The Supreme Court Can't Declare COVID-19 Unconstitutional, The Senate Can't Vote It Away, And Trump Doesn't Have Sway Over Nature

Trump has several key tactics.  He is good at figuring out how to flatter or goad people.  For whatever reasons he's good at mesmerizing his followers.  He 'negotiates' for everything else.  Negotiate includes bribes and threats if people don't want to play his game.  So he's got the Senate Republicans locked into supporting him.  And he's appointed two of the Supreme Court Justices and lots and lots of other far right judges.

Policies that depend on how the Senate votes, Trump can impact.  Actions requiring court approval, he's working on.  Even if he loses at lower court levels, there's a good chance the Supreme Court will save him.

But viruses (actual virus like COVID-19) follow the laws of nature.  Scientists don't even control that.  They can study and find ways to use the laws of nature to fight the virus, but they can't turn off the virus because the president tells them to.

About three years ago today I asked if people would stay on the bus if the driver were acting like Trump  -  because that is the real test of faith and trust.  Most people don't understand the details of tax laws or trade agreements or health systems to be able to sort out what is and isn't true.  (Well if you have a pre-existing condition or you lose your job, or have an uncovered medical bill, you find out what doesn't work.)

In that post I gave a couple more examples beyond bus driver:

• If your doctor acted like Trump
• If your high school teacher acted like Trump
• If your pilot acted like Trump
• If your boss (of the job you really need) acted like Trump
• If your priest acted like Trump

We all are more susceptible because of the Physician in Chief's ego-centric interpretation of scientific evidence.  Here is a list of responses from Kurt Eichenwald's Trump supporting acquaintances about the virus:

• It's a hoax.
• All places reporting sickness are blue states, and theyre lying. (Theyre not all blue states.)
• Democrats are infecting themselves.
• This is a chinese problem, & we're not Chinese.
• Everyone saying this is serious are anti-Trump and lying..
• A vaccine is almost ready, so there is no reason to worry about it.
• It's been isolated. (In China, they believe)
• WHO is a bunch of foreigners who hate trump for standing up for America. So they are lying to hurt him....
• It's not a serious disease. In fact, people can go to work with it! It's less serious than a cold.

This is from the cult part of his following.

You can believe your doctor, but if he's a quack, you'll pay for those beliefs.  These people are infected by something far worse than COVID-19.  And COVID-19 might be their kool-aid.

Unfortunately, my US Senators voted against me getting rid of this doctor and we all have to wait until November to fire him and January next year for him to leave.  (I did contact them to let them know their refusal to look at more evidence for impeachment has led to this now, where far more people are going to be severely affected by the virus - older folks, other vulnerable folks, and people who have other illnesses but will find doctors and hospitals unable to give them adequate attention.  

Corona Virus Is a Scientific Problem,  Not Susceptible To Political Spin So Trump's In Trouble.  But so are the rest of us.


I'd note that the Washington Post says that Trump's grandfather was an early victim of the Spanish flue in 1918.  But Wikipedia is not as conclusive:

The family story of his death is that "on May 29, 1918, while walking with his son Fred, Trump suddenly felt extremely sick and was rushed to bed. The next day, he was dead. What was first diagnosed as pneumonia turned out to be one of the early cases of the Spanish flu, which caused millions of deaths around the world.[3]:116" However, his death certificate shows this to be untrue as he was being attended by the doctor for a week prior to his death. His status as an early case of the flu requires more research to confirm.[24] He was 49 years old.