Coop Scoop May 20-21: Badge of Honor Edition

The Badge of Honor Edition

Issue #19
May 20-21, 2020
Coopscoopnews@gmail.com

So Donald Trump is now scarfing down that miracle drug hydroxychloroquine. The president failed, however, to disclose the entirety of his advanced scientific preventive treatment to avoid covid-19.

Reliable sources in the West Wing confirm that Trump is also wearing a garlic-soaked over-sized crucifix around his neck, an evil eye amulet modified for ankle wear, he is filling his suit pockets with four-leaf clovers, he tosses salt over his left shoulder after every meal, he has taken to eating Lucky Charms for breakfast, he douses himself in the morning with holy water, and he has shoved a small rubber horseshoe up his nether end in case the covid virus attempts a back door entry. Oh, and, yes, he washes his hands 37 times a day.

Donald Trump now has only two driving desires: 1) to physically survive the pandemic (as long as he doesn’t have to don a metrosexual face mask) and 2) to win re-election in November. That’s pretty much his whole program. Period. Full stop.

Today, May 20, is the day Trump has dreamed of for the last two months. As of today, all 50 states are to some degree or another in the process of re-opening. Never mind that, according to the Trump administration itself, only the two states of New Mexico and Michigan actually meet the safety criteria for entering the very limited Phase 1 of re-opening, but that has not stopped the 48 other states from blindly jumping in. It’s too early to say just how big the inevitable bump in, or wave of new infections will emanate, blossom and spread from the newly opened Applebee’s and Mickey D’s but anyway you cut it, this economic measure will have deleterious effect on public health.

Anyway, who cares? Trump has already pre-empted any further criticism by telling yet more lies about how great America’s testing regime is by making the jaw dropping statement that the rising casualty figure of a minimum 1.5m cases in the U.S. is actually a “badge of honor.” That’s what he said:

“I view it as a badge of honor, really, it’s a badge of honor,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. “It’s a great tribute to the testing and all of the work that a lot of professionals have done.”

In fact, U.S. testing is anything abut magnificent, except in the scope of its failure or simple non-existence for most citizens. On a per capita basis we rank eighth in the world behind places like South Korea and New Zealand and Australia. Which is one reason why we rank an outstanding Number One in virus infections and deaths.

Trump will not so much as shrug when the death toll crosses 100,000 next week nor will he in the fall when there will be somewhere near double or triple that number.

I must say after nearly 50 years experience in journalism, having traveled the world and witnessed mass killing and destruction more times than I wish to remember, I have never seen a country react so blithely to the death of so many people so fast with a projection of so many more to come.

We really have become a “numbed out” country of sheeple. Or maybe, we have not and are just weighed down and paralyzed by a completely inept and bankrupt political class and too many Americans see no point in getting exercised about very much in public life. Or death.

I was heartened to read that in 20 states today, Wednesday, protesters are planning a National Day of Mourning in which body bags will be laid out in front of government buildings. It’s not much, and these protests will be small and marginal, but at least it’s beginning.

Beginning of what, you might ask. I think Americans should have figured out by now that we are completely alone in this crisis and the future of this country will depend what we the citizens make of this.

It’s a fool’s errand to think the political cavalry is on its way. And if it were, it would simply stampede right over us. We are, in short, the collateral damage of Trump’s single-minded crusade, his panicked insane crusade, to get his ass re-elected. And if that means his Labor Department leaning on employers to force their employees back to work by cutting off their unemployment checks (as is now the case), so be it. What we do in November and, I emphasize, what we do after November is crucial to the continued existence of the republic.