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Pandem-ic/onium

7/31/2020

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​Many years ago, our first-born, then three years old, accidentally knocked over a full glass of milk as the dinner hour began. Fortunately for him, the milk flowed across the table, whereupon we—the grown-ups in the room and those most affected by the spillage—jumped up and did what grown-ups do. Finishing the clean-up, we noticed Kevin had continued to eat through it all, only mildly interested in the commotion and certainly feeling no responsibility for what had happened. 
 
I thought of this incident while watching footage of Trump golfing recently as the pandemic roared, federal agents wreaked havoc on the streets of Portland, millions worried about eviction, hunger, and health, and children faced an uncertain school year and even more uncertain prospects for a productive future.
 
Meanwhile, there was a grinning Trump in “thumbs up” pose as a photographer took a shot to memorialize the golfers’ happy day.
 
Yes, what I’m saying is that Trump has the maturity of a three-year-old. More than 150,000 deaths in this country alone, health care workers hammered, businesses collapsed, no coherent plans for educating kids, and an obsession with creating doubts about the validity of an election which hasn’t even occurred yet: All that, and oblivious to the suffering of millions, the most powerful man in the country, the one who could—if he would—do more to address our multiple catastrophes than anyone else in the country … golfs.
 
This is leadership? A struggling reader (witness the halting, expressionless rendition of his “prepared” remarks and speeches), Trump has only a distant relationship with the U.S. Constitution. His knowledge of history is limited, and a constricted vocabulary leaves him without the tools needed to think critically and analyze complex situations. 
 
Cocooned by a feckless party that embraces the most ignorant and irresponsible person ever to occupy the White House, Trump flails his way from crisis to crisis.
 
Legend has it that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs. ​

 
 
 

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