September 25, 2020

Dear Interested Readers,

 

Milestones, Grief, Continuing Misery, and Rage

 

I wish that Justice Ginsburg’s death had not coincided with the passing of the milestone of 200,000 deaths in this country from COVID-19 because it has been a depressing combination of events. In the midst of it all it has become more than I can bear to hear the president say that he has saved thousands of lives by his management of the pandemic and deserves the gratitude of the nation for his A plus performance. Tommy Beer of Forbes magazine summed up the key facts of the president’s self assessment.

 

• “We’ve done a phenomenal job. Not just a good job, a phenomenal job,” Trump said in an interview on Fox and Friends on Monday morning.

• The president stated that the only flaw in his administration’s approach to the deadly virus has been regarding public messaging. 

• “Other than public relations, but that’s because I have fake news. On public relations, I give myself a D,” Trump said, and then declared, “On the job itself, we take an A-plus.”

• As of Monday morning, more than 6,825,700 people in the U.S. have been infected with the coronavirus, and 199,531 have died, according to the Johns Hopkins database.

• In mid-March, Trump also gave himself a perfect score when evaluating his administration’s response to Covid-19.

• When reporters at a White House briefing on March 16 asked how he would rate his response to the pandemic on a scale of one to ten, Trump replied, “I’d rate it a ten.”

 

Perhaps in March, the president’s own rating of his performance may have been closer to the truth than it is now. It is my own unfounded opinion that all of his missteps and aggressions, the ambiguity the president has fostered around whether or not to wear a face mask has contributed mightily to the number of cases here and by extension of that fact, may be one of the prime causes for our inordinate and shameful mortality numbers. In late June in an article entitled “How did face masks become a political issue in America?”, the Guardian stated in an editorial that many Americans considered wearing a facemask to be an issue of personal freedom, but they went on to lay much of the non compliance with the recommendation at the feet of the president.

 

...while many Republican leaders have also spoken out about the importance of masks, other top Republicans have been more hesitant to mandate masks, even as their states have started to see surges of new cases amid reopening phases. The most obvious of these is Donald Trump himself.

And though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus, the US president has suggested wearing a mask could be seen as a political statement against him and mocked Biden for wearing a mask in public.

That message has reached the public, who have turned masks into a “culture war”.

 

This president excels in his ability to create controversies that divide us. Most of the time the result of his style and intent is just to turn one neighbor against another as people line up behind his grand design of making America great again by limiting immigration, reducing social services, repealing the ACA, raviging the environment, and transferring even more wealth to the most wealthy among us. With his off again on again relationship with masks he has crafted more confusion and deeper rifts between neighbors while he has endangered the health of everyone as well as the health of the economy as he encouraged premature openings that resulted in even more economic loss, not to mention unnecessary loss of lives and creation of unknown future morbidity for those who survive.

 

It’s always impossible to know for sure what motivates anyone’s actions, but it is hard not to guess that the mask business is yet another attempt to craft a political advantage by creating a deeper divide in the country between those who Isabel Wilkerson, the author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, suggests are affiliated with “the more liberal party made up of a patchwork of coalitions of, roughly speaking, the humanitarian-minded and the marginalized” and those in “the conservative party that in recent decades had come to be seen as protecting an old social order benefitting and appealing largely to white voters.”

 

My little town is relatively affluent. Many of the homes in desirable areas sell for seven figure numbers just like the homes in the wealthy western suburbs of Boston. They are owned by people who are retired from a successful life in business or a profession, or are still working and enjoying success. My guess is that the split is ⅔ pro humanitarian and Democratic and ⅓ conservative, heredity Republicans. Most of my Republican neighbors don’t seem to want to talk about the president, but if pushed they will refer to his management of the economy which in my mind translates to their enjoyment of the tax breaks he has given them. Our little town is an island. We are surrounded by towns that represent New Hampshire’s version of the “rust belt.” Poverty and the manifestations of economic despair are obvious even on a casual glance. In my town there are just a few Trump/Pence 2020 signs. In the adjacent less affluent towns there are Trump/Pence signs and American flags everywhere. The scene almost defies understanding, but it is an example of the president’s genius for misinformation and capitalizing on the opportunities that despair can offer.

 

Yesterday while driving through rural New York, I saw the penultimate Trump/Pence sign. A rusted out old pickup was parked in the front yard of a very modest home that needed a lot of rehab. The tailgate of the truck had been painted with a patriotic display of eagles and American flags adorning the inscription “Trump/Pence 2020. Make America Great Again.” When I drive through the deteriorating towns in post manufacturing New Hampshire, and as I drive through rural environments in other states, I can’t help but ask, “What is the appeal?” 

 

It seems that the typical Trump enthusiast who is not a direct beneficiary of his business friendly positions has many of the demographic characteristics that Angus Deaton and Anne Case discussed in their excellent book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism. The link is to the review of the book that appeared in the New York Times last March. The review was written by Arlie Russell Hochschild who herself published a magnificent book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, in 2016. Her book is a focused examination of the paradox of people in Louisiana who vote against their own economic best interest.  Of the Deaton and Case book she writes:

 

Midlife deaths from drugs and alcohol (though not suicide) spiked in black communities in the 1980s when, as the sociologist William Julius Wilson has explained, offshoring of factory jobs deprived the blue-collar black man of a well-paid job that offered him a proud role as husband and father in a home he could own. Blacks suffered the first wave of deaths of despair.

In today’s newer, whiter story of despair, access to a B.A. degree has almost come to determine a man’s life story. Increasingly, it predicts joblessness; among whites age 25-54, a woman with a B.A. is more likely to work than a man without one. That degree also increasingly predicts a man’s wage, because earnings for B.A.-haves have gone up over the last decades, while for B.A.-have-nots, they have gone down.

 

I will venture the possibility that in the lives of those who see no opportunity there are few options, and perhaps voting for Trump seems aligned with a self reliant philosophy of life. Despair is an uncomfortable state that demands resolution, but it is an almost unavoidable state of being when there appears to be no way to regain self esteem. I think that traditional values and culture can serve as an antidote to despair. Expressing “freedom” if it is just the freedom not to wear a mask, may have some therapeutic benefit. Anger and hostility against the government and the privileged elites on the coasts, and in business and academia, even if it means taking a side that undermines your own best interests, may be appealing, and provide some sense of virtue in terms of the local culture. If much of your ability to carry on comes from your faith, then someone who will validate your desire to repeal Roe v. Wade, and is willing to do anything to create an anti abortion majority on the Supreme Court becomes your man, even if he is reprehensible in his penchant for lying, and his willful violation of political and social norms. 

 

The president knows where the deep repositories of anger and fear exist, and he is willing to stir up our most elemental feelings to get ahead. The possibility of 200,000, and maybe a few hundred thousand more lost lives before the year ends, does not seem to constitute an adequate reason to drop the defiant act that seeks to connect with people through their losses, anger, and fear. His desire to be a winner is not tempered by concerns for anyone who is not “loyal” to his cause.

 

We will never know what might have happened if the president had reinforced the lock down he called for in March with a strong and frequent message to wear a mask. But, his failings go much further than ambiguity about masks. He did not demand that we organize an effective testing system. He did not use his power to direct industry to ramp up the production of PPE. He did discount science. He did advocate for quack cures. He has created unrealistic expectations about a vaccine. He did advocate for relaxing the precautions against spread to enable a premature attempts to reopen the economy. He has refused to endorse an adequate continuation of financial relief to individuals and communities. Before the pandemic he had systematically undermined our public health monitoring systems, and had ignored recommendation to prepare for an inevitable pandemic. All this he has done while calling his base together in rallies that are a mockery of social distancing. He has used the “bully pulpit” of the presidency to be a bully, he has tried to create the illusion that all that has happened is trivial, and the fault of someone else. And, many, many people want to buy what he is selling.  

 

I fear that there is more to come. He has used the demonstrations that have occurred with each new act of the police to kill or treat Black Americans unfairly to create further separations within our communities and enhance the sense that many disadvantaged Americans are “other.” “Other” than deserving the respect and support granted to advantaged segments of the population. His treatment of immigrant and migrant minorities as largely disposable populations of people from “sh–hole countries” is another “in your face” act of defiance that is received positively by the loyal base that follows him. His announcement this week that he may not accept the results of an election puts us on the same level as a failing post Soviet democracy like Belarus where another autocrat, Alexander Lukashenko, has just demonstrated how to manipulate the results of an election to remain in power. 

 

I am tired of being angered by the president’s defiance of norms and by the lack of integrity of his enablers in the Senate. I was beyond composure this week when Mitch McConnell said that it was the constitutional responsibility of the president to promptly name a successor to Justice Ginsburg. And get this, the Senate has the Constitution responsibility, if it so chooses to, to promptly consider the nomination. I guess that explains what happened to Merrick Garland. The Senate just did not choose to consider his nomination. With all the flair of playground bullies who know that the teacher is paying no attention, McConnell and most Republican senators are stepping along the line that they have chosen to toe behind this worst of all leaders we have ever had who is dismantling the few programs that make a difference for the poor. With a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, we can expect the pace of the dismantling to increase.

 

In the mindset of our grief and the celebration of the noble life of Justice Ginsburg, the president warns us before the fact that he will not accept a loss in the election. He has suggested once again that if he were to lose the election for president, it would mean that the election was flawed by voter fraud. One wonders if the urgency to name Justice Ginsburg’s replacement is derivative of the truth that he needs to rush through a solid conservative juror who may join the other five conservative leaders in his appeal that the election was flawed.  He may suggest to the court that the election was so flawed, that we should throw out the results. If he can’t claim a second term in a fair election, it is possible that he will claim his second term from the Supreme Court.

 

The next big event in the run up to the election is the first presidential debate that is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, a mere 35 days before the election. There will be two more to follow on October 15 and 22. The debate between the candidates for Vice President will be on October 7. It feels like we may be playing out a second unbelievable theatrical production that has a prewritten script and a foregone conclusion. Our only option if we seek to rid ourselves of this menace is to turn out in huge numbers so that there is no possibility that there could be any doubt about who won, because if there is any reason for the Supreme Court to review the results of the election, the result will be decided by a court that has been largely chosen for their conservative opinions, and a court where at least three of the justices may have been been appointed after being vetted as much for their loyalty to Donald Trump as to the Constitution. 

 

The prospect of trying to survive a turbulent scene on the evening of November 3, will keep me worried until I know for sure that reason and a concern for humankind has won the day. Until then there is little that we can do but observe the wisdom of wearing masks and practicing social distancing.  These simple actions do make a difference while we try to spread the word that the health of the nation and the planet can’t survive another term with Trump in office. Milestones can focus the spotlight on mistakes, and self serving behavior. Grief can create resolve while continuing misery and the resultant anger can motivate us to do all that we can to cut our losses. We can not survive another four years of this man who presided over the loss of more than 200,00 souls and gave himself an A+.

 

On The Road, Finally

 

Looking back over a relatively long life, I could give you several words that I might use to characterize myself. Three of the words that I might extract from the salad of adjectives, some positive, some negative, are enthusiastic, impulsive, and naive. Those three descriptors of my personality are nicely balanced by my wife’s tendencies whom I would affectionately describe as deliberative, cautious, and experienced. 

 

I would explain my use of “naive” in my personal characterization as “assuming that things will work out.” I would also say that I call my wife “cautious and experienced” because she has had a lifetime of experience to reinforce the concept that planning and study lead to better outcomes, which is why she is deliberative. I get a wild idea, and I am enthusiastic to live it out which is why I appear impulsive and naive.

 

For years I have dreamed of a “land yacht” that would allow us to cruise the country. Before we got together I enjoyed “cruising” with friends in the Virgin Islands on nice sailboats which we would “bareboat charter.” When I presented this idea to my wife years ago her response was, “No way!” She is not a good swimmer and easily becomes seasick with any rocking of the boat. From time to time over the intervening four decades, I have suggested that we should take long road trips to “see the country.” I grew up listening to Dinah Shore sing commercials on TV advocating that there was nothing better than to “See the USA in your Chevrolet!”

 

Until the COVID-19 pandemic I was repeatedly informed each time I brought up the possibility of driving across the country pulling an Airstream that it was not going to happen. She let me know in a way that left no doubt that the idea of camping across the country, especially while pulling a trailer, had no appeal. She had driven across the country with a friend in 1969. After getting to California, they shipped the car, and had flown to Hawaii to attend the wedding of another nursing school pal. She stayed in Oahu and worked as a nurse for most of the next year, and then they flew back to California and drove back from California to Boston. She was not interested in camping across the country.

 

I never gave up hope. She had suggested a river boat cruise on the Rhine back in 2013, and in 2017, to my amazement, agreed to a cruise in Alaska when one of her best friends invited us to join her and her husband along with the friend’s brother and his wife, whom we also knew. Our friend said the travel agent assured her that the boat was big enough, and the trip was mostly close to shore, so that it was more like a riverboat cruise, and that she would not be seasick. Her friend was right, and we had a great trip. I was encouraged that someday things might change and I would get my long road trip. 

 

Truth be known, it would have never happened without the pandemic. We are afraid to fly anywhere. We don’t go to restaurants. I haven’t even had a haircut since March 13, and now frequently wear a bandana around my locks to keep my hair out of my eyes. The clincher was that we started talking about how much we were missing our grandsons. They live in California, and we have not seen them since a family trip to Maui last November. We started talking about driving to see them, but were afraid of hotels and restaurants. Sensing a slight change in attitude, I gave up the idea of the Airstream and began to push the idea of an RV. 

 

Then a friend showed my wife her RV. Seizing the moment, I caught her while she was missing her grandsons, and to my surprise she agreed to look at RVs. My enthusiasm overwhelmed her, and my impulsiveness resulted in our purchase of the second RV we looked at. That’s when my naiveté became obvious. We discovered on two “practice trips” that there was a lot to learn. There are tanks to fill, and tanks to empty. Who knew that there are additives that are required for diesel engines? My wife quickly recovered from her momentary loss of control, and has demanded that we go through a long “check list” type process to ready us for what will be at least 7,000 miles of travel. I was wise enough to comply with the process, so now we are on the road. The picture in today’s header was taken the evening before departure when everything on the checklist had been completed, and the RV was almost loaded.

 

For several weeks we have been debating a name for our rolling home. Since we refer to the garage/apartment complex that we built where no cost was spared in achieving what I wanted, including a full basement a workshop with a bathroom, and a fireplace in the apartment, we called the structure the Taj Garage, short for Taj Mahal of garages, I suggested that we call the RV the “Tajmobile.” She countered with a smile and said “No, we will call it “Gene’s Dream and Nancy’s Nightmare.” 

 

Now that we are on our way, I hope that her deliberative, cautious, experienced approach will be more than enough to balance my enthusiasm, impulsiveness, and naiveté. Over the next few weeks, I will be reporting from the road. 

 

Be well! Enjoy the fall. When you are out and about, wear your mask and practice social distancing as best you can. Look for opportunities to be a good neighbor. Let me hear from you. I would love to know how you are managing the uncertainties of our times,

Gene