When I learned that Donald Trump is infected with COVID-19, I did not have the normal reaction that I would have, as a doctor, to an overweight septuagenarian getting infected with this deadly virus. Instead, I immediately thought of the positives that could come out of this. Not because I revel in suffering but precisely because I ardently desire millions more people to avoid the death and disability that this virus invites. A virus that snuffs out life indiscriminately. Or perhaps a little too discriminatingly in certain populations, most of whom are not represented in the Trump inner circle.

Maybe Donald and Melania will finally, though inadvertently, be the effective spokespeople for this virus that reason, logic, science, compassion and morality dictated that they be 200,000 lives ago. Perhaps this will be the wake-up call that the tens of millions who adore him, who hang on his every word, who look to him for guidance and leadership, so much so that they are willing to consider ingesting bleach, will heed.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the jolt of reality that only this reality TV star can provide.

Is it wrong for a doctor to be writing these words? I would argue, in fact, that it is precisely in line with the ethics of my profession to welcome the dissemination and augmentation of public health awareness in the context of this pandemic and our country’s failed response to it. For some who follow Hollywood types, it was beloved Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson whose diagnoses snapped people to attention at the start of this pandemic to take it with the gravity it deserved. For sports fans, it was the stories coming out of the NBA with Rudy Gobert’s ridiculous mic touching stunt and the souring of his relationship with Donovan Mitchell after the Utah Jazz coronavirus outbreak.

Others looked to their president and saw a maskless man who mocked those who covered their faces in the context of an airborne illness, who compared it to the flu and said it would go away like a miracle. They looked to the man they voted for and believed in and prayed for as he persisted to downplay the virus as the number of COVID-19 deaths continued to fill increasing numbers of imaginary football stadiums many times over. And even as stories came out of diehard Trump loyalists who succumbed to COVID-19 while regretting not taking this more seriously, he continued to contradict the clear public health messaging of his top officials, undermining and undercutting at every turn.

My colleagues and I have watched, our stomachs turning and churning in twisted knots of anger, as Trump has continued to host superspreader events throughout the country as recently as this past week. Just like the one Herman Cain attended whose life ended shortly thereafter. White hot rage has been our default setting for so many of us in health care over the last eight months, as we have been keenly aware of the broad swaths of precious lives needlessly lost due to the criminal negligence of this administration. I remember how my insides blazed as I watched Vice President Mike Pence traipse through Mayo Clinic without a mask and how there wasn’t a single person in that hospital who was willing to stand up for their patients and colleagues and call out the emperor who had no mask. This administration has been, literally, sickening.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-tests-positive-coronavirus-doctor-160100764.html

Rose City Antifa in Portland, which formed in 2007, is the longest standing antifa group in the U.S. and mainly focuses on research, said Ross. A Rose City representative declined to answer questions about membership numbers. Another Portland-based antifa group founded in 2018, called Popular Mobilization or PopMob, has less than 20 members, according to one of its founding members, Sylvan E. She responded to a Facebook message sent by the Deseret News to the official PopMob page and asked that her last name be withheld to protect her privacy.

Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University and an expert in U.S. politics and social movements, estimates that at most, the number of people who identify as part of antifa, is in the low thousands.

But antifa’s following online is much bigger.

Ross said much of antifa sees nonviolence as an ineffective tactic against fascists. Bray said property destruction is “one of the tools in their tool box,” in addition to doxxing (disclosing sensitive information as a form of harassment) and community mobilization. When Bray was working at Dartmouth College, the president of the school wrote a letter disavowing Bray’s research, because he did not denounce the legitimacy of violent protest tactics. Although, Bray says, violence is “not always the most effective strategy.”

Antifa Thugs Find a Champion and Leader in Stanford Professor
A new class of violent thugs prowls our streets. Donning black clothes, masks and red bandanas, the so-called Anti-Fascist movement, or “antifa,” issues threats and commits acts of violence, intimidation, and vandalism against those it brands as “fascists.” The group represents one of the most extreme elements in the intensifying political turmoil of the past few years.
https://stanfordreview.org/antifa-thugs-find-a-champion-and-leader-in-stanford-professor-3/
Antifa Thugs Find a Champion and Leader in Stanford Professor