To truly understand how damaging Trump’s incessant lies have been, and how deeply his fantasy world of horrors has seeped into the psyche of millions of his followers, listen to Amber Elliott, a county health director in St. Francois County, Missouri: “I get the same comments all the time over Facebook or email. ‘Oh, she’s blowing it out of proportion.’ ‘She’s a communist.’ ‘She’s a bitch.’ ‘She’s pushing her agenda.’ Okay, fine. I do have an agenda. I want disease transmission to go down. I want to keep this community safe. I want fewer people to die. Why is that controversial? … Our medical providers were at the meeting in their white coats, and three of them stood up to speak on behalf of masks. These are doctors and nurses who risk their lives to treat this virus. They are shouldering the burden of this, but the crowd wouldn’t even let them talk. They booed. They yelled. Some of them had come in with guns. They were so disrespectful. I was trying to take notes for our board, and my hands started shaking. Why aren’t you listening? Why do you refuse to hear from the people who actually know about this disease and how it spreads?” Amber Elliott gave notice and her last day on the job is tomorrow.

+ “Coronavirus in South Dakota is running at an intensity only surpassed in the US by its neighbor North Dakota. The state has an alarming positivity rate of almost 60% – nearly six out of 10 people who take a Covid test are infected – second only to another neighbor, Wyoming.” Kristi Noem rigidly follows Trump strategy of denial.

+ NYT: States That Imposed Few Restrictions Now Have the Worst Outbreaks. What? Why weren’t they warned?