What Grade Would You Give Americans in Handling the COVID-19 Crisis?

Seen a few good things happening from my perspective, like the folks who go out and shop for their neighbors, the vast majority who are wearing masks (but then again, I live in a very blue region) and trying to help local businesses affected by the shutdown like restaurants and hair salons (my hair stylist went above and beyond to get her customers in as soon as she was able to open, and got a generous tip from here).

All overshadowed though, by the federal government's bumbling. Brownie was doing a heck of a job compared to what we've seen in this crisis. And a lot of it does fall on Trump. Safe to say, he's never heard Harry Truman's mantra ("The buck stops here") and, if he did, he'd take credit for it. Add in all the Karens on social media flaunting the rules.

D.

 

F

Case and point:

 

E for Everyone. Because that is who is going needlessly suffer through this.

 

Yes, there are folks who take COVID seriously and are doing the right things. But, unfortunately, this is one of those group projects that is graded on how the entire team does its work. No matter how hard-working the most enthusiastic group members are, the group grade is sucked down by those who just want to eat paste and whine that it isn’t recess, already. The fact that the grading curve is so steep makes it even worse.

Meanwhile, instead of providing useful guidance, the teacher is at the front of the room humping the American flag and trying to sell everybody cans of his friend’s beans. His slurred rants deriding the importance of the project only encourage the paste-eaters to eat more paste.

 

D+

I think we’ve seen incredible efforts by our medical providers and essential workers. We’ve seen some wonderful efforts by people being helpful to others. Those efforts are why I cannot give an F.

But all that is outweighed by the criminal lack of leadership at the top and the utter stupidity of their followers.

 

New Zealand started with a A+ situation.

China, if you take away the fact it started there and China lied its ass off about how many people have died, has done a remarkable job.

 

And if we started with an A+ situation we'd be at a D now instead of an F.

 

You make a fair point about a lot of people who don't wear the masks, but I do believe he convinced many millions who didn't know what to think when all this began. As for the others, he at least confirmed their bias and gave them an excuse not to wear the masks. "The President says they don't do anything! Good enough for me!"

 

The President spent February going to rallies and telling people Corona was a Democrat hoax to hurt the economy and his chances at reelection. These sentiments continue to echo through the Fox News world - we've all heard Trumpists on Facebook still spouting this nonsense.

There is no bigger failure here then Executive Branch's inability to consistently communicate a message and a plan.

Trump saw Corona as an obstacle to overcome in the way of reelection. It actually put his reelection on a tee, if he could have come out with a, "Hey we're Americans, we bind together, let's face this crisis as a team and knock this shit out."

But he lacks the attention span and he blew it.

 

I lay this at Trump's feet. He gutted the department that dealt with epidemics and pandemics because fuck Obama. That's the original sin. Then, instead of listening to science, he spouted horse shit about it dying out quickly. And then, even after it was plainly evident Covid-19 was going to be really, really bad, he refused to release national stockpiles of equipment or ramp up production of same.

140,000 or so dead. F isn't low enough.

No harm that befalls him will be enough. I wish I believed in hell, because that's where he belongs for all eternity.

 

Everyone did exactly what they were expected to do. The stupid people acted stupid, the smart people acted smart and, unfortunately, we have way too many stupid fuckers in this country. Or at least close-minded fuckers.

C-, which is also what I grade this country as a whole.

 

As a nation, I give us a D. I hate to put it that low given the amazing jobs done by so many health care workers. We have some state and local leaders doing the right thing. We have people doing the right thing. We have others acting like idiots. We have a federal government that has been a lethal combination of stupid, incompetent, uninterested and counterproductive.

This idea that President Trump didn't influence anybody needs to stop. Presidents have power. They have influence. He has absolutely influenced the morons who don't wear masks. He has gone out of his way to give them permission to behave like selfish assholes. He has also pushed reckless reopening plans, first for local businesses and now for schools. No state has to do it. They can all tell him to shut the fuck up and actually protect their people. He has played into the worst, most selfish parts of themselves to get them to do the wrong thing the wrong way. At best, he has given them political cover.

President Trump and his minions are gambling with human lives. He thinks if everything opens and it isn't too bad, he can sell that as a win that would carry him to a second term. He has chosen what he thinks will get him re-elected at every turn rather than understanding that being a real leader, actually doing his job, is what would given him the best chance in November. This was always going to get bad, but he had a real shot to use this for a win he doesn't deserve. That is where the stupid and incompetent parts come in. It's all about telling people what he thinks they want to hear, trying to protect the economy so he can use it to sell himself and putting the blame for everything that goes wrong on everyone else.

That really explains why this country is in such trouble right now. We are too selfish to handle this the right way. I'm not talking about individuals here. I'm not even sure I'm talking about a majority of Americans, but there are too damn many people who are too damn selfish to wear a mask and do what is necessary to be safe.