Reports like this one, explicating the difficulties school districts across the United States face in seeking to start up safely in the fall, further emphasize the despicableness of the president’s pressure campaign for them to re-open. Schools are scrambling to prepare for the return of students, but they’re hamstrung by a lack of clear guidance on how to keep students safe, and perhaps more importantly, by a lack of funds to implement necessary measures to protect the health of students and teachers. Potential action by Congress is hazy; while Democrats have plans for amount ranging from $58 billion to $75 billion to help schools, “those efforts lack significant Republican support,” according to the The New York Times.

The challenges seem daunting; for instance, if the expert recommendation is that students should be spaced six feet apart, “many schools could accommodate half of their students or fewer at any given time.” Then there’s the question of how to protect the nation’s teachers, 25% of whom are 50 or older.

If Donald Trump and the Republicans were serious about re-opening America’s schools, they would start by acknowledging the need for far more resources and dependable guidance. Because they are not serious, but only desperate, they offer neither, beyond severe injunctions to open or make themselves vulnerable to federal retaliation. To Trump and his allies, schools and teachers are recalcitrant bodies to be bossed around and abused, not full participants in the discussion about how to best serve America’s children. To protect their fantasies of a revived economy and a nation on the upswing, they deny the material reality and dedication of America’s schools and educators. On top of their disregard for the health of the children and teachers being commanded to return to class no matter what, this latest brainstorm by the Trump White House is looking ever more like political suicide.