Covid-19 & The Triumph Of Trump

So I had an interesting experience today, and it involved coronavirus. No, I haven’t got it, and I don’t think I’ve been exposed to it. But I have seen the power of the fear it commands.

We had gone to a local Walmart to get a few things. We found what we needed, fortunately, but then we drifted into the aisle that was supposed to contain cleaning goods. You know of course, what we found. The shelves were utterly empty. Bleach, disinfecting wipes, antibacterial sprays...all gone. All purchased and carried away in great piles by people who will never be able to use all of it, but who fought for its possession as though their lives depended on it.

It is frightening to see such fear. To see panic in all its horrid glory.

Don’t get me wrong.   Covid-19 is dangerous, and potentially deadly -- certainly, it is a threat to those of us who are over sixty. As you know, the virus seems to be sparing the young and targeting the old. (Yes, my dear Millennials, the Universe works in mysterious ways. Your vengeance on Boomers seems to be at hand.) And certainly, it is much, much more dangerous than Trump is saying.

Yet, fear, too, is like an infection. It, too, can spread and do dreadful things in the process. Thus the panic buying...and who knows what else?...in my local store.

And, strangely enough, it is Trump who is partly responsible for the great and dangerous Fear. He is making an effort to discount the threat of coronavirus. He is saying that it is no worse than the flu, and that reports otherwise are (dreadful term) fake news.

The Triumph Of Death

But there’s the rub. Even his most ardent supporters know he is lying. In a wonderful of Orwellian doublethink, they believe and disbelieve him. They mock liberals for their fear of the virus, and yet prepare themselves for the triumph of death. Recall that many of them have been eagerly expecting the end of the world for years, and have been prepping for it all this time. How heartening it must be to feel the day is here at last.

And thus Trump does the worst that he can do. He directs his deplorables to simultaneously ignore medical advice, and to over-react.  So it is that you must stand in awe of the man. He is a quadruple threat. In one fell swoop, he establishes four distinct evils...

Fever and fear. Ignorance and arrogance.

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About me: I’m a writer and former journalist who has published material on everything from computers to the Jazz Age. (Among my small claims to fame is that I interviewed Steve Jobs just after that talented if complicated man got kicked out of Apple, and just before the company’s Board came begging him to come back.)

Please check out my new book, Padre: To The Island, a meditation on mortality, grief, and joy, based on the lives and deaths of two of the most amazing and unconventional people I ever met, my mother and father.

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