YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED
At the number of my columns that never make it to print.
Aha! I hear the multitudes exclaim, I knew it! They censor him! Those dirty hate-the-residents, bags full of money from developers, Rick Cole fan club secret SMRR board members owners of the Daily Press squash Charles whenever he gets too far out there.
Well -- no. Not at all. There have been only a handful of times in the past eight years when editor Matt Hall called me to discuss some part of a column, but we always wound up coming to an agreement we both could live with. In his editor’s chair, Matt catches some things I don’t, and I’m grateful for that.
No, when a column doesn’t make it to print it’s always Operator Error. Either I let my notion go to its conclusion and then look at it and say, that’s not what I wanted to write. Or, it’s just crap, and I don’t see it until the end.
This one is an example of the former. And at 3 a.m., I’m paying for it.
WHAT I WROTE ABOUT
Was the horrible, deadly dangerous, totally predictable lack of leadership and competence Trump has shown from the beginning of this global health crisis unprecedented in our lifetimes. More than that, missteps and misinformation compounding the delays.
He called it a “hoax,” another hoax from the Democrats. Yes, he did. He said he didn’t want that cruise ship to dock, to let infected passengers be treated and the others to be tested, because he “didn’t want the numbers to go up,” numbers that might make him look bad and hurt his chances for re-election. I mean, you have to remind yourself, amidst all the chaos he sows, that he is a sociopath who cares not a whit for anyone other than himself.
He waited more than two months after he knew about the virus threat, to act. That’s why we are so far behind the rest of the world, lacking test kits, hospital beds, respirators, ventilators, ICUs, masks, doctors and nurses, testing facilities. And so attempts to contain it are doomed to fall way short, with sickness and death to follow as a certain result, that could have been kept more in check.
When asked at a press conference Monday to rate his handling of the pandemic, one to ten, he of course gave himself a 10. Later when a Harvard doctor being interviewed was asked, “the President gave himself a ‘10’ on his handling of this crisis, would you agree?” The doctor answered, “yes -- 10 out of 100.” So now, how many have been infected, how many have died? The number climbs with every tick of the clock. It is more blood on Donald Trump’s hands. I hope he’s washing them frequently and thoroughly.
SCARIER
But two things scare me even more than his being in charge of dealing with this terrible disease.
What if he starts a war? Or some other nation starts one, seeing how vulnerable we are, and without rational leadership.
The coronavirus will kill thousands in the United States, probably tens of thousands. But an all-out war could kill millions. If it went nuclear it could destroy the entire planet,
Donald Trump is certainly capable of bumbling into that scenario. Or following his ego there. Or seeing it as his best way to retain power. Unthinkable as it sounds, there is every indication that Donald Trump would do anything, even take us to war, to remain in power.
That’s scary number two. I have no doubt at all that the Stephen Miller lunatics in the White House have already been brainstorming for a while as to how they can weaponize this pandemic into another term, by acclamation not ballot box, for their golden boy, who if there is any sanity left in this nation will be crippled by his mishandling of this crisis and the unthinkable economic fallout. If he were facing almost certain defeat in November, what do you think he might do? The correct answer is, anything. With Moscow Mitch and a GOP-controlled Senate who has given him every crazy, un-Constitutional thing he has demanded so far, can’t you see where this could easily go?
TOO LATE?
The President went on TV Tuesday morning -- happy St. Paddy’s Day! now, that’s enough celebrating -- to announce sweeping programs to deal with everything. Finally. Good. But every bureaucrat up there with him violated the rules they want us to follow of social distancing, and also, very dangerously, all kissed the president’s backside as they spoke. Spin control has begun. “We didn’t want to test with the inferior test kits that other countries have used.” he intoned. Explaining why we’re 10 weeks behind even South Korea. But not explaining why this administration secretly tried to buy exclusive -- exclusive -- rights to a new German vaccine.
Here’s the problem. Trump is now doing the things any responsible president would do in this situation. But in waiting 10 weeks, he has allowed the virus to spread to God knows how many Americans, undetected time bombs almost certain to do massive damage, rather than containment.
Gosh, so many things to keep in mind in November. If… he lets us vote.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 34 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
