By Mike Huckabee
April 30, 2020
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LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 2020
When the coronavirus first mugged the world (with China’s government acting as accomplice to the crime), we knew almost nothing about it, even whether it could be transmitted from human to human. That was back in January (although it could have been spreading even earlier – see, we keep finding out new stuff all the time!) We’ve now been dealing with it for four months, and we’ve learned a lot since then, and not just about the virus itself. We’ve also learned a lot about our political and media classes, and frankly, they haven’t distinguished themselves as being much better than the virus.
We can now look back over the first four months of 2020 with 20/20 hindsight and see things clearly that were difficult for most people to grasp in the heat of the moment. For instance, we were told repeatedly that President Trump was poorly prepared, in denial, that every decision he made was ill-informed, too late and wrong-wrong-wrong, even that he is personally responsible for over 50,000 Americans dying of the disease (with experts now predicting a US death toll of over 70,000.) We’ve heard his critics claim repeatedly that if only they’d been in charge, the right decisions would have been made, “science” would have ruled the day, and they would have done everything right and much sooner.
Okay, it’s nearly May, so let’s look back and assess if any of that is true. First of all, the “experts” now predicting 70,000 deaths started out by predicting 2.2 million deaths, so what exactly are they “experts” in? Plus, while I don’t want to downplay the extraordinary danger of this particular disease, the death toll of the flu in 2017-’18 was about 80,000.
Trump banned travel from China in late January, a move that likely saved countless lives. His critics at the time accused him of racism and xenophobia. As recently as late February, prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Bill DeBlasio were urging people to ignore the scare stories and turn out for big public events. They later accused Trump of not acting soon enough to ban travel or take the threat seriously. Trump even warned about it in his State of the Union speech that Nancy Pelosi made a big show of tearing up.
They also claim that Trump should have shut down the economy sooner. Yet while he was setting up his virus task force, they were completely obsessed with trying to impeach him. Even the WHO, whom they defend because Trump called them out for parroting Chinese lies, tried to downplay the danger early on. What do you think they would’ve said about Trump if he’d used executive orders to shut down the economy then?
They’ve also made a national hero out of Dr. Anthony Fauci (see last week’s “SNL” sketch where he was played by Brad Pitt and depicted as the rational savior protecting us from the dangerous idiot man-child Trump.) But Trump has taken Fauci’s advice on almost every issue, and despite fake news rumors, never fired him. If Fauci is always right, and Trump has done what he recommended, then how can Trump have always been wrong?
This relentless drumbeat of “Trump wrong! Trump wrong!” has apparently convinced some people, since a new NPR/Marist poll of “adults” claims that Americans believe Joe Biden could handle the virus better than Trump by 15 points. Yes, Joe “That travel ban is xenophobic/What day is it again?” Biden. I can’t help wondering if this was actually a poll of adults committed to mental institutions.
We now know a lot more about the virus, but at a time when we should be making decisions based on those facts, we’re still getting a steady diet of panic, politics and partisan narratives that the media cling to like an Iowa tourist clutches her purse in Times Square. Making Trump look wrong about everything is still Job 1, even if it requires ignoring basic math.
Sen. Ted Cruz has released a video looking back to remind us of who was really taking this threat seriously and who was downplaying it.
With four months of hard-won knowledge behind us, Americans are assessing the facts on their own, and they’ve started demanding that we move past the panic and lockdowns and get on with life. But some politicians are imposing even more absurd rules. They seem to want to prolong the misery of their own constituents, preferably until after the election.
Some Democratic Governors are even banning people from going to beaches and parks and forcing them to stay indoors, even as new research suggests that lack of Vitamin D (which you get from exposure to the sun) increases your chances of dying from the coronavirus.
Will these people win in November by not only “denying science” but rewriting history? Or are voters already spending their virus relief checks on tar and feathers? I would remind them of the words of a great Democrat from back when there were Democrats who put country ahead of party. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
For more on this subject, I recommend Kurt Schichter’s latest column at Townhall.com. In his usual hilariously brutal fashion, Schlichter lists a series of tough but fair and necessary questions that our media class would be asking Democrats if they were actually journalists instead of unpaid DNC PR agents.
Finally, the line of the day, from an anonymous wag on Facebook: The White House Press Corps are a group of people with faces filled with Botox who pretend to be shocked and appalled at the idea of injecting a dangerous substance into your body.
MLB SEASON UPDATE COURTESY OF DR. FAUCI
Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke out to correct the media misrepresentation of him being pessimistic about Major League Baseball games being able to come back this year. Fauci said he’s actually hopeful that at least part of the season will be salvaged. He said of the media outlets that twisted his words, "I think they read half my interview."
Memo to the media: Dr. Fauci is the guy you’re supposed to respect because you set him up as the Anti-Trump. You’re only supposed to make up fake news about the real Trump. Well, you’re not supposed to, but you do. Say, could we possibly end that game permanently?
UPDATE
Mesa, Arizona, police denied media reports that the death of a man who consumed a fish tank cleaner with the ingredient chloroquine phosphate is being investigated as a homicide. A spokesman said, “This investigation is not being treated as a homicide. The death of Gary Lenius has not been ruled a homicide at this time.” Not exactly a firm denial, but I’ll pass it along and say, “Stay tuned.” By the way: Sorry, CNN, but even if they were investigating it as a homicide, it’s not because they think the death can be pinned on President Trump.
THE BLUE STATE DEFINITION OF "PUBLIC SAFETY"
Threaten citizens with jail for surfing on empty beaches, walking in parks or attending drive-in church services, but let dangerous criminals out of jail because they might catch the coronavirus in there. How dangerous? How about the Green River Killer, suspected of 71 murders, convicted of 49 and sentenced to over 500 years in prison? He came within one vote of being released by the Washington State Supreme Court.
Okay, Washington: California will see your Green River Killer and raise you seven high-risk sex offenders.
And let’s not forget: to stop the spread of the virus, we must also shut down the gun stores so law-abiding citizens can’t defend themselves from all the violent criminals who are being released. Well, it wouldn’t matter anyway: people would be arrested before they could get to the gun store just for leaving their houses. In really liberal states, dangerous criminals are the only people who aren’t confined indefinitely.
TED NUGENT ON "HUCKABEE"
The Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) will need Ted Nugent’s amplifiers to whistle past the graveyard loudly enough to drown out the rising questions about this fast-spreading Joe Biden scandal.
Speaking of Ted Nugent, if you missed his appearance recently on “Huckabee” on TBN, you have to see this miracle of modern satellite technology: a scorching live rendition of “Cat Scratch Fever” with Ted playing lead guitar in Texas, the Music City Connection band members in their individual homes in Nashville, and me on bass in Florida. Watch until the end to hear Ted give one of the funniest comments I’ve ever heard.
WORKING FROM HOME
Many of us are having trouble adjusting to working from home, but it can be especially tough when your job entails broadcasting live to the world. There are things people might see in your home that they wouldn’t see in the studio. Like a “Good Morning America” reporter who got a little too into the spirit of working at home and tried doing his report in his undershorts, assuming it wouldn’t show…
…Or the Spanish news anchor who was supposedly dating a reality star when a half-naked female colleague walked behind him during a live broadcast from his home. (Warning: blurry screenshot of the incident at the link.) I don’t think anyone will buy the “It’s Casual Friday” excuse.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Video of the Day: I know it’s really hard, but if you don’t want to earn the nickname “Sleepy,” try to stay awake while Hillary Clinton is talking.
FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD'S SECRET SINGING STAR
By “Huckabee” writer/pop culture historian Pat Reeder
I’m sad to have to report that India Adams died Saturday at 93 after a short illness. She was, ironically, an “unsung star” who did the actual singing during Hollywood’s Golden Age of musicals. She was part of a group of singers who really did what Debbie Reynolds did in “Singin’ In The Rain”: recording songs that musically-challenged stars lip-synched to (and I bet you thought that was a recent invention!)
India was most famous for singing for Cyd Charisse and Joan Crawford. In fact, one song she cut, “Two-Faced Woman,” was lip-synched by both stars: Charisse did it in “The Band Wagon” but it was cut from the finished film and reused in “Torch Song,” where Crawford mimed to it in an infamous blackface number.
My co-author George Gimarc and I have an entire chapter on these “secret singers” in our upcoming update of our book “Hollywood Hi-Fi.” Marni Nixon was the most famous, but as Adams said, she came along later, while the earlier ventriloquist singers had to “swear on a stack of Bibles” to keep it a secret. These secret stars included Betty Wand, Annette Warren and Jo Anne Greer. There were also male proto-Milli Vanillis, such as Bill Lee, who actually sang “Edelweiss” for Christopher Plummer” in “The Sound of Music.”
Adams did cut some records under her own name (you can listen to her album “Comfort Me With Apples” here: https://youtu.be/DCTbG2TH5OA) and later put together a successful nightclub show with Warren and Wand called “Hollywood’s Secret Singing Stars.”
Her family is very gratified that she’s finally being honored with extensive obituaries in Hollywood and mainstream media outlets, but it would have been nice if she’d gotten the credit for her work when she was actually doing it. Still, better late than never. Rest in peace.
Bible Verse of the Day (KJV)
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (KJV)
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