The Has-Been

It is hard for me to believe what I am seeing with the White House, a Petri dish for the virus and extremely contagious to those present in the Rose Garden and the West Wing. Mr. Trump is on steroids which will make you feel great at first, but it is a Faustian bargain to take these things in the long run. They are dangerous and should only be used in the most extreme cases of a disease.

The fact that he is not being truthful, with the level that he is disabled by this virus, is disturbing but not surprising. Even though I do not like this man on any level, I hope he gets better as soon as possible and that the rest of his staff that have been infected can beat this thing. It is an awful malady not being able to breathe and one of the worst ways to die.

The disdain for science from this administration, and especially from Mr. Trump, is one of the great tragedies of his presidency. The U.S. was a supreme power because of its belief in science and in the pursuit of knowledge in every area. Denying science as the principle tool for the advancement of humankind is a tragedy, only fully realized by those trained in the subject.

If you get sick, you go to a doctor; if you need your computer fixed, you go to a technician trained in the science of computers. If you get a pandemic, you go to the men and women of biological science. They alone can solve this terrible malady, you do not chastise them or belittle what they are telling to you.

It is sacrilege not in a religious sense, but in the human condition. I fear for our country at this moment, like no other time in my life. This is the first time since the Civil War that something has affected the entire population in a negative way. Even in World War II the U.S. homeland was not destroyed or bombed.

It has been said that compassion is the highest form of evolution, and alas, I think Donald Trump and company do not have this quality.