Why Trump’s battle with COVID19 can be a good thing for The United States of America
Varoon, my 16-year-old son, got on twitter around 2 am last night and started posting his thoughts on Trump’s gross-negligence that might have led to his infection. This conversation on POTUS’ carelessness resulted in some push back from his friends, and in that back-and-forth, he stayed up all night. I had a disturbed sleep myself and had trouble waking up early as I had mixed reactions on what this means to the health of our nation, and the upcoming elections. Varoon was up all night and on his way to school, and we talked about what Trump’s COVID19 result means, and how it might potentially affect the election. We were obviously concerned for the President’s well being, but knowing Trump and his obsession to own and control the news cycles — we were skeptical of the news of this magnitude reaching us on October 1st, 33 days before the elections.
Though we are an average American family — we feel like we are more informed and engaged in politics. We do realize that most Americans ignore President Trump’s corruption, deceit, and incompetence. An average American might feel sympathy for the POTUS for being infected by this terrible virus. Still, if they consider the fact that he blatantly ignored and violated the recommendations laid out by his own CDC by conducting in-person events. In his attempts to display strength, he put himself, his family, his supporters at risk. To make matters worse, he ignored the essential best practices of social distancing and masks and politicized these safety measures. With his bully pulpit image, he is singularly responsible for the current “anti-masker” movement within the Republican party. This reckless behavior is directly responsible for continued and escalating and unrelenting infection rates in several states. These unacceptable infection rates and the resulting deaths in America — the wealthiest nation with the best healthcare facilities should be appalling for every patriotic citizen. Instead of a beacon of leadership, we are now a case study of incompetent leadership. Such incompetence is not Trump’s fault alone, as it’s enabled by power-hungry leaders, followed by innocent supporters who just want to follow their elected officials blindly.
I hope that Trump’s infection might humble him and would allow him to second-guess his “A+” rating for handling the crisis. I might be naive, but I wish that he would overcome this disease and will be transformed by this personal crisis. It is wishful thinking — but I think he would reverse his “It is what it is” statement about COVID patients after he sees the emotional trauma firsthand.
Even though Varoon is only 16, he is a lot more informed — thanks to his polititeen podcast and his general interest in politics. We discussed these topics and their impact on our way to his school.
Veda, my 13-year-old daughter, had her annual physical today. On our drive to the clinic, she started showing some videos on TikTok featuring Trump fans vs. Biden fans. On the surface, it looked like Biden fans were more attractive, passionate, and likable than the other side. However, on a closer look, I remarked that we were all the same, and our tribalism and confirmation bias tricks us into thinking that our side is better than the other side. I explained that to Veda and trying to engage in a psychological deep-dive. Before we could get any further, she started scrolling through her feed to the next TikTok video. TikTok has a wide variety of videos, but the “For You Page” customizes the videos based on our preferences and prior history of watching other videos. A majority of Americans have been turning in to elections; there is increasingly more politically inclined media and campaign advertising on TikTok. Unlike Facebook, TikTok is still user-driven, and these conversations are driven by hundreds of thousands of teens, pre-teens, and their parents. So watching these 15-second videos with Veda is fun, engaging, and entertaining. We talked at a high level about the current events and enjoyed some of our favorite music on our commute to the clinic and back.
After finishing my workday, and as we started our supper preparations, I turned on Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Wolf is one of the CNN journalists that focuses more on news and less on opinions and banter, and that’s something I prefer more than opinionated anchors like Hannity (Fox), Maddow (MSNBC), O’Donnel (MSNBC), Carlson (Fox), and Lemon (CNN).
The news started with seemingly regular coverage of Trump in the Whitehouse, with mild symptoms. Within a couple of hours, it was revealed that he might be having moderate symptoms, and then we were informed that he was on an experimental antibody cocktail that was tested only on 250 patients so far. All the pundits wondered aloud why the President of The United States was treated with an experimental drug that barely passed Phase 2 trails. Just like any other Trump “newsplosion” — within 8 hours of the public being informed of POTUS’s COVID positive result (1 am on October 2nd, 2020), it was announced that President Trump would be moved to Walter Reed Hospital. Trump is very effective with this strategy of hiding the fire as long as he can. When this fire is no longer concealable, his gang starts dumping the news with an avalanche of bad news. This “drinking from the firehose” strategy is very effective in numbing the public from any coherent reactions to the news. His infrastructure did this effectively with Russian Collusion, Ukraine corruption, election mischief, and many other scandals over the years. He piles on one terrible discovery over another and adds more appalling scandals on top. He and his confidants keep dumping so much toxic chaos, with explicit plans to make the public accept this terrible behavior as the “new normal”. The last 4 years have been a case study on patience and tolerance of the American public. Despite all the chaos, scandals, corruption, and offensive behavior — 95% of the Republicans still support Trump whole-heartedly. This cult-like following for Trump is the scariest development over the years, and this support is based on his “Teflon Trump” image.
As the news developed about Trump being moved to Walter Reed Hospital, I wondered if this news will make any difference to his cult-like followers.
Would they wear masks, now that it’s revealed that their standard-bearer has fallen sick with the COVID19 virus?
Would they behave rationally and start listening to scientists, doctors, and professionals instead of questioning their motives?
Would they respect fellow Americans who wear masks to protect themselves and their families instead of calling them “pu$$13s” and questioning their mental health?
Most importantly -
Would Trump reveal a changed personality once he overcomes this disease and demonstrates responsible behavior?
I am cynical if Trump or his cult-like followers will show personality change, but here is to hope that common sense and rational thought will eventually prevail in America. If that happens, our POTUS’ COVID infection will be the best thing that happened to our infected nation.
America has not only been infected by the Corona Virus, but we have also been contaminated with the worst disease of all: irreverence for truth. Without respect for truth, it will be impossible for us to overcome any challenge, whether the threat is from external affliction or a menace powered by an internal force.