Strap In

This is more of a chat, I guess. Random thoughts from a day in the life of Corona.

If you have read any of this before, you know in the famous words of CSN&Y (are you old enough?) I’m scared shitless. Not terribly old at 62, but over the Mendoza Line, I suffered a heart attack back in 2004, so that underlying issue is there. My lifestyle contributes to my risk, meaning simply that I haven’t been particularly health conscious in my life, to my folly.

So where some of you see light at the end of the tunnel, I see a headlight I need to escape, and it got a headstart.

If I’m right, this may get me. It’s entirely plausible. But the possibility makes me more fearful of the virus than perhaps you are. But I actually fear it. It is real to me. I hope I look like an idiot in two months, or ten, I will happily play the clown at parties. In the meantime, it may be my irrational fear is what saves me.

But today was uniquely horrific. The briefing was insulting to every American. The President first admitted his idiocy about his “aspirations” having packed churches on Easter. Remember that, way back a day or so ago? At least the end of April for sure, but probably June or later now. If you were listening, that’s what was said. If you weren’t, you heard you had a month to go.

He submitted that the states were committing fraud against the Feds by ordering absurd amounts of PPE and ventilators and hoarding them for…what? Resale when the market gets really hot? He needs an off ramp, someone to blame for what is already public record, already damning to a degree without precedent. The states. Washington. Michigan. Not sure why Cuomo was getting a pass from the President. He’s been plenty critical in his fight for his people of New York. He berated FEMA for sending a mere 400 ventilators when he asked for 30000, tweeking the President’s agency. The President fired right back, saying it was too bad Cuomo hadn’t picked up those ventilators back in 2015. Now he is accusing the Governor with fraud, essentially.

He just can not see the position he is in, the need to rise to an occaision in a truly historic, heroic way. We need a titan, that once in a century leader that has so much compassion for the common man that nothing will get in their way of protecting the people with every fiber he/she has, in the fight to the last.

We have Trump.

He was very excited about his ratings. Super Bowl stuff. Big. Bigger than The Bachelor finale. By the way, who won? Been busy. Asking for a friend.

I feel on solid ground that if you give me an international disaster, a global financial catastrophe, a pandemic with life and death implications to a percentage of the entire country, and a population desperate for guidance in a time of deep concern, I could get pretty good numbers too.

And I’m not pretty.

Great news from the briefing, though. We now know how many of us can die to characterize this as an unadulterated victory for Trump. 100,000 or less, and he’s Babe Ruth! Even up to 200.000 and he’s still Mickey Mantle! (Willie Mays was not considered for this analogy. You figure it out) It is a huge comfort to now have that number. Something to shoot for. Come on, 99! That will show the snowflakes!

Ok. I know. I have to get outside, but long before now, long before this virus came along and erased all doubt, I thought we were going through the most dramatic moment in our political history. The very balance of our country, its plausible demise, was in the balance and people were going along with their lives like quotas mattered, like agendas had relevance, and there was a five alarm fire going before this ever was a thought.

Napalm fell on that.

The unfortunate confluence of Trump and Covid-19 is an incendiary mix that just may burn it all down.

Fasten your seat belts, It’s going to be a bumpy night.