Sometimes it’s déjà vu all over again in American politics
Thanks to President Trump and all the participants of Operation Warp Speed, all Americans will soon have access to a vaccination that will end this pandemic.
Soon the War against COVID- 19 will be ending. As a senior citizen I lived through a lot of our history. Morphing in history is when you are living through events that closely align with what you have seen or lived through in the past.
In a recent Gallup Poll, 90 percent of Republicans do not trust the media while 74 percent of Democrats do trust the media. The seeds of this discrepancy in mistrust may have begun during the Clinton Administration.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton used scare tactics and half- truths on Medicare spending. He was able to get the media to support his efforts while demonizing the Republican leader Speaker Newt Gingrich in much the same way President Trump has been demonized. Today it is COVID, back then it was over the so- called cuts in Medicare. It was alleged that the Republican Party was going to “throw grandma out of the nursing homes and over a cliff in her wheelchair.” Clinton, with the use of a very accommodating media, convinced millions that going from ( as an example) $ 100 billion to $ 105 billion was a cut in Medicare spending. In reality, the GOP opposed Clinton’s requests for a spending change from $ 100 billion to $ 110 billion. Note that both sides proposed increases. The GOP was merely slowing the growth of Medicare, not cutting it. But Clinton’s messaging worked. It gave Clinton a landslide victory and helped to end my elected service in Congress at age 43. COVID- 19 was used in 2020 with half- truths and support of the liberal media targeting one man.
COVID- 19 has been a war. It became the focal point of the 2020 election much like the Vietnam War was decades ago. We were divided as a nation and we lost. Today we became divided over our COVID- 19 war turning it into a political football while more than 300,000 American lives have been lost.
The Vietnam War had a pivotal journalistic movement that served as the smoking gun on American prospects in Vietnam, known as the Pentagon Papers. Soon thereafter, part of the United States went in one direction while the other part went in another. We were divided as a nation and we lost the Vietnam War.
This election cycle we had another trusted journalistic report — this time Bob Woodward — gained through interviews with an overly candid president and used as a smoking gun to substantiate problems with Trump’s assessment of COVID- 19. This journalist’s report was enough to divide an already divided country with Democrats fixated on defeating Trump at all cost. As a result, Americans split on the issues of wearing masks, opening or closing businesses, remote or inperson school, additional funding or no additional funding, and taking vaccine versus not taking vaccine.
Dealing with the unknown is always precarious. Picking sides during a pandemic and assigning blame on some while praising governors with the highest death rates was an enigma to Republicans and objective observers.
Thanks to President Trump and all the participants of Operation Warp Speed, all Americans will soon have access to a vaccination that will end this pandemic.
Timing is everything. Back in 1980, President Jimmy Carter was wrestling with getting the hostages released in Iran. It occurred literally minutes after Carter was no longer president of the United States. Well, the announcement of a vaccination occurred less than a week after Election Day 2020. I am sure historians would agree that if either event were announced prior to Election Day, it would have given both incumbents the momentum needed for a significant difference in their elections.
The media that writes the news and eventually writes the historical accounts, and they know how to produce their desired results.
History is the darndest thing. Live long enough and you get to see everything, sometimes twice.
Gary A. Franks served three- terms as U. S. representative for Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and was New England’s first Black member of the House. He taught at Georgetown, the University of Virginia and Hampton University. He is host of the podcast We Speak Frankly. Follow him @ GaryFranks