Here we are. It's June 30, 2020. Everything I've been saying for the last four months has come to pass. On May 7th, at the conclusion of the entry, "Innumeracy: Lying and Dying," I said "The innumeracy has been exposed. The horror, however, has just begun."
When I wrote that, I paused after the last sentence. I paused because I momentarily considered whether the word "horror" was melodramatic and unnecessary. I realized, however, that with 75,000 American COVID-19 deaths at the time, the word "horror" was completely appropriate. I also realized that my momentarily considering "horror" as perhaps overly dramatic spoke to how desensitized I was becoming to discussing illness and death in the tens of thousands. And that is what the Trump administration was trying to do -- desensitize all of us.
Now that we're eight weeks later and the GOP has had its stab at early re-opening, it's time to pull that knife out of the American jugular and try to clean up the spurting, hemorrhaging mess.
It has been science versus the GOP. Somebody was going to be correct. Somebody was going to be wrong. Wish there had been odds available. The virus didn't disappear on wafts of warm summer breezes, as the president suggested. New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, and Germany all provided templates as to how the U.S. could successfully deal with the virus. Italy, Spain., and France exemplified how to recover from brutal starts and regain some means of control. The United States ignored these examples and the accompanying protocols. Call it hubris or American stupidity or sheer one-percenter greed, but the U.S. virus response resembled a drunkard pausing to nap under a guillotine blade while slurring, "I did it my way."
I'm stunned, but I've been saying that every day for four months. The sheer inability of Americans to evaluate evidence, think critically, and demonstrate behavioral discipline has all been shocking. The United States as an entity has been exposed as dumb as a rock.
I've said ad nauseum that this was going to be a 24-month marathon. Did anyone really think those red state governors knew what they were doing from a scientific standpoint? I grew up watching the Apollo program unfold. Now I've been witness to the worst application of science and resources ever seen in my lifetime. Maybe the United States deserves all of this. If you have no mechanism in place to vet national leadership or evaluate abilities, you run the risk of undisciplined, narcissistic idiots with no relevant skills getting their hands on the wheel of America's future.
Which of us suspected that other countries would flip the "build the wall" motif on its head and strive to keep COVID-laced Americans in the United States? Who knew two months ago that a recovering New York would ban red state zombies from breaching its border?
This is where we are. It's all gone to hell. American citizens have been banned from EU travel. President Trump has surrendered any real leadership role. He ducks coronavirus responsibilities and spends his days tweeting about Confederate statues. Our nation is a lurching embarrassment, still trying to sing "I did it my way" as the blade descends.
Bob Dietz
June 30, 2020
