Coronavirus: Common Cold or Bioweapon?

Well, neither. But Trump’s henchmen are trying to call it both at once.

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Dear Reader (Especially the ever-vindicated Orb-touchers)

As a Fox News contributor, I can report from experience that harshly criticizing folks at the network is frowned upon. I am unaware of any policy about criticizing regular guests. But I suppose I’m about to find out. 

So I ask my friends at Fox: Please stop putting Jerry Falwell Jr. on TV. I spent most of my professional life defending the Christian right against what I believed—and largely still believe—to be unfair attacks (and I think David French’s work of sifting the wheat from chaff on such matters is one of The Dispatch’s most important contributions to the national conversation). 

But Falwell makes it so much more difficult. He’s a national embarrassment for both “Christians” and the “right”—never mind the Christian right. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Dr. Anger

    If we're to speak of "objective measures" to consider, how about age and health? All three individuals give cause for concern. What may currently manifest as fumbled words and minor episodes of forgetfulness/confusion may well balloon into a frank dementia if exacerbated by the incalculable stresses of the Presidency. One potential candidate has already had cardiac catheterization and coronary stenting. And though the current Commander in Chief may possibly be in "very good" health (as purported), there is no denying he is also of advanced age, and is surely at elevated risk for a cardiac event within the next four years.

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    Nathan

    I put Rush's position in meme form: https://imgflip.com/i/3sx7v1

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    Bill Nelson

    Trump’s henchmen? That’s a bit far is it not? If this is going to be a bash Trump 24/7, I lose interest. Whole lot of news to discuss that is important.

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    John Peabody

    Increasingly our national direction is decided by self-anointed philosopher kings and queens in black robes who deign to invent non-existent rights discovered (surprise!) in a Constitution that wheezes, burps, farts, and makes other unseemly bodily emanations. I held my nose once for this very reason, and I will do it again. For the babies, if nobody else. And Jonah, I get your point about The lack of actual policy differences on Abortion from Trump. But I disagree. My three word rejoinder: Mexico City Policy. We are all certain that Biden’s policies will result in funding the PP abomination, killing more babies forcibly funded by all of us. What could be more evil than the slaughter of the Innocents? This is not religious, I don’t even go to church. It is about evil. Biden (or his surrogate) will gleefully appoint more leftist judges (and perhaps justices) whose collective impact will be a more authoritarian judiciary and unreviewable Leftist decisions. The appointment of judges more than any other fact sets the direction of national policy for a generation. It is this decisive issue upon which I will cast my vote. And upon which I proffer my answer.

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    Bennet

    Answer to your question, not sure how "objective" this is... Joe Biden does possess the ability to comport himself as an empathetic adult.

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    Mulecanter

    I am familiar with the Zoe situation. I have a German Shepherd that obsessively herds the two cats to such an extent that it seems sociopathic. Luckily, no biting, just excessive licking. One cat hasn't been completely dry for years.

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    Michael Carpenter

    I have to admit, since he was "teasing" his update on the Zoë/Gracie situation, that I skipped to the end to read about that first.

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  8. SPliskin

    I read the subtitle referring to "Trumps henchmen" and wondered how Nancy Pelosi had managed to hack the G-file and insert her trademark noxious hyperbole. I expect that from her, not from you, Jonah. Please tell me that was a momentary loss of objectivity.

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    NYerInExile

    The difference for me is that with Trump there never has been any hope that we can start to reverse the disunity that began years ago. He has shown zero interest in bringing people together - his actions are always to "feed the base" and attack everyone else. He is an instinctual person whose every instinct is about self-survival. He will forever be the example of the anti-leader figure in books, classrooms, and corporate training sessions. At least with Biden I can have a hope - maybe a feeble one, but still a hope - that there will be a move to bring us together and serve the entire country. A Biden presidency, coupled with the lessons that will be learned from the coronavirus outbreak about community and truly caring for one another, offers at least the possibility that things will be better. We need a strong economy, a strong stock market, a strong medical system, but more than that, we need each other. And that's where my hope in Biden lies, at least for now.

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    Theirn Scott

    Jonah, I'll keep this short. Trump is worse on both a "mental and characterological" (I didn't know that was a word?) basis. You wrote, "he doesn’t have any natural instinct for how to reassure the country." Another way to say this is he lacks empathy. And yet another way to say it or to explain it is because he's a sociopath. Now, I still can't vote for Biden just because he's not a sociopath. But I too am politically homeless thanks to the meandering of the Libertarian Party. But's a discussion for another day.

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