Here we go again.
U.S President Donald Trump is growing impatient with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Yes, it’s because the good doctor has been telling the truth, and Trump has very little patience with the truth. Having failed to banish Truth from the land, he banishes truth-tellers from the public domain.
Only Trump-truth is allowed to flourish, and Trump-truth is whatever Trump decides to endorse.
Only opinions that flatter the president, or that support his self-serving egomania, can be promulgated by his minions. Trump does not know much science, so he has no understanding of the severity of COVID-19.
He has a slightly better grasp of basic economic principles, so he puts the economy above the health of his citizens.
Fauci, bless his heart, tries to give genuine medical advice, but that doesn’t suit Trump. He wants good news, news that makes him appear in control, and real epidemiological knowledge tends to make him look impotent.
And it’s true.
Trump, like the rest of us laypersons, is impotent in the face of a pandemic. All the medical professionals can do is patiently explain how we, or the majority of us, can survive this viral attack.
I wish Fauci the best of luck, and hope he’ll be able to survive the wrath of Trump. If he can’t convince his president of the danger of this virus, and of the self-discipline needed to fight it, then many U.S. citizens will die.
But Trump and self-discipline are mutually exclusive, and there’s little hope that he’ll wake
up some morning with a new sense of responsibility, or a commitment to anything other than his own ego.
Ed Healy
Marystown
