Way back in 2016, a young man gained notoriety for his photo exhibition entitled "Twinks for Trump," which featured countless provocative photos of young gay men in support of President Trump.
This young man's name is Lucien Wintrich, and now he's in the news for another reason: holding parties in New York to try and give people the deadly virus which has been sweeping across the world.
The World Health Organization has advised against the exact kind of gathering Wintrich organized. He later revealed he held the potluck specifically to infect people with the virus.
Likening his event to the "chickenpox parties" of the 1990's, Wintrich claims he was trying to get America closer to the herd immunity that can only come about in a society after massive amounts of people have been infected.
He said:
"The majority of folks I invited, if they got it, would recover fairly quickly and build up an immunity to the present form of COVID-19."
Wintrich seems to miss the point that turning healthy young people into carriers of the virus could result in the death of more vulnerable individuals.
His comparisson to the chickenpox parties of the 90's also ignores the fact that there is a chickenpox vaccine and most children with the disease are no danger to others.
Invitations to the party, which featured the picture of a young boy with chicken pox, asked guests not to wash their hands before attending, saying:
"They can't diagnose us all."
About twenty people reportedly attended the party, with one telling Pink News:
"I thought I shouldn't, because of the social distancing — but my friends were already outside and I just kinda went."
Another said:
"When Britain was being bombed by Nazi Germany during the blitz, they kept the f*****g stores open. People went about their lives. We get a flu… and we shut everything down. … We have completely handed over our civil liberties … and anyone who wants to go out and live a normal life is semi-ostracized."
It goes without saying that these points are almost completely nonsensical.
Stores may not have closed during WWII, but if closing stores prevented bombings they almost certainly would have been.
The current pandemic is both more contagious and more deadly than the flu, with no tested treatments or vaccine.
In times of national crisis, civil liberties are often restricted—and with President Trump predicting around 200,000 virus-related deaths earlier today, this certainly qualifies as a crisis.
This dangerous behavior from Wintrich is unsurprising considering the company he keeps. In 2018, he was stripped of his White House press credentials due to his connections to White nationalists.
Maybe it's time for Wintrich to disappear from the national conversation.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter