October 15

What exactly is the purpose behind all of these in-person rallies that Trump insists on having in the midst of the worst health crisis of our lifetime?  It is highly unlikely that anyone who attends an in-person Trump rally is going there to be convinced to vote for Trump over Joe Biden.  I would wager large sums of money that 99% of the people who attend these in-person Trump rallies have already made up their minds to vote for Trump.  The remaining 1% are probably just curious, but, then, again you know what they say about ‘curiosity’ and ‘the cat.’

These rallies, even if held outdoors, are attended by thousands of people standing cheek to jowl with very few of them wearing masks, in complete disregard for the government’s own CDC guidance.  Given the statistics on the virus, there is a 100% probability that there are people at these events who are COVID positive and are helping to spread this happy little virus far and wide.  Recall, the President and his family contracted the virus even though they live in somewhat of a bubble. 

I read a quote in a news story this morning from a man at one of the rallies who was asked about his concern regarding the danger of contracting the virus and he said, “If I get it and die, then it’s my time.”  That is certainly the epitome of fatalism.  It is also truly ironic that so many of these same Trump fans are so anti-muslim, since throughout the Muslim community the term ‘In shallah’ is used constantly and means, “If Allah wills it.”   Of course, all of these Trump fans would be greatly incensed about anyone pointing out similarities between themselves and adherents to Islam, but there you have it.

The unfortunate thing about this type of fatalism is that it doesn’t take into account how one person’s actions can adversely impact other people.  If the gentleman who made that statement contracted the virus and died and that was the sole impact, that would be tragic but contained.  If that same gentleman, contracts the virus and passes it on to other people who might have chosen not to attend that rally, resulting in severe illness or the death of others, the costs of this fatalistic attitude are much higher.   

Many years ago, I was working in Saudi Arabia and my colleague and I had to make a trip from Jeddah to Yanbu up the west coast of Saudi.  We had a driver for the trip.  His name was Burani and he was from Ethiopia and a devout Muslim.  I will never forget this trip because, at the time, the road to Yanbu was a two-lane road and Burani insisted on driving very fast.  And when he would come up behind a vehicle that was going slower than he was, he would simply say, “In Shallah’, and pull into the oncoming lane without really looking to see if there was traffic coming the other way.  Fortunately, at that time, there was not a lot of traffic on this highway and, although we did have a couple of uncomfortably close calls, we did make it to Yanbu.  My colleague and I vowed that we would figure out a different way to make the journey the next time.

Burani was a very nice man.  He certainly meant us no malice but the fact is, his actions, put our lives at risk.  And these people who are attending these crowded rallies with no social distancing and no masks, are putting other people’s lives at risk – period.  They are no different than Burani.

So, getting back to why hold these rallies if they are really going to have little to no impact on people’s voting habits – there is only on plausible answer and that is because they make Donald Trump feel good.  As I pointed out in a previous post, he is addicted to this type of adulation.  It’s like a drug to him.

One would hope and expect, with millions of Americans suffering financially, and with hundreds of Americans dying every single day, that the President and his entire administration would be on full alert and mounting an ‘all-hands on deck’ effort to put a national strategy in place to fight this war and to focus on getting another stimulus package passed.  Instead, Trump is spending the majority of his time flying around the country to attend rallies where people’s lives are at risk and that will likely have very little impact on how people will vote.  And his Republican supporters are focused on ramming through the Supreme Court nominee rather than spending their time trying to pass anther stimulus package to really help the Americans and small businesses that are in desperate need of it.

It seems to me that Trump is driving America like Burani was driving our car.  Maybe we’ll survive – maybe we won’t.  In any case, I think it’s time for a new driver!  In Shallah!