Our Finest Hour
It’s the spring of the corona-virus. We will remember this as a checkmark in history. Where were you on 9-11, and when did you find out about the Challenger disaster? And now what did you do during the Corona-Virus, and inevitably, who did you lose. The Queen is speaking to the United Kingdom tonight, probably paraphrasing Winston Churchill:
“… Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’”.
The United Kingdom, the United States, and much of the rest of the world, are facing the existential crisis that we always feared. We are challenged by an easily spread disease that will kill a large number of people. It has shut our economies down, and is overwhelming our healthcare systems. Some nations are dealing with it better than others, but every nation is faced with fear; fear of a hidden threat that cannot be seen, heard, or cured.
Politics as Usual
But here in the United States, the political agenda continues despite the disease. It might seem like a time to let other controversies go by, to unite against the common, as the President says, “invisible enemy”. Here in Ohio, we’ve found a way to do so, uniting around a Governor and a Health Director who are solely focused on “flattening the curve”. Governor DeWine he has largely set his political agenda aside. He is working to be Governor of all Ohioans, not just Republican Ohioans.
The same cannot be said about President Trump. This week, while we have struggled to watch the daily press briefing, wondering whether to wear facemasks like Dr. Fauci said, or ignore the need like the President; the Trump Administration has continued to pursue their unique political agenda.
Revenge Campaign
The next victim of the Impeachment “revenge” campaign fell on Friday. Michael Atkinson, the Intelligence Inspector General who notified Congress of the “Whistleblower’s Complaint” that triggered the impeachment inquiry was told that his “services” were no longer required. Atkinson followed the letter of the Whistleblower Law, but was still sacked. He joins several other members of the Intelligence Community, including the acting Director of National Intelligence, to be removed because the Trump Administration suspects them of “disloyal” actions toward the President.
It’s not just about the spectacle of “revenge”. It’s also the loss of the “best and brightest”, the non-partisan government workers who have the “knowledge” to guide our foreign actions. They’re being weeded out, and not surprisingly, some of them are the foremost experts on Ukraine and Russia. But the didn’t pass the Presidential “loyalty” test, so they’re gone.
More Pollution
The Administration also pushed ahead with their plans to allow increase, yes you read that correctly, increase polluting emissions for cars. They claim it will make cars cheaper so more Americans can buy new vehicles, stimulating the economy, but, it is a direct contradiction of past Presidents’ policies.
“The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule will increase carbon dioxide emissions standards for the nation’s automakers by 1.5% a year through model year 2026”. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, wife to Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, stated: “By making newer, safer, and cleaner vehicles more accessible for American families, more lives will be saved and more jobs will be created” (NPR).
Closing The Border
Meanwhile the President’s Acting Homeland Security Secretary has stopped processing immigrants at the Southern border. Illegal immigrants can no longer claim “asylum” and gain their legal rights, they are simply shipped back to wherever they came from. While this violates a previous Federal Court order, Secretary Wolf claims this is in response to directives from the Centers for Disease Control.
This is occurring, even though there is no evidence that corona-virus infection is occurring among illegal immigrants. In fact, Mexico, where the immigrants are coming from to cross the border, has only 1890 confirmed cases of corona-virus, versus the United States with 311637 (as of 4/5/20).
Restricting the Vote
And in our “new world” of corona-virus, the President and many other Republicans continue to demand that elections go on like “normal”. In fact, the President himself spoke out against voting by mail, stating that people need to “line up” and vote in person, with photo ID’s.
The Democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, asked the Wisconsin state legislature to allow voters extended time to get and return absentee ballots, but the Republican controlled body refused to do so. Currently Wisconsin intends to continue to vote on April 7th, with open polling stations in violation of the Governor’s own current “shelter in place” order. Many stations have lost their poll workers, unwilling to risk the exposure, so what will actually happen is still unknown.
But in general, the President and the Republican Party (with some notable exceptions) have firmly stood against expanded mail voting, claiming election security concerns. This is despite the fact that it was the Republican Party in North Carolina who committed the biggest absentee fraud of the past several years. But since mail voting tends to increase voter turnout, and the Republican Party takes the stand the increased voting is “bad” for their Party, they continue to impede voter rights, even in this corona-virus environment.
The biggest threat to the Trump Presidency is voter turnout in November. Whatever restricts the ability of people to cast their vote, whether it is the corona-virus restrictions, or onerous voter identification laws, the campaign sees them as helping Mr. Trump win in 2020.
So while we are all focused on the world pandemic, the Trump agenda is still moving forward. Don’t miss it.
