Coronavirus has done far more than kill a lot of people. It has exposed a lot about us as people and as a society.
There’s the good, of course. Americans are great in a crisis. Always have been. We’ve seen oceans of kindness and sweat poured into preventing and beating back COVID-19. It’s both incredibly heartening and utterly predictable, thank god.
So, if you’re looking for a reason to smile, let it be that.
But there have been disheartening signs, as well, that we, as a society, have some seriously misplaced priorities. For instance, the “open up the economy” protests that – magically – have sprung up, mostly in states that Trump needs in November. (I’m sure it’s a coincidence.)
It’s been both amusing and sad watching these adults – some of them wearing MAGA hats, brandishing guns and waving Confederate flags – screaming their tonsils out at empty state capital buildings, demanding an end to stay-at-home-restrictions. They seem to see no irony in the fact they’re chanting mostly to reporters and TV cameras – an industry they describe as fake.
It’s their right to protest, but let’s not pretend these events represent some organic grassroots movement. They are Trump rallies, pure and simple. The Michigan protest, for instance, was planned by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, both founded by Greg McNeilly, a political adviser to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Your local conservative Sinclair station (there are 294 across the country now) probably forgot to include that detail. Do you care? You should.
You should also care that we, as a nation, are doing the same thing with front line medical professionals – doctors, nurses, support staff and so forth – that we do with military personnel, teachers and police. We smother them with platitudes, musical tributes and weepy TV ads of appreciation, but we’ll forget them once the crisis is over. Better pay? Well, maybe next year? Proper support (like, say, gowns, masks and ventilators)? Sure, right after we buy another bomb for the Air Force.
A friend of mine whose husband is an ER nurse wrote the following: “My husband (an ER nurse) and his coworkers in the ER and ICU are not martyrs. They are just trying to do their job. Thankfully, his employer seems to care about them enough to support them by hiring additional staff and taking unconventional approaches such as decontaminating masks amid a shameful national shortage. While the hospital system that employs him is handling the situation admirably, many of our friends across the state are not receiving the same treatment. A system he trained at, and one I used to work for, one that makes billions of dollars each year in profits, is effectively sacrificing its employees and suspending those who speak out. They are criminally understaffed, under-equipped, under-protected. Many patient care staffers have seen or will see their coworkers get sick and die, in addition to the patients who could not be appropriately monitored because their nursing staff had criminally high patient loads. So much of that suffering is unnecessary and is a cumulative product of putting profits ahead of people. Sure, if you care (which you should) keep ringing a bell at shift change or sending pizzas to hospital staff — if anything supporting the local businesses that make them is a worthy cause. But moving forward, get pissed off and vote for protection of workers’ rights.”
I like to think we’ll do just that. I’d also like to see us mature into a society that:
- Values truth and relentless questions what is presented to them by media, government and business.
- Prepares for bad times when times are good.
- Decides that healthcare is a right, not a for-profit business.
- Puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to paying and supporting medical staff, police, fire, teachers and so forth.
- And pays the 1 percent less and the 99 percent more. As Bernie Sanders just tweeted: “We need to ask ourselves how it happened that we have an economy where half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck and 40% cannot afford a $400 emergency.”
Will it happen? I’m hopeful, but then I believe that, by and large, we live the lives we make.
Let’s make some good choices, people.
Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash
Andy,
Once again you have penned an excellent article.
These protesters are self centered, misguided, and easily influenced by Fox News and their “der leader” djt.
Another spot on commentary, but whenever heroes of this pandemic are mentioned the sanitation workers are forgotten. Where would we be if they stopped picking up garbage for two months, in 50 degree weather?
And grocery clerks. And gas station attendants. And a million others. My point is we grossly underpay all of these people, then figure an attaboy in a crisis is enough.
The protesters reference of Whitmer to Hitler pretty much tells you the mentality of these people. They love a liar a womanizer a thief and a crook that doesn’t pay taxes. Trump loved every bit of it. He’s divided this country farther with his reaction to this emergency. Our Governor at least responded with class. Can’t say that for the republicans and even some Democrats.
So.. Back before the Coronavirus, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Valadimir Putin walked into a crowded saloon. Johnson ordered a pint of English lager; Putin ordered a White Russian, and Trump ordered a round of poison Kool-Aid for all the other customers.
I am ashamed. Ashamed of our president, ashamed of those on the beach in Florida, ashamed of the protesters in Lansing. They are all selfish. Thinking only of their wants. Until our leader stops thinking only of his popularity and starts thinking of how he can best save American lives, we will not move forward.
AMEN…to an article that is “spot-on”!
PLEASE……A blue tsunami Nov. 3, 2020!!!!
There is no place I’d rather be right now than playing golf or wandering through my favorite greenhouses soaking in the beauty of the flowers. I miss my Sweet Adeline sisters, playing euchre with my friends, attending Mass, and singing in the choir. But I support Gov. Whitmer and understand that sheltering in place is in the best interest of Michigan right now. So I will polish my clubs, plan my landscaping, drive my husband nuts singing my harmonies, continue to sew cloth masks for those who need them, shop only for necessities, and rewatch the glory days of the Pistons, Red Wings, and Tigers. Shame on the president for ignoring the warnings and now setting up the governors to be scapegoats for his failures as a human and leader. Shame on the governors who are caving to pressure to reopen their states despite warnings from medical experts. Shame on Congress for not including the USPS in their bailouts. And shame on those who blindly continue to support Trump regardless of the consequences of their actions.
Totally agree.
Thanks, RAV
Amen!
Two thirty-something women are sitting in a bar, enjoying a glass of wine. Woman #1 says, “my liberal boyfriend said his Prius had an oil leak”. Woman #2 asks, “what did you do”? Woman #1 replies, “I offered him a tampon”.
The protesters calling the Gov Hitler is especially ironic since Trump has described literal goddamn Nazis wearing literal swastikas and chanting “Jews will not replace us” as “fine people.” He’s lied about his father being born in Germany repeatedly, even though it’s well documented he was born in the US… (seriously…WTH?) Of dictators, he’s called Russia’s Putin, who fixes his own constitution to make him leader for the next… who knows how long at this point, kills dissidents with nerve agents, and invades our democratic allies a “great leader”, and Saudi dictator Mohammed Bin Salman, who had an American newspaper columnist killed and dismembered a great friend, and Kim Jong Un who is at this moment strengthening an already successful intercontinental nuclear capacity to be used against us his lover. Seriously, he exchanges “love letters” with a dictator that literally feeds family members to literal dogs…
These are all people highly reflective of Hitler’s chosen proclivities. If Trump “loves” and admires them, I don’t think its completely beyond logic to speculate how he might feel about Hitler if they were contemporaries.
Trump has an oft employed tactic of accusing opponents of what he is being accused of to muddy the water, ie. “No puppet, no puppet, you’re the puppet!” (lol, yeah, clear stable genius on display in that vernacular…) Perhaps the protesters are reflecting that.
I couldn’t agree more and, that is a very accurate analysis etc. on Trump.
That being the case, one must wonder why he is not arrested for TREASON?
The man is an absolute “nut-case” and, a very dangerous one at that.
God bless you Andy and all our like minded friends.The world needs more of people like you!
January:
15th 1st patient detected.
Impeachment pens handed out by Pelosi.
17th: screenings started, comments by various groups saying that
the virus is not a concern or a worry.
31st: first travel ban enacted. At best, it was a partial travel ban
from those coming into America from China.
pelosi proposed a no ban act to prevent President Trump from enacting
any travel bans.
NYT headline: Beware pandemic panic. and other newspapers downplayed
the chances of a pandemic.
VOX: Is this virus going to a deadly problem? NO.
Washington Post: Get a grip America, the flu is a much bigger threat than the
cononavirius .
In February Pelosi was filmed around Chinatown in San Francisco making comments
that there is no problem with a virus and that those who were making bad comments
about Chinatown were wrong. Were those who were making the wrong kind of
remarks about the Chinese in America wrong for doing so? Yes.
March:
12: President Trump banned travel from Europe. There were numerous comments
made by the left that it was wrong to do so.
When it started to realized that the covid19 was going to be a possible nasty pandemic
did the lamestream media really began to blame President Trump for a lot of things
he had no control over. In fact, no president could do a whole lot to stop the
pandemic.
The ppe and ventilators were depleted during the H1N1 outbreak under obama,
He had the obligation to restock the supply. He did nothing.
The current outbreak happens and the lamestream media starts blame President
Trump for the shortages.
Typical “you gotta be kidding me” logic! Bottom line: Trump was warned the middle of January and just like now, basically isn’t doing anything but cause division amongst Americans. It is hardly possible to listen to his drivel on TV. The man hardly even makes any sense.
Obamas fault huh? Again…you gotta be kidding me.
The only “lamestream”, is your brain.
Trump dissolved the Pandemic Response Team on the National Security council in 2019. By the end of 2019 he was 3/4 of the way through his first term, just when was HE going to be replenishing those supplies you say need resupplying? Three years is a bit of a late start for something so clearly needed…
The intelligence agencies were briefing both Congress and the White House as to what was coming at least as late as December and January. This is highly evident by the Republican senators caught cashing out their stocks after their briefings, while making public statements that things were fine. One has to assume that they didn’t have access to intelligence that wasn’t presented to the President.
Heck, you don’t have to assume anything, there were actual memos written to the President in January by his own economic advisor, Pete Navarro saying “There is an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.”
As to the President’s ban, it didn’t apply to the hundreds of American’s traveling from China into and then throughout the US , only the foreigners. No examination of the US citizens, no quarantine, not so much as “Hey, do ya got a cough?” That appears to be far more effective as a tactic of xenophobia than it does at stopping a disease that isn’t stopped by citizenship.
GTFO of here with your transparent blame shifting. If the President hadn’t depleted the Federal government itself over the last three years, hadn’t burned through all fiscal emergency tactics when things were good, in an desperate effort to keep his GDP even, just even with what Obama’s was without the tactics, we would have measures we could take now to lessen the blow the economy is now taking. But now with no tax cuts left to give, no interest rates to cut, etc etc, we’re left giving bailouts. But remember, socialism is bad…m’kay?
If when he was saying that the cases were going to be zero in a few days, (See above for how clearly ludicrous even he knew that was), if then he had done what we all are doing now instead of his usual magical bullshit fantasy thinking, we might have had a chance to avoid the pain coming our way.
But we don’t .
And you think Pelosi is the thing to focus on.
Pathetic.
Is this the place to write that I am weary of seeing the green and pink cartoon of the actual Corona virus? Ugly with its nasty broccoli arms. They show it on TV all the time. Too much! Don’t ever want to see it again!
Where the heck is Adolph Giuliani?? We have not heard a peep out of him in weeks, at least. Trump’s close pal and Lead Counsel? Quid agis, Rudy?
Liberate Michigan!
Liberate Wisconsin!
Liberate Geor… wait, are you freaking nuts?!?! Don’t actually do it you moron!
Congratulations Open the Economy protesters, Trump just revealed you for the frauds you are.
I have read, in the liberal lamestream fake news media, that, in New York City, every evening at 7 pm, people come out on their porches, balconies and fire escapes. And, they applaud and cheer for health care workers.
Nobody seems to be doing this in Grand Rapids. Tonight at 7 pm, I went out on my porch with a cowbell and a beater. I played a nice fast bembe, and I yelled a little. Nobody else was doing it. And… I live pretty close to Butterworth Hospital.
So, let’s get going, Grand Rapids! Please start beating, clapping, and yelling for the health carers, when they change their shift at 7 pm! I will try again, over the weekend. Please join me.
When you call the “Free Press” lamestream….I assume you mean the absolute BS propaganda spewed daily by people like Snot-nose Hannity or, Rush Windbag?
Or better yet, don’t forget to take your dose of Lysol!?!?!?
I have thought about this for months. I agree with Mr. Biden that Mr. Trump may try to delay our Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump might do this to extend his own time in office. He might use the epidemic as an excuse. President For Life! Oh, my goodness!
Let us keep an eye on Trump. Let us vote him out on Nov. 3, no matter what.
Dear R.A.V. – My comment was totally a joke. I myself believe the “liberal lamesteam fake news press.” I read it, listen to it, and believe it, and take my news from it. I was trying to make fun of Trump and his minions when I wrote that.
Dear Matthew, thanks for the follow-up! Much appreciated. I get very testy when I think someone is negative toward the very foundation of Democracy—Free Press.
The concern about him delaying the election is baseless. Congress could amend the 1854 law that specifies that the Presidential election occurs on the “Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November”, however that would obviously require the vote of both chambers, which doesn’t really seem plausible.
Further, and more significantly, the Constitution, from which the President’s very existence is defined and brought into being, clearly and absolutely specifies that the President”s term ends on the 20th of January at noon. Full stop. Same with the Vice-President, again a legal creature only brought into existence by the Constitution.
After that, if there has not been an election to designate a President, the rules of succession go into effect. After the President, and the Vice President, the Speaker of the House is next in line. That the Republicans would even consider allowing this to play out is to me, again, implausible.
So in short, he lacks the power to stop the legislatively dictated day of the the election. Congress has the power to change it, but realistically won’t. Over all of that, the Constitution that neither the President nor the Congress can change, says that his term ends on January 20th, and Pelosi would be President if we have not had an election by then.
I trust all will “hold true” however, the GOP is enabling Trump as much as can be imagined. The Ukraine business should have taken him out of power but……..!
This guy is mentally un-stable, I think we should be prepared for pretty much anything being tried to keep this lunatic in the Wh. House.
The term for current senators who are up for reelection this November goes to the end of the 116th Congress on January 3, 2021. On this date, they are no longer a senator, unless they have been reelected before this date and their election was certified. This includes Moscow Mitch, who is up for reelection. So Mitch will no longer be Senate Majority Leader unless there is an election before this date (and also allowing time for election certification).