Times Out Of Mind

When I began writing this entry 44 states had begun to “open up the economy.” Then over 1.3 million Americans have been infected and 84,500 Americans have lost their lives to COVID 19. Statistically, less than 3% of the nation’s population has been tested. It is estimated that 160,000 people will die by the beginning of September.
The good news is that 2/3 of those infected seem to fully recover. The bad news is that the United States has 1/3 of the total number of those infected and has suffered the largest number of fatalities.
Two weeks later, every state has begun to open up. About 105,000 Americans have died and 1.81 million Americans have been infected. The United States still leads the world in the number of those infected and dying from the virus. And, less than 5% of the nation's population has been tested. 

Strangely, the Republicans and the president seem uncomfortable with the portrayal of these facts. Rather than working with the reality of the situation, they have decided to attack the innocent and re-write the immediate past. If this was not a time of a crisis, it might be comical. A new Republican playbook has emerged with three key components: confuse, use conspiracy theories, outright lie, and attack. With luck something will stick and the virus, economy and election will become Republican victories.

The Trump Republicans are acting as if the virus is gone. They are not wearing masks and they are not practicing social distancing. They believe that dropping protections will open up the economy and improve the stock market. The stock market may improve, but the economy is not going to rapidly increase. Some jobs are permanently lost and some businesses are not going to come back. Massive bankruptcies and layoffs are on the horizon. With certainty, just as the virus is making its way through the White House, COVID will return before the end of the year.

The President is finally authorizing the defense production act. Unfortunately, its use is incorrect. This act is designed to make corporations commit to serving the aims of the government. President Trump is using it to protect the corporations and force meatpacking employees to work against concerns for their welfare. In any other era this would be a violation of worker’s rights.

Trump’s Justice Department is also confusing the notions of American law. The release of Michael Flynn, who lied twice and was convicted is an affront to anyone ever convicted of a crime and sentenced to a prison term. At the same time, the Justice Department’s decision to support people who defy the administration’s stay-at-home orders, weakens the order of law.

Incarcerated people, especially incarcerated people of color, have sought freedom from their sentences because they might get COVID and die in prison. The developing policy was to consider early release for low level offenders who were near the end of their sentences. Yet, of the high profile inmates released from prison, it was not the aging Bill Cosby or Michael Cohen, but Paul Manafort, who is at the earlier stages of his sentence. (Michael Cohen was later released but Manafort came first)

As Georgia opens up the state, the COVID numbers were not decreasing in line with the government’s regulations. In fact they were increasing. However, the majority of the increasing number of newly infected persons are African Americans and perhaps that is why the governor did not hesitate in his actions.

In response to former President Obama’s comments over the administration’s policies in dealing with the crisis, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell recently stated that Obama should have kept his mouth shut. It did not matter that Obama was speaking in a conference call to his former staffers or that President Trump has criticized President Obama daily, all that concerned McConnell was that Obama spoke out. Perhaps McConnell did not realize that his comments could have been interpreted as a racist comment.

Similarly, President Trump has skirted misogynistic and racist boundaries in daily banter with female journalists. At his press conferences, President Trump has praised his efforts and stressed that America has done more testing than any other nation. When questioned why he was being boastful in light of the significant number of deaths, President Trump told Weijia Jiang, CBS News’ Asian American journalist, to ask China for the answer to her question. Upon hearing his retort, she asked why did he specifically use those words when talking to her? In his typical language, the president inferred she was a “nasty woman.”

Racism is even visible on a local level. For example, the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court distinguished the meatpacking workers from the “regular” people in striking down the state’s stay-at-home order. It is not surprising that meatpacking workers are nationally among the most infected occupations.

So, COVID, like HIV/AIDS, is being presented as a type of curse. A disease for certain types of people and everyone else is immune to it because they are not in one of those categories. If you are black or brown, you will likely get it and die. If you are a non-Christian like a Muslim or a Jew, or are poor, or in a mediocre nursing home, you will get it and die. If you work in a service profession and are a person of color, you will get it and die. However, if you are young and white, middle class, rich, healthy and a good Christian you might get it, but you will recover. So, there is no need to fear because your wealth, faith, race, and genes will save you. 

Indirectly a "documentary" emerged which gave support to some of these beliefs. “Plandemic”, a 26 minute film made and narrated by Mikki Willis features virologist Judy Mikovits.  Dr. Mikovits, a disgraced national health scientist, serves as the voice of reason in a world of chaos. This YouTube sensation provides all of the conspiracies that the Trump administration could hope for. It suggests that the key architects of the CDC, WHO and President's Pandemic Teams are involved in a conspiracy that will lead to a vaccine from which they will financially profit. It also stresses that wearing masks are harmful and that many of the vaccines are dangerous and a form of social control. For a president that has been associated with anti-vaccine groups, this works perfectly with not wearing a mask and for opening up the nation dispute grave warnings. It also suggests that many will not get the vaccine when and if it becomes available.  In less than two weeks more than 8 million people had seen the video on some form of social media. Many sites removed the film, but it became an underground classic. The success of Plandemic could be seen in the rise of the fire Dr. Anthony Fauci movement that the president retweeted. 

Since we learned about the Corona Virus, we became consumed with it. Even before it came to our shores, the news talked about nothing else. We closed down our nation in a state of panic and fear. Death and illness tied to massive unemployment crippled our nation for months. America was leaderless in its national and global response. This has been the nation's worse defeat. Instead of mounting a defense, for two weeks in May, the administration simply decided to change the narrative. It had shifted the focus of Americans away from a deadly plague that was killing Americans on scales comparable to multiple wars. COVID had stopped Americans from talking about gun violence, the endless wars in the Middle East, and trade wars. Americans were solely concerned with life and death. President Trump returned life back to the people by creating new enemies (the Obama administration, Joe Scarborough, the press, and the FBI) and accusing them of crimes, he race baited the Chinese government and blamed them for the virus, he attacked the WHO, the press, Democratic governors, and the Democratic Congress, and then he played the race card by retweeting the words of white supremacists. And in response, the angry armed white mobs demanded that states be liberated and opened up. White privilege ignored the mob violence but eagerly went to the beaches, pools, and eateries on Memorial Day. Smiling and happy faces were everywhere.

All seemed well, and once again America was restored!