#89: We are Going Out and Getting Ourselves a New President

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There’s a narrative out there that says that Donald Trump is doing the same things that other presidents would do in a pandemic. This school argues that we are blinded to his actions because we irrationally apply our dislike of him to everything he does, or because his style doesn’t meet presidential norms, or because he is talking too long at press briefings.

This narrative is untrue. Trump is not even close to doing the same things as other presidents would do. We are not blinded to his actions, we are painfully aware of them. Every step along the way has been far too slow, and has cost lives. February (the most important month for the countries that have done well) was a lost month. By then, Trump had the information upon which he needed to act. Through misrepresentation, he was trying to protect the economy from the health crisis, and by this malfeasance, he ended up worsening both. 

Of course, Donald Trump is not the only one to fall dismally short, thus costing American lives. But he is the only one who has the powers of the President of the United States. For months now, we have been lacking testing kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment for our caregivers. The Defense Production Act gives the president clear authority to attend to the supply chain in a time of national emergency. This is the one thing that he could have done that would have been most telling and which was clearly within his powers. Instead he said he would not be a supply clerk and sent 50 governors into a scarcity-plagued open market, all the time sniping away at them. His son in law denied that the national stockpile was intended for the use of the states, even though that is precisely its purpose.

It is common during dark hours for everyone involved to remind that they themselves stolidly and persistently sought to warn and protect us all. Donald Trump can rail at the press all he wants. His problem is not fake news, but the news--- he is on tape in February saying it will all be gone when the warm April weather comes. It isn’t. He can counter punch reporters and Governors each day, but it’s the under-equipped medical teams and the body bags that are etched in our consciousness and will remain so. There is no better analysis of the missteps and the missed steps than that of the New York Times.

Then of course there is the astonishing representation by the president that he has absolute powers to overturn gubernatorial stay at home orders. He’s walking away from that by now, after being told of that pesky 10th amendment to the Constitution, reserving powers to the states and to the people. How sad that the richest and most powerful nation could not have been a leader when the world needed it most. In this country, we are standing together, fighting for life itself, and determining a direction, he is nowhere in our group of guides. His compass points to himself.

What to do is to honor the caregivers and essential workers who are serving us all and follow the rules that Governors have set down. We can help each other every day and we remind ourselves that this will not be over when the stay at home restrictions are reduced. As all of these things are taking place, we can go out and get ourselves a new president.

We are making excellent progress in that regard. Consider the news of the week:

• Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Joe Biden was full throated and left no doubt that he will be behind Biden from now until November. We have now officially skipped the three agonizing months of back and forth that we suffered in 2016 and which dissipated Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Now it’s time to show Bernie’s supporters what they already know--- there are monumental democracy-saving differences between Trump and Biden.
• The fact that Barack Obama has been silent until now makes his pointed, eloquent endorsement that much more powerful. It is available on You Tube. When there is a podium, Obama will be at it. His ability to focus us on what counts is a huge boost. 
• The Senate races are looking good. Susan Collins unfortunately spent the last four years trying to not upset Donald Trump, and thus sacrificed her principles weekly. She is running behind former speaker of the Maine House Sara Gideon. Amy McGrath is definitely in play in Kentucky against the soulless Mitch McConnell.
• Rather than getting our promising outlook just from polls, we can look to the latest in real time election results. In Wisconsin, after Republicans carried out their voter suppression strategy, Democratic Supreme Court nominee Jill Karofsky won. This was even though Republicans refused to turn to mail voting and the Milwaukee polling places were shrunk from 180 to 5.
• Polls show Biden ahead of Trump in several states that we lost in 2016, such as Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

It’s difficult. We have to attend to our lives, our families and our communities, and not let political matters distract us from the vigilance the virus continues to demand. Yet, we cannot ignore one of the most glaring truths that the virus has brought us. It matters who is president. A President who is a learner, who understands and can sort out evidence and recommendations from health professionals, who is aware and thus can exercise his specific, very considerable constitutional and statutory authority, who knows what government can do and how it can do it would be an extraordinarily valuable person during a pandemic. Recognizing that the world is a very, very dangerous place, let’s get a president like that and do these three things:

1) Make the Checks Stimulating
	Legally, Donald Trump cannot sign the stimulus checks. So, he has ordered his name put on the subject line of the checks! We cannot stop him, but if we have the means, we can make sure a portion of the checks he has put his name on go to help our country defend against him or recover from him. There are scores of organizations to whom donations are tax deductible and which are trying to strengthen America in the age of Trump. For a part of your stimulus check, consider Michelle Obama’s voter registration effort, When We All Vote.  Or send a part of your stimulus to the best effort right now to add to the number of states with mail-in ballots, the Brennan Center for Justice. Or, give some hungry people some food that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are trying to take away.
2) Celebrate a Nutrition Victory and Learn More
	Ever since Trump was elected, environmental, health, science and nutrition groups have been pushing back against his wholesale attack on governmental regulation. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has just secured a victory in at least temporarily restoring school nutrition standards.  Science in the Public Interest seems like such a novel concept in these times that you may wish to honor it by getting regular briefings from the Center.
3) Put Yourself on Joe Biden’s List Now
	We need to make certain that Joe Biden (and his running mate Kamala Harris/ Stacey Abrams/ Amy Klobuchar) have a list of millions of small donors. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but you wouldn’t want to go through 2020 without recognizing that this is the place to be.

You can’t help but be worried about America, and weary of the struggle. But you can decide what to do to handle those worries, and to generate all new energy from the weariness. And, you can recognize how much difference that will make.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington