Totally Under Control, documentarian Alex Gibney's sober and detailed recounting of the spread of the coronavirus and how horribly the Trump administration bungled it should stand as a stunning time capsule, regardless of what happens on Election Day. The film isn't hyper partisan, it's simply hyper factual and the facts are inescapable.
The most chilling aspect of this film is that it makes plan what Joe Biden and so many others have said about the coronavirus outbreak: that it didn't have to be this way.
Had the president taken the threat seriously, had there been a political will to stop a crisis before it started -- there is every reason to believe that the coronavirus outbreak never had to be a soul crushing event that has upended Americans lives for nearly a year now.
But instead you see Trump, in a horrendously inexcusable moment, telling the American public that the number of cases would soon be "down to zero."
It should be obvious to anyone who followed the news during those early weeks that the stock market and appearances were all that the Trump administration was concerned with at the time -- but for anyone who's skeptical or who may not know the timeline and the players, Gibney's film is a smart, methodical and most importantly accessible piece of storytelling.
Quite frankly, no one who sees this film can walk away putting a positive spin on what has taken place here in the U.S. -- Trump and his allies are keen to point out to virus spikes abroad, but the efficient containment of covd-19 in South Korea stands as a stunning rebuke to that. This isn't a single person or organization's failure to be sure -- but no one has had more of a direct negative impact on this crisis than Donald Trump, from his denials or reality, to his spreading of misinformation and ultimately his unwillingness to take responsibility has undeniably led to the deaths of thousands of people.
It's enraging to watch Trump in February crow about how the virus was the Democrats' 'new hoax' in an effort to stop his re-election (naturally, he makes it about himself) and dumbfounding to think that someone could be so consistently wrong and callous about the biggest crisis featuring this country in the short term -- and will somehow be rewarded by millions of voters for it.
There are stunning details that have been reported on before but perhaps not fully illuminated -- like the completely haphazard and amateurish task force led by Jared Kushner to procure PPE for states -- and there are terrific, righteously indignant interviews with the medical professionals who were railroaded or ignored throughout this process.
It's hard to understate how important a movie like this can be. I am someone who follows the headlines assiduously and even I had forgotten Trump's disorganized travel ban -- which left thousands of Americans stranded or when Kushner ignorantly claiming the federal stockpile is 'ours' and not the public's.
Every misstep cost lives and while it's inevitable that with a problem this big there would inevitably be mistakes (Gibney's film acknowledges errors made by previous administrations during virus outbreaks, too) there are fundamental, philosophical flaws in this particular administration's approach: they simply did not making saving lives the priority.
Case in point: the White House's stubborn insistence on hyping hydroxychloroquine as a cure-all for the virus despite all the evidence to the contrary. Time was wasted, more lives lost and none this appears to have permeated the consciousness of the president.
Should he be re-elected tomorrow or sometime this week -- it will not just be a tragedy for people of color, for Muslims, for people who believe in democracy -- it will also suggest that a majority of voters in some key states simply do not care that their supposed leaders are this irresponsible and destructive. And that makes me deeply sick and sad.
Over 200,000 people are dead. Blaming China is not an answer. Saying it could have been worse is not an answer. If this were any other president, the political fallout would be swift and severe. Why would we excuse this calamity? Why would we give this president a pass? If this is what his first term has wrought -- why should he deserve another?
See this film. Make sure your friends and family see it. and anyone still supporting this president why he should be forgiven for promising this virus would disappear while it continues to rage.
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