COVID–19 Gaslighting is Costing Lives

Donald Trump’s reckless disregard for truth and callous indifference to the lives of others is on full display this week.  His joyride around Walter Reed put everyone around him at risk, as did his balcony pose without a mask at the White House.  Now, Trump is making up the most dangerous false narrative of his presidency, tweeting to not be afraid of COVID-19 or let it “dominate” our lives.  

Don’t be afraid of COVID-19?  Tell that to the 210,000 families who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.  Tell that to the Black, Hispanic, Latinx, Native American and Alaskan Native populations who are suffering much higher rates of exposure, hospitalizations, and deaths. 

Trump is using the psychological manipulation technique called “gaslighting” to make us doubt the reality we’re seeing with our own eyes.  It is a technique used to make individuals, often victims second guess their truth from falsehood.  As this article from Psychology Today reminds us, gaslighting can be a hallmark of manipulative and emotionally abusive relationships.   The past four years, we have experienced Donald Trump using this technique in America. 

But Donald Trump isn’t the only one lying about the coronavirus or trying to distract us from the urgent health, economic and social justice crises we are facing.  His enablers in the Senate echo his lies and amplify his distractions. He’s even gone so far as to withdraw from economic relief talks, while millions of Americans continue struggling to pay their bills, and order Mitch McConnell to instead focus on fast-tracking Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. As we’ve stated before, she is a dangerous appointee who will turn the clock back on equality, and we’re demanding no confirmation before inauguration.  

This is why NOW is working so hard to flip the Senate, as well as win the White House, to give Vice President Kamala Harris a progressive, feminist chamber to preside over! 

One of our top priorities will be healing the human suffering inflicted by COVID-19.  Not all of it is physical.  This article from Ms. reports “women were almost three times more likely than men (at 27 percent, compared to 10 percent of men) to report that their mental health had been impacted by the pandemic.”  That’s why we need more programs like this one in Charlottesville, VA and resources like the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) and Better Help that provide virtual counseling and mental health services during the pandemic.  

Will you be watching Kamala Harris debate tonight?  Join us on social media for a game of DEBATE BINGO and tweet your thoughts and completed Bingo cards by using @NationalNOW.  We’d love to share this historic moment with you. 

Finally, I want to share this interview I just recorded with former NOW President Terry O’Neill’s “What Equality Looks Like” podcast where I discuss my inclusive vision for NOW’s future and why intersectionality is at the core of all we do.  I hope you enjoy it.