I apologize for the personal attack. That wasn’t proper or how I normally conduct myself.
I actually have a pretty decent idea of what you do considering I have a History degree and my original intention was to teach. My brother is a professor - I get it.
My take is that I’m on the front lines of this. I GET it. It sucks. I normally visit my parents twice a week, but they’re high risk so I avoid them. I’ll pick up groceries if necessary to leave them on their porch and they’ll wipe them down before taking them when I leave. I have close friends dealing with this. There’s a solid chance that I’ll get this. I see guys walking into houses triple checking their PPE’s because they have small kids or elderly parents at home. It sucks. It does. At the same point, you need to be rational. You be as smart and considerate as you can. You probably won’t get it, but if you do there’s a 99% survival rate. I’ll stay home on my days off because of that, but I’m not laying in a pool of cold sweat over that.
I like Trump, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s infallible. He’s made mistakes. So have a lot of other politicians. I think we are actually doing really well with coming together and getting through this thing at the moment. This was coming regardless. Maybe it could’ve been mitigated better, but it is what it is at this point. Hopefully we get some better protocols in place when this BS is over.
Here's the thing, B:
To prevent myself from falling out with posters I like on hockey matters (and to avoid tripping the banning guidelines), I've finally ignored some folks who I'd otherwise enjoy engaging in debates about TDA, LA, the upcoming draft and a host of other topics. I hope that some time in the next 12 months this crisis will have diminished, hockey will be back, and I can reengage those fans whom I genuinely like outside of certain topics.
Even in that light, however, I keep following (and occasionally engaging with) you, because you are pretty straightforward – and as you say, you generally conduct yourself very well. (Perhaps better than I do.)
But when you declare things like "I could bash Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Deblasio or I could bash Trump and Pence depending on which side of the political discussion I fall on. It just aggravates half the people here," it feels disingenuous – importantly,
because it paints a false picture.
In your characterization, you've (potentially without realizing) established monoliths, which are essentially left vs. right. But I'm not aware of anyone (on this forum, at any rate) who has criticized Trump's response to the crisis who views it the same way.
Speaking personally, I've fully admitted many times over that I'm a progressive (Warren, not Bernie)... but I have NO problem expressing disdain for DeBlasio. Indeed, I had come to friggin' hate the guy even before this terrible crisis. Likewise, up until three months ago, I viewed Cuomo as a cynical, political weathervane... but I cannot deny he's damn well stepped up in the wake of this crisis. And lest you think I'm being one-sided in my presentation, come on down, Mike DeWine, Republican Governor of Ohio! He and I disagree on a lot of issues that would cause me to
rage against him under other circumstances; but I cannot fail to admit he has done well by the people of his state, and the country, in the face of COVID-19 – and despite the fears of those of us on the left, did so while still making certain that voting in his state would progress in a manner safe and open to all its citizens.
Trump, meanwhile, has been objectively horrific in the face of this pandemic. The reports have been clear since the beginning about what he was informed and how he reacted at every step of the process – and even if you don't trust those reports (which is a whole other issue I'd question, but we can leave that for another time), you need only look to
his own statements, and how they've changed almost daily over the last 12 weeks.
I realize this country is incredibly divided (and that, for the record makes me sad; I wish we could actually debate
issues and elect our officials on the basis of those arguments), but he was the individual with the single most power to halt a pandemic, not just here but around the world, and he not only failed to do so, he actively avoided it.
That's what it means to be the President – as another President once famously said, "the buck stop here." Trump, meanwhile: "I don't take responsibility at all."
It's really, really bad.
