Here are a few quick things I’ve been thinking about from a political science perspective in the wake of coronavirus. (I also have a host of other thoughts from a religious perspective, a mental health perspective, and my personal perspective; those aren’t included here. If you’re curious for my thoughts from those angles, let me know!).
1. We’ve proven the skeptics somewhat wrong about American capitalism
For a while now, it’s become a truism in certain circles that, when it comes down to it, capitalist America cares more about money than saving people’s lives. There’s a host of evidence one could point to (on both sides of the political aisle) to show that that’s true. Lack of funding for veterans, lack of universal healthcare, lack of funding to fight the opioid epidemic, lack of regulations to prohibit pollution (like cancer-causing chemicals in the water supply), support for abortion even up to the point of birth… I could go on and on. In general it does feel like American culture cares more about financial convenience than in protecting human life.
But then came coronavirus. All of a sudden, millions and millions of people, led by leaders from all across the political spectrum (some sooner than others), banded together to stop almost all economic activity purely for the sake of saving human lives. Think about it: we’ve essentially decided to put our economy into a recession–indefinitely– to save the lives of thousands of people (primarily older people who no longer contribute much to the economy). Thus, I would argue that we have at least partially proven the skeptics wrong about American capitalism: it’s not true that there is an unconditional value for money over human life, and our society’s overall response to the pandemic so far bears witness to that fact.
2. I honestly feel bad for Donald Trump
Most political scientists I was hearing from were fairly certain a couple months ago that Donald Trump was on track to be re-elected: he was an incumbent President, with a strong economy, incredibly popular ratings among Republicans, had overcome impeachment hearings, and had an electoral map skewed in his favor. Historically speaking, he was virtually guaranteed to be re-elected. A few months ago, these political scientists would say that the only thing that could keep him from being re-elected would be if the economy massively crashed, or if Donald Trump did something very unpopular.
Then came coronavirus. Coronavirus is something that, no matter who the president was right now, would have crashed the economy and forced it into a recession. Not only that, but Trump’s usual tactics of Twitter sniping, backroom agreements, and Fox News bullying don’t work on a virus, which cannot be cowed or threatened by those strategies. Moreover, even if he didn’t want to, Trump has to pay attention to the coronavirus pandemic, which threatens the economy and preys disproportionately on the elderly, a demographic that tends to vote for Trump by substantial margins. He could no more ignore coronavirus than he could ignore American farmers targeted by Chinese tariffs last year.
All this to say, Donald Trump is trapped in a truly unenviable position right now: he will be forced to work incredibly hard to unleash a host of unpopular measures to contain a problem that he didn’t cause, knowing full well that it will all pretty much be for naught when the election comes. Worst of all, his personal businesses (real estate, tourism, Mar-a-Lago, etc.) have also been hit hard by coronavirus, so he won’t even have a profitable business to retire to next year. This is not the type of thing Donald Trump became president for, but now here he is. I kind of feel bad for him.
3. Everyone’s a deficit-spending socialist right now.
This point has been stated by others, but it’s still worth noting: all our politicians, whether they are on the right or the left, are advocating for full-blown, deficit-spending government handouts right now. Whether it’s bailouts for tourism and food industries, $1,200 checks mailed to every adult American, or massive amounts of government spending to provide free healthcare and coronavirus testing for sick people, it feels like no one cares about the deficit anymore. I’m old enough to remember when Trump’s tax cuts added $1.5 trillion to the federal debt (while boosting the stock market), but now that the stock market has collapsed again we’re talking about adding trillions more just to keep Wall Street from collapsing below its pre-2017 levels! And that’s not to mention the need to take care of everyday Americans, whose consumption habits are crucial to keeping the economy moving forward. I’ve heard it said, and it seems accurate, that “in the same way as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no libertarians in a pandemic.” Everyone in the government is advocating for massive government spending, intrusive regulations, and safety nets to catch newly sick or unemployed workers. As Congress debates a variety of plans, the main sticking point will be whether the government spending ends up helping Americans across the economic spectrum, or whether once again all the benefits will primarily flow to large corporations and the wealthiest 1%. But regardless of how that debate is decided, it’s clear that government deficit spending is the one thing everyone is agreeing on.
4. Fake news doesn’t rest in a pandemic
Fake news stories have been rising in dramatic fashion in recent years, aided by social media outlets that make it easy to “share” posts that people agree with, even if they’re totally false. I can’t tell you the number of posts I see that are blatantly false or misleading, that have only a handful of “likes” or “comments” but DOZENS of shares! Recently, Jim Bakker (a televangelist “prophet” who sells food buckets and thinks Trump is God’s chosen person to usher in the End Times) got in trouble with the FDA for claiming his expensive silver pills can cure coronavirus. But it’s not just Jim Bakker, there are a lot of other fake claims being advanced right now. Here’s one I saw this morning, blaming “sanctuary cities” for coronavirus cases:
Anyone who takes more than 3 seconds to think about the meme can easily see the flaws here. It’s a case of confusing correlation with causation. Of course there are more coronavirus cases in cities, because there are more people who live there. Sanctuary cities in coastal cities also cannot be the cause of coronavirus in Arkansas, Kentucky, and other conservative states. Moreover, if undocumented immigrants in “sanctuary cities” are to blame for coronavirus, then why are there so few cases of the disease in Central and Latin America? It’s obvious that whoever made this meme wants people to think of immigrants as “dirty” and “diseased”, and so they made a meme to make that point with a complete disregard for the actual facts of the matter. Perhaps the meme’s creator was a Russian troll looking to divide us, or a white supremacist, but more likely the maker of this image is just a garden-variety American racist who wants to blame foreigners for their problems. That isn’t the saddest thing; what’s sad to me is how many people (mostly Boomers…sorry gotta say it) uncritically shared this post! Yet that’s where we are nowadays, where so many people are happy to repost lies just to advance their own narrative. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but at this point I’m not. Stay awake, and watch out for other viral lies.
Anyway, those are just a few political hot takes I’ve been thinking about recently–let me know your thoughts!
P.S. BONUS HOT TAKE: It’s been hilarious to me seeing how quickly the same people who were saying “coronavirus is a liberal media hoax” are now the ones agreeing with Donald Trump on its dangers and the need for social distancing. Will anyone who called it a “media hoax” apologize, ask forgiveness, and admit they were wrong? Don’t hold your breath.