Such frivolity might look uncomfortable in the middle of a rapidly worsening pandemic – and it is not wise because social distance is not needed at the event. But a holiday celebrating independence from Britain was used to support Trump’s false narrative that the country is doing well.
“We came back in a very powerful way … and I think we will be very good with coronavirus,” Trump
to Fox Business on Wednesday, the day after his administration’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned that the US will soon see 100,000 new cases per day.
The state of Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, has never been exposed to a severe virus like any other part of the heart. But that only requires one person to become infected in what is expected to be a large crowd for new outbreak seeds.
The president likes big shows and bigger crowds. On Saturday, he will host his second “Salute to America” festival in Washington, complete with other big fireworks shows. Last year, his demand for flypast and military hardware modeled at the Bastille Day parade in France doubled the cost of the event to $ 13 million. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked residents to stay at home and watch the program on TV – but the temptation will be very good for many people. The city’s subway system is gearing up for a crowded train.
This is a nightmare of public health. But Trump really wants to put himself in the middle of the celebration, four more months from Election Day. And it took more than one of the worst pandemics in a century to stop it.
“I can’t wait to compare my cognitive abilities with the cognitive abilities of the men I’m facing.”
Now the two men who are running for US President’s office are questioning each other’s reasoning. After months of Trump’s campaign describing former Vice President Joe Biden as “sleepy” and incoherent, a Fox News reporter this week asked Biden if he had been tested for cognitive decline. “All you have to do is watch over me,” Biden answered, “
And I can’t wait to compare my cognitive abilities with the cognitive abilities of the men I fight. “
BoJo and FDR
Trump is not the only world leader who enjoys the president’s greatness that is reflected. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who imitates his hero Winston Churchill by reaching 10 Downing Street, is
now begging another part of the dynamic democratic duo of World War II – US President Franklin Roosevelt.
With Britain in danger of posting the worst unemployment rate ever, Johnson promised a very large government investment program
New FDR Agreement, which made America return to work in the 1930s and maintain a welfare state. This is an interesting comparison, not least because of Johnson’s courage in comparing himself with the Democratic Party giant who uses a wheelchair that defeated the Great Depression and destroyed Nazism.
To begin, Johnson’s proposed plan – worth 5 billion pounds, or 6.24 billion dollars – is small compared to Roosevelt’s extensive public works program. But that is still brave: Johnson’s Conservative Party remains in the shadow of Margaret Thatcher, whose uncontrolled capitalism is the antithesis of FDR government spending. And Johnson has not revealed whether he will raise taxes to pay for his infrastructure investment, as did the FDR. His temptation with Roosevelt also suggests that despite his populist style, flamboyant rhetoric, and strong support for Brexit, Johnson is actually a more conventional and moderate politician than Trump – to whom he is often compared.
In calling for a “Rooseveltian approach” in Britain, Johnson might think less of an ideology than about the cheerful and cheerful personality of FDR, who placed steel in the soul of his compatriot during his 12 years of extraordinary power. That optimism, symbolized by the campaign song of the 32nd President, “
Happy days have come again, “maybe just what the world needs now.
