I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised us that Coronavirus would go knocking at the White House, Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister actually caught the disease early on, and though the Secret Service is the best in the world, they can only work with what they’re given – and they’re not currently given the sharpest sharpies at Staples. So COVID has been making the rounds, and some hard questions are getting asked because reporters also work in and around the White House, creating a media convergence of public interest, self-interest, incompetence and the White House palace intrigue.

First we read that VP Pence would be self-quarantining, then we heard that Trump thought better of it (they are following Trump, not the White House medical unit, which would take the conservative and cautious approach). Having Pence self-quarantine would remind people that the virus is still out on the loose and Trump’s not allowing that to happen. So Pence won’t be self-quarantining but that’s okay.

Kayleigh McEnany says that they have it all under control, as she accidentally explained how the White House can stay open and running, while the nation is at serious risk: Washington Post

“We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe, which means contact tracing,” McEnany told reporters during Friday’s news briefing. “All of the recommended guidelines we have for businesses that have essential workers, we are now putting them in place here in the White House. So as America reopens safely, the White House is continuing to operate safely.”

Kayleigh, we can tell that you are the gift that just keeps giving. With just three sentences you gave the entire game away. You let us know what science Trump trusts, and the problems that lie awaiting us in the feudal states.

The nation went into social distancing and work from home for two broad reasons. One, we needed to flatten that curve so that everyone didn’t hit the ERs all at once. We saw how awful it could look when NYC pushed it to the very limit (imagine the same everywhere).

The other reason we stayed home was to give the government time to get a testing program in place with contact tracing. Testing never came around because – as Dr. Birx explained to us at one point, there were issues of profitability, and there are problems getting materials. On March 20th, Trump promised us 27 million tests by March 31st. We have yet to issue six million tests.

The White House, however, is testing every employee, every day. We won’t get testing because – as Trump told us last week, “testing just makes them look bad.” Because to Trump, you’re not a person, you’re a number. He doesn’t care if you get sick and die, he cares that you aren’t recorded as COVID positive and die.

The point is – of course – Kayleigh just told us that the White House is bravely going forth just like the rest of the United States, except with two key components to fighting the spread of the virus that we don’t have. The White House is now testing people daily and doing contact tracing. That is what South Korea did, and it’s why South Korea is near done with their viral experience, and we’re still in the first 100,000 deaths here.

Kayleigh still doesn’t know what she said.

*****

Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom