The handful of federally sponsored testing locations have been closed. No more are coming. The effort to trace cases has overwhelmed the states. Trump is making no effort to assist. The need to wear masks could not be clearer. Trump is almost single-handedly wrecking that effort. The idea of reopening schools in the face of case counts that are raging ever higher is ludicrous. The White House is issuing edict after edict, making it clear that unless students are marched into the fire, funds will be cut off, foreign students will be deported, and statewide education systems could be driven to failure.
It’s obvious that Trump sees the COVID-19 crisis as yet another opportunity to operate through the shock doctrine. He has no intention of making things better because he is not interested in making things better. Instead, the White House is now viewing the crisis as an opportunity. An opportunity to provide even greater power to ICE and to limit all types of immigration. An opportunity to crush public education between impossible demands. An opportunity to push state and local budgets and infrastructure to the brink; to leave every form of public assistance starved for funds and facing overwhelming demand; to deliberately spark a crisis in evictions and foreclosures.
Trump hasn’t just surrendered to the coronavirus, he is eagerly feeding it victims.
In contrast presidential candidate Joe Biden offers a comprehensive way to defeat the virus. His plan includes free testing, rigorous contact tracing, a managed supply chain for protective gear, a team to forecast upcoming needs, broad support for healthcare workers, a guarantee that vaccines and therapies will be available to all and not just the rich, and consistent national guidelines for reopening businesses and schools.
He’s even offering the plan for the nasty guy to use.
Today’s pundit roundup from Greg Dworkin of Kos has several interesting articles. In some cases I’ll quote from what Dworkin quoted. In others I’ll follow the link to the original.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post notes that some of the nasty guy’s allies fear that not helping to slow the pandemic will threaten the economic recovery the nasty guy wants to get reelected. Sargent wrote:
This is not just an admission that Trump’s depraved refusal to take the coronavirus seriously continues undermining his reelection hopes. It’s also an admission that the story Trump has been telling about our current moment has it entirely backward.
In short, Trump’s allies are admitting what numerous experts have said for months: That in order to seriously get back on track to economic recovery, we have to tame the virus first. And they’re admitting that this is a key reason he’s in trouble.
I contrast this with Sumner’s comments above. The nasty guy doesn’t want the virus slowed and may not want the economy to open either. However, it is good his allies recognize the virus needs to be tamed. And quickly.
David Frum tweeted:
The great RNC chair Haley Barbour wisely advised, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
In 2020, the main thing is the VIRUS and the JOBS lost because of the virus.
Those issues have bored, baffled, and defeated Trump.
In face of Trump's failure, his co-partisans and their cable propaganda network are scavenging for ways to elevate something *other* than the "main thing" to be the "main thing."
A tweet from Taniel that included a link to Bleeding Heartland:
Jaw-dropping self-sabotage by GOP.
Iowa's *GOP* secretary of state sent every voter an absentee request form in primary. GOP lawmakers got angry, & are blocking him from doing it again.
So now Dem counties are moving to do so only within their borders.
Ayn Rand wrote novels, including Atlas Shrugged, espousing extreme conservatism – the government should do as little as possible. Though the works are fiction the GOP has declared them to be a roadmap for their actions. Pat Fitzgerald tweeted, “The Ayn Rand Institute received a PPP loan of between $350K and $1 million.” To which David Kusnet replied:
When asked why he accepted government assistance, Atlas shrugged.
Back in 2011 during the height of the Tea Party influence I wrote a post about the book A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard. There is Greater Appalachia that reaches into the hills of East Texas that emphasis individuality and Yankeedom that emphasizes education, community, empowerment, and a government – supported by participation by all – that can make a difference in the lives of citizens.
Woodard has written a couple sequels to the book. And of interest today he compiled COVID-19 case data for six of the 11 regions. Since these regions don’t follow state boundaries (Ohio is in three regions and Far West covers at least part of 15 states) he took county level data. He graphed the data, which shows stark differences. He says the lines reinforce the traits of each region. New Netherland (around NYC) has dropped from its peak in early April and has stayed low through June. Deep South hit a high in April, then dropped back a bit, then climbing quickly through June.
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