A week ago scientists said that 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die from COVID19. Coincidentally that week, Donald Trump, in an unusual change in behavior, acquiesced a bit towards their authority. This shift in dynamics struck me as odd and made me think that they made a deal.
Fauci Facepalm
Prior to this March 31stpress conference, President Trump’s ego seemed to be the most powerful force in the room. Anthony Fauci even dropped his head in frustration when Donald Trump deviated from the business at hand to take a jab at his imagined opposition, the “Deep State.” Now it seems that scientists, while not gaining full control, have managed to get Trump to understand the COVID19 crisis’ political implications.
Empowered with political leverage, it appears Doctors Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, whose key duty is to keep Americans safe and healthy, used Trump’s ego and a political incentive to tamp down his egotistical impulsiveness and allow them to accurately inform Americans about the dangers of this deadly pandemic.
It appears they offered to exaggerate projected COVID19 deaths in exchange for President Trump impeding less of their efforts. This would give the President the opportunity to characterize those not killed by the virus as people he saved. In exchange, it gives the doctors more room to do their job.
The same type of deal appears to have affected the unemployment projections as well. Federal Reserve officials claimed it could reach 30%. When it finally pans out to 21% or 24% Trump can claim he saved us from Great Depression-level unemployment. Two days after this statement, the six trillion dollar Stimulus bailout gave the Fed four trillion dollars more in lending power. To put this in perspective, Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s appointed Treasury Secretary, gave the Federal Reserve enough money to fix the 1992 Los Angeles riots 2194 times over.
While Democrats are fighting fair, Republicans are being relentless in their pursuit of power. Trump would let every American die except for one if that one were a pro-Trump Republican voting in November. Leveraging his destructive ego so doctors and economic professionals set him up for future message spin shows more concern with self-political preservation than altruistic leadership proclivities.
By November the brunt of the COVID19 blow will be behind us and a mentally malleable American public will only be able to see it through finely crafted political spin lenses. Democrats will issue correct prescription expecting America to see the actual fault in Donald Trump’s failed preparation, leadership and implementation. Republicans, on the other hand, will prescribe near-sighted lenses and place a picturesque photo of Trump Saving America and leading us into better times. Optimistic Americans will overwhelmingly pick the spoon-fed vision and as the second wave of COVID19 sets in this winter, Donald Trump will rule with impunity. Henry Louis Mencken, the renowned journalist said in 1926;
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
If Democrats don’t step their game up, America will be singing “Keep America Great” all the way to 2024.