El-Amin / Shutterstock.com
Don't worry Michiganders, President Donald Trump tested “very positively” for the coronavirus Thursday morning, ahead of his highly publicized campaign event at a Ford plant in Ypsilanti, where he stood like a normal person, refused to wear a mask so as to not give the “press the pleasure” of seeing him obey Michigan law, and well, did a lot of other shit that was, as Attorney General Dana Nessel described to CNN, “extremely disappointing yet totally predictable.”
“The president is a petulant child who refuses to follow the rules, and I have to say, this is no joke,” Nessel said on Thursday.
Before Trump's visit, Nessel penned an open letter to the president, reminding him that all nonessential visits to manufacturing facilities have been suspended under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order, and warned that “anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the President of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus.”
.@realDonaldTrump declines to wear a mask during Ford plant tour despite company regulations. Ford executives have masks on. pic.twitter.com/g3kMrUGws3
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) May 21, 2020
Following her CNN appearance, Trump retaliated with a series of late-night tweets aimed at Nessel, even bestowing her with one of his nicknames: “The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan.”
The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan, Dana Nessel, is viciously threatening Ford Motor Company for the fact that I inspected a Ventilator plant without a mask. Not their fault, & I did put on a mask. No wonder many auto companies left Michigan, until I came along!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2020
Trump, of course, failed to wear a mask to an automotive factory that pivoted to manufacturing ventilators and PPE amid the coronavirus crisis, and even went so far as to awkwardly hand his face shield to a sound engineer — when questioned about why he didn't wear a mask — like he was the lead singer of a band handing off his guitar pick to some lucky superfan. We're surprised he didn't offer to sign it ... or lick it.
President Donald J. Trump tours the Ford Motor Company Rawsonville Components Plant, one of the many repurposed American factories producing PPE in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 21, 2020.
— Daniel Mears (@MearsDaniel) May 21, 2020
More at https://t.co/H8GC6YtEWs pic.twitter.com/UeXsNZZ4L2
The difference between Trump, a self-described billionaire who once said he didn't “want a poor person” in charge of the economy, and say, a lead singer of, well, any band that isn't Three Doors Down, is that even a lead singer would have enough tact to not openly balk at the price of Ford's $750,000 carbon edition GT while at a Ford speaking engagement while also standing next to Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr., and Ford CEO Jim Hackett.
“Bill was showing me some of those cars — it's incredible,” Trump said. “I wanted to buy one, then I heard the price. I said forget it. I said I'll use one on occasion. But what a car that is, huh? What a car.”
Despite being spooked by the price of a car, Trump loves Ford. Specifically, the late Henry Ford, a notorious anti-Semite. Bizarrely, Trump praised Ford for his "bloodline."
“The company founded by a man named Henry Ford — good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, you get good blood,” Trump said. “They teamed up with the company founded by Thomas Edison — that’s General Electric. That’s good stuff. That’s good stuff. And you put it all together,” he rambled like the beginning of an online tuna casserole recipe.
“They’re all looking down right now. And they’d be very proud of what they see. You began the production of 50,000 lifesaving ventilators.”
Wait — does Trump think that Ford workers are all related to Henry Ford?
This off-script comment should not come as a huge surprise, considering Trump has not been shy about his own beliefs that he and his family are genetically superior. He's even said god has given him “a certain brain.” Not going to refute that. Regardless, he definitely believes Henry Ford, evil Nazi overlord Adolf Hitler's personal fave — and the only American who got a shoutout in Mein Kampf — is in heaven and that he and Thomas Edison are just high-fiving over ventilators.
Yes, Trump, the same man who has suggested that late Arizona Senator John McCain and Michigan congressman John Dingell, who was the longest-ever serving member of Congress, were rotting in hell.
Oh, to have the imagination of a petulant child.
Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.
