“It started when Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared this week by video on CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden.”   The California Democrat, opting for what appears to be two refrigerators as a backdrop, revealed a freezer drawer full of ice cream to the British television host.   

I like it better than anything else,” she told Corden of her obsession with ice cream and candy. (An Easter basket trimmed with chocolate was off to the side.)   For anyone looking for Dove vanilla ice cream bars coated in dark chocolate, Talenti (which is technically gelato) and pints of Jeni’s ice cream (which flaunts flavors like “Milkiest Chocolate” and “Blackout Chocolate Cake”), they’re all in Pelosi’s house.

In a since deleted tweet,  Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago insinuated that re-opening beaches in Florida would “thin out” President Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis supporters “who value money over health.”   “Packed beaches should work nicely to thin the ranks of Trump/DeSantis/Gimenez supporters in #Florida who value money over health,” Santiago tweeted.

We are living in very dangerous times, and our country’s fate could be at risk.    I am not referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, but to the response to it.    Traditionally our population has responded to any country wide danger by uniting and fighting the threat as one.    This effort has always started by our politicians, elected and opponents, and “we the people” have followed.    Unfortunately this is not what we are experiencing now.    We are in Trump times, when many of our leaders will gladly exchange a continuing tragedy, in lives and economy, for a defeat of our elected president in the upcoming election.

The truth about this new virus, its dangerousness, and if our response to it was appropriate, will be not be known until many months from now.    There are some indications that the virus might be less lethal than we think and that many have gone through the infection with few or no symptoms without realizing they had the COVID-19.    If this is proven after more testing, the death rate should be lower or equal to influenza.

Other important fact to help our approach to future attacks is that it has a preference towards persons with preexisting chronic conditions which make minorities and the elderly a favorite target and the most in danger.    At present we as a society have a difficult decision that could determine not only our present health, but the future of our democracy, human rights and/or personal freedom.

Should we start to come back to our prior lives re; work and recreation?    Our Governors have been assigned by the federal government 3 stages with guidelines to do just that in a safe and judicious manner.    Here comes the danger!    Guidelines are appropriate only if interpreted as recommendations, but if they are used as mandates it could challenge our liberties with enormous consequences for our future.    Attorney General Barr said it best;  

 «We’re looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place,» Barr said in an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt. «And if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. And if they’re not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs.    «Barr said some of the state restrictions are placing «unprecedented burdens on civil liberties right now.»    «You know, the idea that you have to stay in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest,» Barr said. «I’m not saying it wasn’t justified. I’m not saying in some places it might still be justified. But it’s very onerous, as is shutting down your livelihood.

I truly believe that the leaders of the democrat party and most of the media want to use the current tragedy to achieve the only goal they have worked for these years, get Trump out of the presidency.     It looks like they are betting in a deep economic downturn as the best pathway.    In turn, Trump is trying to use the pandemic to assure his reelection.    No one knows what will be the best path to take as we are in uncharted territory.    As far as my opinion I have greater trust in the American people than our elected leaders and would prefer an opening that would make us responsible for our health and safety rather than lose our greatest asset, our freedom.

An interesting article in Real Clear Politics by Jacki Deason gives statistics that claim a prolonged shutdown could cause hundred of thousand deaths in suicides, heart attacks, delayed “elective” cancer screenings, diagnosis and surgery, uptick in domestic violence and child abuse among others.      So if health might be a case of 6 or a dozen or at a minimum a lesser problem that leaves the economy as the main factor. Again as a free trader I trust the ingenuity and work of our citizens, to a Keynesian continued bailout with its inherent danger of a deeper recession and/or inflation.

Time will tell!

Fernando J. Milanes, MD