Sunday Morning Post (V.2 #39) - Grappling With Empathy

Okay, let’s get this out of our system now.  The President has been diagnosed with COVID-19 after months of downplaying (his words) the spread of the illness, and rejecting common sense notions of mitigating the spread of the disease.

Liberals can smirk here.  Thank you, Karma, for your diligence in proving once again to all of us that what goes around comes around.  Or the chickens have come home to roost.  Or be careful what you wish for.  Or…pick your own self satisfying cliché of smugness that the President is finally dealing with the disease on his own, personal level.

There, feel better?  Okay, time to move on.

Many of us have been raised to believe that when one of us is down we should not wish him or her ill will.  This is even true when that other someone may otherwise be doing everything they can to smite us.  Traditionally this has been known as “turning the other cheek”.   It’s time for us who have been appalled by and criticized the President since Day One for his overall rejection of democratic norms to be the adults in the room.  It’s time for us to express the empathy which we have continually rebuked him for not having towards other people.  We need to wish him and his family that they get well soon.

Yes, it wasn’t easy to type those words, but there is a price to pay for being the adult in the room.

We will never state that doing the right thing is easy, but it is the thing we need to do at this moment.  After all there may be a silver lining to come out of all of his suffering.

This could play out in one of three ways.  He could recover quickly and resume his campaigning.  Or his recovery could be a longer-term situation given his age. The President could hand over the duties of the Oval Office to Vice President Pence in this scenario.  We the American public may be let in on this eventuality from the outset, or the President could, in the name or preserving his legacy, allow everyone to think that he is still vital and in charge while Pence is stuck doing the actual work.

Or he could succumb to the illness.

So, let’s consider each of these scenarios.  First, he recovers, completes quarantine and goes back to the campaign trail in the last remaining few days before the election.  We would need to watch his response carefully.  A normal person would be humbled by their near brush with death and act accordingly.  He could use his time off as a way to teach the rest of us that the disease can be overcome.  Or, more than likely given his impenetrable narcissistic nature, turn every personal appearance up to election day into a Bragfest.  He could boast that he beat COVID-19 and it was no big deal after all.  He would then, no doubt, make the long jump to the conclusion that his victory makes him the natural choice to continue leading this country.

A longer recovery time could create sympathy for him among swing voters who feel sorry for him.  Let’s be clear: yes, we should empathize, but we should not take our emotions to the level of extreme pity so that it comes around and bites us in the ass later. A longer recovery time could be the one thing his Republican enablers in Congress need to convince them that he is incapacitated beyond resuming his expected duties. 

This could mean a longer term for a President Pence.   We might still have a Constitutional crisis, but it wouldn’t be the one we’ve been expecting.  In any event we would have the tools, thanks to the Founding Fathers, to alleviate this crisis. If only Congress had the cojones to use the tools.

In another scenario, God could accomplish what the Republican-led Congress refuse to do.  I do not want this to happen.  I do not want the President to die in office.

This would only elevate him to martyrdom.  His legacy, as horrible and racist as it is, would become more legitimized than it is already.  If you think there’s no living with his MAGA supporters now, just let him die in office.  Liberals and progressives may not be able to stand it.

Thus, we must find the strength inside each of our souls to overcome our basest tribal emotions to hope the best for the President.  This is what we have been expecting from him all these years.  It is what is expected of all of us.

(Thank you for reading. Okay, empathy.  You win!)