Foreign entanglements

"Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics."

The Washington Post?  The Nation?  The Hightower Lowdown?  Haaretz?  Charlie Hebdo?

All right, I'll tell you.  That's from The Lancet, which has been writing about science and medicine since 1823 and which, based on the current issue, would rather be covering topics like "Sustainable care for children with cancer" and "Diabetes and brain health."  They have never weighed in on an American election before, but these are strange times.

The Lancet saw data on 96,000 coronavirus patients all over the world and found alarming results concerning increased death and heart arrhythmia in those treated with hydroxychloroquine.  They published these results and got a huffy letter in response.  The letter was supposedly from Trump, but letter-writing is not his style and really, does anybody believe he ever heard of The Lancet?  So probably Miller.  (Now that they have virtually endorsed Joe Biden, expect angry if confused tweets and calls for this "foreign interference" in the election to be investigated!!)   Just to get it out of the way, ten years ago they retracted the infamous article by Andrew Wakefield linking vaccines to autism.  I saved you some time, Tucker.

Trump continues to insist that he takes the stuff, and he's fine.  The philologists are still poring over this one:  "I tested very positively in another sense so -- this morning.  Yeah.  I tested positively toward negative, right.  So.  I tested perfectly this morning.  Meaning I tested negative."  He also tied his own tie and recognized a picture of Ivanka when it was shown to him.  How far up does the doctor shove the swab?

Since Trump's tests are as "perfect" as the shakedown call with President Zelensky, he was entitled to break both Michigan law and factory protocol and go maskless in the Ford plant in Ypsilanti yesterday.  It was predictably weird.  Henry Ford didn't invent the assembly line, but he adopted it with enormous success, building an industry and putting cars within reach of middle-class Americans.  During World War II he re-tooled faster than anyone thought possible to build jeeps and tanks, and now Ford is making ventilators and personal protective equipment to meet the demand that is sure to follow the premature reopening and surge in Trump virus cases.  So there's a lot to praise about the system Ford built, but Trump chose to bring up the old man's support for racism and eugenics:  "The company founded by a man named Henry Ford -- good bloodlines, good bloodlines -- if you believe in that stuff -- you got good blood."  We've heard this before, usually Trump crediting his excellent health and razor-sharp intellect to "good genes" and occasionally "German genes."  Ford, who spent much of his wealth promoting anti-Semitism, would certainly be an AlwaysTrumper, his heart gladdened by the very fine people with the Tiki torches.  Oh, and Trump also believes he was once Michigan Man of the Year (no such thing) and promised to punish the woman-governed state in various nasty ways.

So today he's yelling for "houses of worship" to open at once, mostly because somebody showed him polling that suggests his evangelical base ("I love the poorly educated!") is starting to abandon him.  "A perceptible and predictable float-down," says Ralph Reed.  Nothing to get hung about, says campaign aide Ken Farnaso, for Trump is "the most pro-life president we've ever had" if you ignore the 97,000 dead people.  I believe eugenicists like Bill O'Reilly call it "thinning the herd."

In closing, here's old Henry Ford being honored with the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938, probably not for hiring black men to build his Model Ts.


Eat your heart out, Donzo.