My Kingdom for a Leader

From time-to-time I have resorted to the use of this platform to give voice to my thoughts and opinions about Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.  I even generated and updated a chronological timeline of his litany of lies and excuses.  His own words.

Anyway, I recently did something I ordinarily wouldn’t do.  I opined on the matter in a comment I made on another individual’s Facebook page.  I implied that Trump’s obfuscation and delays caused the pandemic to worsen in its spread and that Trump was a con man who had blood on his hands.  Consequently, another friend replied to my comment:  the blood on his hands thing is bullshit and partisan and too easily fought at home on keyboards.  Government at all levels is not a nimble instrument.   

Fair-enough.

My first observation is that it is refreshing to share a difference of opinion respectfully.  My second observation is that nobody called me out for calling Trump a con man. In the absence of any objection I conclude there to be general agreement on that point.  Thirdly, I would agree that governments are not nimble.  They are vast bureaucracies.  As for the blood on his hands assertion – I dunno.  Perhaps my provocateur personality missed a guardrail.  Nevertheless, someone bears responsibility for failing to act on the threat in a timely manner so I will draw-upon a comparison I have used previously.   

Both the US and South Korea had evidence of Covid-19 around January 20^th.  The first deaths for each country were registered in late February.  At that point the course of the pandemic for each nation diverged.  South Korea responded proactively and decisively with large-scale testing, contact tracing and quarantining.  I published a post about it here.  To-date South Korea has suffered the loss of 220 lives without more than a dozen in any given day.   Back here in the homeland the situation is dramatically different.  Presently, about 2,000 of our countrymen are dying each and every day with the total topping more than 23,000 total lives lost by the time I retired last nite. To be clear, the US is much larger than South Korea and the raw numbers can be expected to be larger. But South Korea flattened their curve quickly by means of acting-upon the threat quickly.   

Last weekend any number of mainstream news sources published, broadcast or posted evidence of the early warnings and alarms coming from the highest levels of our not-so-nimble government.  It is unlikely that all of that reporting is fantasy.   My point is that when the alarm bells sounded they went unheeded by Donald Trump.  I wrote about that too – how Trump had plenty of time to tweet, play golf and hold rallies throughout January and February.  All the while he downplayed and lied about the gathering storm.   

In my former day job there was a name for that - willful blindness. As a general rule it applied to turning a blind eye to money-laundering and fraud - not encouraging the spread of disease and death.  Convicted of this crime - financial advisors have received prison sentences.  The product of Donald Trump's willful blindness has been lives and fortunes lost.  Much of it likely preventable in the face of prompt and decisive action.  Marinate on that thought - lives and treasure lost.  Much of it avoided by prompt and decisive action.   

I also predicted that Trump apologists would mount an effort to rewrite the historical narrative of his bungled delays.  And now - every afternoon - there is a self-congratulatory circle jerk glossing-over a rather extensive trail of bread crumbs chronicling Trump’s inaction and dismissal of scientific advice from public health experts and even his own advisors.  

In all fairness to the President - he did not cause Covid-19.  However, he is responsible and should be held to account for the months of delay (deliberately self-inflicted loss of nimbleness) from our government and for his obfuscation and blame-shifting.  

And the lies. 

Trump continues to lie.  It is stunning that Donald Trump is such a habitual liar that he is incapable of being honest – especially when honesty would serve his own interests.   

So, perhaps the term:  Blood on his hands is too provocative.  Let’s settle on this: The buck stops here and grown men take responsibility for their actions. Or lack thereof. Responsible men tell the truth.   

We see evidence every day of Trump's dysfunctional behavior and many of us have become immunized to his egregious lies and blaming.  If you want to see it conveniently summarized in one place you might consider reading a piece by David Frum published last week in The Atlantic.

Frum is a former speech writer for George W. Bush.  He authored the first book about The Bush presidency written by a former member of the administration. He is also credited with inspiring the phrase ‘axis of evil’ in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address.   

As the revisionists of history continue to spin an alternate reality Frum’s fact-filled recitation reminds us of the many ways Trump failed to protect us.

Stay-tuned.....

You Break it - You Bought it

I am done with Trump’s apologists.   

Seriously people get a grip.  This man is a joke. 

And I am sincere when I suggest that deep in your hearts you know I am spot-on with this observation.  

It is perfectly OK to shed your pride and come clean about the realization that Donald Trump is in over his head.  He should be shuffled-aside and the reins of government handed over to Mike Pence.      

Despite months and months of warning Donald Trump’s lying, willful blindness and bungling has led to disastrous economic harm and lives lost.   

Let that sink in for a moment.  Lives and fortunes lost.

Trump denies science, bashes government and has placed a higher value upon loyalty over professional competence.  Now we are all reaping the whirlwind.  This individual is solely responsible for failing to take this pandemic seriously and mismanaging the response.   

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell postulated a theory about this that remains constant.  It is termed the Pottery Barn Rule.   

You break it – you bought it. 

Who Is To Blame?

The guts of this post were originally written a couple of months ago and it has gotten close to release several times since - yet for any number of reasons I postponed publication.  With the recent whirlwind of ever-changing circumstances I figured now is as good as any time.  

Besides, it is easily adapted to the circumstances of this present moment in time.
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By now you have likely heard that the toll as a consequence of Covid has exceeded 210,000 dead.  

That is a really big number.   

How big you ask?  

It is three times the number of service member deaths in Vietnam.  

It is the equivalent of the entire population of Salt Lake City Utah being snuffed-out.  

It is the highest per-capita death toll in all but twelve other countries.  

It is the largest death count in the entire world. 

The fact that it all happened in the space of only nine months makes it a big deal.

The most protected man on the planet - our President - has been hospitalized after contracting the virus.  That makes this an even bigger deal.  

The fact that President Trump was so recklessly cavalier about the severity of the pandemic makes this cluster of health crisis and economic train wreck a huge deal.  

Anything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

I want to be perfectly clear - Donald Trump is not to blame for causing Covid.  Moreover, I wish the president a speedy and uncomplicated recovery.  

That said, Donald Trump is responsible for having so fragile an ego that he refused to level with me and everyone else about the severity of this pandemic all the way back to January, February and March of this year.  Feel free to read my trail of documentation of his insipid dismissals of the growing crisis. 

He lied.  

He is incapable of telling the truth even when it is in his own best interests to do so. Sure, he and his apologists will insists he did not want to cause a panic.  Guess what?  Americans don't panic.  To suggest otherwise is silly.  And as a consequence of his willful blindness Donald Trump has the blood of my countrymen on his hands.  It didn't have to get this bad.  Yet those unsettling facts are not the purpose of this post. 

An acquaintance of mine ascribes to the notion that Covid is not at all as deadly as it appears to be. He will blithely suggest it is like seasonal influenza (which can be deadly) or the common cold. He will tell you (without the benefit of a medical degree) that when people die as a consequence of contracting Covid it is the result of comorbidity or an underlying medical condition. And that it is exceedingly rare for Covid to be the sole cause of death.  

His implication is that the dead are somehow to blame for having cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or some other pre-existing condition resulting from heredity, advanced- age or whatever.  It is their own damn fault - not that of Covid.
  

He will insist they would have died anyway.  

He is correct in that regard - it is a fact that we're all going to die.  It is also factual that virtually all disease impacts are compounded by comorbidity factors.  And to the extent you can make any medical issue less deadly you can extend life-expectancy.  Which is good for those of us with families, grandchildren, plans for a righteously-rewarding retirement, a wish to travel, extending a working career or volunteerism. 

It is also good policy to not be youthfully smug, recklessly invincible and mockingly prideful.  When you choose to dance with the Schadenfreude Devil you do so at your own peril.  Just ask the President.  But I digress. 

Getting back to the Covid thing is the reality that some exposed to the virus do not become infected. Some people who become infected get very sick while others get only a brief fever and cough – or no symptoms at all.  Some people die.

We have learned that middle-aged and older individuals are more likely to become infected,  are far more likely to suffer symptoms, to be hospitalized and to die. Nevertheless, the therapeutics have improved as we learn more about this virus and fewer deaths result from contracting the contagion today than did as few as nine months ago.  This is major medical progress in a short period of time.  Yet this only addresses fatality statistics.

Severe Covid-19 is driven not just by viral damage to cells but occasionally a whirlwind of inflammation that harms the cardio-pulmonary system, along with other organs and the immune system. It would appear that middle-aged and older individuals are more vulnerable to this storm of complications than younger people. You don’t necessarily have to die from Covid – you can simply be seriously compromised as a consequence of exposure.  

What we do not yet know is if these non-fatal complications to an otherwise healthy individual are a temporary or permanent disability.  Of course death is permanent - my point is that it isn't solely about mortality - plenty more additional bad medical stuff can result.  That is called morbidity.  Not to mention the high cost of immediate and ongoing future care.  Stuff like that drives-up healthcare costs for everyone.

So here we are. Donald Trump is in the hospital as a consequence of his known comorbidity factors - namely age and obesity.  He's receiving first rate care and I hope he emerges from this experience healthy and maybe inclined to show some empathy for the millions of unemployed (and consequently uninsured) individuals of our nation.  If I were a White House advisor I would suggest a healthy display of civility and humility.  Decorum and decency could win the election for Trump.  Alas, this is a low probability event.  Besides, nobody listens to me.

And even though we continue to learn more about the new (novel) virus we do not yet know what we do not know.  Speaking for myself the last thing I’m going to do is eschew my primary care doc’s advice for that of some smartass.

The Missus and I have no known serious, underlying chronic medical issues; nevertheless, we do share a common comorbidity over-which we have no control – namely age. We are in our sixties and seventies.

We're OK with our agedness and fully accept and embrace the blame for making it to this point in our lives.  And just like wearing a seat belt and using sunblock we'll continue to conduct ourselves responsibly.   

Taking responsibility for stuff still counts for something.  

Pass it along....

My Kingdom for a Leader

At this afternoon’s news conference POTUS had a fit, took his ball and went home.    

The president stated that with more COVID-19 per-capita tests than Sweden, Britain, South Korea, France, Finland or elsewhere - America leads the world in testing,     

Of course he was lying.  

Again.        

He deliberately avoided the truth that many other countries have higher per-capita testing than the U.S.  Included among them are Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Russia.  Yes, Russia.  And at least twenty additional countries too.  Don’t take my word for it however – the truth can be found here.         

A little more than two months ago the United States and South Korea had the same number of COVID-19 deaths.  Soon to top 82,000 deaths, we lead the world. South Korea’s death toll remains under 300.    

South Korea’s success is attributed to four simple things:      

Testing - Test as many people as you can.  While knowledge is power tests yield data.  And data is king.           

Contact Tracing - Identify those who have been on contact with infected individuals.       

Quarantine - Separate the sick from the healthy including the seriously sick from the moderately sick.  Self-quarantine those who appear outwardly healthy for fourteen days.   

Action -  The Koreans acted quickly and continue to remain vigilant.  Alternatively, Donald Trump engaged in 70 days of willful blindness.  More than two months of denial, dysfunction and delay that allowed the virus to spread.  Trump had time to golf, hold rallies and tweet - all the while he did no advance planning or preparation.  He failed to brace for impact.

Donald Trump regularly congratulates himself for an incredible job on testing.  It is true we’re performing more tests than before – yet nowhere near enough to support a broad and successful reopening of the country to return to business as usual.  If you don't have tests to generate data and control the spread people won't trust you and will stay home.  Additional people will become infected and the pandemic will grow in magnitude.  And the death toll will grow in both size and rate of growth.    

So don’t tell me that everyone who wants a test gets a test.   That is a lie.    

Stop lying to me.   

Now.

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.

Total Recall

Seems to me that about half the population has no memory of life four years ago.  I certainly remember it.  I made a point of documenting events on the ground in real time because I had a hunch that there would be revisionist history afoot before too long.    

Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

Consider this.

Four years ago the stock market had collapsed - hitting the worst weeks since the Great Recession of 2008 - as the country spiraled into a years-long pandemic that claimed more that 1 million American lives, cratered the economy, upended our daily lives and arguably costing Trump the election.

I don't believe for a moment that voters blame Trump for the pandemic - a once-in-a-lifetime calamity thrust upon the entire world.  But they did fault his response to it.  The pandemic showcased a leader who exhibited the full panoply of characteristics that his supporters love and his detractors revile.

Excess Deaths - New York Times

Don't take my word for this as you can readily navigate this blog for a post history.  Simply use the TAGS feature in the left margin and click on key words like: COVID, Doing the Right Thing, Donald Trump, Healthcare, Liars or Quarantine Living.  Or use the search function in the upper left corner and search under Willful Blindness or any other discrete subject you think might be relevant.

A year ago the President was talking about shining ultraviolet light inside our bodies and injecting ourselves with disinfectant.  That's nuts.

 

So to answer the question of whether you or I were better off four years ago I would say, nope.  Six seven or eight years ago are debatable.  Four years ago was an absolute shit show.  Donald Trump struggled mightily during the pandemic and he failed to protect us.

Sunday Morning Reflections

Just this last week I read something on the web by Rich Lowry, Editor in Chief of the National Review.  He posited that if I desired a candidate for 2024 who wouldn't touch entitlements or start a foreign war Donald Trump was my guy.  Lowry's claim is that Trump is a genuine moderate.  

Interesting couple of insights Mr. Lowry.  My expectation would have been something more cerebral but this is worth unpacking.

First-off, the 800 pound gorilla in everyone's room is social security, Medicare and Medicaid.  I've touched on this subject before.  This year the combined cost of these programs (oftentimes referred to as entitlements) will exceed more than half of the entire federal budget. Ironically, it is at the heart of the debt ceiling drama and source of no small amount of budget heartburn.  Neither party will outwardly acknowledge this and no amount of clawing-back unspent COVID relief funds, shrinking the IRS or Medicaid work requirements is going to fix any of this.  

 

Face the music folks, something needs to change as the funding dynamics of these entitlements are totally messed-up.  Baby boomers are retiring in numbers not seen before.  Program beneficiaries are living longer than ever before.  The birthrate in this country is barely at a replacement rate.  Something needs to happen to extend the solvency of these three programs.  A grand bargain like Reagan and O'Neill struck in 1983 where both parties agreed to benefit and revenue changes that extended program solvency for decades. Trump is hardly Reaganesque and regrettably some of his most-popularized promises remain unfulfilled.  Border security, immigration reform and Obamacare come to mind.  Big Fat Nothing Burgers.  Ignoring this impending entitlement funding crisis is willful blindness.  It is hardly moderation.

As for starting a foreign war, I presume Lowry is making passing reference to the Russian invasion in Eastern Europe.  The last time I looked Joe Biden isn't waging war in Ukraine.  That is what Vladimir Putin is doing. I'm all for a legitimate and necessary debate about the degree, nature, costs and long-term usefulness of our aid to the people of Ukraine to defend against a senseless war they did not provoke. 

Nevertheless, I remain mindful of what former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had to say on the matter:  Give Kyiv what it needs to win, or it will cost the United States more in the long run. I am not naive.  That is a totally thoughtful and moderate observation.  Something you'd expect from the guy who graduated first in his class at West Point.

Conservatism is not to be confused with Trumpism.  A movement driven by absolute loyalty to a personality and embrace of the lie that the election was stolen in 2020 is not interchangeable.  I have never worshiped a living person or embraced conspiracy over truth.  Abandonment of aspiration for reprisal, compassion for anger and optimism for resentment.  Settling scores and exacting retribution in lieu of governing is not my style. It is immoderate.

 

Asking me to view and respond to my world with a mindset of offense and persecution and to fabricate an alternate truth when there is no evidence of legitimate grievance. To twist myself into knots to embrace this is a bridge too far. It's not how I was raised, it's not how I evolved and it's not in my wheelhouse. It is not moderate.

 

Leaders in the image of Larry Hogan, Chris Sununu and and Asa Hutchinson are so normal as to be summarily dismissed out of hand by a party co-opted by extremes and the theater of the absurd. It isn't aspirational like Nikki Haley.  It's lame.

 

A campaign platform of fear, preoccupation with gender dysphoria, Bud Light beer and election denial isn't making the cut for this guy.  Upon further reflection; conservative, independent and center-right voters aren't buying the anti-woke stuff.

 

We're not falling for any of it.  

 

And who drinks Bud Light beer anyway?  It's piss.