One of today’s quick little mashups to leaven the day’s drumroll of Stupid. One can’t help being aware that in happier times, such a display might be dismissed as a tasteless April Fool’s Prank. A trap set for the unwary.
No screenwriter, no matter how gloriously twisted, could hope to compete with the real-life disturbances forced upon us in this Time of Trump.
Herewith, as of Wednesday afternoon, is the starring crew of Trump’s Dirty Dozen, the All-Star Confederacy of Dunces abroad in our land.
Tasked with the highest executive authority in each of their respective states, elected by the citizens they live among and have sworn to keep safe, as the total number of US COVID-19 cases crashes through 200.000 and the number of deaths is ready to soar past 5,000 later tonight, there are exactly 12 of the 50 governors with this high responsibility who are playing Monkey Shines (deaf, dumb, and blind).
Stupid Is as Stupid Does as Forrest Gump reminded us. These gems have a whole new theme for the COVID-10 Era.
Run Around Freely, Businesses Open.
On a statistical basis, Stupid should be roughly equally distributed among a group of 50 high executives. Especially when the party distribution of the office holders in question is near parity at 26 R and 24 D. Stupid should not wear a partisan stripe in a normal world.
And yet here we are. We didn’t ask for this. No one made them do it. There was no outcry from the voters to assume the mantle of denial and dysfunction.
There are 12 outliers among the Governors. And all 12, 100% of them, are Republicans. Not a single Democrat in this sorry bunch.
Following the President’s Virus Dog Whistles repeated over and over until just 24 hours ago, these yahoos are creating juicy conditions for the virus already inside their borders to spread like a wildfire to ravage their citizens’ health, damage their local economies, disturb their community cohesion, and cause unnecessary sickness, death, disruption, job loss, and pain.
X Marks the Spot.
Virus Don’t Care.
For geophysical fans, notice the swath represented right smack through the Middle Heartland of America. Every single state in the middle third of our national map is stained by an X, except the those who elected Democratic governors over the last 4 years. My oh My.
I haven’t run the statistical probabilities of getting 12/12 observed when the random expectation is 6/12, but its likely to be pretty small. Still, this all might be a misunderstanding or maybe just a random statistical burp.
Don’t you think so? What is your Hunch?
So, here is the April 1, 2020 Governor’s Hall of Shame, from East to West:
Charter Lifetime Members: Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah.
From a partisan perspective the voters in these 12 states will take a harder hit than they should have, and it will be in part a self-inflicted wound. No one could have foreseen the sudden appearance of a novel deadly virus, but the tragic denial and delay in dealing with it straight on is a predictable human failure when decision making is infused with the tint of political colored glasses.
The Pain, She is a Comin’. Higher and Longer For You.
Jesus, I wish this were just some sort of horrible April Fool’s Joke, and not a factual prelude for tens of millions of my Fellow Americans.
Perhaps you folks would like to insist now your Governors get their collective heads out of their asses. It would still be some limited help.
Just a Thought.
