Desperation
How desperate is the President to win re-election in November? He’s desperate enough to ignore all medical advice about COVID-19. Desperate enough to risk the health of millions of Americans in a losing bid to keep the economy running and schools open, all for the purpose of getting re-elected. Trump is attacking the very institution that serves as America’s bulwark of health, the Centers for Disease Control, wresting control of the “facts” away from those who know them best.
The President is willing to burn all his bridges in his quest to win re-election. And sadly, he is desperate enough to attack the one man who has stood up for the reality of pandemic. Anthony Fauci is not perfect. But he has done what any good scientist would do: adapted to the changing virus that has attacked America. So of course, what he said in February may be different that what he says in July. He is learning about the “novel” corona-virus. That’s why it’s called “novel;” because it’s new. And Dr. Fauci is the best we have, giving his level best advice to the nation.
Of Horses and Carts
But that advice ran dead on into the Trump 2020 re-election strategy. Even before the pandemic, the sole path to re-election was Trump’s so-called success with the economy. (By the way, if you’re not in the “monied” class, it wasn’t that much of a success). But the pandemic crashed Trump’s great edifice on Wall Street, and even now, it’s the huge outpourings from the Federal Reserve that support gains in stock indexes. Today, the Federal borrowing rate is one quarter of one percent. They are literally giving money away to prop up the economy.
Sure it would be nice if the economy didn’t have to tank. It would be great if the unemployment rate was lower than the 11% reported in June. The real rate is probably much higher than that, with the increase in COVID-19 impact nationwide the last half of the month. There is an old phrase: “don’t put the cart before the horse”. In our modern age it might be hard to visualize, but horses pull carts, they don’t push them.
The economy is the cart in our world today, and and horse has COVID. Our “horse” is sick; until we deal with that, the cart “ain’t going nowhere”. We better get our response to COVID right first, before we try to “open” our economy. Otherwise, the act of opening empowers the virus to spread even more. Ask the hospitals in Arizona, Florida, California, and Alabama. The ICU’s are overflowing, the PPE is scarce, and the staff is exhausted. It’s New York, or Italy, only worse. The refrigerated trailers are being brought in.
Bad Choices
Europe, even Italy, ultimately got the word. They dealt with the virus, suffered the economic and social consequences of an extended “lock-down”, and now seem to have COVID under control. Their economies and schools are re-opening, and they are living an altered but less risky life. But here in the United States, where the Trump Administration tried to “force” economic reopening, we are now paying the price, in health, lives, and livelihoods.
We hear small businesses scream that they cannot survive. But the problem is, they will not survive unless the United States, acting as a nation, gets a handle on the disease. When Mr. Trump abrogated his responsibility for acting against the virus, he pushed the responsibility onto the Governors. Many Governors, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia and others; emulated the President and further pushed responsibility to the counties and cities.
But when Governors and County Executives and Mayors did try to take action to limit infection, they were immediately met with resistance from “above”. Trump says states should control the schools, and then tells them he’ll cut funds if they don’t open. Governor Kemp in Georgia tells the Mayors to control their cities, and then tells Savannah and Atlanta they cannot mandate masks. Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine pleads with Ohioans to “follow the rules” and control the virus, but doesn’t feel empowered to issue orders.
Doing the Work
And Dr. Fauci has been removed from the public eye. He no longer stands on the podium addressing the nation, nor is he “allowed” on CNN or CBS. But he is still working, still warning America about the results of governmental ignorance. Dr. Fauci is challenging the President’s plan. And for that – he must be destroyed.
It was bad enough that Internet conspiracy nonsense tried to call Fauci a “shill of Big Pharma”. Now the President is waging an all out negative campaign against America’s senior scientist, with attacks from the White House led by economic advisor Peter Navarro and Press Secretary and former campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany.
Anthony Fauci is a bigger target for Trump 2020 then Joe Biden right now, and for good reason. Joe Biden is a political opponent, but Fauci brings facts to the fight. Those facts show that the President’s plan of blissful ignorance will only bring more pain and disruption. The economy can’t recover until we are healthy. And that’s the one thing that Trump 2020 cannot tolerate. The truth not only hurts, but it proves the President incompetent.
Dr. Fauci needs to stick to his guns and keep doing the work. As he himself said “…I’m really good at it” (Atlantic). It’s the best hope we have.
