Coronapocalypse Now.

Dangerously incompetent leadership here in the US of A hasn’t helped the COVID-19 issue, though it appeared, for a short tume, to be getting slightly better.

At first, Trump would pressure-wash the crowd with his typical nonsense. He would play down the threat of COVID-19 and jettison blatant lies from his blubbering lips. He seemed to care more about the economy, more about projecting a superior and impenetrable ego, than he did about the grand population of people he was supposed to be serving. As is at the very least consistent with him, he seemed to be under the dangerous delusion that truth was synonymous with saying a lie with such unwavering confidence that others subsequently believed in it, in him, unquestionably.

Then he would turn and allow the experts to speak — and what they had to say contradicted nearly every goddamned thing he had said just a short time ago. They would try to emphasize rational concern, highlighting the fact that a rationally-based overreaction would serve us better than an under-reaction.

Every day, however, something miraculous seemed to be happening. To some degree, The Great Trumpkin seemed to be learning something. Though it appeared to be a slower process, the change was vaguely reminiscent of Dubya Bush’s response to 9/11: more focused and structured on the crisis at hand and seemingly finding a sense of value in bipartisan unity in that it was our only hope of pulling through the mess in question. His free-flowing bullshit and spin diminished and when asked questions he didn’t know the answers to, he often turned to either the experts or those which he had given authority with respect to the matter, namely Pence in this instance — and while Pence is just a different flavor of bat shit insane, he is more articulate and linear in his speech (which offers some relief) and represents, at the very least, a more predictable form of insanity — religious insanity — though it has yet to rear its ugly head in this context.

By and large, at least with respect to what I’m aware of, Pence is actually listening to the experts, though still defending Trumple Orangeskin and trying to rub his ego, however subtly, at every opportunity.

In any case, it was an improvement. The response of the US leadership wasn’t nearly as swift as it should have been, to grossly understate the matter, but at least they were finally showing signs of actually taking it seriously and catching up with the rest of the fucking world.

Trump’s lies and ego-stroking quickly came to dominate again in the subsequent days, however. The ass hat just can’t help himself.

The lack of sufficient federal leadership has forced the leadership of individual states to step up, inspring the leadership of still other states, which is one example of a silver lining, another being climate change: air pollution has significantly reduced, for instance.

Meanwhile, the populace has gone rather bat shit. Grocery stores were hopping. Shelves were empty. It was an all-out raid, the objective to buy as much toilet paper, sanitizer and bread as one could afford.

Sanitizer I can at least wrap my head around. Maybe bread. Shit sheets are another matter.

Another issue is all the misinformation out there. I fell for some of it, but not nearly the degrees of some if those around me — and they don’t seem to seek out or believe new information, adapting their perspective to it.

All people have to do is go to the CDC website and read the symptoms of COVID-19. All people have to do is listen to the experts. This isn’t like the flu, it us more serious, and this isn’t a hoax, eitger. Given our lack of tests for the virus, we don’t know how widespread it is in the US at present, and it doesn’t help that you can have it for 2-14 days and be asymptomatic yet contagious.

A lot of people are cranky because everything is shutting down, because they want people to isolate themselves, to self-quarenteen and not congregate in groups. It needs to happen in order to slow the spread of the virus. After all, if this all keeps going on the same trajectory in the US that it has in Italy, for instance, there will be too many patients and not enough doctors and resources to treat them.

They may quarenteen the country as a whole, which would actually be a good idea. It would save lives. It doesn’t sound as if Trump wants to do that, but he’s so often full of shit, I can’t bring myself to believe anything he says.

I work fast food, so I still work, and will continue to do so unless, perhaos, the country shuts down. Which is good, I suppose, as I have bills to pay, food to buy, and addictions to feed. At the same time, an introvert, this notion of self-quarenteen wouldn’t bother me at all. Its actually quite attractive. I could get some reading, writing, and art work done. I could recharge my social battery to a degree I’ve been incapable of for years.

In any case, for the meantime I continue to watch our circus of a world, continue to wonder what’s in store next.