Health or wealth?

That was the bold headline of an article I saw the other day. Do we open things back up and let the chips fall where they may, with regard to a relapse and a second round of infections? Or do we show restraint and `err’ on the side of patience, hopefully minimizing the suffering and loss?

I guess one could argue that there will be suffering and loss either way. Where’s Solomon when you need him? Certainly nowhere to be found in the present administration. Except maybe Dr. Fauci, though Trump seems to have been able to put a muzzle on him, too.

It’s an administrative black hole.

I vote for health.

You can’t have it both ways, Donald, though your whole life reflects somehow being able to get away with that.

You can’t wash your hands of oversight when it comes to testing and material procurement in the middle of a pandemic, but then claim you have the power to set a date and dictate when everyone will go back to work.

You really don’t care about people, do you? You and Stephen Miller and the rest- you all really have no affinity for wise and compassionate governance. It’s all about some sick fixation on power and getting your way. And winning. Always winning. Plenty of winning. My, such winning.

My, you’re awful. The whole lot of you.

Donald Trump. The mere mention of the name gives me a sinking feeling. His new mantra is “open things up in early May,” or some such nonsense, even if doing so would most likely spur an uptick in covid cases, a relapse if you will. Trump and the rest of his black hats are too willing to sacrifice more human life so his only claim to fame, his baby, can get back on its feet. Without a robust economy, Trump can claim nothing. So ramp it up, right Donald? What’s a few thousand more deaths in the bigger scheme of things? Gotta think about re-election.

The right thing for Trump to do at this point is to declare that he will not be seeking a second term. He needs to walk away before he has a chance to inflict any more damage. I’ll wait for folks to stop laughing…

He blew the response to the virus but he will never, ever admit that. He downplayed the gravity of it, and of course the result of such magical thinking was inaction, confusion, woeful unpreparedness, and avoidable suffering and death. Instead of spearheading a robust federal response, he left it to the states and local municipalities to fend for themselves. Though if everyone does get up to speed, he’ll sit back and take credit for that, somehow.

People listen to him. I don’t know why, but people listen to him. He doesn’t say anything, but people hang on his every word like he’s some sort of seer or oracle or something. Fascinating, in a morbid sort of way.

We have to stop stroking his damned ego, stop feeding the beast.

One might wonder how all of this will be remembered five, ten years from now. I think the kernels of truth are already coalescing around the opinion that the Trump administration’s cavalier and ignorant attitude have paved the way for the tragedy presently unfolding.

Was/is it really about concern over re-election? It seemed apparent early on that Trump’s precious economy was the main thing he could brag about, but now it is a millstone around his neck.

This is only one of the truly tragic consequences of voting for a guy who lacks wisdom, has no vision, no relevant real-world skills, and a heart that’s twelve sizes too small.

Throw money at it.

Trump and his stellar cast are in over their heads. A two-point-something trillion dollar relief package makes for a tantalizing sound byte, placates Wall Street for a bit. But it’s a whole other animal when it comes to trying to implement such a beast.

The administration is playing catch-up, taking stabs and seeing if anything sticks. Trump and the rest have been offering up a patchwork response, stymied by their own initial inaction, and their downplaying and cavalier dismissal of this “slow-moving hurricane” that has now made landfall.

It didn’t have to be this way.

So the Always Trumpers’ disdain for Socialism can be suspended when the government decides to give most everyone some money.

What are the “‘America first” folks gonna call this? Can’t be “handout,” can’t utter the S- word. How will they explain themselves? I guess they’re willing to make an exception, just this once.

It must take a pandemic.

Is the graphic containing a running tally of confirmed cases and deaths really necessary?

Do Tucker Carlson and the rest at Fox News ever ponder their career paths, ever feel like maybe they’re prostituting themselves? Ever think to themselves as they interview someone, “Man, this guy’s out to lunch.” Or “Holy shit, she is absolutely crazy”? And then realize they’ve had a hand in perpetuating the craziness?

Carlson’s interview with Dan Patrick the other night was painful to watch, what I saw of it. Patrick is blathering on about how he’d be willing to sacrifice his health to get the economy back on its feet (but no hero, he), and Carlson’s facial expression suggests, “I can’t believe I have to sit here and agree with this idiot.”

All Fox News hosts must have to sign some sort of disclaimer or NDA before being given a job. They must have to check their sense of propriety and rationality at the door and pledge allegiance to navigating in an alternate universe.

Dear Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, President Donald J. Trump, and all like-minded idiots,

Speak for yourselves.

Sorry if I don’t share your zeal for “getting the economy going again.” Sorry if I don’t possess the same sense of “sacrifice” as you ramble on about the nation going back to work, assuring everyone that you are willing to risk your own health so we can return to some sense of normal. Such selflessness. It almost brings a tear to my eye.

What is wrong with you? Do you have even an ounce of understanding of what we’re dealing with? Do you somehow know better than the scientists and doctors who are saying we need to avoid business as usual- even into the summer- because it is the best way to minimize exposure and hasten the virus’s ineffectiveness?

Are you unable or unwilling to admit that we all need to be on the same page in order to fight this invisible enemy? That if we are tempted to get back to our routines too soon (out of some bogus and skewed sense of patriotic duty?), we face the almost certain prospect of another round of infections and more pain and suffering?

Speak for your damn selves, and try to find your hearts. They seem to have gone missing.

We move too quickly on this, and there will be no “normal” to return to. And of course you’ll wash your hands of all of it.

Trump’s insistence on calling Covid-19 the Chinese virus is typical Trump– reckless and small-minded. No one corrects him, except the occasional reporter who obviously works for one of those fake news outlets.

The truly tragic aspect of this is that the partisan divide deepens to the point of jeopardizing the physical health of the nation. The differences run so deep that we can’t even unite long enough to fight what one might think would be a common enemy.

A person whose head and heart were in the right place would have seen this coming and taken it seriously. We could have been better prepared.