Fascism is on the ballot

[Eric the Green]

(10-31-2020, 05:02 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(10-31-2020, 12:05 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote: I hope you aren't foolish enough to believe that Biden has the power to snap his fingers and make COVID go away the moment he's sworn in. Gee, we could do the same as you're doing now ( acting like a mindless political hack) and blame everything related to COVID on Biden and do it in a way that makes it stick.

I am more worried that the reds will continue to be selfish, and put themselves ahead of the community.  I suspect it will become clear that the majority favor fighting the bug with precautions such as masks and distancing.  At least some will refuse these precautions, and continue the red policy of negligent homicide.

Make blaming the Democrats for Trump's policies?  I doubt that would stick.

Classic has a point, and I thought I posted an article about this here, but maybe not. It's hard to find posts here.

And Bob's point is also valid. The problem is that Classic's culture has been so enhanced by their dear leader that it will be hard to counteract, and those in the Trump culture will certainly blame Biden for whatever happens, and are likely not to heed his advice or even take the vaccine because it is Biden offering it. And if Trump is not in jail, he will be out there leading the charge.

I am somewhat more optimistic than the writer below. I think there's a chance for Biden's plan to work to an extent. But to really work, masks and the other measures, perhaps including vaccines if they are really safe and effective, would have to be mandated and enforced, and the Trump culture would resist. Here's the article:

Biden's biggest problem is that there is no vaccine for Trumpism

Biden's presidency won't suddenly cure COVID because Trump has helped to create a whole culture of resistance to COVID-19 regulations.

by Christian Schneider, Opinion columnist
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2...748453001/



As the 2020 presidential election hurls itself at us, there is one thing upon which the far right and far left agree: The COVID-19 pandemic should be over within days after Nov. 4.

The right says the “deep state” is holding on to a secret vaccine that it will introduce to the world once Donald Trump is thrown out of office. The left says that Trump is the primary cause of the virus’ spread, and that with the biological weapon in chief out of office, people will soon be out safely ingesting each other’s disgusting germs.

Alas, despite these extremes being so far out there that they meet again in the back, neither is right. Trump is not entirely to blame for the virus’ spread, and Joe Biden’s election will not be a panacea in stopping it.

Biden's plan won't be effective

Sure, Biden has a “plan” to solve COVID-19, and it contains all the commonsense proposals: vaccine funding, paid leave, more protective equipment and more funding for testing.

But America is past the “I have a plan” phase. A sizable contingent of regular citizens have decided either that the disease is a “hoax,” or that it’s not worth altering their everyday lives for in any major way.

In other words, COVID-19 is a cultural problem, not a governmental one.

It is the cultural component in which Trump has failed America the most. Over the summer, it appeared the virus was waning — businesses had quickly ramped up production of masks and ventilators needed in hospitals and emergency rooms and limited state shutdowns were being enforced. Infection rates were dropping around the country.

Then, in the wake of the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd’s at the hands of police, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest, effectively signaling the end of lockdowns. Science professionals who urged staying home were silent on the protests, leading those on the right to throw up their hands and say, “Well, I guess lockdown is over.”

That is where Trump’s mismanagement has cost America. In the early days of the virus, Trump said all the wrong things, telling Americans it was just “one person coming in from China” and it would “disappear one day, it’s like a miracle.” And speaking of miracles, he vowed to have churches open for Easter.

Say we were to give Trump some benefit of the doubt — in the early months of the spread, everyone was still figuring out what was happening, and rapid spread would have occurred under any president.

But that leeway evaporated later in the year, when Trump began to actively downplay the virus’ dangers, promising to “open up” America.

As the summer wore on, Trump continued to pitch fake cures like hydroxychloroquine, promising people there would be a vaccine by Election Day. Commensurately, his supporters proceeded to behave as if there was nothing to fear, even attending packed Trump rallies in which hardly anyone wore a mask.

Thus, the country fell into a dangerous cycle — enough people didn’t obey commonsense rules, so the virus spread, leading more people to believe those rules didn’t actually do any good, causing even more people to disregard the rules. All the while, Trump has been telling Americans the country had turned the corner, even as he himself contracted the virus.

And if the former vice president were to win, how would he correct all this? He won’t.

All the people who say wearing a mask is a government mind control plot are far less likely to wear one if it’s Biden making the demand. For these people, it’s not about health or safety but personal freedom — no mask mandate or social distancing regulation is going to infringe on the Trump-era personas they have adopted.

While Biden can cook up all the anti-COVID plans he wants, there is only so much government can accomplish if enough citizens reject enforcement. The rapidly increasing number of people who are dying do so quietly, away from the cameras. They just vanish, leading people to believe that the danger is ephemeral — and Trump’s supporters respond in kind. That culture will remain alive.

Unless Biden can legislate trust in the media and politicians, the pandemic will stretch well into his presidency. The reality is a sizable portion of America is carrying on, waiting for a vaccine — which, ironically, many of them won’t take because it will probably be Joe Biden at the helm of the country when it is released.

And sadly, there is no vaccine for Trumpism.

Christian Schneider, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, is a senior reporter at The College Fix and author of “1916: The Blog.” Follow him on Twitter: @Schneider_CM