There is nothing wrong with the President wanting or even deserving the best medical treatment taxpayers can buy. After all, he’s supposed to be the most important person in the land. However, Trump’s Covid treatment demonstrates just how bad the wealthy’s sense of entitlement can be and how little that same class cares for those who have nothing.
Trump’s Covid treatment, at least the emergency portion of it, has been estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $100,000. According to the New York Times, “the median charge for a coronavirus hospitalization for a patient over 60 is $61,912, according to a claims database, FAIR Health,” the report also pointed to data finding a $38,770 median charge for an air ambulance. That trip is three times the average American’s annual income.
So, after Trump get’s seriously sick and is treated, does he start to empathize with the common man on just how serious Covid-19 can be? Of course not. Before leaving the hospital, 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!”
Most Americans don’t get treated like royalty; many can’t even afford to get sick. Trump, sitting at the top of the healthcare food chain wants to make sure everyone else starves to death. 12 million Americans have lost their employment-based healthcare since the pandemic started on Trump’s watch, but that’s not enough.
Trump and his administration are doing everything it can to make sure Justice Amy Coney Barrett is seated on the Supreme Court, just in time to strike down Obamacare. Another 20 million Americans will lose their health insurance when that happens. Republicans have no plans to replace it.
Trump gloating about his superhuman health after his first-class treatment is bad enough. Telling people not to be afraid of the virus that’s killed nearly 220,000 Americans on his watch is even worse. What Trump did when he got back from Walter Reed though really takes the cake and demonstrates how little empathy he has for those he considers beneath him (which is pretty much everybody).
On returning home, the President told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop negotiating an economic relief package until after the election. Meanwhile Americans continue to face massive job losses and potential evictions. Many are literally starving, not just for healthcare.
To sum up, a man of privilege, who pays little to no taxes, got treated for a virus he downplayed for months at the expense of a hundred grand of taxpayer money, downplayed the virus some more, then made damn sure struggling Americans wouldn’t get a dime.
He may be the president, but it’s still an extreme example of privilege, class warfare and inequality. All of which were plaguing the country long before the pandemic came around. The rich get special treatment while the rest of the country gets shit on.
At the very least, if Trump’s Covid treatment was free, shouldn’t everyone get the same free treatment? Okay, minus the helicopter. Still, one guy enjoying $100,000 in free healthcare over three days while millions can’t get a penny is at the very heart of what is tearing the U.S. apart. Socialism for the rich, trickle down capitalism for the rest of us.
