 I think 2020 has demonstrated that a lot of things can happen, a lot of things can go wrong in just a month or two months. So I want to pose a pretty horrifying question. What happens if Donald Trump loses this election and he's the lame duck president? What is he going to do? Or more specifically, what will he not do to help us contain the spread of COVID-19 when he has absolutely zero incentive to do that? It's a pretty scary thought that I don't believe a lot of people have thought about. And rightfully so, because everyone is just so focused right now on making him lose this election, on defeating him. But regardless, if he wins or loses, either he'll remain in power for another four years or he will lose. And as a lame duck president, he could actively undermine Joe Biden's future effort to get COVID-19 under control. And the reason why this has been on my mind is because in this last stretch of the campaign, I mean he's just been pretending like COVID-19 is not a thing anymore. He's holding rallies on a daily basis now. And there are thousands of people at these events, very close towards each other, not wearing masks, cheering, yelling. And this is going to certainly lead to a rise in COVID-19 cases. So assuming he is defeated, what we see is that he's going to make it worse, put us at a more disadvantaged position to combat the spread of this disease. He's already doing it. So let's talk about what he's been doing lately. He and his administration is just pretending as if the pandemic is over, as it spikes, and I'm not being hyperbolic. As political reports, White House Science Office takes credit for quote, ending pandemic as infections mount. So that's what his administration is saying. They're declaring this pandemic over as we see record spikes in cases. 225,000 Americans dead because of this pandemic. He's saying it's over. And he's still campaigning. So if he is this brazen when he has something to lose, imagine how bad he's going to be when he feels as if he has nothing to lose if he already lost this election and he doesn't have to even put up the facade that he cares. I mean, that's already gone. So as Politico's Brianna Ellie reports, the White House's Science Policy Office on Tuesday ranked ending the COVID pandemic atop the list of President Donald Trump's top first term accomplishments, even as the country registers record amounts of infections and hospitals fill up again. The list included in a press release from the Office of Science and Technology Policy credits the administration for taking decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry and government to understand, treat and defeat the disease. So this administration is making two very bold claims to say the least. One, that the pandemic is over and two, that they're the ones who defeated it. This worldwide pandemic where so many countries are currently seeing their second wave and record spikes. They defeated it. It's over. Now, as much as we know that they're delusional, they know that's not the case because Donald Trump is now trying to use COVID-19 as a political weapon against cities that he believes are adversarial towards him. Specifically, if you live in Portland, Seattle or DC, where there's been prolonged protests, Trump has called on the Department of Health and Human Services to literally withhold federal grants for these states that would go towards health programs to fight diseases and illnesses, including COVID-19. So he knows it's real and he's currently trying to make it more difficult for certain cities to fight the pandemic by cutting federal grants. He is undermining efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and imagine how stupid this is. Like, even if he dislikes cities like Portland and Seattle, if certain cities can't get this under control, that makes it more difficult for other states, red states to get this under control, even though red states have been disproportionately worse at handling this pandemic. But like, in theory, you think, okay, we have to make sure everyone gets this under control so we can all get it under control because we're only as strong as our weakest link. But no, he's actively undermining efforts to combat the spread of this pandemic. It's astonishing, even for Donald Trump. I know that we've gotten used to the craziness, but this really is shocking, but perhaps not as shocking as this next story, which is from the Wall Street Journal. And as they explain, the Trump administration offered Santa Claus performers a deal, promote a COVID-19 vaccine, and they get early access to it. The plan has been called off, and as the article explains, this was an effort to try to get Americans to take the vaccine by paying for lots of ads to basically make it seem as if it's from Santa Claus. Santa Claus is trying to deliver this vaccine to you, therefore you should take it, because in his mind, that would be more persuasive to people. A fictional character promoting science than having just like a health professional like Dr. Fauci come out and say, you should take this, it's safe. But no, the goal was to have Santa Claus tell you that you should take the vaccine. I mean, if I could think of anything that would dissuade people, make them less likely to want to take a vaccine. It's if you do something like this, like make a mockery out of a very serious issue. I'm glad that this plan was called off because it's incredibly stupid, but just the thought that they were seriously considering this. It's shocking. It's genuinely shocking. Now, putting that aside, getting people to take the vaccine is one thing. But another issue is, will this be widely available? Will it be affordable? And one good thing that Trump's team was trying to do, or is currently still trying to do as far as I know, is they're trying to make sure that this vaccine is covered under Medicare and Medicaid, which again, this is a good thing objectively. So the problem, however, is that if he actually gets what he wants, which is more likely now that we just got Amy Coney-Burr confirmed to the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act will be repealed. So if that happens, millions of people immediately lose Medicaid. So if you are trying to base the affordability on people who qualify for Medicaid, then you're actively undermining your own effort if you successfully argue in court that the ACA is unconstitutional. Like, do you understand how self-defeating and stupid this is? I mean, if I were Donald Trump, I would try to legislatively make this free or widely available or affordable. I wouldn't use an existing program that I'm currently trying to gut. That doesn't make any sense. That's stupid. But that's what he's trying to do. So he's, at every step of the way, tried to undermine our efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Remember, we just learned in September that there was this plan to distribute five face masks per household, and he unilaterally stopped that. What could have saved thousands of lives potentially? He doesn't want to get it under control. Like, everything that he's done has shown to us that he'd rather it just spread. Like, I think that he is deluded into thinking that, you know, we need to let this wash over America so that way we can see herd immunity. I don't know what it is, but he is undermining our ability to contain the spread of the virus. And it's not just that. When we're talking about the virus, that's one thing. But we also have to look at the economic situation that we're in currently, because he wants to make it seem as if everything is co-basetic. We're seeing a V-shaped recovery. The stock markets are doing great right now. But he also mishandled the economic response. As people lose their jobs and their livelihoods, he is currently blocking emergency food stamp benefits. So as they need food more than ever, he's making it harder for them to receive food stamps. And even though the CDC extended the moratorium on evictions until January 1st, which is a good thing, Trump's administration undermined their own eviction moratorium by issuing additional guidance, which allows landlords to challenge the tenant's claim that they are eligible for this moratorium and cannot be evicted until January 1st. So people are suffering. And he's making it harder for them to receive what little assistance is available. And this wouldn't be as big of an issue if the Senate was actually going to take up another relief plan. But they adjourned until after the election, once they rushed through Amy Coney Barrett. They had, you know, more than enough time to rush through that illegitimate Supreme Court nominee and confirmation process. But when it comes to a stimulus that people desperately need, nothing. Now, Trump is promising there will be another stimulus package, but he's holding it over everyone's heads, saying it'll only come now after election day. But here's the catch. What happens if he loses the election? Are we really supposed to expect a lame duck President Trump who's likely furious that he lost? You know, probably more focused on trying to figure out a way to still rig the election in his favor in the courts. Are we really going to expect that guy to want to pass a stimulus package? He's not going to be focusing on that. He's going to be fiercely tweeting about how rigged the election was and how he's actually the rightful winner. He's not going to care about people who are struggling to put food on the table. Are you serious? So if he does, in fact, lose this election, he will still be the President until January when Joe Biden is sworn in, which means he will do nothing and probably actively undermine whatever we're doing to stop the spread of the virus, which means that, you know, the virus will continue to spread, the economic disaster that we're facing will worsen, and Trump will hand off an even bigger disaster to Joe Biden, assuming he wins, which will make it even more difficult for us to get this under control. And that will be his one last parting gift to America. Big fuck you, because you didn't reelect me. We'll have fun dealing with an even worse pandemic and worse economic situation. So I don't think that people have really thought this through to where if Trump loses, I mean, it's going to be an even bigger disaster by the time he leaves office. Now, of course, we should root against him. We want him to lose, because we're never going to get it under control so long as he's President, I don't think. But I mean, the eviction moratorium, it expires on January 1st, and he's already undermined it. But assuming he loses the selection, do we expect him to take action between January 1st and the time that he leaves office? Of course not. So even if he loses, and Joe Biden is more competent, either way, I mean, we're staring down the barrel. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. All thanks to Donald Trump, who doesn't care about anyone else, just himself, just his own ego, just his own electoral success. And it's disgusting. So brace yourselves, because either way, we are in for a really, really bumpy couple of months. It's going to be bad.