When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.

Donald J. Trump/January 20, 2017

After the 2016 election campaign and the first three years of Trump’s occupancy of the White House, the probability Americans would ever be united again was unimaginable.  But the events of this past week remind us anything is possible.

Let’s begin with the recent survey conducted in April by Harvard, Northeastern and Rutgers Universities that measures Americans’ attitudes about the coronavirus, efforts to stem the pandemic and mitigate its impact on the nation’s health and safety.  When viewing these numbers, keep in mind the constant drumbeat by the media of a 50/50 split in the electorate and, in electoral politics, a 55/45 spread is considered a landslide.

• Only seven percent (7%) of all respondents favored reopening the economy immediately.
• Eight-eight percent (88%) rated the Center for Disease Control as “a trusted government entity.”
• Ninety-six percent (96%) expressed trust in their local hospital or own doctor.
• Ninety-three percent (93%) said they trusted scientists and researchers.
• Eight-one percent (81%) trust their state government and eighty-two percent (82%) feel likewise about their local government compared to a trust rating of fifty-seven percent (57%) for Congress and fifty-one percent (51%) for Trump.
• The respective governors of ALL 50 states have a higher approval rating than Trump when it comes to their response to the pandemic.
• Fifty-five percent (55%) of respondents reported they very closely follow the recommendation to wear a face mask when outside their home and another twenty percent (20%) say they somewhat closely follow the recommendation.  Only fourteen percent (14%) said they do not follow the recommendation at all.
• Ninety-one percent (91%) strongly or somewhat approve keeping K-12 schools closed for another 30 days.
• Ninety-four percent (94%) strongly or somewhat approve of sheltering-in-place and avoiding group gatherings.
• Ninety-two percent (92%) strongly or somewhat approve of canceling major sports and entertainment events.
• Ninety-one percent (91%) approve limiting restaurants to deliver or carry-out only.

On a related issue, according to an April 30, 2020 poll, the Pew Research Center reports 67 percent of all respondents believe the November election will be disrupted due to the pandemic and 70 percent favor vote-by-mail being available to anyone who wants it.  Moscow Mitch, are you listening?

So much for a divided nation.  Although there were statistically significant differences between Democrats and Republicans, in no case were the sentiments among partisans polar opposites.  But that was not good enough for Donald Trump.  In one last effort to bring the nation together, he is attempting to erase one more distinction between coastal blue states and heartland red states, often referred to as “flyover country.”  Trump ordered the Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels to make cities affected by the pandemic part of “flyover country” to “pay tribute to our front-line health care workers confronting COVID.”

While the Defense Department claims the flyovers represent no additional cost to taxpayers since the planes must be continually maintained and the pilots are salaried military, reported estimates suggest the marginal costs of flight time total $60,000/hour.  So, for those of you with short term memory, Trump had no issue taking money from military projects to build his wall.  However, it probably never crossed his mind first responders, doctors and nurses might be better served by re-allocating the dollars spent on these brief air shows for personal protective equipment or testing.

The continuing embarrassment of Trump’s insistence on making this national tragedy an entertainment-driven reality show suggests his legacy will be less described by the term “flyover” than by the term “fly open.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP