I’ve admitted this before but when COVID first hit our shores, I was one of the “It Won’t Become a Big Deal” crowd. I adhered to mandates and followed mask and hand sanitizing recommendations, but I didn’t worry about it affecting me. The first time I got scared and understood COVID’s impact was when I started reading Amanda Kloots’ posts about her husband, Nick Cordero’s 95-day battle with the virus. Amanda and Nick were both respected in the Broadway community and had just become new parents to baby Elvis when Nick was hospitalized. Amanda used her social media to post graphic descriptions of the health issues Nick faced. Unfortunately, Nick died from COVID in early July. Broadway and Hollywood both mourned. Nick’s best friend Zach Braff was devastated.
Amanda is still fighting to protect people from the virus that took her baby’s father. So imagine how she felt when the President of the US, a country still in a full-blown pandemic with grievous mortality numbers, told everyone that he’d had COVID and that nobody should be that worried about it. Amanda posted a screen shot of POTUS’s stupid tweet about leaving the hospital, but captioned it with a sobering and powerful response:
To all the over 208,000 Americans who lost loved ones to this virus – I stand by you, with you, holding your hand. Unfortunately it did dominate our lives didn’t it? It dominated Nick’s family’s lives and my family’s lives. I guess we “let it” – like it was our choice?? Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital. I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love. It IS something to be afraid of. After you see the person you love the most die from this disease you would never say what this tweet says. There is no empathy to all the lives lost. He is bragging instead. It is sad. It is hurtful. It is disgraceful.
[From Amanda Kloots Instagram via Just Jared]
Chris Cuomo, who was equally horrified by the irresponsibly of the president’s words and actions, asked Amanda to come on his show. She described how harrowing it was for her and those who have lost people to the virus to hear the president dismiss it:
"It stopped me in my tracks… I saw the tweet first. And then I turned on the news and saw him speak live, and it broke my heart."
Nick Cordero's widow Amanda Kloots on President Trump downplaying Covid-19.
"It was like a gut punch bringing back… everything we went through." pic.twitter.com/LEjN4cIk7v
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) October 7, 2020
I watched Amanda’s segment with Cuomo a few times. It’s gutting to listen to the pain in her voice as she relives losing her husband and hearing such a callous, selfish response from the one person who is supposed to be saving us. The tweet above highlights her main quotes but she and Cuomo addressed a few other important things, like the fact that Nick had great health care coverage. Maybe not Walter Reed presidential suite quality, but very good. Nick was 41, in excellent health prior to contracting COVID with superior lung capacity due to his training, and it only took three months for it to claim him.
One thing that really hit me was when Amanda discussed Trump’s bloviating about feeling better than in 20 years, because had Nick survived, with all the damage the virus had done – leg amputation, holes in his lungs, lesions both inside and out his body – he would have been an invalid for the rest of his life. The virus can be debilitating.
And no one – not a single person – is “choosing” to let COVID get the better of them. As Amanda said, “it’s sad to me, (Trump) had a chance, yesterday, to really – after being diagnosed with COVID, and being in the hospital, he had a chance to be a human. And not political, not Republican/Democrat – a human being, that has been a part of this pandemic and he chose to go the other way and it was very upsetting and very horrible – and sad.” Amanda’s right, nobody has a choice in whether they will be dominated by COVID. But we all have the choice whether to be a human being in tough situations. The only thing we can ever count on from our sitting president is that he will choose “to go the other way” Every. Single. Time. It is sad and it is horrible, and I don’t think any of us can survive another four years of that monster, nor should we have to.
Photo credit: Instagram
You have my deepest sympathy, I cannot imagine your pain. So sorry your son will never know his father and 45 have the gall to say don’t be afraid of Covid, I’m so angry 😡 I’m spitting fire this morning.
Trump is a monster, but those in his circle and the Republicans who don’t stop him are worst than him.
My thoughts exactly. Trump is a pathetic human being – I don’t think he can even help himself. But what is the excuse for all of those spineless Republicans who remain silent regarding Trump’s disgusting behavior? Anything to get re-elected I guess. Please please vote them out.
“But we all have the choice whether to be a human being in tough situations.”
He’s pathologically UNABLE to make a human choice, because he doesn’t FEEL it. He feels only at the level of a reptilian brain stem sort of response to stimuli (to danger, hunger, safety etc), not from a higher place of compassion or empathy. So really, he HAS no choice. I firmly believe that he’s a lower order of being. I think there’s either real brain damage in him, or certain parts of the brain never actually developed.
He also doesn’t have a sense of humor or joy, because those need higher functioning too.
If he wasn’t in the position of causing so much damage, he’d be deeply pitiable.
Trump has proven himself to be pure evil. Ever notice how some old people are just mean and nasty and seem to live forever? That’s Trump…the evil keeps him alive. And all the brainwashed evangelical cultists who support and follow him are following after a false idol…a sheep in wolf’s clothing.
Terrible. My best friend’s father passed away from Covid last month after a 5 week battle in the hospital. He was not weak. Trump could have gained some humility but he came out of there even worse if possible.
Can a man (and I use that term loosely in regards to Trump) be a C U Next Tuesday, because that’s what he is. I mean his daughter has been (rightfully) called one, so I say she inherited that trait from him. He’s horrible, subhuman with no capacity for actual compassion, empathy or humility. F*ck him and all his supporters & enablers, may they all rot in hell where they belong.
Yes, absoluteLy, smcollins. He’s most definitely a twunt.
And I’m just going to say it: the more bluster you’re prez throws out, the more I suspect he didn’t have Covid-19 at all. What he does have is a deadly thirst for adulation, self-promoption and bigging himself up, exacerbated by sycophancy and obsequiousness.
When the news first broke that he had it my initial thought was “nope, don’t buy it, the timing is too suspicious”, but then all the others started testing positive and that footage of him on the balcony after returning to the WH from the hospital where it looked like he was having trouble catching his breath I thought “okay…maybe he really does have it but he’s just trying to downplay it.” But now with his “doctor” (who’s not an actual MD) saying he is symptom free and already producing antibodies just one week later? Yeah… I’m back to calling bullshit on his diagnosis. But, honestly, who really knows. He & his staff are all liars and there is zero transparency when it comes to him and his administration. I feel like a “miracle cure” is about to be touted or some shit like that. I’m just so over it and want him out so bad, but I also foresee the absolute shitshow that the upcoming election is going to be so I’m afraid our national nightmare is not going to end any time soon.
My heart goes out to her and their little boy. Trump is Trump and is incapable of change. More distressing are the people out there parroting all the sh^t he says. Not just about Covid but about climate change and racial injustices and healthcare and wealth inequality. They’re the ones we are going to have to continue to clean up after long after Trump is gone.
He tested positive a week ago. And I’ve yet to see him tweet anything kind or mention anyone other than himself. Not his wife, not his coworkers, not 210,000 Americans. Zilch.
He is incapable of compassion. And all the cult members saying ‘he just wants us to not be afraid!’ are missing the point. You are the leader-act like you got us instead of bragging about how you’re the best.
This poor lady. The fact that a beautiful soul like Nick is gone and Trump still lives is just unexplainable to me. Like, why? It’s so unfair.
A guy who survived COVID because he got an experimental treatment that apparently 208,000 other Americans didn’t deserve or have any access to, all on the taxpayer dime to which he barely contributed a cent. I hate him, and I hate this whole administration, and I hope I get the satisfaction of watching this bastard live out the rest of his life getting wrecked by lawsuits after he’s knocked out of office.
I watched her on Cuomo too. I just felt terrible for her, it has to be awful what she’s going through as a mom of a baby and a grieving widow, then you see our heartless “leader” (using that term in the loosest way possible, of course) being so flippant about the disease that took away your spouse in the prime of his life. It’s just disgusting.
We don’t need him! He absconded all responsibility for tackling this virus, leaving a patchwork response that was only as good as your governor’s compassion! Entrepreneurs, medical staff, even sports teams ALL innovated on their own! We don’t need this egomaniac claiming any credit for anything!
Furthermore, I can’t listen to people attack the left when this egomaniac is the biggest socialist out there. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to soy farmers to buy their crops bc China wouldn’t!
Plus, this pathetic, shifty egomaniac is going after our first amendment rights to free speech. From attacking peaceful protesters for a photo op, to a possible ban of TikTok – he’s the shady authoritarian figure with his false Big Church bible and gilded personal Covid treatment– he is the mad king who lets his people suffer and die!
I feel so terrible for her. You know the Trump base will come for her over this (she is smart enough to not allow comments on the Trump-related posts on IG). Nick is one of those cases that they prefer to ignore – young, great health, no pre-existing conditions, etc. And he still died from it. They want to believe that if you are young and healthy, COVID is basically the flu.
I can’t imagine the grief of losing your spouse and then having to see his cause of death diminished, questioned and laughed at by some very public people. It must be maddening. Good on her for not staying silent.
Amanda Kloots has been so incredibly brave in sharing Nick’s journey and ultimately his death due to COVID. She seems like such a smart, compassionate woman, and I’m glad she’s talking about Trump’s complete lack of empathy and how disrespectful it is to all the Americans who were lost. In seven months he hasn’t shown an ounce of sympathy for all those who have died or are chronically ill now because of this virus.
I’m so pleased her response to this horror is getting more press, it’s absolutely heartbreaking and people need to hear it.
He might still get sicker… it’s a crap shoot…. What a d*ck.
After reading Amanda’s story then scrolling down through the photos to the one of her & Nick and their baby…that photo just slayed me. Her story is one of thousands, and what trump said is absolutely boneheaded & monstrous.
I’ve been following Amanda on Instagram since probably late April-early May, watching her tell stories about Nick, sing for him every day at 3 o’clock, holding their baby Elvis and WILLING Nick to wake up and get better…I cried when I found out he had passed away. She did literally everything she could, from researching treatment options to prayer…and none of it worked. Her little baby will have no memories of his father. And it makes me sick that she has been hurt AGAIN by the bundle of putrefaction living in the White House. I am so glad she spoke out against him, and I know she is being harassed for doing so. But she is strong, and she will stand up for her husband from now until forever. She is a hero.
Also, her sister Anna has a fabulous Instagram page, too–and she is also standing by her sister. The two of them are writing a book about what they all went through. They seem to be a lovely family that has gone through too much suffering.
The arrogant prick is evil, and the people that allow him to continue acting this way are also evil.
My heart goes out to Amanda and their precious baby, and to all of the families who have lost loved ones or are presently dealing with this horrible virus and the aftermath.