RAGE

It’s Palm Sunday and I’m reading the news, and I am enraged. I am not thinking about the Jesus revolution as much as the French Revolution.

I read someone on Twitter that said “I feel like it’s time to storm the Bastille”. I agreed gutterally then, I am beginning to think that way now.

Here’s why:

Donald J. Trump, however he got there, has always vacillated between seemingly incompetent and actively evil.

Now, during the largest health crisis America has ever seen (for once, his superlatives actually fit) he is actively weakening America.

Yes, he is going to make sure that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. Let that alone sink in.

Let me count the ways that we know of :

He was warned about a pandemic at least 3 times. He destroyed our country’s ability to deal with one by firing/closing the task force that would have dealt with it.
1) He knew about the reality of the virus 3 months ago and he told the American people that there was nothing to see, that they had nothing to fear. His lies —just those! — will cost thousands of lives.
2) He knew that testing was the first priority during the crisis, so that we could have some idea of what we were dealing with. He did not secure test kits so that that could happen. This means more time, and thus, many more thousands of lives lost.
3) He knew that protective gear was going to be necessary to treat the virus. He did not secure that either. The deaths of doctors and nurses is on him for this.
4) He has not arranged for ventilators to help the sick fight off the virus, when he has the power to do so. The deaths of patients is on him for this.

What seems to be his incompetence has prevented preparation for the crisis, knowledge of how to cope with the virus, and our ability to practically deal with the crisis. He is responsible for all of the deaths related to this virus. He didn’t try to prevent this crisis. He didn’t allow people to plan for this crisis, and — after tying our hands behind our backs, didn’t give us the tools needed to deal with it the best way we knew how.

Now, it turns out, he couldn’t leave well enough alone.

1) Today, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and an absolute loyalist of Trump boasted that he had tested 109,000 people in the state of Florida. DeSantis didn’t believe there was a need for tests, but he got them! States which have actively asked for them — and run by Democrats— did not get them.
2) Today, we learned that a Republican that he supports, Kelly Koeffler, not only made money on the crisis by selling off soon-to-be impacted stocks, she actually made money by investing in the protective equipment needed to save first responders lives. Of course, in the standard practice of these companies in capitalism-run-amok, is price gouging, so they (and she) are making more money off of people’s misery.
3) Yesterday we learned that the military hospital ship that was promised to New York City has arrived, but has twenty patients on it.
Two days before this, the President’s son-in-law told America that the nation’s stockpile of masks isn’t to be given to the states because it’s “ours” (the federal government’s).
4) Yesterday, a reporter helped to clarify that the government —instead of giving equipment directly to states/purchasers — sells them to private industry, and lets them be bid on. Further, they bid against states to raise the price higher!
5) In at least Massachusetts, supplies that were purchased by the state were taken by the federal government and given to others (see above, Florida).

THAT’S JUST THIS CRISIS! Here, Trump is destroying the people of America.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

While this is all happening, Attorney General William Barr, to support Trump’s worldview, is destroying the idea of America by trying to roll back Constitutionally guaranteed rights in cases of “emergency”.

In addition to this, the Wisconsin Republican Party has decided that, in order for people to vote in the Democratic primary, they have to risk their lives! They have blocked an extension of mail in voting, and have made only in person voting possible. In other words, if you want to vote for a Democratic candidate, you have to risk catching the virus. Voting is the most central part of democracy! A hobbled Democratic Party in a swing state of the national vote for President is abhorrent to democracy.

Trump fired the whistleblower who started the process of telling the truth that led to his impeachment: another corrupt shot-across-the-bow of democracy.

3) Trump fired a commander of a ship who saved lives by telling the truth, decreasing morale in the military yet again.

4) Trump undercut a bi-partisan support package for citizens designed to help them save themselves economically — twice now— once at the signing with note responding to the bill’s passage, and once again with the labor department yesterday.

5) Trump continues to attack the press daily, despite the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press

In conclusion: The official leader of our country is responsible for the deaths of thousands of American citizens. The person who took an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” has, by direct action and through his subordinates, damaged the very democracy he was entrusted with. I implore any legally elected member of the government or member of the federal judiciary to remove this man. Further, we need to remove William Barr and undo all of his corrupt policies regarding the Justice Department implemented at the behest of this corrupt president.

Resisting with Peace,

John