Voters are once again asking Donald Trump to practice what he preaches after the president tweeted about reopening schools amid the coronavirus crisis. “Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!” Trump tweeted on August 3, as the COVID-19 death toll in the United States continues to rise past 158,000. Twitter reminded the president that son Barron Trump‘s school is closed until October due to safety concerns.
Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
“It’s important Barron gets the education you think everyone else should be forced to get. You have to lead by example on this. Make Barron go to a public school,” on Twitter user suggested to Trump. “Trump’s back-to-school reopening plan: Send Barron to the bunker,” another person tweeted, referring to Trump’s actions during the recent DC protests. “Send your kid into a pandemic.”
https://twitter.com/JacksonPSP/status/1290295030947536897
Political host Brian Tyler Cohen pointed out Trump’s hypocrisy further: “If voting in-person is so safe, why isn’t Barron Trump attending school in-person in the fall? Why isn’t the GOP hosting an in-person convention? Why has Trump canceled the rest of his in-person rallies?” Another person half-joked, “Sure, go right ahead and point out the hypocrisy and tell him to send Barron to school if he is that insistent but please keep in mind you also have to tell him who Barron is.”
If voting in-person is so safe, why isn’t Barron Trump attending school in-person in the fall? Why isn’t the GOP hosting an in-person convention? Why has Trump canceled the rest of his in-person rallies?
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) July 30, 2020
Trump previously said that he was “comfortable” sending Barron back to school in September because unspecified “statistics on young people” have been “very impressive.” He said at a July 22 press conference that he’s not concerned about students’ safety because children “have very strong immune systems.” That’s not necessarily true. There is not yet sufficient data abut the likelihood of children being infected by COVID-19.
But it is confirmed that children can pass the virus to their peers and adults. Place 30 students and a teacher in a cramped classroom for eight hours a day, and the odds aren’t great. Families and teachers across the country are struggling with the decision to either begin in-person learning again or continue online courses. In Indiana, the state that Vice President Mike Pence once governed, a middle school had to be shut down just hours after reopening when it was discovered that a student had tested positive for COVID-19.