Choosing Wrongly

WHEN THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN began, the Republican party had sixteen qualified, interesting candidates of all shapes and sizes, and one criminal, who also doubled as a self proclaimed sexual predator, pathological prevaricator, and all around smear merchant; the inimitable Donald J. Trump. Much to the discredit of the G.O.P. and the United States, it was Trump who prevailed, with demonstrably tragic consequences. There were far better choices available. John Kasich and Jeb Bush come to mind. Any choice alternative to Trump would have been preferable, as principled conservatives understand. Aside from all the lies, insults, presidential crime and bad policy we the American people have endured since 1/20/17, consider the following: In the midst of our global and national panic concerning a new and heretofore unstoppable (by any known treatment) highly contagious virus, President Trump assures us that he and his administration are doing everything possible to fight the impending epidemic, that all is well, that the situation is well under control, and that he is leading heroic action to avert disaster. Meanwhile, he blames Democrats for spreading another "hoax", and his son accuses the president's opponents of hoping that the virus kills millions, to nefariously increase the chances of Trump loosing his reelection bid. But not to worry; the president assures us that he hasn't touched his orange hued face in months. He might wish to reconsider that plan. However, the Trump campaign rallies, a weird fixture of this administration since inauguration day, in which the president remains in constant reelection campaign mode, will go on. Hordes of angry, hateful, screeching MAGA folk will regularly gather together, hold hands, blow noses, and breathe toxic fumes into each other's faces, even as nearly all other events involving the assembly of large crowds are postponed, often as great economic distress to working people. With regard to missed paychecks, the president's solution is to cut taxes. On precisely whom, he has not said. Rumor is that the cut will be on payroll taxes, a temporary expedient. Those'll go right back up in our post viral world, you can bank on it. No mention of reinstating the taxes Trump and his corporate republican colleagues eliminated on the corporate wealthy and redistributing unto the paycheck free working poor, or, heaven forbid, no mention of raising the federal minimum wage from its ludicrously paltry seven twenty five an hour to something reasonable, say fifteen per. Heaven forbid that actual meaningful action should be taken to permanently economically uplift the working virus plagued poor; after all, such meaningful action might burden the very wealthy, by increasing their labor costs, and reduce their take home pay by a few thousand per hour.