1hundredsixty8

We Americans are fond of conspiracy theories. These imagined plots, sometimes built upon fragments of fact, satisfy the need for simple explanations of complex situations. I came of age in the 1950’s and 60’s and clearly recall the paranoia in the air of the time: McCarthy and the Red Scare; the competing who-killed-JFK stories, fluoride in our drinking water. Then came the more fantastical: chemtrails left by chemical-dispensing aircraft; the moon landing as a staged event; and a personal favorite, sightings of Big Foot, usually supported by grainy black-and-white photos.

Our inclination to embark on these flights of fancy are not novel. The Puritans persecuted accused witches, and secret societies such as the Freemasons and the Bavarian Illuminati were often imagined as nests of plotters. Anti-Semitism was frequently intergrated into these tropes, as with the infamous “Protocols of The Elders of Zion” and the persistence of the rumor that Jewish bankers such as the Rothschilds were endeavoring to rule the world. And once the theories left Earth, the sky was literally no longer the limit: We have had aliens crashing near Roswell, New Mexico, their accidental arrival covered up by the government. UFO sightings were a routine occurrence. There were humans among us who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials to be examined before being released back on Earth.

Given the ease with which it facilitates propagation of information, the Internet has proven to be a boon to conspiracy devotees, especially with the advent of social media. Not long after the 9/11 attacks, we were informed that it was the US government, not Islamic terrorists, who were responsible. In recent years, the amount of sheer nuttiness delivered to our computers and phones as “truth” boggles the mind: Tupak is alive, the Sandy Hook school shooting was a false flag operation by gun-control advocates using child actors, and vaccines cause autism. The flat-earthers have re-emerged after centuries in hibernation. The science of climate change and even the current pandemic are described as hoaxes in the hallowed bytes of Facebook.

By far, the supreme conspiracy theory is QAnon, which seems to have emanated from the fringe website 4chan, eventually migrating to right-wing sites like Breitbart. The mainstream media reports on it now, and the Republican primary elections this year produced several Q adherents as nominees for Congress. The essence of the Q saga is that an anonymous government employee, posting on 4chan as “Q”, claimed to have evidence of a “Deep State” plot to undermine the Presidency of Donald Trump. Implicated in this plot were prominent Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, backed by liberal billionaire George Soros (because every conspiracy needs a bogeyman). Among the depredations of the cabal was pedophilia. Early on, Q crazies hit upon a Washington DC pizzeria as the location where children were kept in the basement-  the infamous Pizzagate scandal. The debacle reached its peak when a Q-addled believer showed up at the restaurant with an AR-15 and fired off a few rounds in his attempt to free the children in the basement. However, there were no children being held captive and there was no basement.

Nonetheless, Q plowed ahead, spreading across the zany world of alt-right media. One iteration informed followers of Trump’s secret strategy, pretending to be investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller while the two were actually cooperating on a plan to snare the Deep State pedophiles. We have also learned that John Kennedy Jr. is still alive and working with Trump, too. 

With this background, I feel it is only right I contribute to this outlandish tapestry of genuine American crazy. In this season of protest on the streets of our cities, I have wondered about the looting and the burning. In the spirit of non-violence espoused by Dr. King, there would be no apparent reason for protests, generally  peaceful reactions to the killings of unarmed black citizens by police, to descend into riots. The images of burning police cars and drifting clouds of tear gas appear daily. Despite the aggressive tactics of the police in dealing with the riots, the overall result is the picture of American cities under siege.

This suits Donald Trump, trailing in the polls to Joe Biden, just fine. He has seized on the protests as an opportunity to take a law and order tack in the campaign, hoping to deflect attention from his disastrous management of the coronavirus pandemic. At the Republican National Convention, he returned to the dystopian theme of “American carnage” he had used at his inauguration. It is obvious Trump wants to keep attention on the violence, and will say or do anything to that end.

It is not improbable that the persons instigating the rioting are provocateurs. It is a basic tenet of white nationalism that race war between white and black Americans is inevitable.* The violence occuring at Black Lives Matter protests provide a convenient pretext for white militias to get involved. They show up on the streets brandishing firearms with the stated intent of protecting private property and maintaining order. One would wonder, of course, why peaceful marchers would tolerate looting and arson from within their ranks, knowing it would provoke both a harsh reaction from law enforcement and likely confrontation with the militia groups. While there are the antifa fanatics, whose purpose seems to be to meet the threat of violence from the white supremacists head on, the result of such escalation is predictable. In Kenosha last week, two persons were shot to death by a white-nationalist teenager. And on Saturday, a member of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer was killed in Portland. In the larger political context, the idea of violence in the streets of American cities perfectly fits the dystopian vision on which Trump is campaigning. In line with this, the involvement of alt-right extremists who support Trump is perfectly organic: his rhetoric gives them “permission” to confront the protestors.

However, it goes far beyond signaling the extremes among his supporters. Trump needs the chaos. He or some of his supporters want to ensure the persistence of the violence in the streets. The images of peaceful protests (such as the Women’s March and the March For Our Lives) do not suit Trump’s law-and-order fear-mongering. Trump donors may be covertly funneling money to these militia groups or engaging professionals (think Blackwater-style contractors) to incite violence. This is the ultimate in beyond-the-pale political dirty tricks.

The conspiracy runs deeper than that. Since the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, there have been shootings and killings of more black citizens at the hands of the police. The most recent incident was the shooting of Jacob Blake seven times in the back at point-blank range by a Kenosha officer. Such actions by law enforcement are the motivating factors in the protests. Without protests, provocateurs and white nationalists are irrelevant. The case Trump is making rests in large part on constant media coverage of urban chaos. The engine of black outrage at the actions of racist cops is fueled by more actions by racist cops. It would seem counter-intuitive that police officers would conduct themselves in this way knowing they are being scrutinized. You might ask why they do it, then, but you are missing the point: When the videos of police violence appear online, the protestors appear on the street. The stage is set for Trump’s dystopian passion play.

None of this is coincidence.

Update, 4SEP2020: About 93 percent of the racial-justice protests that swept the United States this summer remained peaceful and nondestructive

*The Turner Diaries, the novel about a dystopian race war, was labeled as "the bible of the racist right" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Dylann Roof, who killed nine African-Americans in a Charleston, SC church in 2015, claimed his motivation was to incite a race war.

There are questions that should be asked of our political leaders. If I were a journalist with the opportunity to interview Democratic nominee Joe Biden, here are some I would ask:

• Vice-President Biden, having selected Senator Kamala Harris as your running mate, what are the specifics of the role you see her playing in a Biden administration if you are elected President? Will you task her with a specific portfolio in a certain area, such as criminal justice reform? Or will you share responsibility in a more general way?
  
• Upon inauguration, you will face crisis-level circumstances due to the pandemic and the depression-like state of the economy. Obviously, besides the immediate actions required to address those issues, there will be much more to do to restore the public’s trust in the Federal government. You  and Senator Bernie Sanders created a task force to develop policy recommendations in six major areas: the economy, health care, climate, education, criminal justice and immigration. Besides those, are there other items you might address concurrently as part of a reform agenda? In no specific order, I refer to items such as:
• Statehood for Washington DC
• Expanding the number of Supreme Court Justices
• Supporting the elimination of the filibuster in the Senate
• A comprehensive and constitutional-challenge-proof Voting Rights Act (John Lewis Voting Rights Act)
• Comprehensive and constitutional-challenge-proof campaign finance legislation
• Given the President's current campaign to weaken the Postal Service, would you undertake a program of restoration for USPS that includes rescinding the requirement that pensions be funded 75 years into the future? Do you support allowing USPS to perform certain basic banking services?
• An overhaul of the tax code with the goal of eliminating tax expenditures (credits and deductions) and restoring progressivity to the income tax
• Pushback against “capture” of regulatory agencies by the industries they are legally required to regulate
• Rebuilding Executive Branch agencies by appointing younger, public service-motivated persons to administer the Federal bureaucracy
• Do you have a plan to recover some of our standing on the world stage? 
• Do you feel the world is a better place if the United States is in a leadership role? How do you plan to rebuild our relationships with our allies? How will you deal with economic rivalry with China and the ambitions of Putin’s Russia? In short, is the reinvigoration of American diplomacy a primary component of a Biden foreign policy?
• In the same vein, will you move to repair relations with our bordering neighbors, Canada and Mexico?
• Of course, how you would proceed depends not only on your own election, but the outcome of the House and Senate elections as well. Assuming you defeat Donald Trump and the Democrats retain their majority in the House, your ability to govern will depend on whether the Democrats wrest control of the Senate from the Republicans. As your experience during the Obama Presidency tells you, a Republican Senate, especially under the leadership of Mitch McConnell, will grind the legislative process to a standstill. How would you deal with that circumstance?
• Conversely, if the Democrats win the Senate and have unified control of the government, you may have to deal with competing interests within your own party in order to govern effectively. Are you planning for this situation?
• Donald Trump has used Twitter as a means of communicating directly to the public. Have you and your team considered how you might use various social media platforms to keep the public informed about their government? 
• Finally, sir, do you play golf?

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

• Preamble to the United States Constitution

The meaning of “general welfare” is generally construed as the concern of the government for the health, peace, morality, and safety of its citizens. State constitutions contain similar clauses. In simple terms, legal interpretations of the Constitution regard Article 1, Section 8, as giving Congress the power to appropriate and spend funds to provide for the general welfare. The power to legislate specific laws is mostly left to the states per the Tenth Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”)

Ensuring public health has been accepted as a legitimate necessity for the general welfare. During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, many US cities mandated now-familiar practices: mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, quarantine, and the banning of large gatherings. Just as today, there were disputes among some in the science and medical communities about the efficacy of such measures. There were also instances of resistance exemplified by groups such as The Anti-Mask League of San Francisco. 

History, Mark Twain is reported to have said, doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. There is an uncanny parallel between the 1918 flu and current pandemic even down to the kerfuffle over the wearing of masks to help inhibit the spread of the virus. The medical professionals- the researchers, scientists, and epidemiologists- emphasize that basic measures can slow the spread of the virus. Wearing a mask is one of these, but it’s been made into a contentious issue in the service of certain political agendas. An obnoxious minority has resisted state and local government public health mandates, including the wearing of masks. Some claim that such mandates infringe upon their constitutional rights, their “liberty”. 

I assume these persons have not read the Constitution. If so, they skipped over the Preamble on their way to bask in the glory that is the 2nd Amendment. In their selective understanding of our political system, they fail to acknowledge that with liberty comes responsibility.

That brings us back to public health. In willfully flaunting a mandate intended to protect the general welfare, anti-maskers are a potential threat to the population. In this light, they are terrorists. From the FBI website:

Domestic terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

The anti-maskers definitely have ideological goals. Disobeying the law is a criminal act. And the spreading of a virus is a violent act, a form of biological warfare. Maybe it’s time the Feds sent in some camo-clad officers with no identifying insignias to round up these terrorists. 

Legend has it that the ostrich, the large, flightless-but-fleet-footed African bird, will bury its head in the sand to avoid danger. While the legend has no basis in fact, it does provide a useful metaphor to describe certain of the President’s remarks at his poorly-attended Tulsa rally. During a meandering speech, he at one point describes his administration’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic, touting both the success and the problem of testing:

“And with testing, you know, testing is a double edged sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else... Here’s the bad part. When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please.”

Trump obviously believes that, if you do not test and find more infected persons, the problem cannot be that bad-  Just like the toddler who covers his eyes with his hands and says “you can’t see me”. Without the actual facts- the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths-  he pretends he has been successful in battling the contagion. No need to do all the testing and contact tracing, to ask people to wear masks, to avoid large gatherings, to socially distance. What is important is that we open up the country, relax restrictions and get the economy going. If our leaders continue to ask people to make those sacrifices in the service of public health, to endure the ongoing crisis, they may start believing that those leaders are failing them. 

Trump knows this. He has known it since the beginning of the crisis. In early March, as his administration stumbled through developing a cohesive response to the spread of the virus, he was asked if passengers on the Grand Princess, a cruise ship anchored near San Francisco, some of whom had been exposed to the virus, should be brought ashore. 

“I’d rather have the people stay... I would rather because I like the numbers being where they are,” Trump said. “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”

Within a week, as the worldwide extent of the coronavirus became known, Trump’s ostrich-like approach of burying his head in the sand made assertions minimizing the crisis sound hollow and downright ridiculous. The stock market crashed and seemed headed into free fall. Unemployment numbers rocketed upwards. His plan to run for re-election on the back of a robust economy was evaporating.

With the undeniable reality the crisis was overwhelming the public health system, Trump, in a truly Orwellian move, switched gears and declared war on the “invisible enemy”, stating he regarded himself as a “wartime President”. He began showing up at the daily White House briefings given by the White House Coronavirus Task Force to provide updates on the progress of the “war”. Not unexpectedly, he took advantage of the mini-bully pulpit to transform the updates into campaign speeches, touting his record and overshadowing scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

He was a stationary target and the media jumped on the opportunity. His bizarre claims- like treating patients by introducing disinfectants or powerful light internally- opened him up to ridicule. Unable to answer straight-forward questions from the press, he lashed out at the reporters asking the questions. These were not the adoring rally audiences he was accustomed to. The daily portrayals of self-aggrandizement and grievance began to impact his poll numbers. His staff worried he was damaging his re-election campaign.

By the end of April, he was tired of playing pretend wartime President. Changing horses in midstream again, his focus became “opening up the country”, getting people back to work, making the economy once again the focus of his efforts. Covid-19 was disappearing in his rear view mirror even as public health officials cautioned about returning to "normal" precipitously. 

As states began to loosen the restrictions that had proved to be effective in slowing the rate of the virus’ spread, the not-unexpected happened: The infection rate began to accelerate again. By circumstance, the Trump campaign staff had decided to reboot the campaign with a large rally in Tulsa, a city in the midst of a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and street protests associated with the nationwide demonstrations against police violence and racial inequality. 

With the BOK Arena less than one-third full, Trump reverted to the only approach he knew when it came to the pandemic- he put his head in the sand and became an ostrich.

The funny thing about reality is that even if you don’t see it, it’s still there. There’s a good chance that a sizable number of the 12,800 persons who chose not to attend Saturday’s rally were intent on keeping their heads- and the rest of their bodies- above ground.

At last Thursday’s “briefing”, Donald Trump said that scientists should look into using disinfectant to treat Covid-19. Since disinfectants kill the virus on surfaces, there must be a way, he riffed in his inimitable way, to administer them by injection. He also suggested they should find a way to get ultraviolet light inside human bodies because he’s heard that UV also kills the virus.

Before you laugh, remember that this is the man who suggested using a nuclear weapon against a hurricane.

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The Federal bureaucracy is not known for administrative or financial efficiency but, under the chaotic Trump administration, the scramble to obtain equipment and supplies vital to battling the pandemic has raised more questions about its management practices. As the Washington Post reported last week:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a $55 million contract for N95s [respirator masks] this month to Panthera Worldwide LLC, which is in the business of tactical training. One of its owners said last year that Panthera’s parent company had not had any employees since May 2018, according to sworn testimony.

It also has no history of manufacturing or procuring medical equipment, according to a review of records produced as a result of legal disputes involving the company and its affiliates.

Panthera Worldwide’s parent company filed for bankruptcy last fall, and the LLC is no longer recognized in Virginia — where it has its main office — following nonpayment of fees, which according to Virginia code results in “the existence of a limited liability company” being “automatically canceled.”

James V. Punelli, one of the company’s executives, said he is working his military contacts to obtain the masks.

“We’ve done DoD medical training over the years and through those contacts with that community were brought sources of supply in order to assist in the COVID-19 response,” Punelli said in a text message to The Washington Post, referring to the Defense Department. “We made the connection with FEMA and offered these supplies to them.”

The price that FEMA is paying Panthera per mask, about $5.50, is significantly higher than what the government pays companies such as 3M, which charges as little as 63 cents per N95 mask, with an average cost of about $1.50 for more advanced models, according to a price index. Prestige Ameritech, the largest domestic mask manufacturer, is charging FEMA about 80 cents per mask for the government’s order of 12 million N95 respirators, part of a $9.5 million contract that started April 7.

One can only assume that Panthera’s negotiators read The Art of the Deal.

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Reports surfaced last week in several media outlets that, in January, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had appointed his chief of staff, Brian Harrison, to head the HHS response to the coronavirus. Harrison, who held several different administrative positions during the Bush administration, has no background in either public health or medicine. Prior to being Azar’s aide, Harrison spent the previous six years owning and operating a Labradoodle dog breeding business in Texas.

Is this the smoking-gun proof that the Trump administration is going to the dogs?

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In a surprise announcement early last week, the Department of Health and Human Services removed Dr. Rick Bright as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) after he reportedly contradicted Trump’s pushing of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. Bright, an expert in vaccines, was in charge of the government’s effort to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. After being reassigned, Bright’s lawyer claimed he was filing a whistleblower complaint.

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As a new week begins, the nation heads for 1 million cases of Covid-19 and 60,000 deaths. The absence of national leadership is shocking. No one expected Donald Trump to be a Lincoln or FDR, but he cannot even measure up to the temporary unity that Bush Sr. attained during the first Gulf War, or his son W managed after 911. These men were not great Presidents, but they understood their role in crisis moments. We are not seeing “the buck stops here” attitude of Truman or the communication skills of Reagan. So we can add to the circumstance of a life-threatening pandemic and its resulting impact on the global economy, the failure of our President to craft a national strategy and show us what needs to be done. If we are to get through the next year or so as a stable society, we can thank the compassion of a majority of Americans, and the sacrifice of the minorities working to deal with the virus.

Believe it or don’t.

The Dinner

You dream that you are invited to join Donald Trump for dinner at the White House. You are picked up by masked men in dark suits who identify themselves as The Special Guard. At the White House, you are strip-searched and administered an instant Covid-19 test. You are then escorted to the second-floor private dining room.

Trump greets you with the comment that he’s “heard great things about you”. Throughout the evening, he calls you Lenny. Your name is Larry. You enjoy a dinner of Big Macs together, washed down with a fine vintage Diet Coke. The conversation is sparkling, chock full of scintillating bon mots, and a surprising display of humility & self-effacement ("I didn't even know I was Number One on Facebook."). You laugh at what you believe are the appropriate moments and nod your head in agreement at statements that make no sense to you. You let him know that you were a big fan of the New Jersey Generals.

After dinner, entertainment is a screening of "Triumph of the Will". During the movie, Melania slips you a note with two words scribbled on it- "helf me".

At that moment, you have the cathartic realization that your bubble, the small world in which you have heretofore lived, resides inside a much larger bubble. You feel very unsettled.

As parting pleasantries are exchanged, Trump remarks that he knows you will do a great job at CBS. You do not correct him by telling him you are the new White House correspondent for CBC, the Canadian broadcaster.

As you are escorted from the White House by The Special Guard, you promise yourself you will look into taking extension courses at Liberty University.

You wake in the morning in your bed, fully-clothed. The events of the previous night are hazy and you are uncertain if they were real. You reach into your pants pocket and find a crumpled piece of paper. There are two words scribbled on it:

“Helf me.”

❖

Silverado

I dream of scenes from one of my favorite Westerns. The scenes, as they often do in dreams, are familiar and strange at the same time. I’m in the saloon where the bartender is Dr. Anthony Fauci, not Linda Hunt’s character, Stella. 

“Keep your distance, six feet,” Fauci says, “especially from the Sheriff”.

Suddenly, I find myself on a dusty street, face-to-face with the corrupt Sheriff Cobb. I am startled to see that the sheriff is Mitch McConnell, not Brian Dennehy. He pulls his pistol, but I fumble trying to draw mine. I wake before a shot is fired.

I never die in my dreams.