... for decades upon decades we've elected leadership that uses their positions to enhance-support-plutocracy
... should it be ... we've cast Sanders aside once-again ... we'll remain status-quo another 4-8 years... younger you-are more you should-must be-interested-fearful
... don't get that feeling ... far-too-many not-knowing caring-enough
... sure it all can quickly-change
... yet w top-leadership & major-media we've-now-got (and what's looking to-stay similar-same)
... bottom's yet to-be-reached
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Chauncey DeVega
March 19, 2020
Social inequality is making the coronavirus much more lethal. The rich will find a way to survive and thrive and profit. The rest of us here in the United States and around the world will suffer (even more). That is a public policy decision. Never forget that poverty and class inequality are forms of structural violence. The coronavirus is but another weapon in that war.
Ultimately, the coronavirus will make the obscene levels of social inequality in America even more obvious. One person especially qualified to discuss this is Jonathan Metzl, the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of several books, including "Prozac on the Couch" and "The Protest Psychosis." His new book is "Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland."
He is also the guest on this week's episode of my podcast The Truth Report.
https://thetruthreportwithchaunceydevega.libsyn.com/ep-42-the-coronavirus-and-social-inequality-in-america?fbclid=IwAR2WSpdWNIB76RnqyLVf_vD8h3LQQLqrraSuTwzrCkLbcg2j390oLIXfeJA
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Dr. Metzl where he explains how Trump is making his own supporters even more sick via the coronavirus -- but they will never abandon him, he who is the Great Leader.
"Me: Predictably, Donald Trump is blaming Barack Obama for his administration's failure to properly respond to the coronavirus. Of course, this is just another example of Trump's pathological racism, as manifested through his obsession with Barack Obama. But that is also connected to why so many white conservatives and their leaders rejected the Affordable Care Act. In your book "Dying of Whiteness," you write about white Trump supporters who would rather die than accept "Obamacare." How does that connect to the coronavirus?
Dr. Metzl: Donald Trump, like so many other demagogues, is very good at focusing the blame on other people — especially groups that are marginalized, stigmatized and considered the other. In crisis, demagogues attack vulnerable people. That is related to Donald Trump not taking responsibility for his own actions. It is always someone else's fault. With the coronavirus, the temptation for Trump to use that strategy is going to be very great.
Donald Trump is also a very skilled manipulator of anxieties and the worst aspects of human behavior. People always ask me about my book "Dying of Whiteness": Did the white people profiled in it realize that Trump's policies were killing them? If so, why didn't they reject him?"
I would tell people, "No. The irony is that the people being hurt by Trump's policies actually supported him more."
Because of that, I worry that the same dynamic is going to take place with Donald Trump and the coronavirus. The more desperate that some Americans become, the more Trump will tell them that it's someone else's fault. Then the more that things get worse, the more Trump becomes popular and his ideology becomes entrenched among his followers.
It is a fantasy of liberals to believe that Trump supporters are going to wake up one day and turn on Donald Trump. It is not going to happen.
When I was doing the research for "Dying of Whiteness" I would often be asked, "When are Trump supporters going to wake up? When are they going to see what is really going on?" I keep hoping that maybe there will be a moment when conservatives wake up and say, "Yeah, we're Trump supporters. Yeah, we're Republicans. But in exchange for our votes, we want to have better health care, better education, and better schools in exchange for our support."
Who knows? Maybe if that somehow happened there could be a moment when liberals and conservatives could find some type of common concern that would help the country create a better health care system.
You can read my full conversation with Dr. Metzl via the link below over at Salon. Please share this very informative conversation about the coronavirus pandemic with your friends, family, and other contacts so that they have a better context for what is happening with the dual disasters of Trumpism and the coronavirus plague.
How Coronavirus Reveals America's Extreme Social Inequality
Trump's response has been 'exactly wrong' for-America ... but his-base doesn't-care
