I think it’s his paranoia, induced by his NPD. He has decided that the Dems really are out to get him and that they are playing up the dangers of COVID-19 to do it. I think he’s constructed a narrative that he has unconsciously adopted where this virus really isn’t a big deal and that it’s all his enemies playing up the risks to make him look bad.
He’s never had to live in a reality-based world, thanks to his father’s wealth and the lack of teeth in Federal regulations for white-collar criminals since Reagan’s day. All of that’s been exacerbated by his encroaching dementia and existing personality disorders. So he wholeheartedly believes it (in so far as he can believe in anything) and so thus must his followers and the GOP sycophants because that’s what the authoritarian mindset they adhere to dictates is necessary.
When I first read 1984, I really couldn’t get my head around the Party and how double-think and such could work in real life. But as I became more politically aware and able to observe these epistemically-closed information bubbles that the GOP rank-and-file actually live in, it became clear to me that George Orwell did in fact know what he was talking about. The people who live in the FOX News and AM radio bubble see nothing but confirming “facts” that President Trump has indeed lowered the COVID-19 death toll and cured cancer and everything and they no longer have anything to anchor them to reality, despite the evidence surrounding them if they could see outside the closure.
They’ve been trapped in this system since the 80s (at least), but the trouble is that the “Big Brother” they now follow is a paranoid lunatic, but they still believe that they have to follow the lunatic because the voices of “reason” within the bubble say that he’s a genius. They’ve lost the ability (if they ever had it) to separate their feelings about the facts from the facts themselves and to step back and view things dispassionately. Since it “feels” right to follow Trump, they will do so, no matter what. Even if that path leads to the grape flavor-ade.
Properly, he should challenge the public health laws that allow the governor to do this.
During my career in public health, the law enforcement officials were frequently flabbergasted over the authority that public health officials have that they don’t.
I read it the same way you did. I, too, am very worried about several friends in the hairs/nails world. I have doubts their businesses will survive. They may be able to work from home after this, but one is trying to make lease payments, and it is very hard.
To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever died due to cabin fever. (NB: Suicides, starvation, etc. are excluded.) At this writing, 46,235 people have died of COVID-19 infections.
