That Stain of Trumpism Hits Too Close To Home

My daughter lives in Nashville & wore her mask to buy groceries. Guy yells at her: ‘Liberal pussy!’ Back story: she nearly died of H1N1. She was in the ICU for a week, on a ventilator for 3 days. She CANNOT get covid. The ignorance & hatred is so painful. She’s trying to survive.

— rosanne cash (@rosannecash) May 26, 2020

My Congressman, Dan Crenshaw (One-Eyed Dan) was just on a local NPR talk show saying we're all too afraid of the coronavirus (I've seen what it does to people, I don't think I'm afraid enough) and the laws on wearing masks (of which there are NONE in Texas) are illegal (not his term, but stay with me) because no one voted to pass such laws and it punishes conduct (not wearing a mask) which was legal a short while ago, and laws are only enforceable when they include prison time or fines, so without that, they aren't laws, so there is no law that doesn't put you in jail or fine you.

Which doesn't explain why I can drive too fast and get stopped an pay neither a fine nor be imprisoned (I've only been fined once; talked my way out of the other four times), but leave that aside.

We are too afraid of coronavirus and besides it's not that contagious anyway (which doesn't explain why the U.S has more cases than any other country on the planet) and not that deadly (again, why do we have the most deaths?  Conspiracy?).  And our local officials are making us do things they can't make us do (which means they are acting illegally, unconstitutionally, or merely as tyrants.  Funny, but the Congressman wouldn't admit that logic of his "argument," I can only assume because he doesn't understand logic, law, or how government works.  Rather like his hero, Trump.)  The problem is, public officials in most states (governors, at least, sometimes down to county and city officials) have authority to use emergency power (i.e., whatever is needed at the moment) to protect public health.  Like closing schools, closing roads during flooding (flood water can be a health hazard, too), or, I don't know, quarantining people during outbreaks of infectious diseases.  That was not an unknown practice in my childhood, though One-Eyed Dan is too young to have ever known those days.

I wanted to call in and challenge him to name one person in Texas who was fined or jailed for failing to wear a mask in public.  The County Judge here (highest county official, not a judge of a court) issued an order for everyone in the county to wear masks in public, and pointedly said no one would be fined or jailed, police would simply carry spare masks and offer one.  Crenshaw's "argument" on another point was that people could choose not to be around maskless people.  Except for the clerks in the grocery stores or other stores, who don't get to make that choice.  Or me. Apparently I can just choose to stay home in perpetuity while other people endanger the public health because One-Eyed Dan thinks that's how government works.

Not only is he so ignorant of how government works (public officials have legal authority to impose emergency measures without waiting years for legislatures to decide we should have done something back then).  Someone called in to ask why she had to stop at stop signs and obey speed limits?  Crenshaw paused a long time, and worked himself up to announcing we developed traffic laws over a long period of time (not suddenly, like this mask law.  Apparently sudden laws are undemocratic, somehow.  How many years after 9/11 did we deliberate before passing the PATRIOT ACT?) and after long experience.  Which is utter bullshit.  By Crenshaw's argument I should be able to drive down the street any damned way I please, and if you don't like it, you can stay off the street.  His argument is the old joke "If you don't like the way I'm driving, stay off the sidewalks!"  Except Crenshaw doesn't get the joke.

His argument is honestly one for anarchy, though I suspect he fancies himself a libertarian.  I would have asked him why I couldn't walk down the street randomly firing a gun, which is no less dangerous than being a vector for disease.  But he said he's just read a study that asymptomatic people aren't contagious after all, so there!  Which prompted a doctor on the panel to politely point out he hadn't read that study, but asymptomatic people are contagious for 3 days before showing symptoms, and 1 day after.  I hope Crenshaw realized what an utter ass he looked after that.

But I doubt it.

Trump muses about using insulin just for fun pic.twitter.com/PWvEhEcmTM

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 26, 2020

According to Dan Crenshaw, why shouldn't he?  People are just afraid of drug reactions.  They can make the choice, and if they choose to OD on insulin, that's fine!