Doug's Darkworld

I’ve seen a number of articles recently claiming that this is the end of the Trump presidency. Yeah, wishful thinking. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak such thinking was wishful, things have changed in modern America, Trump is the new normal. By that I mean there just isn’t any accountability in Washington anymore. When the Vietnam War went South, Johnson’s presidency was done. Doesn’t work that way now, the Iraq War went south, but Bush got reelected anyhow. None of the architects of that colossal mistake were held responsible for their lies and failings, one is even the Democratic front runner for the 2020 election. Blame shifting is how Washington works now, Clinton blamed her stunning election loss on mythical Russian actors and her base bought it hook, line, and sinker; why would Trump supporters be any different? According to Fox News, he’s doing great. Though even they are having trouble spinning it that way. I hope I’m wrong. Since, you know, things haven’t been great at all.

I digress. More on point, the reason I roll my eyes when anyone predicts anything about the next year, is that nobody effing knows. The only thing we can say safely at this point is that Covid-19 is wreaking terrible economic and human cost over the globe, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. It’s a sea change people, no one knows how this will play out. All three of the candidates for POTUS this fall are over 70 years old. Even in the best of times that demographically meant there was a decent chance any of them could die before then. Now, Jeez, it wouldn’t be terribly unlikely if all three died of Covid-19. Even one dying would upset the apple cart. It’s uncertain times, at best, lol. So not going to get too worked up about politics and the election at this point. There’s more important things now. We’ll see what happens

So , there are  a number of takeaways at this point. Late March, 2020. In no particular order, please tell me if I’m wrong:

Senators selling stock. This is the scandal de jour. After a confidential Covid-19 briefing in January, at least four Senators dumped all sorts of stock holdings. Among others. I love how the first article spins it: “ … sparking concerns that they put safeguarding their private finances before their duty to protect public health.” No sh*t Sherlock, those aren’t “concerns,” those are  facts. They made sure their wealth was safe, while downplaying the threat to the country. This shit is what fomented my recent guillotine tweet, our “leaders” putting their financial well being ahead of Americans’ lives. And that includes Trump at this point, he is literally pretty much doing nothing but lying about cures and shit that aren’t available, blame shifting, and denying responsibility for anything. At least he’s consistent, nu?

So this is going to continue to get worse in America. In January 70% of Republicans thought Covid-19 was a serious threat to the nation. Thanks to Trump’s insane underreaction, that was down to 40% just days ago. So while the virus was spreading out of control in the US, Trump was actually convincing his base to ignore it … thus making the situation much worse. The time to flatten the curve was in January and February, likely way too late now. Especially since many people in many states, including governors, still don’t get it. Celebrities, leaders, politicians are going to die too, since Covid-19 doesn’t give a shit if one is rich, powerful, or popular. The first celebrity just died today, Aurlus Mabélé, a music legend in Congo, has died from Covid-19. And of course some of our friends and family will die, four people in the same family died in New Jersey. Yeah, some flu.

Watch out for clickbait good news. The scammers, snake oil salesman, and click-bait artists are out in force, it’s a golden age for them. From more or less harmless stuff where some doctor working on a treatment etc is breathlessly portrayed as the solution, on up to actual cons. Here’s one link for avoiding fake news, best to get one’s actual info from the CDC or other reputable sources.

Lastly, just in case it wasn’t becoming self-evident, we’re in for the biggest economic downturn of our lives. And the last final dark thought, one I don’t see out there much … there’s going to be a secondary or shadow wave of deaths associated with Covid-19. Hospitals will be overwhelmed, so other treatments will be cancelled. A friend’s cancer surgery was “indefinitely postponed.” Treatment for other emergencies like accident victims and the like will be delayed or unavailable. Then there’s people who won’t be able to refill their prescriptions, in some cases life saving prescriptions. Emergency services will be overwhelmed, ambulances and firefighters might be delayed or simply unavailable. Basically until this passes, which will be months from now, any life saving support service Americans take for granted, may be rationed, delayed, or unavailable. A summer of death is on the march.

Anyone who still thinks this is just a flu is an idiot. Sadly we have been nurturing those for decades in the US, and now we are going to reap what we sowed. Have a safe weekend everyone. Comments and shares appreciated.

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych.

(Image: Anonymous Facebook image. Credit: Unknown, used without permission, will remove or attribute as necessary. I will be posting more funny memes, gallows humour is going to get e through this. I hope.)