All of us in
this country are suffering from the Arrogance of our Would-Be Emperor in New
Clothes by his refusal to recognize what health and intelligence sources were
telling him weeks ago. His administration
is filled with the phenomenon that Michael Cohen described about Donald: “You
don’t have to be told what to do. You do what the boss wants because he sends subliminal
messages.”
Health
officials in Seattle were aware of the problem in a Seattle suburb nursing care
facility and tried to get CDC to react and help. The Federal agencies did not
respond positively. It may be a long
time before we find out why they dragged their feet. The people in Washington State government
moved anyway and began testing. That is
how Seattle became the epicenter of the disease. No one else was testing. 37 people have died at this facility.
Today I
awoke to an email from Columbia Lutheran Home in Fremont telling me their tale of woe. I suspect if you talk to any facility working
with the elderly or the underserved communities their story is similar.
The most
distressing sight to me has been the dance done by Tony Fauci and Deborah Birx. They are two very talented and experienced public
health professionals. They, because of
their respective positions in government, are almost always standing on stage
next to Donald. Tony is the head of
infectious diseases research at the NIH and Deborah is the AIDS czar who was
drawn in to be the Presidential Epidemic Coordinator, and both work for the
President. Donald only wants praise for
his knowledge, understanding and decisive action so anyone working for him has
a very fine line to walk. He or she must be a cheerleader for Donald or they
risk being fired for disloyalty to Donald.
I know them
both from the 1990’s during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and they are
great scientists who don’t want to get ahead of their skis and have a fall. They want to say what they know
scientifically and make it clear when they are speculating. Columbia Lutheran is part of the research
trial that Tony is waiting to see the results from before making a
recommendation.
Unfortunately,
they are working for someone who hasn’t a clue how science moves forward by
making hypotheses and then doing experiments to see if their hypothesis is
correct. The President, however, wants
to move forward on hypotheses with only minimal verification by testing.
We all know that one beautiful day does not
mean spring is here. We don’t pack our
winter clothes away and bring out all our summer clothes. But the president
again and again acts in this matter, only to get caught in a spring snow storm.
A case in
point is the use of Chloroquine for treatment in early cases of the COVID-19 flu. The Chinese and French are running large
scale tests of the safety and efficacy of this drug that was developed to treat
malaria. Columbia Lutheran is part of one the research trials that Tony is
waiting to see the results of before making a recommendation.
It may be a game-changer to be given to people
who test positive but do not have the full-blown disease syndrome. It has some side effects for certain heart
patients and can be unsafe, so testing both the safety of the drug and the efficacy
of the drug is very important before statements are made about how the epidemic
has been brought to a halt by this miracle drug. Stopping social distancing and opening the
economy full scale is stupid and foolhardy.
But imagine
the dilemma for Fauci and Birx? How do
you contradict a leader who will not listen to Intelligence sources or scientific
experts worldwide? Who refuses to read briefings from the very people who are charged
with protecting the USA? Their job is impossible. Speak the truth and suffer
the wrath of an impetuous tyrant or try to save your integrity while soothing
the ego of a narcissist.
The ordinary
folks in the society to whom this all sounds like hopelessly confusing information
are easily led to believe this is just a plot to make their leader look
bad.
Until the epidemic
hit Queens New York where the leader knows some people who are now getting the
disease, it was fake news. When his acquaintances get sick, finally it is real.
By that time, it had spread on the beaches of Florida, in New Orleans at Mardi
Gras, in Jewish synagogues and conservative Christian Universities like Liberty
University in Virginia.
Surely the
Reverend Falwell knew that the Bible says, “you shall reap what you sow.” April
will be the month of harvest for the president’s crop of actions. He will characteristically blame the Seed or the
field hands who are loyal to him or the impeachment weather. God forbid he
should ever admit he made a mistake. I would guess that it was this admonition
from St. Paul in Galatians 6:7-8 that the Boston Globe was aware of as they
opined that the President “will have blood on his hands.” It is ironic that
this is the week in which Pilate washed his hands of the responsibility for
Christ’s crucifixion.
The American
people want a leader who is more concerned about their agony, pain, and fear
than about his personal empire’s bottom line or his re-election prospect. They deserve better.
