JUNE 2020 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Ohio). Vitale doesn’t think Americans should be required to wear masks because it would be violation of their “freedom.” In his words:

“I will not wear a mask . . . quite frankly, everyone else’s freedom ends at the tip of my nose. You’re not going to tell me what to do.”

Rep. Vitale’s notion of freedom is not grounded in responsibility, reason, and virtue. What Vitale advocates is not a mature construct of freedom, but a raw manifestation of license. It is not traditional “rugged individualism,” but hyper-individualism—in my view, bordering on sociopathy.

Although I have seen no surveys, I strongly believe that the brand of hyper-individualism we find in the COVID-19 anti-restriction protests emerges from the “far right” of the political spectrum—specifically from the Trumpers. These people confuse freedom with license, the throwing off of all responsibility. It is a carte blanche to do as we feel. As such it is incompatible with the communitarian principle that has coexisted in dynamic tension with individualism in America since the very founding of our republic.

This tension which has been one of the great strengths of our culture and government, ensuring that a person does not have the right to shout “fire” in a crowded theater or that people of ability are not forced to give to others according to their needs.

Donald Trump and his fellow GOP faithful have scant affinity with our communitarian traditions. Their callous lack of empathy for human suffering and their aversion to anything that promotes the general welfare have reached extremes not seen since the Gilded Age. What’s wrong with shouting fire in a theater? People should be smart enough to know when there’s real danger.

Hyper-individualism is incompatible with virtue and is destroying our community.

2. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Speaking after more than a week of demonstrations against the police killing of George Floyd, Patrick tried to pin the nation’s long and deep-rooted racial problems on people not being religious enough ― and more specifically, “the left” not accepting Jesus Christ. 

Patrick said on Fox News that Floyd’s killing and the unrest breaks his heart and that it’s an issue of “loving God.”

“You cannot love your fellow man if you don’t love God,” he said. “And we have a country where we’ve been working really hard, particularly on the left, to kick God out.”

That’s funny, considering that slavery and racism have traditionally been rationalized in this country via an unwavering belief in the Bible. And, of course, most slaveholders were Bible-thumping Christians.
But if the Trump era has taught us anything, it’s that there’s no reason to worry about history or evidence or consensus reality when you can just say things.

Patrick continued:

“You cannot change the culture of a country until you change the character of mankind. And you can’t change that unless you change the heart, and for billions of us on the planet, we believe you can’t do that unless you accept Jesus Christ or unless you accept God. God has been left out of this equation through all of this and we need tremendous healing. We cannot heal through commissions and blue-ribbon panels and more laws.”

So, I guess as people in this country and around the world have become less Christian over the past 70 years, racism has gotten worse. Because in the ‘50s, when more than 90 percent of American adults identified as Christian, Black people never experienced racial animus of any kind. It was a golden era in race relations, right?

Also, the world’s more secular countries must also be far more racist, huh? That sounds right.

Of course, Patrick amply demonstrated his Christian bona fides back in March when he suggested we sacrifice more grannies to get the economy moving again — presumably to keep the essential Soylent Green factories running. So, he obviously knows what he’s talking about.

3. Conservative Political Commentator and Author Heather MacDonald. Thank goodness, in these times, we have conservative Cretans to think through solutions to our racial divide. Check out her brilliance:

“The best solution is to reconstruct the Black family so that these kids are ‘civilized’ to stop crime.”

I can’t even comment on this absurdity.

4. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott. DeSantis joined Abbott and other GOP ignominious types in a chorus blaming “increased testing” for why their states’ infection numbers were going up.

Too bad that’s not true from two different directions. First, neither Florida nor Texas had higher testing in the last week. Additionally, over an extended period, more testing should help numbers go down, because it allows isolation of the infected and tracing of connected individuals. More testing is how nations like South Korea drove their numbers down to near zero.

On Tuesday, Texas posted a record number of 4500 COVID-19 cases. Gov. Abbott declared that better than 1,500 of those cases didn’t count, because they were just cases that hadn’t been tallied before. So, the real number was only around 2,900—making it still the highest day for the state so far. Then the next day, Texas hit 3,500, and Abbott blamed the increase on numbers from prisons and nursing homes … as if that makes it just dandy.

But apparently prisons and nursing homes and too much testing weren’t doing it anymore. On Friday, DeSantis added another big category to the list of people whose numbers shouldn’t count. Florida’s rising numbers, said the governor, are due to … migrant workers who are “overwhelmingly Hispanic." These workers, according to DeSantis are “all just packed there like sardines, going across Palm Beach County or some of these other places.” And getting specific, DeSantis provided an example of somewhere these workers could be transmitting the disease—at a watermelon farm.

What’s really going on in Florida is difficult to determine. What with forcing county examiners to hide death records, repeated revisions in reported numbers, and firing the data scientist who created the state’s COVID-19 dashboard , the numbers from Florida seem about as reliable of those coming from Russia or Iran—or, President Trump or VP Pence.

Apparently having run out of days on which he could blame prisoners or old people for inconveniently getting sick, or engage in more cooking of the books, DeSantis just decided to go with a double-ladle of racism and declare that the rise is all because of those watermelon-picking Hispanics. It’s the kind of statement that makes him a Trump favorite. "So no, we're not shutting down, we're going to go forward," said DeSantis.

Abbott, who also spent the morning making it absolutely clear he wasn’t going to allow cities or counties to mandate wearing masks, had more than just new cases to explain. He also had to cover how the last two weeks had seen a doubling of hospitalizations in Texas. However, Abbott insisted that there were still plenty of hospital beds available so there was no reason to take any action.

Texas’ numbers here do not include more than 1,500 cases that belong … somewhere on this chart.

Abbot did not explain how an increase in testing was causing more people to go to the hospital. But he did not mention watermelons. At least, not yet.

5. Ivanka Trump. The president trotted out his daughter to voice perhaps the most ridiculous, mind-boggling claim of his presidency. Even Rod Serling’s creative mind could not come up with anything so ridiculous. On June 27, Ivanka announced her father’s latest executive order: to transform the federal hiring process—and replace one-size-fits-all, degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.

“President Trump has always been a champion for the American worker and ensuring that nobody is forgotten or left behind. It’s part of why, through the Pledge to America’s Workers, he’s focused on skills training and enhanced career opportunity in a private sector-led approach. So far we’ve secured over 16 million private sector commitments towards this initiative. And today, again, he’s going to lead by example and overhaul the way the federal government hires. As the country’s largest employer, it’s incredibly important to him that he fills federal job vacancies based on people having the skill, the passion, the drive, the competency to do the job, not purely based on outdated career or licensure requirements. So it’s a very exciting day, and we’re excited for him to sign the EO in just a little bit.”

Is she just trolling us now, or is she really this tone deaf and stupid?

Let’s see, how many people whom Trump later admitted were losers, morons, and incompetents has the orangutan hired? Where was the “skills-based” focus then?

Of course, without her name and connections, Ivanka would likely be a sous chef at a New Jersey Olive Garden. And Kushner would be the grotesque and mysterious Phantom of the Olive Garden who sings plaintive love songs to her at night.

Also, is this really what the pr*sident should be focusing on right now? The world is crashing down around our ears, but let’s make sure college boy can no longer get a foot in the door at the White House. We want people with real-world experience! Like bribing and grifting! And, they need to be especially adept at flattery, unquestioned loyalty, lack basic morals, and be able to lie like the boss. Oh yes, they must be willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

6.  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx)  Where would a monthly IGGY list be without a selection from the country's dumbest congressman?  Well, we can always count on Louie Gohmert.  When asked on CNN why he was defying the science and the recommendations of leading public health experts by not wearing a mask, the brilliant Gohmert replied:

"I don't have the coronavirus, turns out as of yesterday I've never had it.  But if I get it, you'll never see me without a mask."

Told that health experts say people who don't have symptoms may be carrying the virus and can unknowingly spread it to others, Gohmert responded:  "But I keep being tested and I don't have it.  So I'm not afraid of you, but if I get it I'll wear a mask."

That just about says it all.
______________________
And the winner is:

Judging by recent IGGY nominees, it seems like crisis situations brings out the worst in ignominious characters. Tough call this month, but I have to give the June IGGY to the redoubtable Ivanka Trump.  Sorry, Louie, as a certified moron, you're too dumb to win another IGGY.