By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on October 14, 2020
Donald J. Trump’s reign of terror is nearing an end. The end of his presidency required Divine Intervention. It came in the form of a global pandemic – a novel coronavirus scientists call “COVID-19”.
There was nothing that could stop this Biblical plague upon American soil. Those who occupied the “Pharaoh” positions in our government were unable to stop COVID-19. The righteous suffered, along with the unbelievers. Job 9:33-35. Trump said “It is what it is” when confronted with America’s staggering number of conferred COVID-19 cases currently totaling 8,090,253 and COVID-19 related deaths equaling 220,873.
The United States accounts for 4% of the global population of 7.5 billion people. Yet, America has 25% of the global COVID-19 confirmed cases and 22% of the global COVID-related deaths.
Rich Nation, Poor Leadership
How did the richest, most advanced nation on earth experience such COVID-19 devastation?
We were led by a president who was totally unprepared to lead us through a national health crisis. Trump simply blew it.
220,873 Americans have died because Trump did not know what to do, even when his national security advisor briefed him in late January about how deadly the coronavirus was. In the end, the sheer scope and community spread of the virus overwhelmed Trump and his White House Response Team. What is worse, Trump never developed a national plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Rather than being honest with Americans about the steps needed to contain COVID-19, Trump turned this tragic experience into a name-calling, mudslinging sideshow. He mocked social distancing. He told Americans the virus would go away on its own. He undermined the importance of wearing masks and sheltering in place. Finally, Trump tried to “normalize” the loss of 200,000 plus to COVID-19.
This is when Trump lost the confidence of a majority of American voters. Any president whose incompetence contributes to the number of American deaths in 7 months to a virus, more than four times the number of American soldiers killed during the 12-year Vietnam War is destined to be a one-term president. Preventable deaths that were not prevented became a game-changer for Trump.
Voters to Trump: “You’re Fired”
Americans have already began early voting for the November 3rd election for president. They know that a second wave of COVID-19 is coming. As such, Trump will not get a second chance to showcase his incompetent pandemic leadership skills because Americans have COVID-19 fatigue and they are tired of “Trump Drama”. The “show” is over. Trump, “you’re fired”.
The suffering, afflicted, permanent injuries, death and economic destruction from COVID-19 have tested the faith of mankind, particularly in America. We still have a long way to go with this virus. It will leave us when God lifts this plague from our lands.
As for me and the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family, we have always worshipped and trusted in the Lord our God. Since the 1830s, my ancestors and family members have publicly and privately acknowledged that only God could: (a) deliver us from slavery in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, (b) allow our black, biracial and multi-racial ancestors to educate their children and prosper in the Deep South during the Post-Civil War Reconstruction era, (c) protect our family members during the Post-Reconstruction era of suffocating Jim Crow racial segregation laws, (d) shield our entire family from eight decades of Ku Klux Klan lynchings, beatings, cross burnings, house and church bombings and other acts of domestic terrorism in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kansas, (e) nurture and shield our family from the sweltering heat of racial discrimination and brutal oppression of blacks during Alabama Governor George C. Wallace’s era of “segregation yesterday, segregation today and segregation tomorrow” and (f) keep us safe in the post-Wallace decade that included (i) massive resistance to equal opportunity (ii) the benign neglect of blacks (iii) the New Jim Crow era masquerading as conservative political thought and (iv) today’s right wing extremists’ abuse of women and minorities by our institutions of government.
Epilogue
At 72-years-old, I have seen many seemingly invincible “Pharoahs” come and go. God has a way of toppling those “Pharoahs” who stand on the necks of the “least of these”. Their shelf-life is short.
Trump tried in vain to lead America into a civil war. This time, America was being divided into warring political tribes with a “take-no-prisoner” attitude. Trump moved us past ideological debate into a zone where communities and family members hated each other based upon their political party affiliation.
Trump became the new Joe McCarthy of Washington politics. People who disagreed with him, whether Democrats or Republicans, were called “Marxists”, “Communists”, “Socialists”, “scum”, “corrupt”, “thugs” and much worse. Republican members of Congress and governors feared Trump as much as Democrats. He turned on friends and foes, alike.
Finally, Trump reduced Evangelical Christians into modern-day apostles of hatred. Other religious leaders were bought off with CARES Act of 2020 economic stimulus money in the $350 billion Payroll Protection Program. They is why they lacked the authenticity needed to provide America with credible leadership during the COVID-19 crisis.
In the end, Trump was no match for God and his wrath.
