Stop for a minute and think about how different your life has been recently. We are in the midst of a world-shaping event.
The coronavirus outbreak has changed the globe more rapidly than any event we’ve seen since 9/11 – maybe even since World War II.
When the U.S. declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic, I figured that a worldwide crisis like this would finally unite America and heal the schism that’s been growing for decades.
I guess I had too much faith.
Our government is letting us down and no example of that failure is clearer than the mascot of American incompetence: the commander in chief.
If you turn on President Donald Trump’s daily news briefings, they make for a great
drinking game.
If Trump gloats about the “terrific job” he’s doing – drink. If he tells a reporter their question was nasty – drink. If he says anything substantive, hopeful or meaningful, you might as well finish the whole damn bottle because God knows that’s not happening.
The president of the United States is actively dividing the country with these briefings.
Former President George W. Bush deservedly gets a lot of flack for how he handled the aftermath of 9/11, but even a historically incompetent president was able to unite the country in the face of fear and tragedy. According to Gallup, Bush’s approval rating was as high as 90% in a poll conducted less than two weeks after 9/11. That’s unheard of in the two-party system.
Instead, Trump uses his screen time to say he’s doing a good job and to attack reporters, rather than assuring Americans that through non-partisanship, the horrors of COVID-19 will end.
Congress can’t seem to be productive, even in a time of crisis.
The Senate’s
$1.6 trillion coronavirus stimulus package failed with a 47-47 vote Sunday, less than the 60 votes it needed to pass. Again on Monday, Democrats blocked a vote on another package.
Both sides pointed fingers across party lines to explain failure, with Democrats blaming Republicans for giving too much money to corporations and Republicans insisting that Democrats are asking for concessions not relevant to the stimulus package, according to Politico.
Now is not the time for petty big versus small government arguments.
The government cares more about being on the winning side than actually caring for its people. Senators should be working around the clock to pass a stimulus package or at least a stopgap to get more tests to the public or make more hospital beds available.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Senate is unable to get its act together. Some senators are carelessly spreading the virus themselves.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky became the first U.S. senator to test positive for COVID-19 Sunday. According to CNN, Paul was still active in the Senate, sitting with others at lunch and using the congressional gym and pool as recently as Sunday morning, after he had taken the test with a positive result.
If our senators can’t take this threat seriously, how are we expected to do so?
Even in a time of desperate need, we can’t count on our government. These long, hellish months ahead of us provide the perfect fastball of crisis control for the government to knock out of the park, but instead our leaders are too busy arguing balls and strikes to notice.
The sad thing is, the way our government handled COVID-19 could have turned the tides in an election year. Trump could have been the hero. Congress could have proven that it can be non-partisan when it needs
to be.
There’s no reason that Congress shouldn’t be working around the clock to get a clearer bipartisan solution to the pandemic. They shouldn’t sleep until Americans are taken care of financially
and medically.
It seems that the only way to grab any elected official’s attention is to remind them that their jobs aren’t safe. November is coming and the American people will not forget these blunders. We deserve better.
