Political Violence Is Unrighteous

Reflecting-upon the first three years of the Trump administration I can say I did just fine.  The economy was humming-along and after retiring as a member of the ownership class the markets were solid.  There was Trumpian drama and plenty of wacko tweets to blog about.  Life was good.  I'm not suggesting things were so good I'd have voted for his reelection; yet the vibe was swimmingly OK.  Nevertheless, as we wind-down the clock to the election here's a little something to remember as you prepare your mail-in ballot or early vote.

That time when Donald Trump was completely overwhelmed by the COVID pandemic.

The very first laboratory-confirmed case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the US was from samples taken on January 18, 2020 in Washington state; the same day that state activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in response to the emerging outbreak.  This was confirmed on January 20, 2020.

A couple of weeks later Judd Legum posted this on twitter-

Yup.  The Trump administration eliminated the infectious disease defense infrastructure beginning in 2018.  This was trotted-out as a cost-cutting measure; ironically on the heels of passing a multi-trillion tax cut.  Specifically, Trump fired the entire executive branch team that would have coordinated and mounted a response. 

Trump then devoted most of the month of February in abject denial of COVID's threat. 

 

He called the coronavirus a hoax, cooked-up by Democrats, at a rally in South Carolina.

Naturally, as the disease spread, by April of 2020 everything had devolved into a shit show.  Overwhelmed, Trump dolefully lamented that the growing pandemic was something that nobody expected.  

In a prescient moment early in 2005 President George W. Bush warned the if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it would be too late to prepare.  If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage.  If allowed to smolder, undetected, it could grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it.

Sure, I know that some of you readers will want to lay the blame entirely at the feet of Drs. Brix and Fauci.  They are not blameless.  And neither is the former president.  So, spare me the blame-shifting and deflection.  I call BS.  The Chief Executive manages the team and conducts the orchestra.  The buck stops at the President's desk.  Trump's willful blindness and bungling led to an infectious disease emergency that was stunning in its magnitude.  It resulted in unnecessary illness, excess deaths and a self-inflicted economic crisis.

Things ended badly.  He was feckless.

Between you and me his failure to lead cost him the 2020 election.

And, of-course, that led to the violence of the capitol riot on January 6, 2021.  For this blogger that was a bridge too far.  

Let's be clear:  

POLITICAL VIOLENCE HAS NO PLACE IN CIVIL SOCIETY.