The Chinese Virus

The Donald is doing his best to try to distance himself from blame on this pandemic, which he now calls the Chinese virus.  Many conservative legislators and pundits had already been calling it the  Wuhan virus, to make it clear where this pandemic originated, blaming the media for calling them racist in their intents.  Fact is we don't know where this virus originated, as there is no patient zero.  It's just the first reported outbreak was in the Wuhan province of China.  Funny enough, the artful dodger referred to a conversation he purportedly had with Chinese President Xi earlier this month, claiming this whole thing would be over by April.

Now, he is trying to peddle Chloroquine as a cure all for the virus, wrongly claiming that the FDA has approved it.  Dr. Hahn subtly corrected him, saying the testing is ongoing but that the FDA is fast-tracking the process with the hope it actually might work.  Trump is so anxious to get this crisis behind him that he will seize on anything, ignoring that it takes months if not years to fully test a drug like this.  If we are to believe the president, he has to do much more than offer false assurances.

The Dow rebounded slightly yesterday, closing back over 20,000, and is poised to make even bigger gains today.  Yesterday, was one of the few days traders showed any restraint, not trying to make a last minute buyback to push gains higher.  Even still, you can see from the dips and peaks, there was a lot of speculating during the day.  At least four big selloffs and buybacks.  

The reality seems to be slowly sinking in that we are in for a long shutdown, as much as eight weeks.  Legislators are floating the idea of declaring a freeze on rent, mortgage and utility payments.  Some states have already done so.  

Florida Gov. DeSantis finally closed down state beaches after the backlash in the national media, grinding Spring Break to a halt.  Still, many kids don't see what the big deal is, as coronavirus has not impacted them as significantly as it has older generations.  They don't seem to consider they will come in contact with their parents and elderly relatives when they get home.  One New Jersey family was utterly devastated by the virus.

Even in Italy, where the mortality rate is a staggering 8 percent, many people continue to defy quarantine.  It's hard to deal with an invisible killer.

This virus is a pandemic.  It doesn't matter where it originated.  You can't being blaming Chinese, as John Cornyn grossly did by implying they got it from eating bats.  This kind of racial stereotyping is an even greater pandemic than the virus itself, and the President and Congressional leaders should know better, yet they continue to pander to their conservative base that is always looking for someone to blame.

As the President said, I don't take responsibility at all, despite having downplayed the virus in early March and effectively allowed it to spread by taking no immediate action.  It's only when the cases started to pile up that he swung into gear, claiming now that he is working harder than anyone on the crisis, having understood its severity all along.  From goat to hero.

Well, the damage is done.  Not only in terms of spread of the virus, but the battering his image has taken over the past three weeks.  He seemed on top of the world back in February with the Dow poised to reach 30,000, the impeachment trial behind him, and approval ratings at 50 percent, an all-time high for him.  But, his laggard response has seen his approval rating sink to 37 percent, implying only his core supporters believe in him at this point.  So, he seeks to deflect attention back to China, which ironically enough appears to have brought the outbreak under control.