Donald Trump is returning to the Phoenix scene of his 2020 COVID-19 crime

It was dangerous and everyone knew it.

Unwilling to postpone a 2020 political revival meeting with Donald Trump, Senior Pastor Luke Barnett and Chief Operations Officer Brendon Zastrow at Dream City Church in Phoenix said they’d added a new air-purification system to the church what would kill 99.9% of the coronavirus.

That turned out to be BS, or as one expert put it, “There’s no filter or air cleaner in the world that could reduce risk in a crowded, indoor environment.”

Just a few days earlier, Trump had held a similar event in Tulsa, Okla., even though Tulsa Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said before that rally, “I recommend it be postponed until it’s safer, until the data tells that is not as great of a concern to have people indoors, in enclosed spaces with a threat of a COVID-19 transmission.”

The warning was ignored.

Tulsa event spread COVID-19

It wasn’t long before six of Trump’s campaign workers and two Secret Service officers from the Tulsa event tested positive for the virus.

Also attending that event was one-time presidential candidate and Trump supporter Herman Cain, who bought into the anti-mask, no precaution nonsense preached by Trump sycophants.

A little over a week after the Tulsa gather, Cain tested positive for COVID-19. It eventually would kill him.

Trump’s 2020 political crusade went forward in Phoenix.

Arizona’s then Department of Health Services director, Dr. Cara Christ, didn’t issue a request to postpone the event. Then-Gov. Doug Ducey was too squeamish to issue an order preventing it.

Dream City may have been a petri dish

On Jan. 26, the former president is returning to the scene of the 2020 COVID-19 crime. He’ll speak again at Dream City, which is less a religious institution and more a brick and mortar sanctuary for the Trump cult.

Everyone involved in the 2020 event knew there was a good chance it could lead to deaths.

How do we know they knew? Essentially, they told us.

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Those who were looking to attend the 2020 event at Dream City were required to fill out an online registration form. That form contained a paragraph that read:

“By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending this convention, you and any guest voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Turning Point Action, their affiliates, Dream City Church, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”

People suffer for Trump's vanity

It is impossible to know how many of those in attendance walked into the facility with the virus, or how many more walked out with it. It’s impossible to know who those infected individuals may then have infected.

But you don’t have to be an epidemiologist to know that squeezing thousands of individuals into an arena during a pandemic would transform the venue into a giant COVID-19 petri dish.

Nearly 30,000 Arizona residents have died of COVID-19. More than 2 million were sickened.

Trump knew the risk people would be taking to attend the 2020 event. But their adoration meant more to him than their health.

That hasn’t changed.

Prior to the Iowa caucuses, with voters facing deadly winter weather conditions, Trump said, “You can’t sit home. If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it.’ Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it, remember.”

Better yet, remember, it’s not worth it.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump returns to the Phoenix scene of a possible COVID-19 crime