I’ve been writing about the DAMAGE being caused to America and “we the people” by individual 1 and, it appears, he’s going to continue intensifying that DAMAGE as if he’s a petulant child with oppositional defiance disorder. He is UNABLE to accept ANY blame for making mistakes and, in the case of the coronavirus, the MISTAKES are so impactful there’s NO chance he’ll admit to any of his POOR judgments as he’s lashing out in his classic DEFLECTION mode. We saw the “hint” he was looking toward the World Health Organization (WHO) as a convenient “bogeyman” about a week ago in the press briefing where he said, one minute, he was going to freeze the funding of the WHO and then, about 15 minutes later claimed he “never said that.”

Well, today it was reported he has actually suspended the funding of the WHO and is lashing out at them in a brazen attempt to BLAME them for all the BLUNDERS he made as this virus was running rampant across America while he was claiming “It’s under control,” “It will be down to zero in a matter of days,” “It will just go away,” “It’s like the flu you can go to work,” and on and on. Here’s the problem with modern technology – especially when you’re so narcissistic that you NEED to be the center of EVERY aspect of anything – your (his) words are ALWAYS in a plethora of video archives. So he can try to LIE away all the blunders, but the EVIDENCE just won’t go away. When I observe individual 1 in this crisis – as he continues to BLUNDER virtually everytime he opens his mouth – I can’t help but get the picture in my mind of the saying about someone “Throwing s*@t against the wall and hoping some of it sticks.

The problem for our IMPEACHED so-called president is that too much of what he’s “throwing at the wall” is ending up in the “fan.” And, I’m sure, you know what that means. My memories of what the WHO was doing include them warning people everywhere about how serious this potential crisis is/was – and, in early March labeling it a pandemic due to the tepid response by people like individual 1 and, therefore, this country. Of course, the WHO was also trying to get the attention of countries in Western Europe which are now facing the consequences of not taking it serious enough as well. The WHO, I’m sure, didn’t have a perfect response, but for about the first 2 months of this virus spreading across America, I don’t think individual 1 could have done much WORSE than what he actually did.

For example, in Louisiana the Mardi Gras went on as planned based on their interpretation of individual 1’s assurances this would all just magically “go away.” We all know how that played out. For heaven’s sake, up until about a week ago neither Florida nor Georgia had put anything resembling a “mitigation strategy” in place and, incredibly, Georgia’s (apparently not so bright) governor claimed the only reason he was doing so – keep in mind, after Georgia had THOUSANDS infected – was because he had learned “the previous day” that asymptomatic persons could be carrying the virus and spreading it. This guy had to CHEAT to get elected just like individual 1 and we’re all seeing the results.

Of course, the incompetence of individual 1 affects people in EVERY state in the union. And, as he’s getting more and more anxious to “go back to business as usual” – saying over and over (That’s how the Big Lie Theory works, by the way – but, I digress) “The cure can’t be worse than the problem” – it won’t be too surprising to me if individual 1 prolongs this thing for – well, it’s hard to predict at this point because a vaccine is at least a year away. Clearly, “fixing” this problem in his eyes is based on the stock market. And, I have to say, it’s pretty impressive our “free market” is managing to “recover” as unemployment figures are going to be approaching 20% within the next week or two and “earnings” are likely to be “in the tank” for a significant segment of the business community for, well, who knows how long?

That shows you what $7 TRILLION or so will do to a lagging market. But, does anyone really think that’s a solid foundation? I mean how much money are “we the people” willing to “pump” into Wall Street in order to make things look “good” – when EVERYONE knows things aren’t good. To me, what I’ll call the “moneyed” interests of this nation are just proving what a corrupt hold they have on our government. It’s as if this money came out of nowhere and, hopefully, there are some kind of “strings” attached to it. I keep seeing this neon sign flashing across my mind “Free Market” everytime I think about how republicans react to national “disasters.”

In 2008, of course, there was the TARP bailout of the banks who had “tanked” the economy with their risky “bets” on mortgage backed securities which were doomed from the start – despite the AAA ratings they got from Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s (just MORE of the corrupt Wall Street “world”) – but that was ONLY $700 BILLION. Now our free market republicans are throwing around “TRILLIONS” as if money “grows on trees.” It’s working to a degree, but just like everything else I observe with individual 1 it’s what I would call “short termism.” Simply put, there has to be a day of reckoning where the reality of depression levels of unemployment don’t cause the market to go up.

Of course, please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see the market “tanking” – it just seems to me it should be representative of reality. And, if we’re going to prop it up with TRILLIONS – well, stop talking to me about the “free market.” I’ve heard too many times people suggesting our “free market” “capitalizes the profits and socializes the losses.” Well, it doesn’t take an economist (OK, that’s what I qualify for – NOT being an economist) to realize this isn’t a “free market” at all. Well, actually, I’ve been pointing this out for years, but republicans just continue LYING to “we the people” that we have a “free market economy.” If we really did, well, you know where this market would be right now. No one wants it there, so let’s just stop LYING about the reality.

I FORCED myself to listen to Sean Hannity the other day – I managed almost 30 seconds until I was so turned off I thought I would puke if I continued – and, as he was describing some democrat, I can’t remember which one, he had to throw in the word “socialist” as if he was attaching it to – apparently – anyone who’s a “democrat.” I think the way he described who ever he was LYING about as a member of the “democrat socialist” party. (That’s pure brainwashing to those who choose to allow that propaganda into their heads) So, where is the republican party right now? I mean, democrats can’t even get a couple TRILLION past Moscow Mitch in order to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure – a FAILURE which is putting “we the people” farther and farther behind nations all around the world – most especially China. It’s like when China passes us up in virtually every category republicans will wonder what just happened and then they’ll blame all the “democrat socialists.”

We can’t afford to invest in our children who want to go to college but can’t afford the tuition without owing what amounts to a home mortgage when they graduate – if they can manage to graduate – unless, of course, they’re lucky enough to have been born into a family with lots of money. Hell, ONE of those TRILLIONS we just gave Wall Street would be enough to cancel ALL of the student debt America’s young people are saddled with right now. We can find it in an instant to prop up Wall Street but, apparently our children……………? Of course, as I said, the children with most of the debt are those who weren’t born with the proverbial “silver spoon.”

And, things really were much different back when us “baby boomers” were growing up – that’s a big part of the shame in all this to me – we (baby boomers) TOTALLY benefited from what was passed on to us by “The greatest generation” and, yet, too many of us (baby boomers) seem all to comfortable in saddling today’s youth with either unbearable debt or a life without a full education and lower productivity – which, by the way, hurts everyone. Plus, we don’t seem to want to fix all the roads and bridges which are pretty much worn out from all the use WE’VE given them. Why are we saddling our children and grandchildren with debt designed to prop up Wall Street and does virtually NOTHING to make their lives better going forward?

And, speaking of the TARP bailout, if you remember the Obama/Biden administration inherited an incredibly BAD circumstance – an economy shedding jobs at the rate of 800,000 per month which seemed incredible at the time. Of course, that’s just a “drop in the bucket” compared to the past three weeks as Covid-19’s reality has “hit.” And, despite individual 1, today, suggesting he’s going to “open the economy” maybe “very quickly” – like before the May 1 deadline of the most recent “social distancing” guidelines can you imagine people rushing out to restaurants while this virus is still raging? Do you really think the NBA will restart? Or MLB? Will Disneyland reopen? Do you really think Hawaii is going to be recruiting tourists? Maybe individual 1 is just unknowingly hell bent on making sure this pandemic is still raging come November due to his own stupidity, but I just don’t see very many of our governors taking orders from him.

The reason I brought up what Obama/Biden “inherited” from the previous republican administration is because I believe the Biden/??? administration is likely to “inherit” something far far worse. Not only is the virus likely to still be a significant issue by next January but we very well could be looking at another “great depression” economically. As I often say here, “I’m no economist,” but one thing I’ve learned is the federal government only has so many “bullets” when it comes to fighting economic downturns and, it appears to me, the individual 1 “short termism” may be creating a situation which is almost untenable. And, of course, he has a lifetime of experience of doing just that.

Anyone who’s done any reading on individual 1’s history knows he’s declared bankruptcy around a half dozen times – stiffing workers, banks, etc. – and, almost always coming out on the other side “still standing.” His father bailed him out financially several times to the tune of, from what I’ve read, about $500 MILLION. He’s also been bailed out, according to several books I’ve read, by the Russian Mafiya a couple times and, I believe, he’s beholden to the Saudi’s as well as far as foreigners bailing him out of his financial disasters goes. We’ve seen how far he’s disconnected from the TRUTH repeatedly since he took the “oath” in 2017 (somewhere, at this point, around 20,000 “LIES or misleading statements”) and that’s not a good “business model” during a national crisis.

So, the likely scenario is that he will take the excellent economy he “INHERITED” from the Obama/Biden administration and give back to Biden and whoever he chooses as his running mate something FAR worse than what they “inherited” from Bush/Cheney. Plus, by the time next January rolls around, it’s likely the “bullets” necessary to defend the economy against a prolonging of this severe downturn will have long been used. I believe it’s close to that point right now. Interest rates can’t be lowered (at the Fed) below where they’re at – zero, a tax cut makes no sense at all, and TRILLIONS have already been pumped into the economy in a futile attempt to make the stock market look good right now. For heaven’s sake, from individual 1’s point of view wouldn’t it be better if the market looked good in November?

Maybe they’ll pull off a miracle, but the deficit this year could be approaching $10 TRILLION! Just for this year! We’re bailing out all those corporations who got a tax cut they didn’t need who used the money to buy their own stock pushing up the stock prices and the salaries of their executives and, in many cases, that stock is now worth a fraction of what they paid for it. And, of course, we’re spending TRILLIONS more to try to keep those stock prices as high as possible in light of an economy which is about 30% inactive. None of this makes too much sense – although, I think I can see why individual 1 is so intent on “re-opening” the economy. It’s because his re-election is more important to him than the heath of the people in our nation.

I still remember in the IMPEACHMENT trial – when republicans had the opportunity to do the right thing and remove individual 1 from office – listening to Allen Dershowitz claiming that if a (so-called) president feels his/her election is in the national interest virtually nothing he/she would do could be considered an IMPEACHABLE offense. Therefore, extorting a president of another country for political “dirt” is OK – so, it wouldn’t surprise me if the same people defending individual 1 back then believe anything he does right now is OK if his motivation is re-election – which, in his mind, is for the good of the country. Yikes! Just writing that makes me shudder at the absolute absurdity.

The bottom line here is the DAMAGE done to this nation by individual 1 is going to continue mounting – republicans will continue their cowering silence as they watch our IMPEACHED so-called president make several of them vulnerable themselves this November – and, democrats MUST continue watching them like hawks as these TRILLIONS which are aimed at workers and small businesses are dispersed. The DAMAGE is already approaching the unimaginable stage, but with an IMPEACHED so-called president who is unable to admit to mistakes, who has virtually no empathy, whose narcissism is “off the charts,” who is a pathological LIAR and, as I’ve said, believes his own lies as the words leave his lips (I’ve seen this before, but only in kids), who is unapologetically racist – it’s hard to imagine things getting much better before next January.

For heaven’s sake – he’s even insisting on putting his name on all the $1200 checks which are going out to the people who filed their taxes and didn’t have their refund put directly into their bank account. First, does he care that making the changes at the Treasury (No president has ever done this before) costs these people, who likely really need the money, to wait a few more days? Does he really think these people are going to somehow interpret his name on the check as if the money is coming from him? He has openly stated “I love uneducated voters” but you’d have to be really “uneducated” to believe that. Do you think his name on these checks will actually cause Americans to vote for him? The thought he would even think that’s possible makes my stomach curl – that someone who occupies the “White House” would have such a low view of the intelligence of the American people. God, I hope he’s wrong!

Personally, (and selfishly) I’m hoping to see baseball SOON – but, I can’t imagine actually going to a game right now and I’m not sure how games with no fans would go over. I’m even worried about this coming football season even though I’ve given up my fetish with Fantasy Football. Again, without fans in the stands? And, what better way to spread this virus than by blocking and tackling each other? Oh yes, do you want to get on a plane and fly across the country? I suppose the planes could have one person in each row and alternate which side of the isle they’re sitting on – but, would that be anywhere near profitable? And, would people even do that? My point is, can individual 1 simply decide we’re “opening the economy” and expect it to happen? I don’t think so!

Final Thought: It finally has dawned on me that there’s a complete parallel to individual 1’s “daily press briefings” and what I’m seeing with the flood of money going to Wall Street. Whereas America’s business community is “free market” while they’re reaping huge profits and, then, turning to America’s socialists (ie the government) when things aren’t going right I see individual 1 setting up a similar scenario as he’s planning to “open” the country back up to “business as usual.” He’s claiming he’s going to direct the governors on how this is going to happen and, presumably, they will be the ones who get blamed when HIS plan proves to be just another in the long list of his BLUNDERS.

Personally, I don’t think governors like the governor of my state, Jay Inslee, or the governors like Gavin Newsome in California, Kate Brown in Oregon, Andrew Cuomo in New York and governors all across the nation are going to fall for this scam. First of all, I don’t believe any of the governors – with the exception of the sycophants – are going to follow ANY directive coming from individual 1 who has FAILED to accept any responsibility for ANYTHING as this pandemic has pushed across this nation along with his FAILURES to actually help on the scale needed (ie the Defense Production Act). As many have said, individual 1 didn’t close things down and he can’t open things back up.

I don’t think there are many Americans who don’t want to see things “open back up” but, I also believe most Americans realize the danger of doing it too soon. Do we want to start all over again on the mitigation strategies? Or do we just let the virus “run its course?” I actually believe there is a significant portion of the republican “base” (yep, the so-called “pro lifers”) who want to open things up and “take our chances.” Of course, even if “we the people” were willing to sacrifice 2 – 4 MILLION people to the “health” of our stock market – unless we’re just going to allow people to die in their homes – our hospital system would be even more overrun – likely in “ashes” by the time the virus would have run its course. Hard to imagine, in my mind, we are even having these discussions.

And, Oh by the way: The death toll in New York was just increased by over 3000 “presumed” Covid-19 fatalities for the very reason I just pointed out would be the issue if we simply let the virus run it’s course. Even considering ALL the mitigation efforts in New York I’ve been reading that over 200 bodies per day have been discovered by EMT’s over the past couple (few?) weeks in New York – likely the people who were not able to get tested and who there weren’t, at the time, beds for them in the local hospitals. From all accounts, when this virus gets into the lungs and goes into pneumonia it happens almost instantly. For example, patients who have been admitted to the hospital with the more severe flu-like symptoms can go to needing a respirator in the manner of minutes. So, after seeing the lines of people trying to get tests which were unavailable and who were turned away by the already overrun hospitals – it’s not surprising that many may have simply died at their homes. Picture this happening on an exponential scale if we did what the Lt. Governor suggested and put the health of the stock market ahead of the health of “we the people.” Again, I can’t even believe this is a topic for discussion in this nation! It will take YEARS to recover from the DAMAGE caused by individual 1 and his cult.