Leave it to Democrats to diss a person for being happy while recovering from illness
Since the questions for tonight’s vice presidential debate (at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, 9 p.m. EDT) between Vice President Mike Pence and Democrat VP nominee Kamala Harris are supposedly secret, we can’t say for sure what moderator Susan Page (of the USA Today) will ask the candidates.
But it seems certain that Pence and Harris will be probed for their respective takes on President Donald Trump’s statement (via Twitter) after his release from the hospital on Monday evening, namely that he was, “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
It doesn’t take a soothsayer to prophesy Harris will use the president’s confident post-discharge words as yet another platform to bash Trump and Pence for their supposedly callous disregard of the “suffering” of so many people, and the ultra-leftwing California senator will have memorized down to the last digit how many Americans have succumbed with the virus. A health pandemic is a godsend to the reactionary alarmist crowd which characterizes a fever and a sneeze as justification to quarantine just about anyone for weeks or months on end, even if it means the afflicted person will turn to alcohol, abuse his or her spouse and/or children and ruin their financial well-being.
Pence, on the other hand, will draw strength from Trump’s confidence, reiterate that the president is doing well and that his statement wasn’t intended to carelessly belittle the “danger” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, or Wuhan, if you prefer) virus as much as it was an optimistic invitation for people to live their lives without oppressive, paralyzing fear.
Of course Democrats, liberals, socialists and the media would much prefer everyone cower under their dining room table -- properly socially distanced, of course -- acting petrified of contracting the disease. Trump himself obviously caught it and by appearances and accounts is doing quite well despite the infection. This was eminently predictable, not only because the man is strong and vigorous for his age, but also because facts tell us that the virus is not the vicious opportunistic killer that the media would have us all believe it was.
Oh yeah, and treatments have dramatically improved too. What about that part?
Have lots of people died with the virus? Emphatically, yes. And the copious statistics-taking American medical profession supposedly has tracked every single one of them. But if avoiding the virus mandates shutting down your life, not sending your kids to school, wearing masks everywhere (including outdoors) and basically surrendering to anxiety, Trump’s supporters have had it with the deception.
Here’s thinking there isn’t a single soul who planned to vote for Trump who’s changed their mind in the past few days because the president is ostensibly pleased about the progress of his recovery from the oh-so-dangerous COVID-19. Apparently some Washington-based Republican operatives think “this is it” for him and that it’s a shoe-in election for doddering mask-wearing dunce Grampa Joe Biden and his slavery reparations/Green New Deal touting sidekick, Harris.
Slanted public opinion polls would seem to back up the impressions of the doomsayers. But others see a massive wave of “silent majority” Trump people in hiding, too. Dave Boyer visited Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley and wrote at The Washington Times, “Northampton County Republican Party Chairwoman Lee Snover said the president’s diagnosis doesn’t appear to have affected the level of enthusiasm for Mr. Trump. ‘Not too much, except a lot of prayer,’ Mrs. Snover said. ‘Everybody’s still enthused, we’re still working just as hard. I hear people saying, ‘Hey, he fought for us. We’re going to fight for him.’’
“Mrs. Snover is confident that the president will win her county again, but she predicts that the state will be ‘a dogfight.’ As someone who knocks on doors and calls voters every day, Mrs. Snover said she doesn’t believe polls that show Mr. Biden with a significant lead.
“’Trump people are completely secret. They whisper,’ she said in an interview. ‘My right hand to God, they’ll open the curtain and say, ‘I can’t have a Trump sign. They’ll vandalize my home.’ I think there really is a closet vote for Trump. Republicans will not poll. They won’t do it. And the newly registered people have never voted before, which I think is bigger than 2016.’”
Talk about fear -- it is indeed out there, but not all of it revolves around people blaming Trump for the Chinese plague and “not taking it seriously” and “failing to contain the spread” and “letting people die.” Boyer’s story contains several blurbs of both Democrats’ and Republicans’ senses on the upcoming election. There certainly looks to be a lot of silent Trump backers out there. I’ve experienced it myself.
The events of the last week are the first in memory where some malcontents blatantly chastised someone for getting sick -- and then getting better. If Trump had opted not to get a seasonal flu shot and then got a case of the flu, would reaction have been the same? Is everyone similarly paranoid about coming down with an illness? Some people -- the ones in the most-affected categories -- have a right to be apprehensive. But everyone else?
The fact Trump has seemingly never gotten sick or taken a day off or even a lengthy vacation has worked against him. Whereas Obama and Michelle jetted off to Hawaii every year to convalesce, George W. Bush went to his Texas ranch and Bill and Hill went to… the beach… Trump pretty much sticks to his job all the time (taking afternoons to golf sometimes).
For Democrats, is it “Join or Die” or… “Conform or Die”?
All of this basically boils down to worldview, or even more plainly, a vision of the “new” America versus the “old” America. In the new America, circa 2020, roughly half of the citizenry believes everything the president says, does, or, according to them, thinks, is subject to intense scrutiny, always with a negative bias and media-imposed suspicion. Most of these people loved Bill Clinton, tolerated Hillary Clinton’s awful personality (because she’s a woman, dang it!) and got thrills up and down their legs whenever Barack or Michelle Obama’s face appeared on a TV screen.
Joe Biden is a hero to them because the back slappin’, hair sniffin’, mask wearin’, child repellin’, shoulders massagin’, tall tale tellin’, corrupted wayward son toleratin’, excuse makin’, mumbled nonsensical sentence utterin’, sexual assault denyin’ Democrat nominee is shown by opinion surveys to be way ahead of Donald Trump. And if Biden wins, then he’ll make sure NO ONE is ever happy about beating a disease again!
What a downer! Wear your appropriate mourning face at all times in Joe Biden’s America. Don’t you realize the Kens and Karens of the blue state world are watching you? Conform or… die(?)! You may recall the American revolutionaries fashioned a “Join or Die” message on their flags. Well, liberals have changed history again -- their flag is “Conform or Die!” Or, perhaps more aptly put, “Join AND Die”!
These “new America” pessimists also assume racism is systematic in this nation, that the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s public death were “mostly peaceful” and the demonstrators represent all walks of life, their fellow countrymen rallying to oppose a concept (racism) that can’t be accurately defined or seen. If it were up to them, they would all man (or woman?) a gigantic broom and repeatedly beat the bristles into the ground to symbolically stamp out any vestiges of “white supremacy” or “insensitivity” that allegedly exists in the hearts and minds of every pale-skinned person.
Will the real racists please stand up? If there are so many white supremacists out there, why aren’t they more vocal? What are they afraid of? Wouldn’t the media come rushing to report on every racist utterance in order to show how ignorant and backwards the speakers are? Or is there any such thing as a black supremacist? (Comedian Dave Chappelle explored the concept, rather hilariously. Definitely not for the easily offended, however.)
These “new” America folks also love social media because it provides never-ending ways to demonstrate their “wokeness” before the world, themselves relishing the chance to embarrass a conservative traditionalist or Trump supporter who dares question their devotion to the politically correct order of things.
The “old” America is the better one
Unlike the new group, believers in the old America don’t scare easily. Far from being stupid or unenlightened, they recall a time when United States citizens dreamed big and built bigger. Freedom and capitalism contributed to the attitude as well as a general disdain for being told how to think and feel.
Can you imagine explorers like Sir Francis Drake or Christopher Columbus, who set off into the unknown sea trusting only the strength of the wind, being frightened of a virus? How about the people who envisioned the transcontinental railroad? Or the pioneers who struggled along the Oregon trail? How about the robber barons who revolutionized industrial processes to develop America into the world’s greatest economy? Was Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie a closet hypochondriac? Or Henry Ford?
One of the greatest engineering marvels of any age is the Hoover Dam, which tamed the mighty waters of the Colorado River, preventing it from flowing unimpeded and still provides not only life sustaining water to tens of millions but also carbon-free electricity to human beings all these years later. Or the men who volunteered or were drafted to fight World War II -- any of them opt out because of health threats (not talking about bullets and bombs here)? What about those who plotted the interstate highway system? Would the CCP virus have made the generation that sent men to the moon and safely returned them to earth shake in their suits?
Or what about Coach Herb Brooks and the players on the 1980 U.S. Hockey team?
None of these endeavors came without risk to life and limb or great individual sacrifice. Yet today, the “new” America proponents want everything curtailed to “keep people safe” and try to guarantee that no one will ever be exposed. The “new” America people take advantage of the courage and fortitude of others to live a good life, but still they savage Trump for saying “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”
There’s a big difference between being prudent and being afraid. Trump is the former. Liberals are the latter. I’ll side with the optimistic people any day of the week.
Americans aren’t always wild about the way Trump phrases things, but they love the content of his statements. His personality cannot, and could never be, packed into a tight little conforming container. Even his staunchest supporters disagree with some of his public acts, and there are times (like last week’s debate) where we wish he would’ve heeded Joe Biden’s advice and simply “shut up.” But we take the bad with the good and hope like heck that it all works out. Because the proponents of the “new” America would worry us into the ground.
Literally.
What to expect from the 2020 VP debate? Probably nothing… or close to it.
Don’t feel bad if you can’t remember anything from the 2016 vice presidential debate, or even who participated in it opposite Mike Pence. The one thing I recall from the event four years ago was Democrat Senator Tim Kaine’s constant rude interruptions. For those who criticized Trump for his behavior last week, they should go back and revisit the whining and kvetching “nice guy” Kaine. What a crock.
VP debates rarely produce much of anything that contributes to the outcome of an election. There was “Uncle Joe” (back then) Biden’s smirks and chuckles and gross distortions and lies opposite boyish Paul Ryan in 2012. In 1988, Michael Dukakis’s number two, Lloyd Bentsen, insulted Dan Quayle with his “I served with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy” line.
Ross Perot’s choice, Admiral James Stockdale, was renowned for his odd and brief retorts in 1992. Sarah Palin made the 2008 version -- versus a much younger and more astute Biden -- interesting with her solid conservatism and folksy manners. Vice President Dick Cheney wasn’t phased by ultra-liar pretty boy idiot John Edwards in 2004.
There have been consequential moments, but not game-changing ones in VP debates. Many suggest Kamala Harris should be a drag on Joe Biden’s ticket because she’s a radical leftist who frankly isn’t likable. But this election will turn on whether the American people recognize Trump and his accomplishments versus the Democrats’/media’s depiction of his candidacy. Will the “new” America or “old” America win out? We’ll know in a few weeks.
Vice President debate
Mike Pence
Kamala Harris
Joe Biden
Donald Trump
COVID-19
Trump administration reaction
Trump release from hospital
Media bias
health risks