the washington post writes that had the trump administration simply implemented mitigation guidelines by march 9th, approximately 60% of american covid deaths could have been avoided. during the pandemic, he held a number of superspreader events. he contracted covid himself but decided he wanted to take a joy ride in the presidential vehicle and wave at his adoring fans. turns out during his presidency, nearly 900 of his secret service agents got infected with covid. so why then, after some 17 months, should we expect him to all of a sudden care about the wellbeing of others, even his own base? trump has always been guided less by ideology and more by sociopathy. he s never given a damn. so let s stop asking him to do the right thing. he never will. the rest of us, however, must. and we need to figure out ways to get as many people vaccinated as possible. one provocative suggestion is to tax the unvaccinated, to make them pay in some way or another.