Monday, April 13, 2020

The Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse

We are so screwed. (Let us all be grateful for the 10th Amendment. Because the only saving grace is, they can't actually do anything.)

First:  the states are not "closed."  They are under what are effectively state-imposed quarantine orders, some more so than others (NY v. FL, for example).  Not being closed, they cannot be "re-opened."  The economy isn't closed, either.  It is stagnant because states have imposed orders down to the county and city level against gatherings of people (generally) more than 10 at a time.  That closes a lot of businesses, but the reason is public health.

None of this is being done by orders of the Federal government or the POTUS.  None.

Trump knows this.  Or probably, he doesn't know this; but he doesn't care.  He claims the power so he can disclaim responsibility for the situation.  Now we're all talking about what Trump can and cannot do, and probably this evening at the press conference he will insist he alone has the final say.  Why not?  It's not like he'll ever use it.

 If there’s one constant in this random, arbitrary and chaotic presidency, it’s that Donald Trump is never responsible for anything.
Yup.  Trump will never be responsible.  What he will do is claim to have spoken to all 50 governors (he won't even talk to one) and then, when they refuse to "re-open" their states and "re-open" the economy, he will blame them and declare himself faultless and persecuted and the victim of a "Deep State" that extends to all 50 state houses, especially those with Democrats in the Governor's office.  He will say he tried but that he was thwarted by the lawlessness of the state houses.  He won't send in the Army or nationalise the National Guard, or even send U.S. Marshals to enforce his orders.  He'll just pout and declare himself once again the victim, not the perpetrator. (And one consequence will be the states that border a state following Trump's "guidance" will find every road out of that state blockaded just across the border, with all traveler's tested and quarantined for 14 days.  Which will be quite a sight, indeed.)

Or he'll say he and the governors reached an agreement to keep on keeping on while testing (which is virtually non-existent) expands and everybody gets tested even as he declares 750,000 tests a week nationwide to be too many, and nothing will change and Trump will continue to yell at the portraits in the White House.

Or the reporters in the briefing room.  What he won't be, is responsible for anything.  Ever.  That's the one thing he'll make sure of.

In the meantime:  about that whole "larger population/per capita" claim some apologists of Trump have trotted out:

That didn't last long.

"HOAX!"  "FAKE NEWS!"  Wait, which one is it this week?  "Still less than 100,000 bodies, so: WINNING!"

The DJIA as a leading economic indicator: RIP.

Dear Bernie Sanders:  All is forgiven.  And I'm glad Biden is picking up some of your ideas for the campaign.
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