The Chickens are Coming Home to Roost

As we watched the painful performance of Donald Trump’s Oval Office speech,  trying to be something he isn’t—an empathic human being—the magnitude of his and his administration’s ineptitude became clear.  It is not surprising of course, since just about everything he does and says is always about how it makes him appear and whose fault it might be (not his of course!).  After three and a half years of this, it is clear where his priorities lie.  His speech was riddled with misinformation and his proposed actions were examples of ‘closing the barn doors after the horses had escaped’.  It was apparent from his affect that he was terrified to be doing what he was doing and maybe even not aware of what he was proposing.  He utterly failed at reassuring any of us.

What is so awful to contemplate is where another 4 years of this kind of ‘leadership’ will take us.  Trump and his ilk (all the people who are supporting his efforts) are consummate capitalists with not a shred of humanity or empathy.  Our country has always espoused what I would call compassionate capitalism—a society pursuing the benefits of capitalism while keeping an eye on the human condition and being concerned about the public welfare.  Those were the kinds of discussions that our founding fathers wrestled with when our country was formed 250 years ago.  Trumpists make decisions about everything from healthcare to trade with only one consideration—how much money can they make.   Whether people suffer as a result of their actions doesn’t matter.

This is an example of the most cruel and inhumane application of capitalistic practices.  Nothing matters except the deal.  What we have seen over the past three and half years is the inexorable dismantling and destruction of what our country has strived to be.  With every action taken to disassemble governmental supports for all manner of American pursuits and protections, we are crushing our ideals—trampling over our guiding principles in the pursuit of profit.

What we have come to realize during this Corona Virus event is that our governmental structures are really important to us, and because of Trump’s actions over the past several years we are unprotected and not prepared to do the very foundational thing a government is supposed to do—protect the general welfare.  This crisis we face has given us an a-political look at what inept and craven leadership looks like.  Incompetence is never something a nation like the United States of America should tolerate in its President.

I am not a wildly enthusiastic fan of Joe Biden, but he is the right man for the job ---now.  We must repair the damage done to our national psyche and to our relationships among nations of the world.  Using the corona virus as an example, we need to work with our global partners to prepare for the next global threat, maybe another virus, or certainly climate change and its implications and effects for all of humanity.  Biden is the salve that will at least let us catch our breath.  We will be able to sleep knowing there is someone who is experienced and is imbued with a sense of humanity, integrity and honor at the helm.  We will be able to start binding up the nation’s wounds.

If we must endure another four years of the chaos and exhaustion we have experienced with Trump, we will emerge from that time as a changed country, and I don’t mean for the better.