The Great Pretender

From Emerson Nettles:

I heard two things yesterday that floored me:

1.  We have had more COVID19 deaths than the total number of US fatalities in the Vietnam War.  In two months time, we have had more deaths due to coronavirus than a twenty year war.

2.  The US has 4 percent of the world's population (below left). However, we have 33% of the COVID19 cases as of this date (below middle), and we have 27% of all COVID19 deaths (below right).

AS OF 4/29/20

The US: 
4% of the world's population:

The US:
33% of all COVID19 cases.

The US: 
27% of all COVID19 deaths.

We are in this position, of course, due to Donald Trump's apathetic, neglectful and disastrous response to this global pandemic.  His strategy -- and I use that word very, very loosely (I suppose I should say his "strategery") -- was to deny,  deceive, delay and discredit (in the course of the pandemic, Trump has whistled a new tune over and over -- from claiming the coronavirus was a "hoax" to knowing that this would be a pandemic before anyone else knew this would be a pandemic to now blaming others for delivering incorrect and/or faulty information to him). 

Then I saw something yesterday that infuriated me:  our so-called Vice President visited the Mayo clinic AND REFUSED TO WEAR A FACE MASK.

First of all, the Mayo Clinic SHOULD HAVE REFUSED TO LET HIM IN!

What is it with these GROSS OLD PERVERTS (i.e., the GOP) that makes them think that they are above the law and don't have to follow rules?

GOP members refuse to honor subpoenas.  They walk out on testimony during a house impeachment inquiry.  They refuse to allow witnesses at a Senate trial.  They refuse to cooperate with investigations, and they blatantly and regularly lie under oath.  They change the rules of the Senate to approved confirmations.  Trump even pardons war criminals yet fires real heroes (from Sally Yates to Captain Brett Crozier).

We are no longer a land of laws, but more and more a land of old white, rich privilege -- and nothing has epitomized that more than Mike Pence's visit to the Mayo Clinic. 

Hubris, thy name is Pence.

I loved David Letterman's take on this on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show:

“If you’re going to the Mayo Clinic because you have COVID-19, you really have it,” Letterman said. “You’re not going up there because you like the turn-down service. And [Pence] goes up there, and he takes time off from his gig as a mannequin, and he’s walking around without a mask taunting these poor people who are bedridden and wearing a mask.”
“To me that's just taunting people who are ill,” Letterman added later. “To see that guy in his $40 suit walking through the Mayo Clinic without a mask.”  More on that HERE.

The Pence debacle called to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's 1853 poem "We Cover Thee -- Sweet Face (below on the left).  Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin's poem with the same opening line (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
We Cover Thee – Sweet Face –
Not that We tire of Thee –
But wear a Mask to safeguard Us –
Pretender – as he goes –
He ignores Thee until
We notice him – no mask –
And then – disgusted – turn away
They Con us o'er and o'er –

They blame their scanty deeds
On anyone they can –
Corruption – Vice – a Hundred fold –
I just can’t face that – man –
 

By Emily Dickinson:
 
We Cover Thee – Sweet Face –
Not that We tire of Thee –
But that Thyself fatigue of Us –
Remember – as Thou go –
We follow Thee until
Thou notice Us – no more –
And then – reluctant – turn away
To Con Thee o'er and o'er –

And blame the scanty love
We were Content to show –
Augmented – Sweet – a Hundred fold –
If Thou would'st take it – now –

Emmett Lee Dickinson is certainly regarded by scholars and historians as a visionary, and this poem is yet another example of that -- and Mike Pence absolutely fits the bill as the "Pretender" Dickinson refers to in the fourth line of the poem when he blatantly ignored his obligation to wear a mask.  

Pence then answered the public outcry with the most bizarre response possible:  "Since I don't have the coronavirus, I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible health care personnel, and look them in the eye and say 'thank you.'"

Really?  He wanted to look workers and researchers in the eye? 

What sort of face mask did he think he was supposed to wear?

Sorry, Mr. Pretender, your response is as hollow as your beliefs in science.  He, like Trump, tries to "Con us o'er and o'er" (line 8 of the poem), and I for one am sick of it. 

I also love Dickinson's choice of the word "Vice" in line 11 of the poem since it speaks of dishonesty and deceit -- and alludes directly to the position Pence holds. 

In a tweet eventually deleted but captured in screenshots and by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, the Mayo Clinic wrote that it had "informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today."

Gee -- I wonder who told them to delete the tweet?  I wonder if some sort of blackmail or extortion was involved.  I would not be surprised at all.