The Loudness of Action

Tuesday, at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Vice-President of the United States (and the Chairman of the White House's Pandemic Task Force), toured the Clinic and visited with patients being treated for COVID-19.  The Mayo Clinic has a policy in force requiring "all patients, visitors, and staff to wear a face covering or mask while at Mayo Clinic to guard against transmission of COVID-19." The Clinic made Mr. Pence aware of the policy prior to his visit. 

And yet...

When questioned after his visit by his failure to abide by the Mayo Clinic's policy, the Veep did not bother dismounting from his high horse before responding, "As Vice-President of the United States I'm tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus.  And since I don't have the coronavirus, I thought it'd be a great opportunity for me to be here, to speak to these researchers, these incredible health care personnel, and look them in the eye and say 'Thank you'." 

For me at least, the footrace between his arrogance ("Fuck you and your policy, I know what is better for me and everyone with whom I come into contact than do you doctors") and his ignorance ("I wanted to look them in the eye" suggests he does not know the difference between a mask and a blindfold) ended in a flat-footed tie.  

Same as it ever was.  

Same as it always does.  

I am a hard grader on Mr. Pence's actions because my sister, Jill, must run the "decontamination gauntlet" (my term, not hers) at MSK Basking Ridge on a regular basis to undergo chemotherapy and dialysis necessary to keep her alive.  For Wilma, and for the dedicated health-care professionals who risk their lives daily to ensure that they are there for their patients, this is not a fucking photo op.  It is quite literally a matter of life-and-death. 

Quite frankly, I do not care whether Mr. Pence and every person who travels with him gets tested for COVID-19 on an hourly basis.  It matters not.  You could fill a thimble with what Mr. Pence knows about medicine and science and still have ample room in which to wiggle your thumb.   

If you want to be regarded as a leader, you feckless coward, then act like one.  

-AK