COVID19, the Corona Virus, has seeped into our consciousness now in a big way. The virus has the potential of generating a pandemic in this country. Trump fired the head of the Department of Pandemic Control in the CDC two years ago and has not replaced him. Should he do so, it will be some doctor who has been dispensing opioids by the basketful.
So we are on our own. But the silver lining may be that people will move to panic mode and if the Democrats have any balls, they will push forward the criminal behavior of stripping us of our first line of defense against the virus.
Addendum: how can Trump supporters respond to this threat when they don’t “believe” in science?
Rahm Emmanuel was on The View yesterday and Morning Joe this morning talking about the enhanced role of mayors. I see this as poetic justice: by cutting down services from the federal government they are forcing mayors to step up thus growing the influence of cities whose heart is made up of liberals. The GOP support is in rural areas, not cities, and as cities’ power expands, the GOP’s will shrink.
Feb. 28 update: three groups, institutions of our U.S. society, will cease going along with the GOP and Trump: the military, CEOs of corporations, and medical personnel. They will hit a firewall and bull through the GOP b.s. to take measures they see as existentially essential. The military has already been ignoring the GOP and preparing for climate change. Rising sea levels and more severe storms have a way of disturbing military preparedness and operations. CEOs are responsible to their stock holders and will be tossed out in a moment if it looks like they are unprepared to deal with the fallout of this virus. And the medical field, their adherence to the Hippocratic Oath aside, knows better than anyone that this is more serious than anything Trump can do to them. Losing your job or dying – which one do you prefer? The reason I don’t include Wall Street here is that the market runs on volatile psychology; its reaction is indicative of something but it’s not rational thought.
All we need is for one of those Child & Family workers (???) from Homeland Security who dealt unprotected with infected persons to go by to see grandma on their way home and grandma’s entire assisted living facility goes down, patients, staff, visitors. On top of that, once we get a death or two, and the woman in California is fighting for her life now, then sniffles and coughs will be interpreted (esp by Trump supporters) as symptoms of death.
The topper will be when they start canceling Friday night football games in every town across America. Time for torches and pitchforks.
Addendum: I need to stop watching T.V., as Mulvaney suggests. I am sick to death of people treating Trump as if he is normal. Lots of people are not normal: developmentally disabled people, paraplegics, blind people. We don’t tell a blind person, “Look over there!” We don’t ask severe personality disorders to “learn from Xi Jin Ping’s mistakes.” Severe personality disorders don’t learn. When some of us say Trump thinks only of Trump, I at least mean precisely that: Ivanka means nothing to him, his dog means nothing to him, the American people mean nothing to him. He is a void precisely because he means nothing to himself. Why can’t people understand that? Is it my mental health background? Think of a three year old: self-centered. Even three year olds are aware of other people; notice Trump when Dr. Falci was speaking. He looked like an eighth grader forced to attend a lecture on clean hands. The reason? Because he, Trump, was not at the microphone. When aides tell us that the only way to get Trump to read anything is to make sure his name is prominent in the text. Does that tell you ANYTHING?
May 20, 2020 I thought I’d add this gem to this particular thread in this particular category: Trump said that whoever did the one study that showed hydroxychloroquine can be harmful “was not a friend of this administration.” This shows what not only Trump but most of his followers believe about science: experiments are performed with a foregone conclusion in mind; this time with an anti-Trump message because Trump has championed this drug so any negative message about it has to have been calculated to attack Trump. This is truly how Trump sees the world: he is the sun and we all revolve around him. The whole thing makes me dizzy.