Last week I talked about enjoying life during the enforced depression that the Left thinks we deserve. In a lot of ways this is similar to what went on during the Iraq War. The media gave us a steady drum beat of death and defeat for almost five straight years. They will forego any cheerful or happy news in order to break our spirit and improve their chances in the next election. As the progs are awfully fond of saying never let a crisis go to waste. They’ve latched onto the COVID-19 story and they will say anything and everything they can think of to blame the President. First, they will blame him for not doing enough. But once it becomes clear that all their direst predictions aren’t realistic, they will switch rapidly to blaming him for the economic crash that the quarantine caused. And right now, they’re doing both. After all they’ll milk the fear of death all the way to when fear of starvation overtakes it. And just like at the end of the Bush II term when the economic crash struck, you’ll feel like fate has stepped in and taken your enemy’s side. Thinking back to 2008 you’ll remember how inevitable it seemed that McCain would lose to Obama. It seemed like nothing could be done.
But this is a different President and these are different times. Already you can see that President Trump isn’t the passive victim that Bush and McCain were. He makes his case and although he’ll listen to experts if he thinks things aren’t happening fast enough or that too much caution is being used, he’ll make a change. Look at the way he questioned the ventilator nonsense that DeBlasio and Cuomo were handing him. And when they said they didn’t have enough hospital beds he called their bluff and set up hospitals on ships and in convention centers. When the experts said we’d have to wait months to start opening up the country President Trump forced them to look realistically at the difference between Wyoming and Manhattan and admit that most areas of the country aren’t going to suffer if they go back to work. Now the various states like Florida and Texas are actually opening up for business and a more normal life. And that’s spreading even to places in the blue states. People in Michigan and even New York are demanding some easing of the ridiculous “hide under a rock” strategy that hasn’t achieved anything meaningful.
So, here’s the payoff of this essay. Stop the doom and gloom. I have good friends who are already talking about how we’re doomed in November. Mail in ballots, too many senate seats to defend, backlash for the downturn, not enough judgeships being passed, you name it they’re fretting. Well I have the same advice for them and everyone else.
Relax.
Sure, there are all kinds of problems. And for the people in the blue states it’s going to be really bad. The small businessmen in New York and the other northeast states have their backs to the wall. But from my point of view that is more of a problem for governors of those states. They’re the ones who refuse to loosen the restrictions on business. They’re the ones who’ll have to answer to the voters for it. And those are the states that mostly don’t vote republican. So, if the President is smart, he’ll take care of his own. The outreach should be to places like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan. But he should make sure that he takes credit for getting things moving again and blame the Democrats in those states who dragged their feet. And he should do everything he can to highlight the sensible policies that Republican governors in places like Texas and Florida took and how that sped up their recoveries.
Our part in all this is not letting the FUD get to us. FUD, in case you didn’t know isn’t a Looney Tunes character. It’s the acronym for fear, uncertainty and disinformation. It’s what the media pumps out on a 24/7 basis. If you let everything they say worry you then you’re going to be a wreck by November.
So, relax.
Your job is to help out your friends and family through all the chaos that comes. But remember to inject some fun into your life and theirs. If you remember back in 2016 every single poll showed Trump behind Clinton by 5 to 10 points. Think about that. Does that sound like they were using honest numbers? That was propaganda meant to convince you not to even bother to vote. They are already doing the same thing. Save yourself a lot grief and just worry about the things you can control. Take care of your problems and let the President handle the big stuff. That’s what he’s good at. He’ll come up with practical solutions and he’ll make sure people hear about it. That’s the difference between him and Bush, McCain and Romney. He’s a winner and they were losers.
So, relax. Have some fun. If you’re in a lockdown area have a telecon with your relatives where everyone has their favorite snacks and the little kids talk about whatever cool things they’re interested in that week. One of my younger grandsons was telling me all about his latest dinosaur movie where one carnivore was biting off the arm of a T. Rex and blood went all over the place. Bless his blood thirsty little mind. He had a blast telling me all about it. And I had a bigger blast hearing about it. And we all agreed we’re going to have a great barbecue as soon as this nonsense is over.
So, relax. Take care of yourself and let the President worry about the big stuff. It’s why we hired him in the first place. And put in a good word for him with your nervous friends and tell them to relax too.