Jeff––Saturday
I’m watching Breaking News on American Cable TV reporting that President Trump is being taken by helicopter from the White House to the hospital. It doesn’t matter which US channel I’m watching, it’s all the same news. And so far, no one knows his true condition much beyond him and his wife testing positive for the corona virus.
That’s on top of a week where we learned POTUS paid $750 in personal federal income taxes during each of his first two years in office, he has over 400 million in personal debts owed to yet-to-be-identified-entities falling due over what would be his next term in office, and experienced a Presidential Debate best described as “Gun Fight at the Oy Vey Corral.”
It’s as if five-alarm fires are burning everywhere you turn, and the nearest possible firetruck is one month away. So yell out, “FiretrUCK, FiretrUCK, FiretrUCK” as loud and often as you like, but nothing is going to happen until then…at the earliest.
Let’s be clear, I am praying for The President’s and The First Lady’s full and rapid recovery, as I am for all who face this unrelenting brutal plague. But I’m doing particularly so for POTUS, if for no other reason that the devastating potential effects on our nation—and the world––should he be incapacitated before the Presidential election (November 3rd) or the inauguration of a new president (January 20th).
The news of his transfer to Walter Reed Hospital has shaken many who wonder about his condition. Frankly, it makes complete sense to me to transfer the most powerful person on earth to a hospital where the facilities and care far exceed what’s available at home, even if that home is the White House.
But the White House has reported virtually nothing to anyone (including Congressional leaders) on his condition. All of which is consistent with how this White House views its role:
Thou shalt protect the American People from reality.
So, what reality is being hidden from the American people of the risk faced by The President from his Covid infection?
I am not a doctor…though I was a biology major in college.
I am also not a politician…though I was a political science major in college, too.
My explanation of the situation POTUS confronts is based on a conversation I had eight months ago with a world class medical expert who once headed up a major American state’s pandemic preparedness plan.
I asked him to explain why “Old People” (including POTUS at 74) were so much at risk. This was his simple explanation:
“When you’re born, you possess six times the natural resistance needed to fight off disease. As you grow older that resistance diminishes, and by the time you reach your seventies, you retain only about twice the necessary resistance—with one qualification: Underlying conditions (such as obesity, cardiac issues, and the like) cut into that resistance.”
The question is, what underlying conditions does POTUS possess? Since his medical records have not been made public, we now know less about his health than his taxes. But we do know he’s obese and has taken cholesterol lowering drugs.
The coming days may bring the world news of the fate of the American President. The fate of the world may take a bit longer to determine.
God Bless us all.
––Jeff
Posts
Time is implacable. The future grinds us through the gears of its progress. Fortunately, there are gaps where the gears don't mesh, so we can catch our breath before we approach the teeth of the next gear. I hope you caught a good, deep breath, as here come the teeth...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, happy Fall! Spring is just around the corner...
Whew, with your reference to the seasons, EVKA, I feared you were about to make a tasteless pun along the lines of, "Hope springs the infernal." Thankfully you had better sense.
DeleteIt all seems like one of those TV serials where the characters stagger from episode to episode as the world does its worst. Maybe I'll be less dismissive of them in future.
ReplyDeleteAt least the serials only come at us once a week. This S-show is running multiple Dystopian plot lines every day!
DeleteI have said it before and I will say it again. 2020 makes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse look like a walk on the beach.
ReplyDeleteAs someone said on a news show today, "Were 'Back to the Future' filmed today, the Christopher Lloyd character would warn Michael J. Fox, 'But whatever you do, AVOID 2020.'"
DeleteAnd the chaos goes on . . .
ReplyDeleteI just point to it, Kwei; thankfully, your posts offer us suggestions on how to cope with it!
DeleteI will forever remember the first debate as the "Gunfight at the Oy Vey Corral."
ReplyDeleteI'll take that as a compliment, James. :)
DeleteWell, I am always shocked at the antics of the egomaniac in the White House. He left the hospital with medical permission, as expressed angrily by doctors at Walter Reed, he endangered the health of the people in his car, a sealed vehicle. No ventilation, no plastic shields.
DeleteComplete disregard for their health. Now he is back in the White House, not using a msak and over 100 staff members are at risk of getting the coronavirus. How callous and irresponsible! Awful.
This just is another example of how he's treat the disease all along, disregarding the deaths of 208,000 people and the disease's spread. Are he and his cronies above the law? Above science? Bob Woodward's tapes have Trump saying he knew the disease was dangerous and airborne in February. Callous disregard to human life, families, the elderly, etc. And they want to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which would take millions more off health coverage during a pandemic. There is so much wrong here, and people are still dying. Terrible administration, still lying, still sidelining doctors and scientists.
Errata: Line 3: should be "without medical permission"
ReplyDeleteLine 8 isi "mask"