There are always new variants with any virus. The variants appear more quickly as new hosts are infected. There is always a 50/50 chance that a variation will diminish the virus’s power; we just hear about the ones that are more potent, of course, as they’re the danger. What you want is a variant that is so much more contagious that it displaces current variations, but causes little or no harm to its hosts, thus becoming one of the millions of harmless viruses our bodies host. It is beyond our current technology to design that variant. So We have to depend on the vaccine.
So too the Republican party. At present we have Trump. Clearly a very contagious virus that spread quickly and mindlessly through the GOP. Like a virus, there is no rational explanation for its spread—that’s just what viruses do. Those who manage to recover are left with a condition called Long Trump, where they are slightly brain-damaged, obviously have no sense of taste or smell, acquire a susceptibility to grift, have a disinclination to crawl back under a rock, and some are susceptible to reinfection. There is a variant called pseudo-alpha trump, wherein “leaders” of the GOP are infected, leading to the symptoms of brainless bluster, short-term thinking, and an ability to sacrifice the health and lives of constituents to avoid eventual electoral defeat.
Science, time and public health measures will eventually reduce covid to todays non-virulent version of the Spanish flu. Well-disseminated information, time, constant monitoring, and protected voting will eventually reduce the virulence of the trump virus.
R's messaging as usual is so full of contradictions, it's hard to target. On the one hand they love the authoritarian/strong-man tendencies in Trump but the minute Biden shows a little strength to put common-sense health measures in place or finally ends the never-ending war, it's all about "freedom" from authoritarians. It gives me whiplash. On a happier note, so glad California came through. I am full of relief this AM.
I've always maintained that Trump didn't create this GOP fascist cult, he was simply the buffoon messiah they have always been looking for. They won't turn easily against their messiah, but if a clone or a more buffoonish one comes along, they won't hesitate to switch.
There are a lot of anti-Trumpers who aren't opposed to their cult's move toward fascism (Cheney), they simply want a shrewder authoritarian.
Small but salient: how likely is it that all of these R leaders have already received their booster shots? They can proclaim publicly whatever they want, but I’m more interested in what they do.
"Trump quickly sought to appease his base by claiming in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he was unlikely to get the booster shot." LOL! Good to know he can still make me laugh, even after four (l o o o n g) years together.
I wonder if the Boo Trumpers are the same ones who put out all their God Bless America swag on Labor Day, and essentially socialist-as-they-define-socialism holiday?
There are always new variants with any virus. The variants appear more quickly as new hosts are infected. There is always a 50/50 chance that a variation will diminish the virus’s power; we just hear about the ones that are more potent, of course, as they’re the danger. What you want is a variant that is so much more contagious that it displaces current variations, but causes little or no harm to its hosts, thus becoming one of the millions of harmless viruses our bodies host. It is beyond our current technology to design that variant. So We have to depend on the vaccine.
So too the Republican party. At present we have Trump. Clearly a very contagious virus that spread quickly and mindlessly through the GOP. Like a virus, there is no rational explanation for its spread—that’s just what viruses do. Those who manage to recover are left with a condition called Long Trump, where they are slightly brain-damaged, obviously have no sense of taste or smell, acquire a susceptibility to grift, have a disinclination to crawl back under a rock, and some are susceptible to reinfection. There is a variant called pseudo-alpha trump, wherein “leaders” of the GOP are infected, leading to the symptoms of brainless bluster, short-term thinking, and an ability to sacrifice the health and lives of constituents to avoid eventual electoral defeat.
Science, time and public health measures will eventually reduce covid to todays non-virulent version of the Spanish flu. Well-disseminated information, time, constant monitoring, and protected voting will eventually reduce the virulence of the trump virus.
R's messaging as usual is so full of contradictions, it's hard to target. On the one hand they love the authoritarian/strong-man tendencies in Trump but the minute Biden shows a little strength to put common-sense health measures in place or finally ends the never-ending war, it's all about "freedom" from authoritarians. It gives me whiplash. On a happier note, so glad California came through. I am full of relief this AM.
Thank you Dan. I enjoy these updates tremendously and always learn something.
I've always maintained that Trump didn't create this GOP fascist cult, he was simply the buffoon messiah they have always been looking for. They won't turn easily against their messiah, but if a clone or a more buffoonish one comes along, they won't hesitate to switch.
There are a lot of anti-Trumpers who aren't opposed to their cult's move toward fascism (Cheney), they simply want a shrewder authoritarian.
Small but salient: how likely is it that all of these R leaders have already received their booster shots? They can proclaim publicly whatever they want, but I’m more interested in what they do.
"Trump quickly sought to appease his base by claiming in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he was unlikely to get the booster shot." LOL! Good to know he can still make me laugh, even after four (l o o o n g) years together.
I wonder if the Boo Trumpers are the same ones who put out all their God Bless America swag on Labor Day, and essentially socialist-as-they-define-socialism holiday?