We rethink the week with Rick Newman, lobbyist and former NH state representative; Glenn Smith, political consultant from Texas who managed Ann Richards’s (successful) 1990 campaign for governor; and Dean Spiliotis, Civic Scholar and Presidential Scholar at Southern New Hampshire University.
We discuss equality in the era of Covid-19. The average working person, the unemployed, and the poor are extremely vulnerable to the disease. Wealthier folks are equally subject to the virus, to be sure. But the former group can’t afford to lose their incomes (or potentially their jobs after the pandemic passes), they’re less able to pay for any testing, treatment, delivery services or home health care that they might need. And they can’t leave the high-infection areas and go to their summer homes the way the more well-to-do can.
We caution that recognizing these inequalities should not be cause for “otherizing” of the wealthy or anyone else. The blame game may work for Pres. Trump but in a time of world-wide crisis and suffering, we would do well to remember that the coronavirus does not care if we’re rich, poor or in between. All of us humans are in this together. We must fight the disease cooperatively or else any one of us could be the virus’s next victim.
Immigrants are especially vulnerable. The president rejects the idea of any aid to undocumented immigrants (even protective masks), not recognizing that Covid-19 will not ask its victims to show their immigration papers. And if they get sick, they can spread the virus among the entire population, just as the rest of us can. In addition, of course, we need the immigrant population to continue doing the jobs that serve the rest of us (growing and distributing food is essential, after all).
We also talked about how Trump’s followers can continue to believe his lies about their own health risks. Why would they believe this pandemic is a hoax, or that it will miraculously disappear without hurting them? Just because Trump assures them that his fantasies are true? We try to analyze the American psyche, generally, and, more specifically, the way a cult mentality makes folks feel that their survival is somehow tied to their leader’s whims and pronouncements.
Finally, we turn to the political ramifications of the pandemic, as we wonder how (or whether!) we’ll be able to hold democratic election campaigns and vote in November. With Trump on TV every day and with Joe Biden almost disappearing from public view, will the Democrats be able to challenge the president, the Republican Senate, and similar state officials? Will voters Trump give more credit than he deserves for the emergency legislation providing $2 trillion of federal taxpayer money to protect our health and our economy. Will voters even care that – only 24 hours after signing that bipartisan bill — Trump declared his refusal to comply with the transparency requirements of the compromise: an Inspector General to keep tabs on how all that money is spent? Will they care that the president told several large (blue) states that he won’t allow federal agencies to give their people their share of the emergency funds unless their governors treat Trump more nicely?
In short, will our democracy survive this pandemic, given that our president plans to exploit the crisis and turn it to his personal political advantage?
