Well, here we are. It’s not surprising that a day after the administration “floats” the dissolution of the Coronavirus Task Force, there is a complete about-face: it’s now going to be in place ‘indefinitely,’ but focused on safety and reopening the country. Yeah, somebody told the Orange Menace that by disbanding the task force, it will hurt his reelection campaign. Cynical, am I? Or is it just another way to discredit the hapless veep?
And then there is the issue of blatant, disgusting, systemic racism where two white men literally hunted down a black man who just happened to be out exercising. Literally hunted him down and recorded it. Recorded it. Neither of the murderers were charged. Nobody. Was. Charged. With. Murder.
I have never been so saddened and embarrassed to be an American.
To add insult to injury, this morning I saw the first reelection campaign TV ad. The blatant misrepresentation of this president’s performance during this national tragedy was nauseating. As curves suddenly spike across the nation, with new hotspots forming as the “reopening” picks up steam – just after restrictions are loosened – this ad airs and completely ignores the now 70+ thousand dead. And more will die. As if by spinning this a certain way, we will all forget that most of this death and economic destruction; we’ll forget the FEMA confiscations of PPE that states fought and paid for; we’ll forget how the government denied that the virus was even a thing until the bodies started to pile up?
I cannot fathom how any American who is experiencing unemployment, illness, loss and tragedy could possibly believe the alternative reality that the reelection campaign is peddling. I cannot fathom how anyone that calls themselves an American can dismiss the relentless domestic terrorism and racism – how can anyone ignore the cold blooded murder of another American just because they are black? I cannot fathom that all of this horrible human nastiness that had been simmering under the surface of our society is now laid bare for all to see and is actually being encouraged and fomented by the feckless leader.
I wish things could “go back to normal,” I wish I could host a dinner party, I wish my kids could actually physically hang out with their friends, I wish I could hug my friends. I wish I lived in a country where everyone’s health and well being was deemed important. I wish for many things, not the least of which is for all of us to be safe, to be healthy and be able to pay our bills.
If only wishes could make it so.