We're in the middle of a global pandemic of Covid-19. We've been social distancing since March and basically staying at home with the exception of going to the grocery store or occasional hardware store run....all wearing masks, of course. You would think that something like a global pandemic would bring this divided country together. Since Trump took office, this country has never been more divided in my lifetime. Trump has done absolutely nothing to promote unity. For everything terrible that this pandemic has caused, it actually gave Trump an opportunity...the opportunity to show that he can be a leader. Rather than lead, he once again felt threatened by the potential of an economic meltdown. This, of course, would lead to a downturn in his popularity nationally, which could lead to his defeat in the 2020 elections this fall. Trump knew this, so what did he do? He said that this virus was no big deal....no need to wear masks....no need to stay away from the stores...no need to shut down the schools or churches. We know the rest of the story. The country re-opened after shutting down for about 3 weeks. Now Covid-19 cases have spiked to their highest totals ever across the entire country!
I'll admit...this whole thing gets to me. I can get depressed thinking about not being able to spend time with my family...my aging parents...for fear of giving them something that they may not be able to recover from. I get depressed about the fact that to some extent we may always have Covid-19 to deal with for the rest of my life. They have been calling these changes the "new normal". Well, the "new normal" sucks, if you ask me! I don't want to have to see plexiglass in front of every counter at every store I visit. I don't want to have to wear a mask everywhere I go. I don't want people to be afraid to shake my hand or give me a hug...or God forbid...a kiss! I'm afraid that my children and grandchildren will grow up in a world where people are leary of one another....where you don't go to work anymore because there are no more offices to go to.
And I blame most of this on Trump.
No, he is not responsible for the virus being here; but if he would have been any kind of a leader, he would have seen the opportunity to bring this country together to fight the virus. If we would have all been willing to stay home, wear masks, do what is necessary to end the spread of the virus, we might have been looking at the end of this. It might not have gotten this bad. The economy may have started to recover on its own...people would start to come out of their homes and into the light. People would be unified....like they were after 9/11. Remember that? Do you remember how there were people standing over bridges on the interstate highways with their flags waving and people cheering and crying TOGETHER. No Plexiglas between us....just Americans standing together. Trump is preventing this country from coming together and I know we want to. I know it!
Americans do have a common enemy. It's Covid-19, not each other. You might also say that the person who has kept America divided is also our enemy. The person who kept us from unifying behind a common purpose to defeat this virus. The person who refused to bring this country together because it might have hurt him politically.
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