Mission accomplished

President Trump, who claims that Joe Biden is failing mentally because he sometimes fumbles for words, said yesterday that COVID-19 will vanish without a vaccine due to a "herd mentality."

He probably meant "herd immunity." Based on the death rate for COVID-19, defeating the virus through the development of herd immunity- the suppression of the disease through a lack of available new victims- would come at a cost of a number of American deaths roughly the size of the population of Houston. And that, of course, assumes that one cannot be reinfected by the virus, a proposition which to say the least is in serious doubt.

Given the response of his supporters generally to pretty much anything he says, no matter how transparently ridiculous-- and particularly to his idiotic anti-mask posture- I think it's safe to say that Mr. Trump has already achieved a "herd mentality." Herd immunity, on the other hand, is a very different matter.

Counting on that would be a b-a-a-a-d mistake.