Fight For Our Teachers
History is littered with socio-economic, political and military blunders. However, 99.99% of those blunders were unforeseen and often done with the best of intentions. Compare that to how we are now confronted with Donald Trump’s efforts to spin rather than manage a once in a lifetime pandemic. Yet the bizarre individual currently occupying the Oval Office seems to think he’s got this all under control. Time to sell some beans!
Prior to the COVID-19 emergency that has enveloped the world, Trump had already established himself as a bungling clown, interested only in himself. The pandemic subsequently served to underscore his patent ineptitude and callous disregard for American lives as he continually down-played the increasing severity of the pandemic problem day after day, preferring to dwell in a self-constructed reality that bore no resemblance to what was really happening.
Somehow, as if in a parallel universe where those bizarre dreams you have some nights come true, we have arrived at a President who now daily spars with preeminent expert Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top authority in infectious diseases and, more importantly, his advice as how best to get on top of a calamitous outbreak such as this.
In the opposite corner, we have Donald Trump. A man who likes to stare into a full solar eclipse without eye protection, seemingly believes that windmills “cause cancer” and has suggested that bleach injected into the body may “do a number on the virus.” And most recently, is famous for taking cognitive tests for fun and getting extra points.
We now find ourselves in the preposterous situation of the President’s administration actively going out its way to hide and distort real data from the CDC about the daily extent of the pandemic. Before Trump, the CDC was the world’s most trusted clearing house for data collection and disease mitigation. In the last three years, the CDC has been defunded, ignored, mocked and muzzled; pushed to the periphery in the moment of greatest need. Let’s be very clear here — tens of thousands of Americans have, and surely tens of thousands more, will needlessly die because of this unnecessary rejection of science and common sense.
Trump, of course, plus his inner circle of fawning acolytes, are tested for the virus daily. Every single day. However, if you happen to be one of hundreds of millions of Americans who don’t happen to be the President of the USA, then according to Trump, you really should be getting back to work, dining out, having a drink at the local bar and so on. Testing? Meh, that just shows more cases…
So does Mr. The Art of The Deal, transactional Trump love Americans? Perhaps. As long as they are part of his cult. But even then, it is apparent he would let his supporters get sick and worse if he thinks it would be of benefit to him.
What then of this coming academic year? According to Captain Bonespurs, the schools should absolutely be opened in just a few weeks’ time. All of them. Everywhere. Which is simultaneously as breath-taking as it is reckless. Schools are the very definition of a confined space, with hundreds of individuals inside very limited areas. Social distancing hundreds of under-eighteens in often tight spaces? About as likely as Trump ever voluntarily releasing his taxes.
Trump seems to be under any number of delusions, with one in particular being that younger people are not vulnerable to COVID-19. While there is some evidence that suggests that is partially true, there are still thousands of under 18 cases of infection and deaths. On top of that, what of the adult teachers, bus drivers, custodians, lunch staff, administrators and the like in such potential pandemic-conducive environments? Or how about asymptomatic kids returning home after a day at school and sharing an evening dinner with their potentially high-risk parents and family?
It’s beyond apparent that Trump only cares about two things. The first is himself. The second is winning a second term by hook or by crook. That means an irrational drive for the country to fully open up so as to bank on his supposed economic prowess in time for the November election. That was all Trump ever had — a healthy economy that he had inherited from Obama.
The shocking reality is that Trump would rather our children and educators went to their graves after a wholly preventable, lonely, desperate, suffocation attached to a ventilator as opposed to the economy cratering as we fast approach November. His entire administration is in an absolute state of gaslighting delusion when it comes to the pandemic. While they lie and obfuscate, the rest of America is left flailing to try and work this nation-wide pandemic out for themselves. There is simply no leadership. Only spin.
In the before times, whenever I’d meet a teacher for the first time, I’d thank them for their service. Not for the job they’d signed up for but the one they didn’t sign up for at all: human shield in America’s dystopian school shooting battlefield. Now, here again, we’re asking teachers to do the unthinkable. It’s time for us to fight for our children and educators and not wait and thank them for their sacrifice after the fact.
