Supermarket shelves are empty. Health care facilities and medical suppliers are on overload. Unemployment soars. Stock Markets collapse. Millions of Americans are virtually quarantined. Trump denied an epidemic, then claimed he heroically stopped it from being worse. He falsely claims a cure is eminent. He stirs anti-immigrant hostility, calling it a foreign of Chinese virus. In “reality” television performances, he ignores questions from reporters as he hosts his “experts,” who are crowded together on stage. His loyal supporters on Fox News and in Congress, who originally called the Corona virus a Democratic Party hoax, continually shout Trump’s praise. Inexplicably, his Presidential ratings climb, at least temporarily.
Let’s be clear. Donald Trump is an incompetent bungler, not a hero. His stupidity and ineptitude put American lives unnecessarily in danger. The United States and South Korea reported their initial cases of the Corona virus on the same day in January. While Trump declared the virus was “totally under control” and said he wasn’t “concerned at all,” South Korea took the threat to its citizens seriously and immediately responded. Its cases have declined by 90% while U.S. cases have grown exponentially (they keep doubling). Testing in the United States is so inadequate that officials have no idea how many people are already infected. Some experts believe the U.S. will eventually be in worse shape than Italy because it has fewer doctors and hospital beds per person.
We know that Trump and friends are hoping to use the Corona virus epidemic as a political and financial gravy train. Last night Senate Democrats temporarily blocked the proposed bailout bill because it did not adequately protect workers or control how companies could use federal funds and loans. At a news conference, Donald Trump would not state whether his personal family business would be on line for federal relief money. The Trump Organization has already laid off staff at hotels in New York City and Washington, DC, closed golf courses in southern Florida and Los Angeles, and reportedly boarded up Trump’s prized Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Democrats denounced the current relief package as a corporate giveaway.
A recent New York Times report examined Trump’s use of emergency Presidential power to confront the pandemic and uncovered a pattern of abuse promoting a rightwing xenophobic agenda that would never have been approved otherwise. The authors concluded, “The White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight.”
Claiming the “country is full,” Trump has repeatedly tried to block immigrants and refugees from Mexico and Central America, but his attempts were blocked by the courts. Trump is now using emergency authority to summarily close the southern border without any evidence that infected people are entering the country through that route. In fact, Mexico and Central America have far fewer people ill with the Coronavirus than the United States. As of last week, there were 118 confirmed cases in Mexico compared to over 13,000 in this country.
Trump and his Republican and business allies are continually seeking to weaken organized labor. Another emergency measure, supposedly to pour more disposable money into people’s hands, allows federal workers to refuse to pay union dues.
During Congressional investigations into Trump campaign and Presidential abuse, the President obstructed justice claiming Executive Privilege and ordering current and former executive office officials not to testify. He has now found a new excuse. The White House notified the House Oversight and Reform Committee that members of his coronavirus task force would not be available to testify for at least three weeks because they were “directly focused on executing its day-to-day response to Covid-19.”
Much of the proposed Trump emergency measures are handouts to major corporations. The Agriculture Department is teaming up with PepsiCo to deliver junk food to students in rural areas. According to another New York Times article, the proposed “Coronavirus Stimulus Package Spurs a Lobbying Gold Rush.” While some industries are in desperate and legitimate need of a federal bailout, think of local restaurants, others are taking advantage of the emergency to maneuver for exemptions from regulations and are trying to get unwarranted subsidies.
Every company claims they only want to help workers and consumers. Adidas, a multinational corporation based in Germany with annual revenue of about $25 billion, wants the United States government to spur its sales with a waiver allowing potential customers to “use pretax money to pay for gym memberships and fitness equipment.” Drone makers claim if the federal government ends regulation of their industry, they will “deliver medical supplies or food without risking human contact that could spread the virus.” Airbnb is asking for tax breaks and loans. The pork industry claims it will fill supermarket shelves if the federal government allows them to bring in temporary foreign workers.
Boeing, which faces ruin because it sold unsafe 737 Max airplanes that crashed killing hundreds of people, is using the Corona virus to demand a $60 billion federal bailout. From 2013 through 2019, Boeing turned huge profits into dividends for shareholders and stock buybacks that enriched its top executives.
Question: Why should casinos get federal subsidies?
Answer: Maybe because many casino moguls are heavy Republican Party donors.
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