The President of the United States is mentally unstable. But you knew that. That was clear long before he took office. Donald J. Trump possesses other undesirable qualities too numerous to list here that make him uniquely unqualified to lead the country through a deadly pandemic. Including the fact that he sucks as a leader when the country desperately needs a damned good one.
It is not often that Thomas Friedman is either concise or correct, but this almost sums it up:
We need a president who is a cross between F.D.R., Justice Brandeis and Jonas Salk. We got a president who is a cross between Dr. Phil, Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Seuss.
Except Dr. Seuss was brilliant. He attended Dartmouth and Oxford. And he had a conscience.
Friedman, naturally, wants to see the economy restarted as soon as possible. Like Trump’s pursuit of a miracle cure, Freidman wants a miracle strategy that will “minimize the threat of this virus to those most vulnerable while we maximize the chances for as many Americans as possible to safely go back to work as soon as possible.” Because any time we’re talking about saving lives, serious people consider the economic trade-offs. Money and lives carrying equal moral weight, placing lives on the opposite side of the scales from the economy is what serious people do.
Dr. David Katz, a public health expert at Yale, tells Friedman health professionals he knows want this balanced approach to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic costs have human impacts too. But we must be smart about it. “The moment you stop respecting this virus, it will kill someone you love,” Katz says.
That recalls what characters say in movies about space. Coincidentally, I rewatched Ridley Scott’s The Martian last night. Safely back on Earth, Mark Whatney (Matt Damon) tells a class of astronaut candidates:
It’s space. It’s filled with chance, circumstance, and bad luck. It doesn’t cooperate. At some point, I promise, at some point every single thing is gonna go south on you, and you’ll think: this is it. This is how I end. (then) And you can either accept that… or you
can get to work.
You begin. Solve one problem. Then the next. And the next. Solve enough and you survive.
Yeah. That’s what this time feels like. Except we are not solving enough problems and more keep cropping up. The biggest impediment is the problem in the Oval Office whom cowards in his party refuse to solve. They are desperate to retain power, save the economy … oh, and save lives. Their boss cannot focus on one problem long enough to solve it and move on to the next. Neither can they. Not to mention their priorities are screwed up because their ethics are.
In a deleted scene, astronaut Watney ponders the hundreds of millions of dollars it cost to save his “sorry ass”:
They saved me because that’s what we do. Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people coordinate a search. If an earthquake levels the city, people all over the world send emergency supplies. This instinct is found in every culture without exception. And because of it, I had an entire planet on my side.
I don’t know if that’s true, but I want it to be. Trump & Co. don’t. That’s why these problems won’t be solved until we solve the problem that is their misrule.
Anyway, here’s one problem you might solve starting tomorrow. RuralOrganizing.org sent this on Friday:
On Monday, we’re launching a campaign to use the mail to save the mail and I wanted to make sure you had the weekend to get a pen, paper, some stamps, and two envelopes ready.
On Monday, April 27, 2020, thousands of Americans are sending letters through the mail. The purpose of our campaign is to:
1. Show our support for the USPS workers who are heroically working to keep us all connected through this pandemic
2. Tell our Senators to fully fund the United States Postal Service in the next stimulus bill
Click here for more information about joining our letter writing campaign to #SaveThePostOffice.
Congress will soon begin debating the next stimulus package. We know that handwritten letters leave a lasting impact on elected officials. In fact, most elected officials receive a morning briefing from their staff about the letters they received the day before.
Together, we generated over 350,000 petition signatures demanding that the White House and Congress fully fund the USPS!
There’s no doubt about it. If we work together—all 350,000 of us—and mail handwritten letters to our Senators, we can ensure the United States Postal Service is fully funded in the next stimulus bill.
Thanks so much for your support!
In solidarity,
Matt Hildreth
RuralOrganizing.org
Stop feeling powerless and solve one problem. Then the next.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.
Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way by June, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.