Because I post pretty bluntly on social media and also respond when I see some especially-offensive post if it's received enough "Likes" for "Retweets" to make it worth my time, that means I also get a lot of replies back -- though not all the time -- and get into my share of annoying "conversations."
I try to be as polite as possible -- for several reasons -- though politeness is rarely returned. Rarely, as in "pretty much never." I don't keep up the exchanges for very long, enough to make and repeat my point, maybe respond to their latest attempt once or twice, and then saying goodbye because life is too short. But as short as the exchanges may be, it's still wearying -- not for their anger and name-calling, not for their point of view, but mostly for their almost-literal inability to accept reality. But something else occurred to me last night, much more clearly and focused than what rumbles through me when I respond. And I thought it would be good and healthy not only to vent here, but more importantly to have a place I can link to the next time one of those back-and-forths begins, since Twitter only allows for 188 characters. And this is the point...in case any of them are reading this -- Don't you understand? You can't win this argument. It's not possible. It's not because you don't have logic, truth and reality on your side -- you don't, but that's not the reason. It's because Trump is president. He's in charge of all this. And there are, as of this writing on May 6, 2020, and there are 76,227 Americans who are dead right now. And that's the number we know of, that's been repeated. Since there isn't much testing, the number is likely much higher. And it's going to get higher still -- that horrific number might seem even paltry by the time you read this months from now. So, whatever argument you make that you think is brilliant, whatever nasty smears you through at others you disagree with, in the end, those two facts remain, and will always remain -- Trump is president and responsible for all the actions taken by the United States after he learned of the coronavirus being here (whatever date you wish to choose -- November when the intelligence service learned of it, early-January when records show Trump was told, mid-February when he says he found out, you pick, it doesn't matter), and as of May 7, 2020, there are 76,415 dead Americans, You can't "win" an argument on Trump and the coronavirus pandemic with that is your starting foundation. Of course, there is much, much more that makes your attempt to defend Trump and smear the "damn libs" am empty, lost cause. For instance, as much as you want to think and shout what a great job Trump has done, and it's all China's fault, and it's New York State's fault, and Massachussett's fault, and all the Blue States' fault, and Dr. Fauci's fault, and Barack Obama's fault, and perhaps George Washington's fault, just a few things about Trump that come to mind that make your arguments unwinnable are -- Trump was informed about the coronavirus and risk of a pandemic in January, at the very latest, but dismissed the information as it just being like "the flu" and took no action for almost two months. Trump's administration ignored the Obama Transition Team, who advised him on pandemics when they met before Trump became president. And there are documents that prove this. Trump closed the Pandemic Response Unit in 2018. Trump didn't renew $8.5 BILLION in CDC budget that was meant specifically for use in dealing with infectious diseases. Trump fired the CDC expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Linda Quick, who was actually stationed literally in China on July, 2019. Only four months before the coronaviruis broke out. Trump claims that he saved lives by closing our borders to China -- except he did not do that. He only closed the border to Chinese nationals wanting to come to the U.S. Any Americans in China and any approved travelers in China were free to fly back to the United States -- as if they couldn't have possibly become infected when in China... -- and 420,000 travelers returned here from China...and none of them were tested!! Further, studies are showing that it's likely most of the early coronavirus came into the United States from Europe (which had already gotten infected by their residents who'd been in China), and no travel from Europe to the U.S. was blocked. Trump has claimed that the cupboard was bare of PPEs when he took office, but not only is that not remotely true, Journalists visited the national strategic stockpile in 2016, and validated that it was fully stocked. But even if it was "empty, Trump had three threes to replenish it -- but (if it was bare) did nothing. And as much as Trump claims it's President Barack Obama's fault to not have a test for COVID-19 -- there was no COVID-19 virus in the world when he was president, so it literally was not possible to have a test for something that didn't exist. Trump promised there would be 27 million tests by the end of March. But by the beginning of May, only about 5.5 million Americans had been tested. In a nation of 325 million people. Trump had the ability to enable the Defense Production Act and order companies to make the desperately-needed N95 face masks and ventilators and PPE -- and never has done so. (Indeed the only time he enabled the Act was to order meatpacking companies back to work -- a disastrous decision putting all those workers and their town at great risk, as records showed, which shut them down in the first place.) And none of this even includes Trump's suggestion that we test bleach, disinfectant, high-power UV rays and hydrochloroquine as treatments -- all of which can KILL you. You cannot "win" an argument on Trump doing everything wonderfully and bearing no responsibility for his utterly irresponsible action. It's just not possible. Any one of these mistakes above are disastrous. Pick one, any one. And that's without putting them all together. The one saving grace that Trump cultist defenders think they have is to blame China. It's China's fault. It's all China. China did it. To be sure, China has much to answer for, and they will in the world community. But -- we know China is at fault. The issue, though, is that it's Trump's JOB to protect the United States when there is a threat from outside. That's his first and foremost responsibility when swearing his oath -- number one -- "to preserve, protect and defend." So, whoever "caused" the pandemic initially -- it was Trump's JOB to keep the country safe after that fact. We know that Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and we know that Germany started World War II by attacking our allies and then made us their enemy. If Franklin Roosevelt had just spent his time shouting, "It's Germany fault, it's Japan's fault!!!!!" over and over again -- he's have been 100% right. But if he did nothing to protect and defend the United States at that point, while shouting it, we'd be speaking German and Japanese right now as our national language. Whoever caused the problem, it's the president's job to fight it off and defend the nation. China is where the coronavirus began. But if Trump hadn't done all those mind-numblingly horrific misdeeds after misdeeds after misdeeds above, and had also listened to the Obama Transition Team and prepared, we could have been spared a 1.36 MILLION infections and 76,415 deaths -- as of May 7 -- and spared shutting down the economy and 33 million new Americans unemployed. As of May 7. So, the one prayerful defense of Trump that his cultists cling to, that has no merit either. Because it's Trump's JOB to protect the country against whatever outside "attack" comes our way, whether it's an army, terrorist or a virus. And here's the thing, too -- In late February, Trump said that there were only 15 cases and in just a few days there will be 2-3 cases and then soon it will be gone like a miracle. In mid-April, Trump than changed and said, "Now we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people.” Then, in late-April, he changed again, and this time said, "I'm hearing 74,000." A few days ago, in early May, once more Trump changed, and said "it could be 100,000." Here's the deal -- we're over 76,000 on May 6. And deaths are increasing by 1,500-2,000 a day. Even it something remarkable happens, and deaths plummet to a "mere" horrific 1,000 a day...we will be at 100,000 deaths by the end of May! If the low-end of that likely range occurs, though, we'll be at 100,000 deaths in just two weeks. And deaths will tragically keep rising, and then there will be a second wave. So, the question for Trump supporters is -- how many more deaths when we hit 100,000 will it take before you say, "Hmmm, well, this isn't good. Shouldn't our government be doing something"? At the very least, how many more deaths over 100,000 will it take you to say, "Gee, Trump said it would be zero, gone like a miracle, and he keeps changing his prediction higher and higher and higher, I don't think he actually knows what he's talking about"? And by the way, "This is no worse than the flu" doesn't cut it either. The general average of flu deaths every year is around 20-30,000. Only a few few times have we ever hit 60,000 flu deaths in a year. We'll be at 100,000 coronavirus deaths by the end of May. And the end isn't in sight. But more to the point -- in flu season, we don't wear face masks, don't social distance from one another, don't shelter-at-home, don't close down businesses. Life goes on as normal. We are doing that now, with the coronavirus -- and even Trump is now saying it will be 100,000. But all serious scientists and experts said from the first that without face masks, social distancing, sheltering at home and closing businesses (like how we live during flu season)...there could probably be between 1-2 MILLION deaths. This Is Not Like the Flu. Let me repeat -- This is Not Like the Flu. All of which finally brings us to the last and only remain attempt at a defense by the Trump cultists -- that they don't believe any of this. That it's all a hoax. It's fake news from the Main Street Media. That all those stories about the disastrous mistakes made are not true. That the number of infections and deaths are not truth. It's not true, it's not true, it's not true. The problem with this "argument" that is akin to one make by a four-year-old child is that, of course, it's all true. It's reality. It's science. You may not believe the science, but science isn't a belief system. You may not believe the reality, but reality isn't a belief system either. It's reality. Just because you don't believe reality doesn't make it not true. When you close your eyes in the daytime, it doesn't become night just because it's now looks dark. When someone points a gun at you, it's still pointed at you no matter how much you say to yourself over and over that it isn't. If you don't believe there is a cliff ahead, but there is and you speed your car towards it -- you will go over the ledge and plummet all the way to the bottom, crashing in a fiery inferno, whether you believe it is happening or not. Not believing reality does not make it true. It makes you ignorant. And when that reality is all around you, pounding at you every day, and you knowingly refuse to accept it, willful ignorance is no virtue. Worse, in this case, in a pandemic, it can kill you. And your ignorance can kill others. And all this is why any argument to defend Trump and blame "damn libs" and the media and China and whoever you want is not possible to "win." Because reality always wins. That's what makes it reality. But if all that is too much reality pounding down on you and your carefully crafted tin-foil hat to protect, we can simplify it all and go back to the very beginning -- You cannot "win" this argument because Trump is president and in charge of protecting the country, and as of May 7, 2020, there are 76,415 Americans who have died when Trump said there were only 15 cases, and it would all be gone soon "like a miracle." You cannot win your argument. It is not possible. So, do the next best thing and accept reality and help protect your country from a deadly pandemic. But if you can't even do that, at least get out of the way and let everyone else do so.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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