Theo the Trump Employee Episode 52 Flip Flopping

                Theo is a little distraught.  The pandemic that is the Coronavirus has put the entire United States economy on pause.  As a White House employee, he is given the option of working from home or coming to work.  Despite it being a long commute, he chooses to go to work because it still isn’t lost on him that he works at the most famous address in America and secondly, at 36 years old with no prior history of respiratory failure or serious diseases, he’s low risk. 

                As he commutes in from Rockville, Maryland, he’s at the White House and sees that he’s not alone as several people took the same option he did.  As this is the biggest crisis that anyone in the office has lived through, there is a need for some comic relief.  One of Theo’s co-workers raises a coffee cup and announces, “To the Chinese journalists that have been missing since January.”

                “Theo lifts his hot chocolate as he doesn’t drink coffee and responds, “It’s important that we say their names as they are real heroes.”

                “Yes”’

                “One sip per person”

                “Agreed”

                They rattle off Xu Zhiyoung, Le Xehua, Fan Bin and Chen Quashi, who sounded the alarm about the Wuhan Virus back in January.  Zhiyoung actually specifically attacked President Xi.  All were arrested and haven’t been heard from for the last two months.  After their fourth sip, Theo asks, “Wasn’t there seven?”

                “Yes, but I only know of the four.”

                “Alright, well three more sips for the unnamed heroes”

                Theo and the co-worker oblige.  Although,the tone is lighthearted, Theo does get somber realizing it really isn’t something to joke about.  These men are probably dead and honoring them isn’t a lighthearted thing.  He kills the mood and states, “You know what’s fucked up?  American journalists praise China and use the Wuhan Virus to attack President Trump and promote Chinese propaganda and these Chinese journalists risked their live to try to warn the world of the impending threat.  There’s something seriously wrong with that.  Chinese journalists; dead for revealing the truth after the Chinese government lied, American media, make you believe what didn’t happen, happened and deny what actually happened.”

                “It’s not just them; Italy is praising China for supplying them with ventilators and masks.”

                “Well, Italy is desperate.  I see your point though; China caused the problem, they should be part of the solution and should receive no recognition or accommodation for aiding in cleaning up their mess.”

                “That’s especially true because they tried to cover it up for two months and let it spread.”

                “True statement.”

                “This isn’t anything new though.  Even South Park did an episode where China was editing and censoring music and Disney in order for them to have access to the Chinese market.”

                “I saw that.  Winnie the Poo was imprisoned because there were memes that he looked like President Xi.”

                “So Randy Marsh had to kill Winnie the Poo to gain China’s trust.”

                “At least Stan did the right thing and decided to not have their movie , or whatever they called it, show in China because he’d rather be free to write his own music than have the Chinese business.”

                “Stan is the man.”

                “Back to reality and the juxtaposition, Western journalists are expelled from China and the mainstream media only cares about what we call the virus.”

                “Remember Walter Duranty and the media praised Russia and called it the future too.  Hell, Bernie Sanders still does that.  FDR referred to Stalin as ‘Uncle Joe.’  History is just repeating itself.  First it was the Russian communists and now it’s the Chinese communists.”

                “Let’s just hope that President Trump does to China what Reagan did to Russia.”

                “I happen to like the Great Wall of China.”

                “Yes, Berlin does regret tearing down the wall since tourists want to see it.  They put bricks where it was and there’s still a tiny section they kept up but it’s just not the same.”

                The co-worker laughed realizing that Theo was referring to the collapse of the country not necessarily the literal same thing of a wall being torn down.  After all, the Great Wall was not for separating a Democratic part of Beijing and the Communist part like the Berlin wall was.  The co-worker uttered, “In all seriousness though, it’s not like the Chinese are covering up how they own the Democrats.  The China News tweeted out their praise for Hillary Clinton for calling President Trump a racist for calling it the ‘Chinese virus.’  Then the Chinese ambassador confirmed the story that the official position of the Chinese is to praise Hillary Clinton.”

                “Yes, thank you for promoting our propaganda.  If only you won so we could continue to own and control your country.”

                “At first, I thought that was an exaggeration but after the Wuhan Virus pandemic, I’m thinking that it’s truer than we originally thought.”

                After work, Theo looked around.  Normally, he would go to a college bar and pick an argument with liberal college students but now that bars were closed due to the Wuhan Virus, there was nowhere to go.  He shrugged his shoulders and decided he’d just go home.  That’s when his friend Denise called him.  He responded excited, “Hey Denise, I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

                “I know, how have you been?”

                “I’ve been alright considering.”

                “You still going to bars and fighting with liberals.”

                “I was until the Wuhan Virus closed bars.”

                “Well, why don’t you come over?”

                “You want to debate me?”

                “No, I know how much of a waste of time that is.  Let’s just say I know more about computers than you do.  Now that schools are online, it’s quite easy to hack your way into a class and have a discussion.”

                “Even this late at night?”

                “Just like your bar activities, this is done after class.  There’s no professors; it’s student only.”

                “Oh, this can be fun.”

                “Yea, instead of terrorizing one school, you can terrorize a bunch of them all in one night.”

                “I’m coming.”

                “Aren’t you going to ask me if I have a fever first?”

                “No, I don’t think you’d put my life in danger.”

                “Well, I’m not as trusting as you.  Do you have a fever?”

                “No, I went to the White House today.  They test everyone before they come in.  No fever for me.”

                “Excellent, then you can come over now.”

                Theo goes over to Denise’s house and she hacks into a Vanderbilt discussion.  They are using zoom and Theo is excited.  He makes himself a gin and tonic, which Denise got knowing it’s his preferred drink.  Theo thought it funny that alcohol was considered an ‘essential business.’  In fact, a lot of the deregulations from President Trump were done for alcohol companies even though the President personally doesn’t drink.  The discussion was the common one that people were having.  There were those that complained how everything was shut down and those that believed it was necessary.  When Theo heard, ‘The only way we can win against this virus is by quarantining everyone,’ Theo pounced, “You need to ask yourself what your definition of ‘victory’ is and, more importantly, how does it differ from ‘defeat?’”

                “What do you mean?”

                “How long can we keep the economy closed before the costs outweigh the benefits?”

                “What’s the alternative?  We become like Italy?”

                “99% of the people that died in Italy had a prior condition.  You have to remember that about a quarter of their population is over 65.  Their average age is 12 years older than the United States’ average age.  That is why they were devastated so badly.  You ask me what the alternative it, it’s simple; If you’re high risk like you have a respiratory or immune disorder, you quarantine yourself.  There should be no penalty from work as you should be fully allowed to work from home.  If you’re under 60, and don’t have a history of serious illness, go to work.  It’s probably a good idea to wash your hands more frequently and avoid touching people but, for the most part, go.  Otherwise, the rampant depression, unemployment and everything that comes with massive layoffs through no fault of the businesses may be worse than more people contracting or even dying from the virus.”

                “How can you talk about money at a time like this?  It’s not about money, it’s about human life.”

                “Cut the soap box shit!  That’s nonsense.  We always put a price on life.  You can’t make a car completely safe or else it would cost the same as a house.  You take a risk when you drive a car or get in a plane because people die doing those things too.  We put a trade off on life every day so why not do it one more time?  When businesses fail, people’s lives are destroyed.  Newsflash; we need money to live.  That’s why people work so they can have money to exchange for things they want like rent and food.  If people aren’t working, they can’t fulfill their basic needs and that leads to depression and it’s a downward spiral from there.  Money improves lives.”

                “Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

                “Not having money to pay your bills, however, certainly can and often does destroy or take away happiness.”

                Denise grabbed the computer and clicked out.  She declared, “Alright, you’ve sufficiently pissed off one group of students.  Let’s go to George Mason.”

                Theo didn’t know how he felt about Denise deciding when conversations were over but it was her house and her idea so he didn’t say anything.  A male student came on just in time for Theo to hear him say, “The one good thing about the Coronavirus is that it just lost President Trump the election.”

                “Are you sure about that?” Theo asked

                “Well, yea, his precious economy is back to where it was before he was president.”

                “You think the American people think that was because of his economic policy and don’t realize it was because of a global pandemic that none of us have seen in our lifetimes?”

                “They don’t like the way he’s handling it.”

                “Actually, he’s got 80% approval rating on that.  After what Ilhan Omar has done to Minnesota, he may win that state.”

                “I don’t remember, did he win Minnesota in 2016.”

                “Nope, he lost by 45,000 votes.”

                “That doesn’t sound like a lot.”

                “It’s not, and now that all the Democrats can talk about is climate change and the Green New Deal, there are a lot mining towns in Minnesota that aren’t too happy with Biden and the Democrats telling them they’re going to need to learn to code or find something else to do.”

                “Blue collar workers always go for the Democrats.”

                “That used to be true but not anymore.  Environmentalists keep telling them they can’t mine because one of their thousands of lakes may get polluted.  The miners found a way to do it without polluting the lake and the Democrats say that they don’t believe them.  It’s all about ‘what if’ it doesn’t work.”

                “Well, you can’t pollute our lakes just for your profits.”

                “Yea, the miners aren’t too big a fans of losing their jobs over hypotheticals.  People have been worried about climate change for hundreds of years.  Thomas Jefferson wrote about it in his memoirs how it never snows in Virginia anymore like it did when he was a kid.  People generally want to keep themselves employed and don’t like changing jobs by force.”

                “I don’t think they think Trump is the answer”

                “Why wouldn’t he be?  He already opened up America to drilling.  They’ve already seen him open their towns to exploring.  For them, it’s not oil, it’s iron and ore but the president is okay with that too.  You have a lot of people saying they always voted Democrat but realize they don’t want to this time since the Democrats are specifically targeting them.  Remember, President Trump, on rhetoric alone, only lost by 45,000.  Now, that he has actually done things to help them and not just talked about doing things to help them, you’re trying to tell me that isn’t going to sway $22,501 votes?”

                “Well, I think the Minnesota representatives will change their tune.  There’s still time.”

                “The Miner union president already met with Ilhan Omar.”

                “See, there you go.”

                “You know what she told him?”

                “What?”

                “He and his union members need to find new work and something else to do.”

                “I’m not sure how strategic that was.  The squad is weird.  They have a tendency to attack anyone that isn’t as extreme as them.  Can’t they realize we’re on the same team?”

                “No, they cannot.”

                “Who cares about Minnesota anyway?!  It’s a flyover state.”

                “See, I wish that all the states in between New York and California would realize that’s how the east and west coasts thinks of them.  Then Republicans would definitely win every election.”

                “This year, the people that didn’t come out for Hillary because they were sure she was going to win will come out.  Trump didn’t finish the wall so the people that came out for him in 2016 won’t this time.  After Coronavirus, he’s finished.”

                “I guess we’ll find out.”

                “Turn on the TV sometime, everyone is saying it.”

                “Not everyone; just the mainstream media.  You have to remember that they have four goals: in this order.  First, to promote Chinese propaganda; Second, divide the country into identity politics, third, use anything and everything to dump on President Trump, and you know, if there’s time, they can talk about how to help with the Wuhan Virus.”

                The comment sent a use raucous among the people in the discussion group.  Denise buried her head in her hands and shook her head.  The person he was talking to was too stunned to speak and literally sat there with his mouth agape.  Finally, a female student formed words instead of sounds, “You’re a racist.  I mean, I knew all Trump supporters were racist but it still shocks me.”

                “Is that just as racist as when you people called President Trump racist in January for the travel ban on China?”

                “What do you mean ‘you people.’

                “People who actually thing the Washington Post is a credible news organizations.  That’s all they could talk about two months ago; how President Trump is racist for banning travel to and from China because of the Wuhan Virus.”

                He saw a collective cringe as Theo used the term ‘Wuhan Virus’ instead of ‘Coronavirus.’  She put on a prissy, condescending tone and announced, “Well, I don’t remember that.”

                Theo went through his phone and looked at Denise.  She knew what he wanted.  He wanted to know if he could upload a picture to the group.  It turns out it was very easy and Theo sent them a screen shot of the Washington Post opining that the president was overreacting and being racist because of the travel ban.  The woman’s tone was a little more conciliatory as she replied, “Well, back then we weren’t really sure the severity of it.”

                “President Trump knew.”

                “Well, he has access to information that they didn’t”

                “No no no, scroll down in the article.  I even highlighted it for you”

                As they did, they saw a highlighted portion reading ‘US official who had access to intelligence reporting that was disseminated to members of Congress and their staffs.’  She gave Theo a dirty look and accused, “You set me up.”

                “Indeed I did.  You want to know how congress reacted to this news?”

                “They did nothing.”

                “If only!  Then maybe President Trump could have been even more focused and opened a dialogue to discuss what to do.  Instead, they decided to impeach him and have a trial while the Wuhan Virus was spreading and making its way to America.”

                “Hindsight is….”

                “It’s not 20/20 because they were told in January.  They purposely ignored it.”

                “Wait, I just read in the post that Trump under-reacted and didn’t do enough in January.  He wasn’t at the hearings so he could have done more to combat this.”

                “Let me get this straight.  The same newspaper attacks President Trump in January for being a racists and overreacting.  Now, they’re saying he under-reacted and is still a racist for not taking it seriously enough.  Basically, whether he overreacted and under-reacted, they still call him a racist and they can’t make up their minds how to classify his reaction even with the benefit of hindsight.”

                Denise turned off the chat room and Theo got frustrated.  She scolded, “Can you just call it the Coronavirus?”

                “No, that’s what the Chinese want.”

                “Not everything is a conspiracy.”

                “I will not let the Chinese government dictate what I say and what words I use.  I don’t even let the American media do that, I certainly am not going to let China!”

                Denise groans, “Fine, let’s go to students more up your ally, Christian college.”

                “Actually, they’re just as liberal as any other school.”

                “As if this discussion was in the previous George Mason discussion, a male student barked, “I’m fucking sick of seeing Donald Trump every day giving a press conference and lying to the American people.”

                Theo sarcastically shouted back, “Yea, how dare he be transparent and try to answer any questions we may have in this highly stressful time.”

                “I’m not alone; Rachel Maddow even says that networks should stop airing his press conferences.”

                “Oh that would be great.  Let MSNBC, CNN and ABC not air the live press conferences.  Then, Fox gets all the ratings and the whole country knows that they refused to update them and just spun everything.”

                “Look moron, the whole point is to tape it so you can edit out all the lies and fact check.”

                “Oh, no the whole point is to take things out of context so they can spin shit.  You actually think that not airing it is good for ratings.  Yea, and I’m the moron.”

                “If everyone agrees then it’ll work.”

                “Ah, socialist ideas.  Heaven forbid that networks compete for viewers and give people what they actually want.”

                “Nobody wants to hear that liar.”

                “If that were true, millions wouldn’t be tuning it to listen.  You name drop Rachel Maddow as if she’s a reliable source so the conversation is over.  That dumbass promoted the Russian collusion and the Steele dossier for two years.  Talk about an embarrassment.  Every report that has come out has concluded that the Steele dossier was a complete hoax and fabrication but she kept doubling down.  Now, there are no more chips left.  Her credibility is all gone.

                “She’s a Rhodes Scholar.  Can you say that?”

                “The Rhodes foundation needs to re-evaluate their criteria.”

                “Well, I would take a Rhodes Scholar over you.”

                “Really?  On 2/27/20, Maddow complained that it was time for President Trump to start giving press conferences about the Wuhan Virus.  Now, she wants him off the air for giving daily updates.  Which one was the brilliant opinion worthy of a Rhodes Scholar title?  It sounds like that’s not what people call, ‘Rhodes scholar’ worthy but just blatant hypocrisy.”

                “Everything in moderation.  She wanted him to update us thinking that even he wouldn’t lie about something this important but then he did so he needs to be censored.”

                “Ah, censoring free speech.  You have really fallen for the Chinese propaganda.”

                “Fine, we won’t go by Maddow.  I don’t even have to because every major news outlet has been saying it.”

                “I bet you trust the Washington Post right?”

                “Yes, they are a credible newspaper.”

                Did you like them in January when they were posting articles like ‘Why we should be Skeptical of China’s Coronavirus quarantine’ or how about, ‘why we should be wary of aggressive government response to Coronavirus.  Not to be outdone, you could go by, “How our Brains Make Coronavrius Seem Scarier than it is.’ And last but not least, ‘Get a grip America, the flu is much bigger threat than Coronavirus for now.”

                “Was that all in the same month?”

                “Oh yea, you see President Trump put a travel ban to and from China and that’s just how some of the people at the Post responded.  Others said similar things but most called him a racist of xenophobe for doing it.  Suddenly, everyone agrees with him.”

                “Nobody could have seen….wait….. I don’t know.  There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind once new information comes in.”

                “Yes, but you have to explain why you thought what you did and what it was that changed your mind.”

                “I’m sure they can.”

                “I’m sure they can’t.  It’s the Dunning-Kruger effect.  It is so common, it has a name.”

                “What’s the Dunning-Kruger effect?’

                “People assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.  A relative bias to illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability.”

                “You think you’re hot shit but you’re not basically?”

                “Yes”

                “You’re saying that about the post?”

                “I am but the king of the Dunning-Kruger effect; in fact, they should rename it after him, is Brian Stelter.”

                “He hosts a show called ‘reliable sources.’”

                “The most ironic title ever.”

                “Do you have an example?”

                “Yes, he’s actually mad at President Trump for finding a treatment for the Wuhan Virus.”

                “Call it the ‘Coronavirus’ please’

                “No”

                The guy shook violently shocked at the refusal.  He was so used to someone cowering when his sensitive feelings were hurt.  He recovered quickly, “There is no treatment.”

                “President Trump repeated that there were studies in France that Hydroxychloroquine combined with a Z pack has been effective against it.”

                “What did Stelter say?”

                “That it’s dangerous to use it because it’s off label.”

                “Oh, well that makes sense.  You shouldn’t use medications other than for their explicit purposes.”

                “By that logic, we should never see if any existing medications help with the Wuhan Virus and just try to make one from scratch and watch people die as we go through the trials including finding something that will work and then seeing if it’s safe in humans.  With an existing drug, you skip the part where you have to make sure it’s safe for humans because you know it is.  People use medications off label all the time.  It’s highly common and it should be.  Anything that has a potential to work should be tested and tried.”

                “Didn’t he want to combine it with something?”

                “A Z-pack”

                “Right, the mixture may cause a problem.”

                “You’re making that up.  By the way, no it doesn’t”

                “Are you a doctor?”

                “No, but my father is.”

                “Oh, well, I don’t know then.”

                “Stelter then praised New York Governor Andrew Cuomo when he repeated the claim that the combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Z-pack may be effective.”

                “But you just said…”

                “When President Trump said it, Stelter told us he was giving us false hope.  When Cuomo said it then it was giving us hope.”

                The guy put his head down and didn’t want to say anything else.  A woman came to his rescue, “Well, I heard that Dr. Fauci disagreed with Trump about it.  Who are you going to believe, Doctor Fauci or Trump?”

                “CNN thought the same thing so they interviewed Dr. Fauci.  Fauci was very clear in his response.  There are not fundamental differences between him and the president.  They both were given anecdotal evidence that was legitimate.  As Dr. Fauci is a man of science, he wants a formal scientific test before he calls it effective.  The president is a lay person and wants anything that has a potential to work to be tried immediately as we don’t have time for tests.  We know these drugs are safe for humans so we should use them.  It’s just the difference between how scientists approach something and how lay people and executives do.”

                “I think discretion is the better part of valor.”

                “And I think that people need hope in these dark times.”

                Denise clicked off Zoom.  Theo snapped, “You know, that was just getting good.”

                “No, college kids are morons.  You know that a CDC guy was fired while he was in China looking at the virus.”

                “He was fired for giving out misinformation and trying to cover up the virus.  Reuters didn’t tell you that part.”

                “How do you know this shit?”

                “I prepare for these verbal battles with entire bars or, in this case, chat rooms.”

                “If China was covering it up so much, then how did President Trump know about it so he could put the travel ban on China?”

                “That’s an interesting question.  There’s a rumor going around that the NSA found out because they were intercepting correspondences in China.  See, Beijing is hard to listen in on because they’re more paranoid and are more aware of it.  The officials in Wuhan though, they may make mistakes and talk on unsecured phones and shit.  It turns out, the NSA intercepted some conversations about the virus and told the president.  He then acted.”

                “Okay, where do you want to go now?”

                “Usually, Howard is next.”

                “You have an order?”

                “Yup”

                “Alright, we’ll go to Howard.”

                They go in and a guy was complaining, “Yo, Professor Regan is kind of an asshole”

                “I love Professor Regan, why do you say he’s an asshole?”

                “I asked him if he could hold a digital recorder so I could have a recording of his class and he snapped at me.  He wanted to know if I ever recorded him before and if I did, he demanded I delete all of them.  I lied and told him this was the first time.”

                “Well, yea that’s why this Coronavirus has been so bad for professors.  A lot of them don’t want to be recorded.”

                “Why though?”

                “They don’t want a student giving it to a right wing website.”

                Theo questioned, “Why would they care?”

                “Because you know how conservatives are, they jump down your throat about every little thing you get wrong.”

                Theo interjected, “No, the things you get wrong are big things.  If you notice, conservatives have no problem putting their stuff out there.  They’re not the ones advocating to censor liberals.  They actually want to debate them.  It’s the liberals that always refuse to debate conservatives.  Conservatives don’t protest and try to ban liberal speakers from speaking on campus.  Liberal do that all the time and even throw shit at the speaker.  Conservatives don’t talk about safe spaces because they want people to disagree and debate with them.  Well, most of them I mean.”

                “It’s for their students only”

                “You mean, young impressionable people that are living on their own for the first time so can be manipulated more easily.  Heaven forbid someone that has actually lived in the real world, unlike the students and professor alike, listen to them and be able to call them out on their shit.  If what you have to say isn’t applicable to everyone, then it’s bullshit.  People may fight it but that’s how a debate is formed.  Two people have opposing views but one is factually correct and the other is not.”

                “So, you don’t believe in opinions?”

                “I do, but opinions can be wrong.”

                “I’ll agree to disagree on that one.”

                “Fine by me.”

                “How can you say that liberals don’t want to debate?  It’s the conservatives that yell at you.”

                “ANTIFA is a liberal organization that only yells and attacks people that disagree with them.  They are the modern day black and brown shirts.  They are the real NAZI’s and Fascists in America and they’re all liberals.”

                “Well, Schumer just shot down a bill with Trump so he was willing to negotiate.”

                “No, he wasn’t.  He and Pelosi didn’t want President Trump to get any more credit for saving the nation and leading us during this panic.”

                “You’re just saying that because you liked the bill”

                “No, I didn’t like the bill actually.  The thing is, Pelosi and Schumer’s bill was worse because they had riders to nationalize elections.  What does that have anything to do with the Wuhan Virus?”

                “There’s always riders on bills.”

                “You would hope for one this important, they would stop with those underhanded tricks.  Unfortunately, there’s no bottom for the Democrats’ depravity.”

                “I don’t think you can blame Pelosi and Schumer.  McConnell wasn’t able to make a deal.”

                “It was so blatantly their fault that the New York Times had to change their headline three times because they had trouble being vague enough to not admit it was all the Democrats fault.  First, they started with the truth, ‘Democrats block Action on $ 1.8 Trillion Stimulus but the Chinese said no, so then they went with “Democrats block action on Stimulus Plan, Seeking Worker’s Protection.  Still, China complained, so they finally ended up with, ‘Partisan Divide Threatens Deal on Rescue Bill.”

                “There you go; it was partisan divide so Republicans are to blame.”

                “That’s not what the first two headlines said.”

                “That’s why they changed it.”

                “No, they changed it because China complained.”

                “You don’t know that China is running their newspaper.”

                “Based on what they print, they’re either too stupid to realize that’s what they’re doing or the Chinese have already bought them off.”

                “That’s a serious allegation.”

                “And I mean it.”

                Denise shut down the chat.  She glared at Theo and he nodded, “Yea, it’s late, I should go home now.”

                Denise gave a knowing smile and they both got up.  Theo went for a hug as he had been doing for as long as he remembered with Denise since they grew up together.  Denise backed up and offered a fist.  Theo took a deep breath, “If I had it, you’d be fucked anyway.” As he touches his fist to hers to give a fist bump. 

With that, Theo walked out of the house and to the train to go back to Rockville.  Given that it was supposed to rain all week, he contemplated taking the White House up on the offer to work from home for the remainder of the week.  He gets off on a near empty train and goes home to sleep.