months before they stopped working with Wood, they allege, they received “incoherent” phone calls, text messages, and emails from him in the middle of the night. In the fall of 2019, the lawsuit says, he allegedly assaulted Grunberg in a hotel elevator during a work trip, and in January he allegedly assaulted Wilson when Wilson went to his home to check on him. In February, Wood summoned the three attorneys to his home at about 1 a.m. The next day he fired them, then changed his mind and told them to keep working. They say he hosted a 3.5-hour teleconference with the attorneys a couple of days later, during which “he spoke almost non-stop,” “referred to himself as Almighty,” and threatened to fight the attorneys “to the death.” He referred to one of them as a “Chilean Jew” and demanded that the man admit he did not look like the other lawyers in the firm.
“God Almighty told me to get you back to where you belong,” Wood allegedly wrote.
According to the lawsuit, soon the attorneys “were forced to terminate their employment.” Afterward, Wood repeatedly emailed them at odd hours and reiterated that he was behaving according to God’s will and would not pay them. “God has given me permission to be profane in this email,” he wrote early one morning around 3:45 a.m. “You damn dumb motherfuckers…God Almighty told me to get you back to where you belong. Broke and essentially homeless.” He continued:
You all better get on your knees and pray to Almighty God that He now asks me to show you mercy. If he does, I will show it, if he does not, I will deliver a fiery judgment against you on earth. Who the fuck did you think you were dealing with? You were screwing around me with [sic], but I was someone else in disguise. You in fact have been screwing around with God Almighty. I am not God. You lied when you told others that I thought I was…I am L. Lin Wood—the sole member of L. Lin Wood, P.C. The architect of the most masterful and powerful Valentine’s Day massacre known in American history. The last one killed seven. Mine will ruin many more before it is over. Deservedly so.
In another message to them, he continued with a similar religious theme. The “Best outcome for you in eternity Is Hell for repeatedly interfering with God’s commandment to children to honor their father,” he wrote. But days later, Wood changed his tune and sent another email recanting his prior, threatening messages. He said he’d made “accusatory statements with incomplete information and out of anger, coupled with a tried [sic] brain and body,” according to the lawsuit. He allegedly added that people he loved were worried about his mental health, but he assured the attorneys that while “I am a little crazy…I’m also mainly sane.”
The next month, in March, Wood met with President Trump in the Oval Office, purportedly at the president’s request. Wood says he was trying to urge Trump to posthumously award a Presidential Medal of Freedom to his former client, Richard Jewell.
I met with @realDonaldTrump in the Oval Office at White House on March 11, 2020 at President’s request. I have not published photo earlier but thought today was good day to so do for context after leftist & Gannett attack article. Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian. pic.twitter.com/UxrNHPl5ek — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) September 6, 2020
Wood has denounced the lawsuit against him. “[T]hese young lawyers have chosen to willingly engage in a disgraceful and unprofessional effort to publicly attack me by including irrelevant, out-of-context private messages I sent to them in the midst of a difficult time in my personal life arising primarily from my family’s reaction to my faith in Jesus Christ,” he said in a statement on Twitter, describing the litigation as a “shakedown effort” to coerce him to pay them in a way he believes is unethical. “I am ashamed of them.” (The three attorneys included the Twitter statement in court documents and described it as defamatory.)
Pierce has also allegedly invoked religious rhetoric when making threats. According to court records from a child custody case, he sent his ex-wife more than 60 texts laced with violent language and repeated references to Armageddon in a single day in 2019 after she told him she wouldn’t be able to drive their son to soccer camp because of a work conflict: “I will bury u if I have to,” he allegedly wrote. “I will find u at Armaggedon [sic] and fuck u up.” Pierce did not respond to questions from Mother Jones.
“I am good,” he wrote in one of the texts, copies of which were submitted to the court. “U are evil. God is on my side.” He positioned her as anti-American: “People like u hate the USA. Guess what bitch, we ain’t goin anywhere. Go to hell where u belong. America belongs to US and God.”
The next day he apologized and said he hadn’t meant what he texted her, but she remained afraid. She requested and received a temporary restraining order against him, telling the court that he expressed a desire to kill her in the past, something he later denied.
The court records contain plenty of violent threats from Pierce. In the texts, he repeatedly called her a “slut,” “cunt,” and “bitch,” and threatened to “hunt” her down. In one message, he mentioned a television character known for torturing terrorists: “Watch Jack Bauer on 24 if ur curious what I’m capable of.”
As the presidential election draws closer, both attorneys have taken to social media to warn of an impending battle. On September 5, Wood went on Twitter and shared an article published by a conservative think tank, the Claremont Institute, that posits that “Democrats and their ruling class masters [are] openly talking about staging a coup.” “Don’t be fooled,” Wood tweeted to his tens of thousands of followers. “It’s coming.”
The article, written by Claremont Institute fellow Michael Anton, a former national security official in the Trump administration, cites several justifications for the conspiracy theory that liberals are planning to violently seize the White House. For starters, Anton writes, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said earlier this year that he didn’t think Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act, a law that would allow the president to deploy active-duty troops to protests around the country. To Anton, this was a sign that military leaders were ready and willing to flout presidential orders.
On top of that, Anton points to findings by a bipartisan group known as the Transition Integrity Project, which convened a series of war-gaming exercises that asked former and current government officials, academics, and polling experts to imagine what might happen in a range of election scenarios, like if Trump lost but refused to concede his power. The experts predicted that nearly every scenario would lead to street-level violence. In one game that imagined what would happen if Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote, the organizers asked John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, to play the role of Biden. In the game, Podesta, as Biden, refused to concede the election, arguing that he didn’t believe the Democratic Party would allow him to. Podesta alleged voter suppression and convinced the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan to send pro-Biden electors to the Electoral College. The Senate named Trump president, and the House named Biden president.
“Stay strong. Speak truth. Be fearless. Pray,” Wood wrote in a tweet that linked to Anton’s article.
“Every time you go into an election year, there’s some amount of people who think the president isn’t going to leave or there’s going to be some sort of coup,” says Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami professor who studies conspiracy theories. While the number of people promoting these views is relatively small, says Uscinski, the theories may be fueled by real events, like violence at protests, or by the information bubbles that people create for themselves with social media and the news they read.
“There’s a correlation between conspiracy theories and people who engage in Manichean thinking, which is that politics is a battle between good and evil.”
There may also be certain traits that predispose people to holding these views. “There’s a correlation between conspiracy theories and people who engage in Manichean thinking, which is that politics is a battle between good and evil,” says Uscinski. His research has found that believers of certain theories, like QAnon followers, are more religious on average than others.
“One of the biggest predictors of whether people believe in conspiracy theories is whether they think we’re living in end times as foretold by biblical prophesies,” says Eric Oliver, a University of Chicago political science professor who co-wrote a book, Enchanted America, about myths popular with conservatives, including one about an impending apocalypse.
Oliver has seen a recent increase in the number of people engaging in doomsday thinking about politics. One reason could be that Trump himself has trafficked conspiracy theories, though with public figures it can be tough to know whether they sincerely believe the theories or are using them to manipulate public opinion.
Wood appears to have a history of promoting conspiracy theories. According to the lawsuit by his former colleagues, he told them he feared that if they blew the whistle on his unprofessional behavior toward them it would interfere with “his imminent receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and appointment as Chief Justice of United States Supreme Court.” In the lawsuit, they said he believed he was slated to join the high court because of “(1) a decade-plus old ‘prophecy’ [he] heard in a YouTube video, and (2) a conspiracy theory that Chief Justice Roberts would be revealed to be part of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and was being blackmailed by liberals to rule in their favor.”
On Twitter, Wood has also stated views about the coronavirus that run counter to science. “If God thought we needed masks, he would have included them in original design,” he wrote in late August. He has also said that if he became infected he would take hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that Trump has touted despite a lack of evidence that it’s effective against the coronavirus.
“If God thought we needed masks, he would have included them in original design,” Wood wrote.
Wood told Mother Jones he never believed he would be appointed to the Supreme Court, but did not deny the allegation that he suggested a link between Justice Roberts and Jeffrey Epstein. “It is my understanding and belief that the term conspiracy theorist was developed by the CIA in the 1950’s to demean individuals who were reviewing facts and reaching logical conclusions,” he wrote in an email to Mother Jones. “In my 43 years of law practice, I have always focused on discovering factual truth and then applying the rule of logic to those truthful facts.”
Do you think this is really about Covid-19? Or is Israel acting under cover of Covid-19 to protect its citizens from another soon-to-be released virus that could potentially be more serious than Covid-19. Only time will tell.#FightBack for Freedomhttps://t.co/KYAbm15Luo — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) September 14, 2020
Wood’s rhetoric becomes especially apocalyptic when he talks about politics. In another tweet, he wrote, “Democrats are not trying to win election. Biden has dementia & Harris is unqualified. They seek to steal Presidency by cheating with mail-in ballots. Under cover of planned violence, they intend to overthrow Constitution & seize power.”
Rittenhouse may not have planned to become a cause célèbre in this fight between the left and right, but his attorneys appear to be making him out as one. “Kyle Rittenhouse should be freed immediately and the charges should be dropped,” Pierce tweeted. “He was protecting his community where his government failed, and defended himself. God gave him that right, and no prosecutor will be allowed to take it away. Ever.”
That’s not how some witnesses of the shooting see things. Rittenhouse drove to the protest in Kenosha after a militia group called the Kenosha Guard put out a call for people with guns to protect property in the city. Rittenhouse was not a member of the group, but he had participated in a youth police cadet program. He’d also attended a Trump rally in January. After he fatally shot two people and injured a third, some protesters described his victims as heroes who were struck while trying to disarm him. In a press statement, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul passed along his condolences: “[W]e are thinking of their destroyed futures and their friends and families that must live with this overwhelming grief.”
Rittenhouse’s lawyers argue the teen was acting in self-defense. In early September, Wood praised him alongside the Covington Catholic student who sued media companies. “Nicholas Sandmann at age 16 warned us that mainstream & social media are liars. Kyle Rittenhouse at age 17 warned us to defend ourselves,” he wrote. “Two boys selected to convey Paul Revere-like warnings to all Freedom Loving Americans on what is coming.”


motherjones--2020-10-06--Where Was the Labor Department During the White House COVID Outbreak?

At a briefing on Oct. 4 , in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that has enveloped President Donald Trump and about a dozen of his close associates , White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to reveal how many workers at the White House had contracted the virus .
She cited “ privacy concerns we take very seriously.
” Within 24 hours , McEnany herself—who didn ’ t don a mask while addressing reporters—and two of her assistants had tested positive for the disease ; as had two White House housekeeping staffers , who “ didn ’ t come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family , reported New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman .
Meanwhile , at least three reporters who cover the president closely have been diagnosed with COVID-19 .
In short , after doing precious little to protect workers as the coronavirus has blitzed places like meatpacking plants and Amazon warehouses since March , the Trump Administration ’ s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a new workplace COVID-19 hotspot to contend with : the White House .
OSHA , as its known , has existed since 1970 to “ assure safe and healthy working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ setting and enforcing standards and by providing training , outreach , education and assistance.
” Now that Trump has returned to the stately residence and presidential workplace and promptly taken off his mask , what is OSHA doing to protect the workers there ?
The press office of the Department of Labor , which houses OSHA , has not returned requests for comment on the outbreak .
But the number of potentially impacted workers in not trivial .
As of 2017 , the president ’ s staff of salaried assistants and advisors totaled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and landscaping staff , it ’ s hard to find a headcount for the vast facility .
“ There are hundreds and hundreds of people who work on-complex , some who have families with high-risk family members , ” an unnamed senior White House staffer told New York Magazine recently .
Just as workers in meatpacking plants have consistently complained of not being informed of spiraling workplace outbreaks by their employers , and having to rely on media accounts for information , “ Ninety percent of the [ White House ] complex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news , as has been the case ever since , ” the senior official told New York .
“ Since this whole thing started , not one email has gone out to tell employees what to do or what ’ s going on.
” Meanwhile , Eugene Scalia , the labor department ’ s secretary ( and son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin ) , may himself have been exposed , by attending the now-infamous potential “ super-spreader ” White House events on Sept , 26 to celebrate Amy Coney Barrett @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Along with his wife , Patricia , and his mother , Maureen , Scalia sat on the second row at the tightly packed outdoor Rose Garden ceremony , and “ all three also were inside the White House for a private reception with Trump and Barrett , ” the Washington Post reports .
“ Scalia also attended an indoor private fundraiser the night before , on Sept. 25 , at the Trump International Hotel .
Trump was there , as well as Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniels , who has tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scalia declined to wear a mask .
So far , he has tested negative for the virus .
Despite the labor secretary ’ s own brush with the disease , worker-safety experts say White House employees should expect little protection from OSHA as they go on about their jobs .
Scalia , now in his second stint at the labor department amid a long career as a “ management-side ” labor lawyer defending corporations against worker complaints , has maintained a laissez faire approach to worker safety during the COVID crisis .
Debbie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the Obama administration and now advocates for workers ’ rights at the National Employment Law Project , noted that “ OSHA has not set any specific requirements for employers to implement to protect workers from COVID-19 exposure at work , ” and “ has done almost no enforcement—and the little enforcement they did is following deaths.
” In meatpacking plants , at least 44,633 workers have tested positive for COVID and 213 have died—and yet the agency has issued just two fines , both for less than $ 16,000 , against companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So the folks in charge at the White House—led by mask skeptics Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—have little to fear from the federal worker-safety agency , Berkowitz said .
David Michaels , who served as OSHA ’ s administrator under President Barack Obama and is now a professor of occupational health at George Washington University , had a pithier take on what White House workers can expect from the agency : “ I think OSHA has more important places not to intervene .
”

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
At a briefing on Oct. 4, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that has enveloped President Donald Trump and about a dozen of his close associates, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to reveal how many workers at the White House had contracted the virus. She cited “privacy concerns we take very seriously.” Within 24 hours, McEnany herself—who didn’t don a mask while addressing reporters—and two of her assistants had tested positive for the disease; as had two White House housekeeping staffers, who “didn’t come in direct contact” with the first family, reported New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman. Meanwhile, at least three reporters who cover the president closely have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
In short, after doing precious little to protect workers as the coronavirus has blitzed places like meatpacking plants and Amazon warehouses since March, the Trump Administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a new workplace COVID-19 hotspot to (not) contend with: the White House. OSHA, as it’s known, has existed since 1970 to “assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.”
OSHA law obligates each federal agency, including the Executive Office of the President, to “furnish to each employee employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” Now that Trump has returned to the stately residence and presidential workplace and promptly taken off his mask, what is OSHA doing to protect the workers there?
The press office of the Department of Labor, which houses OSHA, has not returned requests for comment on the outbreak. But the number of potentially impacted workers in not trivial. As of 2017, the president’s staff of salaried assistants and advisors totaled 377. As for custodial, food-preparation, and landscaping staff, it’s hard to find a headcount for the vast facility. “There are hundreds and hundreds of people who work on-complex, some who have families with high-risk family members,” an unnamed senior White House staffer told New York Magazine recently. Just as workers in meatpacking plants have consistently complained of not being informed of spiraling workplace outbreaks by their employers, and having to rely on media accounts for information, “Ninety percent of the [White House] complex most certainly learned about it in the news, as has been the case ever since,” the senior official told New York. “Since this whole thing started, not one email has gone out to tell employees what to do or what’s going on.”
The folks in charge at the White House—led by mask skeptics Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—have little to fear from the federal worker-safety agency.
Meanwhile, Eugene Scalia, the labor department’s secretary (and son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin), may himself have been exposed, by attending the now-infamous potential “super-spreader” White House events on Sept, 26 to celebrate Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Along with his wife, Patricia, and his mother, Maureen, Scalia sat on the second row at the tightly packed outdoor Rose Garden ceremony, and “all three also were inside the White House for a private reception with Trump and Barrett,” the Washington Post reports. “Scalia also attended an indoor private fundraiser the night before, on Sept. 25, at the Trump International Hotel. Trump was there, as well as Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniels, who has tested positive.” At all these events, Scalia declined to wear a mask. So far, he has tested negative for the virus.
Despite the labor secretary’s own brush with the disease, worker-safety experts say White House employees should expect little protection from OSHA as they go on about their jobs. Scalia, now in his second stint at the labor department amid a long career as a “management-side” labor lawyer defending corporations against worker complaints, has maintained a laissez faire approach to worker safety during the COVID crisis.
Debbie Berkowitz, who worked at the agency during the Obama administration and now advocates for workers’ rights at the National Employment Law Project, noted that “OSHA has not set any specific requirements for employers to implement to protect workers from COVID-19 exposure at work,” and “has done almost no enforcement—and the little enforcement they did is following deaths.” In meatpacking plants, at least 44,633 workers have tested positive for COVID and 213 have died—and yet the agency has issued just two fines, both for less than $16,000, against companies with billions of dollars in annual profits. So the folks in charge at the White House—led by mask skeptics Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—have little to fear from the federal worker-safety agency, Berkowitz said.
David Michaels, who served as OSHA’s administrator under President Barack Obama and is now a professor of occupational health at George Washington University, had a pithier take on what White House workers can expect from the agency: “I think OSHA has more important places not to intervene.”


motherjones--2020-10-05--The Most Reckless Actions by Trump and His Allies During the White House Outbreak, So Far

As the White House coronavirus outbreak continues to escalate—with news Monday that two housekeeping staffers and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany have tested positive—so too has the spectacular parade of irresponsible actions being taken by Donald Trump ’ s campaign , his Republican allies , and administration officials .
Together , those actions paint a damning portrait of a party , led by a president who insists the virus “ affects virtually nobody , ” trampling on science and basic safety guidelines in an effort to win an election and steal a Supreme Court seat .
As Trump prepares to rush @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contagious with the virus , let ’ s take a look at the most reckless actions we ’ ve seen so far .
Sen. Ron Johnson announces he ’ ll vote in person to confirm Amy Coney Barrett—even if he ’ s still testing positive With three Republican senators testing positive for the coronavirus—a tally that could very well rise over the coming days—Barrett ’ s once sure-fire confirmation to the Supreme Court suddenly appears imperiled .
Now , one of those infected senators , Sen. Ron Johnson ( R-Wis. ) , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up on the Senate floor in order to confirm Barrett—even if he remains contagious .
“ If we have to go in and vote , I ’ ve already told leadership , I ’ ll go in a moon suit , ” he said .
The White House press secretary , who on Monday announced that she had tested positive for the coronavirus , declined to wear a mask while speaking to reporters on the White House North Lawn the day before , even as the number of White House officials testing positive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deputies have also tested positive . )
Here she is , maskless , on Sunday : Trump campaign fails to alert Biden of possible exposure The White House ’ s damning lack of transparency around the outbreak extended to Trump ’ s debate with Joe Biden , whose team says they were never alerted to possible exposure and did not learn about it until late Thursday night when Bloomberg revealed that Trump aide Hope Hicks had tested positive .
The former vice president has since repeatedly tested negative , but that doesn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the woods quite yet .
Two days into his stay at Walter Reed Medical Center , the president on Sunday emerged in a hermetically-sealed Suburban SUV to wave at supporters stationed outside .
As I wrote on Sunday , the surprise drive-by immediately drew fierce condemnation for needlessly putting Secret Service agents at risk .
Attorney General William Barr refuses to isolate despite possible coronavirus exposure Even though he attended the White House event likely at the center of the outbreak , the attorney general initially refused to self-quarantine .
He eventually changed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a Justice Department spokesman , he still intends to be back at work later this week .
Trump campaign tries to spin his infection as a good thing The White House goes silent on Washington , DC , and New Jersey Even as the Trump-centered outbreak grows , the White House has reportedly refused to cooperate with local health officials who are trying to contain it .
Washington , DC , Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday revealed that her attempts to reach the White House are being ignored .
The Trump campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frustrated New Jersey officials who say that they haven ’ t received a full accounting of who attended the president ’ s Bedminster fundraiser on Thursday , just hours before Trump tweeted that he had tested positive .
In a tweet both sycophantic and misinformed , the Florida Republican claimed that it ’ s COVID-19—not Trump—that will have to do the recovering , once again downplaying the coronavirus threat .
Trump ’ s doctor admits to lying about the president ’ s condition In a stunning admission , Trump ’ s physician on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact that Trump had received oxygen treatment in order to project optimism .
That apparent lie added to the confusion surrounding Trump ’ s condition , as well as to the serious national security concerns over whether he was fit to perform his presidential duties .
“ Don ’ t be afraid of Covid ” : Trump announces he ’ s going home In perhaps the most irresponsible action so far , Trump on Monday announced that he ’ s returning to the White House , where questions over the lack of safety @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be afraid of Covid , ” Trump declared , even though the disease has now killed more than 200,000 people in the United States .
Now , with the election fast-approaching and his poll numbers continuing to drop , we ’ re all but assured of more recklessness in the days ahead .

As the White House coronavirus outbreak continues to escalate—with news Monday that two housekeeping staffers and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany have tested positive—so too has the spectacular parade of irresponsible actions being taken by Donald Trump’s campaign, his Republican allies, and administration officials. Together, those actions paint a damning portrait of a party, led by a president who insists the virus “affects virtually nobody,” trampling on science and basic safety guidelines in an effort to win an election and steal a Supreme Court seat.
As Trump prepares to rush out of Walter Reed Medical Center still contagious with the virus, let’s take a look at the most reckless actions we’ve seen so far.
Sen. Ron Johnson announces he’ll vote in person to confirm Amy Coney Barrett—even if he’s still testing positive
With three Republican senators testing positive for the coronavirus—a tally that could very well rise over the coming days—Barrett’s once sure-fire confirmation to the Supreme Court suddenly appears imperiled. Now, one of those infected senators, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), has announced that he’ll still show up on the Senate floor in order to confirm Barrett—even if he remains contagious. “If we have to go in and vote, I’ve already told leadership, I’ll go in a moon suit,” he said.
McEnany appears maskless with reporters
The White House press secretary, who on Monday announced that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, declined to wear a mask while speaking to reporters on the White House North Lawn the day before, even as the number of White House officials testing positive was growing. (Two of her deputies have also tested positive.) Here she is, maskless, on Sunday:
White House Press Sec. McEnany says she won't give “a detailed readout with timestamps of every time the president's tested" for coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/jKqpseZoJC — NBC News (@NBCNews) October 4, 2020
Trump campaign fails to alert Biden of possible exposure
The White House’s damning lack of transparency around the outbreak extended to Trump’s debate with Joe Biden, whose team says they were never alerted to possible exposure and did not learn about it until late Thursday night when Bloomberg revealed that Trump aide Hope Hicks had tested positive. The former vice president has since repeatedly tested negative, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods quite yet.
Trump takes a joyride to greet his “patriots”
Two days into his stay at Walter Reed Medical Center, the president on Sunday emerged in a hermetically sealed Suburban SUV to wave at supporters stationed outside. As I wrote on Sunday, the surprise drive-by immediately drew fierce condemnation for needlessly putting Secret Service agents at risk.
Attorney General William Barr refuses to isolate despite possible coronavirus exposure
Even though he attended the White House event likely at the center of the outbreak, the attorney general initially refused to self-quarantine. He eventually changed tune on Sunday, but, according to a Justice Department spokesperson, he still intends to be back at work later this week.
Trump campaign tries to spin his infection as a good thing
The Trump campaign is now attacking Biden for…not contracting coronavirus. “He has experience — now — fighting the coronavirus as an individual. Those firsthand experiences, Joe Biden, he doesn’t have those." pic.twitter.com/Qk0Qc8l6q9 — Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) October 5, 2020
The White House goes silent on Washington, DC, and New Jersey
Even as the Trump-centered outbreak grows, the White House has reportedly refused to cooperate with local health officials who are trying to contain it. Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday revealed that her attempts to reach the White House are being ignored. The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee staff have similarly frustrated New Jersey officials who say that they haven’t received a full accounting of who attended the president’s Bedminster fundraiser on Thursday, just hours before Trump tweeted that he had tested positive.
Rep. Matt Gaetz spreads misinformation in order to praise Trump
In a tweet both sycophantic and misinformed, the Florida Republican claimed that it’s COVID-19—not Trump—that will have to do the recovering, once again downplaying the coronavirus threat.
President Trump won't have to recover from COVID. COVID will have to recover from President Trump. #MAGA — Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 5, 2020
Trump’s doctor admits to lying about the president’s condition
In a stunning admission, Trump’s physician on Sunday acknowledged that he previously concealed the fact that Trump had received oxygen treatment in order to project optimism. That apparent lie added to the confusion surrounding Trump’s condition, as well as to the serious national security concerns over whether he was fit to perform his presidential duties.
“Don’t be afraid of Covid”: Trump announces he’s going home
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
In perhaps the most irresponsible action so far, Trump on Monday announced that he’s returning to the White House, where questions over the lack of safety measures remain. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” Trump declared, even though the disease has now killed more than 200,000 people in the United States. Now, with the election fast-approaching and his poll numbers continuing to drop, we’re all but assured of more recklessness in the days ahead.


motherjones--2020-10-05--Trump Says Don’t Be Afraid of COVID. Please Ignore Him.

President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Monday afternoon that he would soon be released from Walter Reed Army Medical Center .
The president was taken to the hospital by helicopter on Friday after his case of COVID-19 worsened .
Doctors told reporters over the weekend that he had been given supplemental oxygen and an assortment of treatments generally reserved for serious to severe cases .
Health shocks like this can sometimes change a person .
They can give a new sense of perspective , bring to mind what really matters , or maybe convey the urgency of a threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not an ordinary person , though .
Here is what he tweeted : Even by his standards , this is repulsive .
Trump ’ s takeaway from being airlifted to a hospital and at the center of an outbreak that has given his wife , close advisors , senators , and White House residence staff a potentially deadly virus is that COVID actually isn ’ t that bad .
After all , he—a man with access to the best doctors in the world and treatments that are unavailable to many others—only needed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This message is especially dangerous at a time when cases are once again on the rise in the United States , and places like New York City are enacting new restrictions to slow the spread .
Be afraid of COVID .
Be afraid of getting it , be afraid of giving it to others , be terribly afraid of people you care about contracting it .
Be afraid of what an pandemic—even if it doesn ’ t seem to affect you personally—means for your neighbors .
( It ’ s good to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the callous behavior of the Trump White House over the last week would suggest . )
Be afraid of COVID even if you ’ re a ghoul and a sociopath and none of those things matter , because when people don ’ t properly fear COVID , everything shuts down and people get laid off and no one can pay their bills or buy food and there are many ways for people to suffer without ever getting infected .
Be afraid of COVID !
It sucks .
It can do plenty of terrible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it—even if you ’ re literally in your twenties .
It has killed well more than 200,000 people in the United States , and counting .
It killed a thousand people just last weekend , and both those figures should be viewed as simply the minimum known number .
It is killing people right now .
Be afraid !
Because if everyone took the virus seriously , we ’ d all have a lot less to fear .

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Monday afternoon that he would soon be released from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The president was taken to the hospital by helicopter on Friday after his case of COVID-19 worsened. Doctors told reporters over the weekend that he had been given supplemental oxygen and an assortment of treatments generally reserved for serious to severe cases.
Health shocks like this can sometimes change a person. They can give a new sense of perspective, bring to mind what really matters, or maybe convey the urgency of a threat previously blown off. Donald Trump is not an ordinary person, though. Here is what he tweeted:
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
Even by his standards, this is repulsive. Trump’s takeaway from being airlifted to a hospital and at the center of an outbreak that has given his wife, close advisors, senators, and White House residence staff a potentially deadly virus is that COVID actually isn’t that bad. After all, he—a man with access to the best doctors in the world and treatments that are unavailable to many others—only needed to spend three full days in a hospital. This message is especially dangerous at a time when cases are once again on the rise in the United States, and places like New York City are enacting new restrictions to slow the spread.
Be afraid of COVID. Be afraid of getting it, be afraid of giving it to others, be terribly afraid of people you care about contracting it. Be afraid of what an pandemic—even if it doesn’t seem to affect you personally—means for your neighbors. (It’s good to care about other people, despite what the callous behavior of the Trump White House over the last week would suggest.) Be afraid of COVID even if you’re a ghoul and a sociopath and none of those things matter, because when people don’t properly fear COVID, everything shuts down and people get laid off and no one can pay their bills or buy food and there are many ways for people to suffer without ever getting infected. Be afraid of COVID! It sucks. It can do plenty of terrible things to you even if you survive it—even if you’re literally in your twenties. It has killed well more than 200,000 people in the United States, and counting. It killed a thousand people just last weekend, and both those figures should be viewed as simply the minimum known number. It is killing people right now.
Be afraid! Because if everyone took the virus seriously, we’d all have a lot less to fear.