The Virus Chronicles (continued)

I haven't written anything in over two weeks, not because nothing has happened, but because the same thing happens each day. The single change is the President figured out that he looked ridiculous in his daily press briefings, so he changed them to 'occasional.' That didn't last long. He had become addicted to the attention. Now things are really happening. He slipped intentionally that he is on hydroxycloroquine, and had been for some time. That's his game changer, his miracle drug that will bypass the need for a vaccine, because it already exists, and permit him to get back out on the campaign trail. And he's a believer (smart guy), &c. The fact that the drug has been shown to not be a game changer, but rather a source of harm to the patient, is irrelevant to the President. Not only does he know what he knows, an army of his supporters goes forth to prove every point that he makes, even if it's wrong. They will find a doctor who agrees with absolutely everything the President says. There is a doctor or scientist somewhere willing to do it, too. A fellow at Stanford has become the current preferred go-to guy.

This has become the new battleground; find the expert who supports your side's opinion. It doesn't matter what the opinion is — hydroxychloroquine (even whether or not it's been given to the Australian population at large — that itself is a point of contention), climate change, whether Dr. Fauci has invested in vaccine firms, the efficacy of masks, abortion, the list goes on. The battle of the experts on a president who is a certifiable fool, and his equally foolish followers, harks back to he influence of Trofim Lysenko on Joseph Stalin and Soviet genetics in the 1930s and 40s. The only discernible difference is that Donald Trump has not the power to sentence those scientists he disagrees with to prison or death. The party where sixty per cent believe that God created man 6000 years ago without the need for evolution is now constantly searching out scientists to make its points.

We do indeed live in interesting times. Has no one noticed China gobbling up the South China Sea, destroying Hong Kong's independence? Has no one noticed the balance of power in the Middle East? Lebanon is dissolving.

No, it's all virus, all the time, unless the President acts out some other way.